Problem with PS3 backwards compatability

[V-Man339]

My PS3 can play PS2 games (it's the kind that was sold bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4), but on my high def television it looks incredibly blocky and pixelated, specifically after I started using the HDMI cable instead of the line in cables that don't take advantage of HD.
I'm not sure how to look up information on the system specs, but I've looked through all the options on the main menus, and so far nothing has helped.

 

[Warbie]

There's not much you can do about that i'm afraid - sd content just doesn't look very good on an HD display. I use a cheap crt for Wii/PS2 etc as they look like arse on anything else. You could pick one up for next to nothing.

 

[Stigmata]

What's happening is that with the HDMI cables, the PS3 is upscaling the image without doing any fancy blurring or post-processing, pretty much like going into MS Paint and using the magnifying glass. With SD cables, your TV does the upscaling because the input is at a lower resolution, so it does a sort of soft-upscale that makes the picture look a bit nicer.

I could be wrong, having not owned or really used a PS3 much at all, but I'm pretty sure I'm right!

 

[Asus]

Yeah, basically taking full advantage of your HDTVs resolution is revealing how terrible SD content can really look and not doing anything about it. The PS3 does have an option for Scaling and Smoothing but it isn't the best I don't think. Not far off from plugging in the old console and doing 480p. And maybe old video games have large blocky graphics that are too large for it to apply the same filter used for noise or grain on a movie? (I'm not talking about CRT tvs and blurring)

I actually don't mind my old consoles playing off my HDTV for the most part but I had to get used to it. For some games it is nice that the picture comes up sharp (and blocky) for details. Like stuff that come at you where they start off small and get larger, you can react quicker. If it was blurred then you may not notice something that small. It isn't good for looks though.