In the PS2’s DVD menu (Press select while playing a DVD, select setup, then select audio setup) there is a setting to raise the volume level to “+1” or “+2”. Just make sure the optical audio is turned off in the menu, or it won’t let you change the volume level.
What version of the drivers do you have? (If you start the PS2 without a disc in you will get a menu telling you this).
This was a common complaint before Sony released the official remote control which also includes updated drivers. The drivers sit on the memory card, taking about 2MB.
It’s worth doing just for the remote - its the best one for the PS2 that I have seen.
I have the PS2 to be an okay DVD player, have never had any audio problems, but the picture quality is only average.
FWIW, that happens on some stand alone players as well. Forget exactly what causes it, though.
We have a similar problem but with a twist. The background music/sound is at a much higher volume than the voices. So in order to hear the voices, we have to turn the sound way up, but then the background noise is overwhelming and we have to turn it down. Although our tv has the component in(?not sure if that’s the exact term, but close) and, I believe, the S-something or other input, but and I understand that hooking up the PS2 to one of these will result in better video performance. Not sure if it will change the audio thing. It’s definitely annoying. I haven’t gotten too deep into figuring the whole thing out yet, though. (I know I needed to point that out cause you’d never be able to tell by my incredible grasp of the technological terms involved…what was that S-thingy again?)
“FWIW, that happens on some stand alone players as well. Forget exactly what causes it, though.”
On the back of the box of some dvds in some tiny lettering they say its a two layer dvd & that their might be a pausing between layers. Could that be it?
Salem I have noticed the same problem with the loud background/low voice thing it bugs the hell outta me!
Also, there’s these little clusters of white lines all over the place which get irritating…grrr…
But other than that, the PS2 is great!
Re: the low voice thing…
Is your PS2/DVD player hooked up to a home entertainment system of any kind? If so, odds are that your center speaker (where the voices usually come from) is not loud enough. Pump the sound on that up and you should be fine.
(No easy fix for direct-into-the-TV setups, that I’m aware of. Sorry.)
I had been using my PS2 as a DVD player, but found that I was accumulating a lot of DVDs that simply wouldn’t work in it, including Best of Show On disc of Buffy Season 2, and a bunch of MST3K DVDs. So I bought the DVD upgrade for my X-Box. All my “bad” DVDs work fine, and I’d swear I get a better picture on the X-Box than I did on the PS2.
I forgot to mention those points, but you’re right. There are copious DVDs that won’t work with the PS2, plus the video quality leaves something to be desired.
Miller, which MST3K dvds wouldn’t work? I have quite a few of them, and have never had a problem.
Chiming in with a “me too”- game volume too high, movie volume too low, none of my VCDs work. I’m using the optical out so the sound quality is good, but the constant adjustments are a pain.
For those people who can’t get certain DVD’s to work in their Playstation 2: maybe you just aren’t trying hard enough. Many of mine wouldn’t work on the first try. I was especially peeved when my Evil Dead super-special edition DVD failed to work. I decided to persevere. It may not have worked the first or the second time, but eventually it gave in. I suspect my Playstation may be developing a rudimentary form of intelligence. It is currently displaying typical signs of adolescent rebellion. You have to be firm with your Playstation. Let it know who’s boss. Make it realize the DVD isn’t going anywhere. Eventually, it will give in to your demands.
Oh, and whatever you do, don’t put it in the same room with an XBox. They are programmed to annihilate each other.
The Xbox might go Super Nova, thus annihilating everything within the Solar System.
Speaking of the Xbox, anybody here know what it’s like as a DVD player? I’ve watched two movies on a friend’s, and there appears to be some really bad pixellation going on.
The DVDs were rented, so there could’ve been some scratches, but I thought I’d ask just the same.
I always use my Xbox as a DVD player (And I’ve compared it to our PS2 DVD player, 2 stand-alone DVD players and 2 DVD-Roms) and it meets, if not exceeds most of them in quality. The pixellation you refer to could be the result of a highly compressed movie as I have not noticed any beyond the original source material. The Xbox’s DVD player is a lot more reliable than the PS2’s and has far fewer problems playing movies.
Fight Club and Spiderman don’t like to work on my ps2, but give in if you remain steadfast in your efforts to will them to work. One more vote for games at normal vol, DVD’s have to put it up to about 50% of full volume.
I plan on buying a full-fledged DVD playa soon anyways, so I’m not too worried about the less-than-idyllic ps2 capabilities.
Salem: my TV has its own presets for sound output, and if it’s on “Theater” or “Music” and I’m playing a sports video game, the crowd noise is all I hear. If your TV has such settings, try fiddling with them, you may be able to equalize the different sources a bit.
Miller, my PS2 wouldn’t play my BtVS dvds either (1 or 2).
I had the exact same problem as the OP, and then my husband did something to fix it. I scanned through the thread, so I don’t know if someone suggested what to do already…but anyway, when I see him tonight, I’ll ask.
Yeah, with my PS2 I have to put the volume up almost all the way to hear, the games are normal or a little louder than normal TV.
I also had trouble with a lot of DVDs in it - gold colored ones, mostly. When I realized that it was putting rings on the DVDs I was borrowing from friends I bought a $70 DVD player that plays MP3 CDs, too. Now I can listen to my condensed music collection while I do housework, too, not just in the bedroom (I hate having to change CDs every 8-12 songs, so I’ve made MP3 disks with 150 or so on each).
Mitchell worked once and then never again, no matter what I did. Eegah and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die were both spotty. Usually would work if I ran a lens cleaner first, but I’d have to do it every time I wanted to watch them. All of them play fine in the X-Box.