Electron Shepherd is now selling a $35 analog to digital converter for the PS2 & PS3 that provides HDMI-out via Component to HDMI conversion. This device doesn’t add any lag, however it also doesn’t scale or deinterlace the image at all – It’s simply a passthrough adapter. This is a great device for people who force 480p via GSM on most PS2 games, or people who play 480i games where lag isn’t a factor; Your TV will add a lot of lag if you send it 480i, however that won’t matter for things like strategy games, or turn-by-turn RPG’s. It might even be a good choice for PS3 streamers. More info and context after the link:
Purchase Here: https://retrorgb.link/electronpulse
I have lots of opinions on this device, but also some (fair!) warnings. First, this is a cheap and easy way to connect your PS2 to a digital display and it’s price really allows this to be a handy tool for people. That said, the PS2 boots in 480i mode (unless you’ve modchipped it) and most PC monitors aren’t compatible with interlaced signals. Even if you’re using a TV, sending any interlaced signal will almost always result in a lot more lag – Check out the video below for an explanation. That said, what if lag isn’t an issue for you? Strategy games, turn-by-turn RPG’s and plenty of other genre’s aren’t about timing, so your TV’s 5-10 frames of deinterlacing lag isn’t actually a big deal in those scenarios. That said, if you play racing or fighting games, sending 480i directly to your TV shouldn’t be an option for you.
If the PS2 games you’re looking to play are 480p compatible (or if you can force 480p with GSM), then this is a totally different story. While sure, games like OutRun 2006 will boot in 480i, an option for 480p will pop up right at the beginning. If you select that (and put your TV in game mode!), you’ll most likely have very low lag. How it looks will be completely up to your TV though – My 2016 OLED does a really nice job scaling 480p, however I’ve seen some TV’s make 480p look terrible. At just $35, if your games are mostly 480p compatible, I’d say the ElectronPulse is worth a try!
There’s one more kinda niche, but excellent use for the ElectronPulse: PS3 streaming. The PlayStation 3 is notorious for it’s horrible HDCP implementation, blocking almost all capture cards from working with it’s HDMI output. Using this device to convert the PS3’s YPbPr output to HDMI will make it compatible with all capture cards. While just using a “PS3 compatible” HDMI splitter might be a better option for most, I guarantee there’s a handful of people reading this, thinking “damn, that’s perfect for my setup!”, so I wanted to mention it.
The only other thing to note: While the ElectronPulse is NOT compatible with the PS1 (as it doesn’t output YPbPr), it is compatible with PS1 games played on the PS2…assuming your TV is compatible. Most PS1 games output 240p, which won’t be supported (or processed properly) on most TV’s. The video below shows a bit more about 240p over HDMI:
