Video Asylum

Posted by zaphod (i) on December 13, 2000 at 08:35:12:

In Reply to: Sony Playstation 2 for DVDs? posted by Steve L. on December 09, 2000 at 15:39:06:

I just rented a PS2 from my local blockbuster video. On the whole I'll say that it looks pretty good. Compared to my TOSHIBA sd-1200 I'd say the picture is a little less sharp, but I've heard the same thing about sony's stand alone dvd players. Not a criticism here, just a personal preference, but I like the Toshiba picture better. Still, the PS2 picture easily bests VCR,CABLE, or whatever else. I'm just running the sound through the tv with the analog outs so I'm satisfied with that- no comment on digital out though since I don't have a surround receiver.

Drawbacks are that the mechanism itself is very noisy- sounds like a computer cd-rom running fast- you know that whirring sound. if you've got an enclosed cabinet it should be fine. Also this is a rental unit so who knows what abuse it's endured.

The final straw is the control- awful. I guess that could be solved with buying a third party remote control, but I've heard nightmares about those too.

For just playing movies it looks fine though and would recommend it for that feature if you don't already have a dvd player. I'm probably going to buy the ps2 when its more readily available- I'm a game junkie. I'm still going to keep my stand alone dvd player for convenience though. I think the PS2 is a good first step, but the low end toshibas and pioneers can be had for around $200 and I think they are a better choice for movie watching.

AMAZON.com has a review of the PS2 as a dvd player in their playstation store site also.

hope this helps

oh yeah, the games- 1st generation software is less than mind blowing, but I suspect once the programmers get in there the quality will improve. It certainly has a lot of potential- Sony better develop it before X-BOX gets out of the chute if they want to keep their market share advantage.