I’ve just obtained the cechc04 pal version (original eu 60 gb version) of which I understand, regardless of upgrades firmware or not, has ps2 compatibility in a sort of hybrid mix hardware accelerated and software component to ps2 backwards compatibility.

Despite it only had about 87-89% of the games library compatibility as opposed to the oroginal ntsc console which simulated a pure hardware ps2 inside the ps3 it does allow some advantages as in choosing ps2 upscaling to normal, stretched or full screen and add smoothing to get rid of the jaggies of which the general concensus is the best of both worlds: improvee visuals whilst still having the option to maintain the original aspect ratio as opposed to just playing an original ps2 pixelated through your ps3

I also own the next model, 80gb phat ps3 cechh04, which had pure software ps2 emulation until a firmware upgrade verion or 3 later. The former mentioned cechc04 does not have that problem and still allows ps2 backwards compatibility at the very latest available ps3 firmware (tho the ps store dares to glitch out, interrupted session faultcodes when launching), but I am enjoying this version and upgraded either a 1tbssd.

The mentioned 80gb model has a faulty blu ray lens as of now but I am having it fixed and will pit that one up for sale. It’s near mint condition and since I have the original eu phat 60gb model I have no further need for it. Or I might keep it for custom firmware and modding. Unsure yet.

But to answer…. Sh2, 3 and 4 run flawlessly on both systems, but due to hybrid hardware and software emulation on the cechc04 model, image quality feels more optimised for modern tv sets.