New Sony PS2 remote is available. How is it? (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Brian]

I saw this at Best Buy today. Does anybody have this yet? I noticed it came with a disc to update the DVD driver. Could anyone comment on the remote, and what features the disc includes?
Thanks,
Brian
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[Morgan Jolley]

The HDD and the remote come with updated drivers for the DVD (the HDD comes with drivers for other stuff). I think the drivers fix any small bugs, like patches, and add a feature or two. There was supposed to be some thing that added to the playback, but I'm not sure.

 

[Brandon_H]

I got the remote today. I haven't played around with it a lot yet, but here's my initial impressions.
First off, it's a very nice remote for $19. Slim, but with good build quality. The buttons have a nice feel to them, and the plastic seems strong, unlike many of the third-party remotes.
The disc upgrades DVD drivers to 2.10U. Features added include A-to-B repeat, slow-mo, more OSD options for time, etc. The remote has buttons labeled for stop, play, pause, subtitle, angle and audio options, as well as numeric keypad. No more fumbling with controller.
Contrary to Internet rumors, progressive scan isn't supported, but the picture does seem a little better. Also, my PS2 now can play DVDs it previously had trouble with -- i.e., second disc for The Emperor's New Groove, supplemental disc for Toy Story box set.
The infrared receiver plugs into either controller port. There's no pass-thru but you can leave it in port 2.
You must have a memory card with about 2MB of space available to store the new drivers.
To close, I guess, I'll note that it includes two AAA batteries. All in all, a good purchase, I think.

 

[Richard_T]

Just a quick question, does it allow you to turn the PS2 on and off? That would be great!
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[BrianB]

The infrared receiver plugs into either controller port. There's no pass-thru but you can leave it in port 2.

Ack! That's a bummer - strange decision. The updated drivers sound *very* good.
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[Brandon_H]

Can't use it to turn PS2 on or off. That would have been nice, but it's not that big a deal to me since I have to get up to put a new DVD or game in anyway
The lack of a pass-thru is a bit vexing, too. I wonder why they didn't use the USB port for the IR receiver.
Those shortcomings aside, I certainly think the Sony remote is the one to go for.

 

[James St]

Brandon,
How well does the remote send a signal to the receiver in terms of distance and angle? I bought a remote at launch from Pelican and I have to get pretty close in front in order for it to work. I also have to push the buttons on remote twice. If the Sony remote doesn't suffer from any of these problems then I'll be picking one up very soon.

 

[Brandon_H]

Mine works from about 10 feet away through the smoked-glass door on my a/v rack. Haven't tried it from many angles, but both the remote and the receiver have a sort of semi-circular lens, so it looks like it should operate from odd angles.

 

[Patrick_L]

i'd be interested to know if the updated drivers fix the lip-synch issues that plague some of the players during dvd playback. if so, then i'm getting one.
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Patrick

 

[Brandon_H]

Haven't watched enough DVDs to know for certain, but I haven't noticed the lip-sync issues on the movies I have watched. My PS2 seemed to get out of sync only when I watched a DTS disc, and I've watched a couple of those since upgrading without incident.
Your mileage may vary.

 

[Richard_T]

Why haven't they invented a remote that could turn your PS2 on and off? I would think that would be a great selling point. Especially to the lazy people such as myself.

 

[Alan Wild]

Why haven't they invented a remote that could turn your PS2 on and off? I would think that would be a great selling point. Especially to the lazy people such as myself.

Given that this remote doesn't do it I imagine the hardware simply can't do it.
I solved this problem by plugginh my PS2 into my receiver so powering off my receiver takes care of the playstation.
Of course, I still have to turn it on by hand.
Also, I made a few mistakes at first when I needed to pause the game and run to the store or something. I would turn off the TV and receiver to save power and relize that I just destroyed my game.

-Alan

 

[GregK]

This thread seems to have slowed, but after the quick
1st impressions, does anyone have further comments or
details on what exact improvements are offered with
the DVD driver upgrade? Is the black level corrected?
Is the lip-sync issue corrected? What type of on-screen
displays are available with this upgrade?

 

[JeffreyH]

Just the same old on-screen stuff. I bought the remote the other day for $39 Can. I got one of the first PS2's out and have never had any problems with lip sync and never found a disk it had trouble playing (knock on wood).
The guy at the shop said PS2's wouldn't play "Art of War" before the software update but do after. Mine always played that dvd so I can't comment on that.
Anyway's it's a cool remote that works well, with good reception to the little IR box.
I think the software updates are worth the money for sure. The old fast forward drove me nuts, now it's plenty fast.
Everyone should pick one up.

 

[Patrick_L]

i'm also waiting for someone that has the lipsynch problem to post their results after installing the new drivers.
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Patrick

 

[James St]

I just picked one up today. In the past I had lip sync problems on several DTS titles. I've watched about an hour of Gladiator DTS and so far there has been none. I'll be watching American Beauty tonight to see it corrects the lip sync on that title as well.
[Edited last by James St on September 09, 2001 at 07:20 PM]

 

[GregK]

Thanks for the update James. ..Keep us posted on any
further observations. The lip sync report is welcome
news, for I too have lip-sync problems with DTS DVDs.
It also happens with DD DVDs, but not as bad.

 

[Jeremy Little]

I got this about a week ago and have just now sat down and started messing with it. First of all, the disc Ultimate DVD Platinum by Unipix, has a second disc with test patterns. The disc also has many scenes with selectable audio to compare pro-logic, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. This would NOT play prior to getting the DVD remote. It would say, "Please insert Correct Disc." After loading up the new driver software, these work. It does improve black level a little bit, but it is not a drastic improvement and the lip-sync problem I have never really seen.
Oh, and as for the menu, it remains the same. Like the stand alone Sony players, you press the display button to bring up the menu. Only on this one, the same PS2 display comes up like when you press select.

 

[Iain Lambert]

I've still not got a PS2 yet, but would anyone who has been using one of the multi-region adaptors like to comment on if the new DVD player upgrade breaks these? If I were to get one, it would need to cope with multi-region.

 

[BrianB]

I've still not got a PS2 yet, but would anyone who has been using one of the multi-region adaptors like to comment on if the new DVD player upgrade breaks these? If I were to get one, it would need to cope with multi-region.

It breaks it, Iain, but Datel already have patch codes on their website that work with the new drivers - you just go online, write them down, then enter them into the cart & viola, it's updated to work with the new drivers.
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