Hey all- for anyone who owns a Playstation 2 system, I’m wondering how good the DVD player is. I don’t have one at all now, and plan on buying a Playstation 2 as soon as I can (my Playstation 1 is on the fritz, so I can’t wait). Is the DVD player good? Nice quality?
Any opinions are welcome. Also, do the games load faster on the 2 system? (The games made for 1, I mean)
Zette
I don’t have a PS2, but my favourite DVD-related site, The Digital Bits, reviewed the PS2 from the DVD-playing POV here.
In sum, yes, it’s good, but not as good as a dedicated player would be. If you’re not planning on building a home theatre around it, it’ll do nicely.
I want one.
I’ve used my friend’s to watch “Gladiator.” Thought it was pretty damn watchable (I take off points for his dinky 13" TV). Controls could be better (and would be with a dedicated remote), but it was pretty good. I’d say that if you’re planning on getting a PS2 it’s a nice side benefit. As a stand-alone DVD player it would be about Magnavox or JVC level.
By the way: Gladiator on DVD? Nice transfer all the way and great extras.
I’ve got a PS2, and I’ve got to say the DVD’s play really well. The fact that it will play DVD’s at all was a major contributing factor to buying it, though I wanted one nonetheless. I don’t have a very good surround sound system, though, so when I recover from buying the system I’ll start looking around.
Yeah, I gotta say that having to use a controller, that’s not marked for the DVD and has a wire attatched, takes away from the DVD experience.
Luckily, though, Sony’s coming out with a separate remote control for watching DVD’s (no wire, either). Even luckier is that there are already 3rd party DVD controllers out. It would have been great to come with the system, though. That’s what they’re doing in Japan, now. Those that bought it before are getting remotes sent to them. Maybe they’ll do something similar here.
I hate you! I hate you all!!! I’ve tried and tried to buy one but they’re never in stock and the waiting lists are so long…
All of the local Best Buys have oodles of PS2 games and accessories for sale, including a DVD-controller wireless remote (it’s only $15-20, IIRC, too).
But, there’s not a PS2 to spare…
My PSX2 is still in the box. I was hoping to get $500.00 for it but got lazy on trying to sell it until now.
There IS a remote control for the PSX2 dvd. The first batch sucked so they made a new batch which should work.
One thing, if you run the signal thru a vcr first, macrovision may kick in so you might want a tv with a/v connectors but thats the same for any dvd player.
Also, there are lots & lots of really fun accessories not endorsed by Sony from lik-sang.com in that psx2 section. Wow what fun stuff!
My roommate just sold his PS2 for $510 on e-bay. So if you have the cash they are always in stock at the auctions!
$510 on eBay? Lucky guy! Last I checked, there were something like 104 pages of PS2 auctions. I ditched that and am selling mine on Amazon auctions… </hijack>
To answer the OP, the PS2 makes a decent DVD player, and there are “passthru” remotes now (have the IR receiver and controllers plugged in at the same time), though you’ll want to go to a site like http://ps2.ign.com or something to check reviews since there are crappy remotes and crappy batches (still) out there. One fun feature is that some of the remotes have the buttons (play, ff, etc.) mapped to the Japanese PS2 buttons.
But, yeah, there are sometimes “skips” between scenes, and I’m not sure if this is when the movie goes from one chapter to the next or if it’s something else. I’ve also had some issues watching anime on it, which is strange (quasi-overlapping demographics and all) and seems related to jumping to scenes that have a single color taking up most of the screen (though this could have been a single DVD, YMMV).
As for playing PS1 games, there’s a menu that gives you two options that you can toggle on and off (though why anyone would turn them off is beyond me): loading times, and texture smoothing. The first loads games faster and the second is (supposed to) make them look better. I’ll provide a link to an article on this later since I personally never used it (too busy playing Madden 2001 and all).
Sorry for the rambling nature of this post, not enough sleep…
I am very happy with the DVD quality of mine. The only nitpick I would have is the controllers (even if you buy an aftermarket wireless) leave something to be desired… more than a little awkward. The picture quality is just as good as any mid-range DVD player, and if anyone says anything otherwise, they are biased for some reason. They are either not using comperable video hook ups to the TV or monitor, or are using an inferior TV. There was a press conference about the very subject from Sony some months ago (I think I read this at Daily Radar, sorry, I don’t have the URL for the exact article) and to address the issue, sony had two identical TVs showing the same DVD movie at the same time. The press was to pick out the best picture (the DVD players were hidden), and while the difference was indistinguishable to most people, the PS2 came ahead of Sony’s own dedicated player. That should be enough to convince anyone.
I have my PS2 hooked up with the optional S-video cable. The picture quality is great. The audio is LQ in my opinion. And the control of the DVD, even with a remote, sucks. Their menuing is too clunky.
“My roommate just sold his PS2 for $510 on e-bay. So if you have the cash they are always in
stock at the auctions!”
Sort of. A lot of fake bidders. First day PSX2 came out there were 17,000 auctions for them, now about 600. It’s very tricky to weed out the real sellers & buyers. Ebay cannot do that. They are closing around $460 today from legitmate sellers.
So you guys with a PSX2 do you use the vertical stand? I read some stores put a sticker on the dvd which can cause it to wobble quite a bit. Our local store has special ones made that are only in the middle.
I’m using the stand and no troubles yet. Haven’t used any games/movies with an off-center sticker yet, though. Never even thought of that, actually…that could suck.
Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for the opinions. I have a home theater system, and this would be wired into all of that (big screen TV, surround sound, etc). We just haven’t got around to buying a DVD player yet, as we don’t rent a lot of movies. I figured this would be good enough until we bought another, but I’d heard differing opinions on the quality.
Thanks all!
Zette
Zette, actually I was in the exact same position as you. I knew I wanted a DVD, and I knew I would get a PS2 eventually, so I thought what the hell, I have nothing to loose and killed 2 birds with one stone.
The DVD quality is awsome, and the sound is awsome. As I mentioned earlier, the only SLIGHT drawback is the controller. I have hopes though the Sony controller that is coming out will squash that problem. Oh yeah, you have to go to the machine to shut it off (or make it sleep) no remote function, yet.
I keep mine horizontal with all my other stereo equipment. I have also had no vibration probs either.
Heck, if you can get one for retail or close to, Zette, do it!
Eric