Xploder HDTV Player Review

[Amp Divorax]

Everybody knows that the PS2 can do 480p settings with some games, but most games don't use that capability. Well Xploder, best known for their cheating software, released the Xploder HDTV Player which would allow for us to set the games at 480p, 576p, 720p, and 1080i with component cables and with a VGA adaptor it can be set to resolutions from 640x480 to 1280x1024. The main reason this review is in the Beatmania section though is that I wanted to see how well this software could handle the various IIDX releases along with how good it would look.

First off, I will state upfront that I don't have a VGA adaptor so I was unable to test that. However, I have Psyclone Component Cables and put the elf file for this software onto a thumb drive so I could use it with Swap Magic 3.6 and the Indy Exploit. From what I've seen is that 480p pretty much works as advertised. The graphics do look sharper overall, but as a downside software jaggies are alot more noticible which is not surprising at all. However, when putting it on 720p, the games are stretched horizontally to fit the sides and crunched in vertically to the point where there would be dead space at the top and bottom. The same effect not only happens in 1080i, but it also shows that the image got alot smaller overall. With this in mind I have to consider both of these modes unusable. Now, in the book they suggest using a resizing option on the TV to make this fit the screen, but most TVs don't have that type of option so I have to think that they could have done a much better job on getting this to work.

Another issue that I have is this is how unsound some of the product decisions were. The HDTV Player is $40 comes with component cables which is both good and bad. Good for those who don't already have them and bad for those who do already have them. I don't feel like buying another set of component cables for my PS2 which aren't as good of quality as my Psyclone Cables. Another thing is that the VGA adaptor has to be purchased separately which is another $20 so things are gonna get expensive quick just for the capability of using VGA resolutions with their PS2. This could have been fixed by giving an option for purchasing the software alone. Finally, and this is my personal gripe, they have versions for the US and European PS2s, but nothing for Japanese PS2s which is total BS! It's cause of this that I had to extract out the elf file to use with Swap Magic.

Now, when it comes to handling the Beatmania IIDX games, I have both good news and bad news. This will work with 9th style and newer. However, while 8th style and older releases do boot properly, as those games weren't designed to run at 60 fps, setting it to 480p forces that framerate to run at that speed and as a result the notes go offsync with the rest of the music, thus making those releases unplayable. This product is good for lagfree gameplay for those with a HDTV that's uses 480p as one of it's native resolutions or to dodge the deinterlacing artifacts that happen on some of the crappier HDTVs. However, the pricetag and numerous issues with this software has me only recommending this to quality freaks like myself.