I have the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection for PS3, and it includes a download code for the PlayStation Network PSone Classics version of Metal Gear Solid. The OG one. I also have a physical copy of the game, on disc (well, 2 discs to be precise).
Curious to see if there's any difference between the two, or if there's a difference at all, I recorded the opening cinematic on both the download and the disc version. I captured it from a PS3 into a Razer Ripsaw using XSplit Broadcaster, then placed them side by side in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Now, they don't quite sync up, and I can't tell you if that's a product of emulation or the capture or something else. So there are a few places that are quite noticeably out of sync. I matched them up by the audio tracks, which helped a bit. The version on disc runs almost a second and half longer. Again, don't know if that's the software or hardware or what. So let's just forget it.
Now, I also zoomed in on a few scenes to show the difference in quality and it looks, to me, like the PS1 disc wins in the sharpness department. The pixels are much sharper than the PSone Classics download, which looks a touch smeared.
But the PSone Classics version has better contrast. You can see some of the darker scenes, most notably the exterior of the sub, much more clearly on the PSone version.
Personally, I value the crispness over the contrast and I'll be playing through this again on the disc. The PSone Classics download is $10 on the US PlayStation store, while the physical discs are anywhere between $10 and $20 on eBay, with the added benefit of having the physical disc/jewel case/instruction manual.
