Well I’m one of the lucky ones who’ve gotten a PS2, and let me tell you something: It is the most beautiful thing you can run through your TV set, but the DVD player function of it is half-ass. I tried playing Fantasia 2000, thinking it would be the highest-end DVD I own to test out the PS2 and it did a damn good job. Now this got me thinking about selling my DVD player, and using that chunk of change to help pay for credit card bill for the PS2…good thinking, right? Well no, it wasn’t, and thank god I didn’t rush out and sell it, 'cause I put in the Criterion edition of Seven Samurai and it stuttered more than Mel Tillis on crystal meth. :mad:
This pisses me off, and I am totally disappointed in Sony’s job of handling this whole PS2 fiasco, but you know what…I’m glad I bought the damn thing anyways. SSX is just about the most fantastic gorgeous game ever made, and Time Splitters is a fucking hoot.
Now, I’ve read elsewhere that Sony’s tech support has acknowleged some flaws with dual-layered compatability in some of the units, and I have yet to call them myself, but has anyone else experienced this at all? I’ve looked for articles on the net discussing any DVD playback problems with the PS2, but so far, all I haven’t found anything that really describes the problems I’m having. If anybody has anything on this topic, please let met know.
Well, I haven’t had any trouble with dual layered discs. I played the first disc of Se7en: Platinum Edition, which is dual layered and I got the standard half-second pause at the change over in the layers. It played the movie wonderfully, actually.
Where I have encountered problems, however, is with rented, scratched discs. Yeah, I know, if they’re scratched bad they’re not gonna play well. But the PS2 seemed really sensitive. I put in a new copy of The Matrix and there was jumping at different places, going pixilated and stuttered like you were talking about. But I could go back and look at the same part and it would be find. So I took the disc out and took a look. I put it in right out of the package, so I’m not sure how it happened, but the disc had a bunch of little hairs all over it. Looked like eyelashes, only smaller and finer. Must have been something when it was being packaged. Anyway, cleaned it off, and it worked fine. Besides really scratched discs, it works fine. And I’ve been thinking that its reaction to scratches might be heightened by standing vertically (the way I have it).
I have had problems, though, playing PSONE games. Not if I just play them regularly, then it’s fine. But if I set the Speed to Fast and the Texture to Smooth (in options of the drivers menu). In some games it really improves everything, but in others FMV’s are skipped, walls are transparent, and there are glitches in certain spots. And these glitches change, too. Though in most games, there aren’t any. Strange.
Oh, and I’ve got to agree with you on SSx, awsome game.
I haven’t noticed any problems yet playing DVDs on it, (but I’ve only played about 7 discs on it). If there are problems, it might be due more to bad coding on the dvd itself, or at least unorthodox encoding. I’d check a DVD site for info on which discs might cause problems. My only beef with the player is that your forced to either use the PS2 controller or buy an external remote control.