Ps2 DVD "horrible"? (1 Viewer)

[Andy Stocker]

Hi all,

I've been reading through threads trying to decide if I should get an Xbox to compliment my Ps2 and I've been seeing a lot of PS2 DVD complaints. I've heard that it is anywhere from bad to horrible, but not much detail on what exactly is bad. So what is the HTF peoples opinion on the PS2 DVD? I've been looking at a nicer DVD player (I don't have a HD TV so progressive scan doesn't seem like a big deal) but I wanted to just use my PS2 if I was getting descent quality from that. Now, like I said I hear alot of complaints. So please tell me why you don't like the PS2 DVD player. Is it worth me spending an extra $200-300 on another DVD player, I mean would I notice a BIG difference in image quality?

Thanks in advance,

Andy Stocker

 

[Bruce_S]

I've been using my PS2 as my primary dvd player since day one since the launch. The dvd playback isn't as 'horrible' as people making it out to be. Of course, I'm using the Monster Cable S-Video cable and i get excellent picture on my 27" TV. My only suggestion is to set your PS2 horizontally to avoid potential freezes or skipping. Also, make sure you get the Sony remote with updated driver (or borrow the driver from your friend) with added functions to make life easier, if you don't want to use your controller as your remote.

hope that helps,

bruce

 

[Iain Lambert]

Well, horrible is perhaps an overstatement unless you wanted the hideous original Japanese PS2, but I've never seen a standalone player do a worse job than the PS2 does. Basically, its a bit oversaturated, and looks like composite to me even when it isn't using the composite outs. Its still watchable, but I wouldn't recommend it as your main player.

 

[David_N]

Well I don't consider the PS2 to be a terrible player. I use it as a secondary player. The player itself is alittle loud if you sit too close to it. I find the video quiality to be good. But what does make me nervious is reading the reviews of most standalone Sony DVD players over at www.audioreview.com . Seems that several models of Sonys run into a C:13 error after extended use. I used to own a DVP-SV360 until it unfortunatly died of that death.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

It's not going to beat my Tosh SD6200, but it's an OK player if you are using a standard TV.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Oh don't get me wrong, its a perfectly acceptable alternative to not being able to watch DVD in bed, but my point was that its no better than the cheapest of cheap players I've seen. Its perhaps testament to the fact that hardward DVD decoding is so good on budget players these days, I suppose, rather than that the PS2 is really that terrible. My point was really, I suppose, that if DVD is your aim then buy a DVD player, and just consider the playback on a PS2 to be a bonus.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I've used it on some occasions and found it to be perfectly acceptable. DTS sounds quite nice on it and the playback was fine on my HD. The sound of the player is probably my biggest concern, and would be the only mark against it I have so far. If it were progressive, that would be incredible, but progressive players were luxury items when this was released (unlike the

 

[Joseph Young]

Here's another viewpoint.
I have been using my PS2 as my primary DVD player since day one, due to financial considerations. Before installing the drivers which came with the remote, I had ocassional lip-syncing problems. But with the exception of one disc (which was a very thrashed, damaged rental DVD from BB) I never had any problems with a disc 'not playing' in the PS2. Including several of my anime titles, which I had heard simply would not play in the PS2.
Perhaps I am not in a position to judge the DVD quality, but it looks far from horrible . On my 32FV27 WEGA, S-video makes a HUGE difference. There was a lot of color smearing with plain composite video, but S-video tightened up the color and contrast quite a bit. I also have optical audio running through a very very modest Sony receiver (with DD5.1 and DTS), and the DTS tracks in particular sound really nice.
In short, I don't know what PS2s other people are using, but even on a WEGA (where video problems are easy to spot) the word 'horrible' does not come to mind.
My AT&T 'digital cable' quality: Horrible.
Fox Lorber DVD quality: Horrible.
DVD players that don't downconvert anamorphic video resulting in a stretched, blurry image on my roomates' television: Horrible.
My PS2: Maybe not great but certainly not 'horrible.'
Just my opinion.
Joseph

 

[Jeff Barnett]

I think you have to take into consideration who calls it horrible and who likes it. I am 20 years old, into home theater for about 2 years, and I think it is excellent. I have compared it to a couple $200 DVD players, and I couldn't discern a difference. Now some of the guys on this forum CAN discern a difference. People who refer to it as horrible are probably accustomed to very nice systems, where as I am not. I have never had a single complaint about it, and I will continue to use it until it breaks or when I graduate in about 2 years. I think the bottom line is that if you would consider using a PS2 for DVD playback AT ALL, then it will probably look fine to you. The people who don't like it (and are very entitled to their opinion) would probably never really consider using anything but a stand alone DVD player. I had a friend recently who watched a DVD with me on my PS2 tell me "I had heard the PS2 wasn't worth having for playing DVDs, but that looked pretty good" Its all subjective. Does it look good to you?

Jeff

 

[Gary King]

I wouldn't call it horrible, but it certainly wouldn't qualify as a high-quality DVD player.

A website did a quantitative/qualitative review of the PS2's DVD quality (I forget the sight), and their final review was that the PS2 video quality was sub-par, but better than other low-end players available on the market at that time (Toshiba SD1600, Apex). Some things about it were superb (color gamut), others were very poor (timing on the component outputs, no black level setting), and the rest were just plain *wierd* (including a manual sharpness setting).

It doesn't handle scratched or damaged discs as well as most stand-alones, but if you aren't terribly anal retentive about image quality (and can accept a few interface foibles), it should suffice. Even the worst DVD players should look vastly superior to VHS.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

The biggest problem I have with mine is the "chroma bug", which shows a TON of dot-crawl on any reds in the picture, even using S-Video. Also, since my TV is set for minimal overscan, I've noticed it shows a black line at the bottom, and comparing it with my Pioneer DVL-909 it is blocking part of the picture, not raising it up (this won't be noticable on any set that's set up normally, but I like to have as much picture as possible on my screen- games on the PS2 do use the last few lines on the bottom.) I can also tell when discs are using Macrovision since the top will get dark and bent to the side, even though I'm not running it through a VCR! (The Pioneer has the Macrovision disabled, so HA!)

What's funny is some types of damaged discs won't play that do play on the Pioneer, but I did get one disc with a scratch on it that locked up the Pioneer but played fine on the PS2.

 

[Camp]

I would call DVD playback on the PS2 horrible. My points of refrence are a $600 Panasonic DVD player and a cheapo $180 Pioneer player (all hooked through my Wega XBR400 with component cables).

The PS2 cannot compare to either player. Blacks are where it looks the worst. It just cannot render dark scenes with any degree of precision. Add to that poor compatibility with a number of discs and you have a "horrible" DVD player.

 

[Scott L]

I would also say the PS2 DVD quality is horrible. I use the Monster S-video cable for a 32" Wega.
Gary I dunno which site said that the PS2 outperforms a Toshiba SD-1600, but I can assure you it was wrong. If it was a Home Theater site I would be even more disgusted. I compared the PS2 to my Toshiba SD-1200 numerous times and even my younger brother who's not into HT at all could tell the difference. The Toshiba is sharper, it better defines blacks, and played every single disc I threw in there.
Link Removed did an extensive review and I think this pretty much sums it up:

We need to say up front that the PS2 is a game console first and foremost. Its performance as a DVD player does not even match DVD players costing $100 less. So, if you are looking primarily for a DVD player, you can do better. If you want a game console that can double as a DVD player for the sake of convenience, then the PS2 might be what you are looking for. We are not reviewing this as a game machine here, only a DVD player.
...........
The video output is below par for a DVD player, and if you factor in that it plays games, it's still a poor DVD player. Now with that said, even a poor DVD player blows away VHS and laserdisc.

Bottom line: The ps2 will be an awesome DVD player to gamers who are on a budget, who hopefully do not look out for things such as motion artifacts. But for the rest of us, using the PS2 as a main player is not recommended.

 

[Tim_Speicher]

Also, make sure you get the Sony remote with updated driver (or borrow the driver from your friend) with added functions to make life easier, if you don't want to use your controller as your remote.

hope that helps,

bruce

I'm a little confused regarding the qoute from above. Did Sony release new drivers for the PS2 or did the poster mean that the new remote allows you added functions that previous remotes did not?

Thanks

-Tim

 

[Matt Birchall]

I'm a little confused regarding the qoute from above. Did Sony release new drivers for the PS2 or did the poster mean that the new remote allows you added functions that previous remotes did not?

Both.

Sony has included a boot disc which contains the updated drivers for the DVD player with the new remote. You have to boot the disc, and then save it to a memory card. You've got to have that memory card with the drivers saved on it whenever you want to use the DVD player and the remote with the "new" functions, IIRC.

The Sony remote does let you do new things that the other, older remotes did not: It's got the following buttons/features: Audio, Shuffle, Angle, Program, Subtitle, Repeat, Slow, Scan, Time, A-B, Display, Title, DVD Menu, and Return. Never bought a non-Sony remote but I'm pretty sure that they won't do most of those things that the Sony does. I think the new drivers and remote allow several speeds for Slow and Scan as well. Might be wrong.

The Sony remote, of course, has all of the standard buttons/functions, too, just like the old ones--Play, Pause, and so on.

-mwb-

 

[Sean Oneil]

The 'Chroma Bug' is not what causes those crawling dots along red edges (which is actually referred to as 'dot crawl') ...that is usually the fault of a bad comb filter in your TV set, and can usually be eliminated from the PS2 by using a component or S-Video cable. The chroma Bug is something else which causes horizontal banding through brightly saturated colors due to an MPEG decoder error.

The PS2 does have it, but you may not even notice it. The main problem with the PS2 as a DVD player lies in it's inability to recreate the lower half of the greyscale (IRE levels) accurately, which can cause dark colored areas in the image to drop off and blend in with the black areas -so you lose some detail in the shadows and on video with a lot of dark imagery.

You can compensate slightly, but then your blacks become more of a charcoal grey. Still, for most people, it will work fine as a DVD player. I had mine hooked up as the bedroom player until the TV blew up, and it did the job just fine. Odds are that if you have never been exposed to a high quality progressive scan DVD image, then you probably will be very pleased with the DVD output of the PS2 -assuming that you use an S-Video, or Component cable. Obviously, the component cable is the way to go if your TV can accept it.

You are probably better off saving your money until you upgrade your TV set and then spring for a progressive scan player. Until then, it probably won't be worth it to buy another interlaced player, especially if your TV is not that fancy and won't be able to discern much of a difference anyway.

 

[Richard Knight]

As a day one adopter, I'll come right out and say it:

DVD playback on the PS2 sucks. With or without the new drivers.

I can't speak in terms of quality - the image looks fine on my 27" Hitachi (S-Video), but disc compatibility is where I'd like to just buy as standalone unit.

Of the 40 DVDs I own, 10 have compatibility problems, usually resulting in the loss of 5-10 minutes around a layer switch. They play fine on my PC.

Of the rentals I've made over the last year (based on new releases with no visible scratches), the number rises to half!

Moulin Rouge - blam.

Sixth Sense - blam.

The Score, Princess Mononoke...it just keeps going.

Now, this could very well be slight, undistinguishable disc misprints, but given the lack of stores that are willing to constantly exchange DVDs based on them not working right with a PS2 (and its known compatibility problems), I can only suggest a stand alone player.

Richard

 

[Sean Oneil]

Just for the record, I have watched many DVDs on my PS2 over the course of the last year and none of them had any problems playing, or with layer switching -Including those stubborn Disney titles like 'Dinosaur'.

Maybe I just got lucky?

 

[ChrisV]

Same here, I've played hordes of DVDs over the past year on my PS2 and have had ZERO problems. None. This includes Moulin Rouge, The Sixth Sense, and the Score. So it seems that not all PS2s thave these problems. BTW, I got mine on launch day, so it's not a new model.

 

[Joseph Young]

I too have had ZERO compatability problems, at least 150 discs later.

Now that it has been mentioned however, I must agree with the black level problems in PS2 quality. I have never been exposed to a superior DVD player on my television but I have had problems distinguishing pure blacks from deep shadows on my PS2. If this is in any way improved in superior players, then I may need to consider a purchase.

I have another question for anyone who might know. There are many comet trails that linger behind moving images on several of my dvds, especially white shapes against a dark background. I'm not referring to motion blur - something I'm very used to, and I am also not referring to artifacting that makes moving textures look like they're standing still. I'm actually referring to literal "comet tails" that streak behind images when the colors are starkly opposed. My question is: could this be related to the PS2 playback?

Oh, and just to mention it, I cannot afford a television that supports progressive scan. I have a modest 32FV27 WEGA (not the XBR series) and I have no plans to invest.

Depending on the types of video we have been exposed to, our criteria on the term 'horrible' varies. After years of watching VHS and submitting to a continually modest income, I personally have to really pause before using the term 'horrible.' 'Sub-par' may be accurate at this point, though.

Cheers,

Joseph