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Games Entertainment

PS2 Getting DVD Upgrade & Progressive Video? 288

Posted by CmdrTaco from the insert-lust-here dept.
blues5150 writes "ZDNET is reporting that Sony is going to be upgrading the PlayStation 2. According to the article "The new design will support most recordable DVD media, including DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. The new PS2 will also support "progressive scan", a playback method used by some TV sets for clearer images, and it will come with a built-in infrared receiver for using a remote control to control DVD playback." The bad part of all of this is that they don't have dates for availability in North America or Europe."
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PS2 Getting DVD Upgrade & Progressive Video? More

PS2 Getting DVD Upgrade & Progressive Video?

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  • Hmmm all blank media? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by st0rmcold ( 614019 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:33AM (#5735634) Homepage

    This is a weird step, all of the protection schemes sony has been putting on the PS2, and now they are taking steps to allow dvd-r/dvd-rw to be completly supported, maybe they think backing up is fair use? Isen't sony part of the RIAA? I am a bit confused.

    • Re:Hmmm all blank media? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:37AM (#5735685)
      Sony is a very large company. There are constant battles being fought between the different parts of it. You think sony music entertainment enjoys the fact that sony sells pocket mp3 players?

      Always conflict within sony.

      • its more that sony is the only real computer manufacturer that provides content along with the machines to play it on. off the top of my head, I can't think of any other company that spans such a broad range of products.

        in fact, I forget the guys name, but there was a push by one of the CMFICs at sony to provide mainly content and move away from the hardware level like 10 or so years ago. i dont think that it was implemented well, so you still have the conflict within the company.
    • This is a weird step, all of the protection schemes sony has been putting on the PS2, and now they are taking steps to allow dvd-r/dvd-rw to be completly supported, maybe they think backing up is fair use? Isen't sony part of the RIAA? I am a bit confused.

      You know it might not be so weird. Those who aren't completely anti Sony have said that one of the reasons that Sony has been so reluctant to open the PS2 up more is that since they also manuf. other consumer electronics and provide content that they

    • Re:Hmmm all blank media? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jm91509 ( 161085 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:40AM (#5735706) Homepage
      Just because the machine supports *rw media doesn't mean that you'll be able to play copied games. In the same way as the original ps2 can play cdrw audio cd's but you can't play cdrw'd games without a chip afaik.

      If it supported mp3 and dvdrw then happy days. Alas it appears not.

      Karma

      • Re:Hmmm all blank media? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by st0rmcold ( 614019 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:41AM (#5735715) Homepage

        Agreed, but one of the hurdles was that cheap media didn't work and it turned away potential modchipers, same with the xbox (you can replace the crappy drive with a real dvd-rom and play everything tho).

        • Hmmm (Score:3, Informative)

          by goldcd ( 587052 )
          I can't speak for everybody - but when I chipped my Xbox I dropped in a big 120 Gig drive. I toyed with the idea of buying a DVD writer, but it seemed way too much trouble and expense. Much easier just to store everything on the Xbox Hard Disk and have your own Gaming jukebox.

      • I don't see why it wouldn't support mp3's. My DVD player is from Sony too and it supports mp3 cd-r's.

    • Re:Hmmm all blank media? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Playstation division of Sony is it's own little beast, completely seperate from the rest of the corporation. In fact, that's one of the reasons Playstation has been so successful -- the Playstation executives completely went around the rest of the company so as to not deal with many of the issues currently hampering Sony Electronics.

      Funny thing is, the heads of Sony see the Playstation business model as the way to go, but it's directly at odds with Sony's media interests. Only time will tell who wi
    • especially in Japan where it is looked down upon. Improving the drive read ability isn't really going to increase piracy anyway, your console would still need to be chipped - and the sort of person who chips his PS2 is the sort of person who's going to have been fiddling with resistors to get it working now anyway.
      Sony is probably responding to the person who's bought his lovely Vaio laptop, bought his lovely Sony DVD writer to record his holiday video shot on his Sony Video Camera and is very pissed off w
    • "...maybe they think backing up is fair use? Isen't sony part of the RIAA? I am a bit confused. "

      No, they're just catering to the Slashdot crowd under the hope that they'll buy a unit for giggles and then eventually want to play games on it.

      I don't think they realize that a cheap DVD player has all that except the PS2 bit. Let's face it, who doesn't have a PS2 today who's waiting in line to get one?

  • vcd (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JBlaze03 ( 663162 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:33AM (#5735637)
    Wonder if it will support VCD's this time... that would be great

  • No firewire? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:33AM (#5735641)
    Hmmm, is the removal of the firewire port a sign that Sony is moving away from making PS2 a digital hub type appliance. Perhaps they are focusing on PS3 instead in this regard. It's interesting that they never really did anything in this regard. Even having simple dv editing (once you add a hd) would have been possible and one could have imagined that you could have done some cool effects.
    • I've had a play with firewire on my home PC and for moving stuff around its great. Being able to do real time video on my machine from camcorder amke life fun. However looking at a monitor ain't. This is one of those things that would of been nice but not surprised it didn't happen. Not really their target market

      Rus

    • Re:No firewire? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Palshife ( 60519 )
      After running Linux on my PS2, I'm positive that running any kind of video editing software on it would be a death wish.

      Hell, it has enough trouble just editing stills. For video editing you need a really powerful processor, but you also need RAM, and lots of it. The PS2 only has 32 MB.
      • The firewire port was never intended to be for DV editing. It's for multiplayer games and plugging in other accessories, like fancy controllers and the like. I don't think they ended up releasing any of the accessories, though.

  • Firewire Port (Score:5, Informative)

    by bparrish ( 144030 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:33AM (#5735643) Homepage
    Sony's also getting rid of the iLink/FireWire/1394 port, some people used this for linking multiple PS2's for multiplayer.

    • Re:Firewire Port (Score:2, Informative)

      by iainl ( 136759 )
      The only major titles to use the firewire for linkup were GT3 and GT: Concept, as far as I know. Its a bit of a bummer not having that any more, but current rumour suggests that GT4 will see a switch to using the Broadband Adaptor for network races instead, which makes sense now.

      Is there anything else I'm missing with the linkup front? I thought Timesplitters 2 was going to use it, but then dropped the idea.
    • Not without precident. The original Playstation lost many external interfaces during its life. First to go were the RCA line-outs (audio + video), and later the never-officially-used expansion port was dropped.

      This was partially how they managed to reduce the cost of the device over the years. Less parts to purchase and manage, install and test, and finally rework if broke. You can make surprising savings by trimming little things off your hardware.

  • but i thought... (Score:2, Funny)

    by jaden ( 22302 )

    why upgrade the ps2 when the ps3 is coming out this year ? ;-)

  • PS2 has progessive scan now. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:34AM (#5735650)
    At least mine does. Had an original one that didn't. Got this one at BestBuy about 4 months ago, and it has progressive scan as an option in the setup. It requires the use of a component cable, such as the monster GameLink(TM) 400.
    • Mine has component out, but it's 480i, not 480p. Do you have an exact model # for your progressive scan model?
      • Mine has always had progressive scan, too ... yours probably does as well. The problem is most games don't use it and it is enabled on a per-game basis. The only game we have that uses progressive scan is Tekken 4, so we switch to the DTV input on our TV for that (it's weird, our Samsung calls component 480i "DVD" and component 480p "DTV"). We don't see much difference since our TV has a scan doubler, but it does make it somewhat more crisp.

        Perhaps this announcement means that Sony will enable progressive

  • Upgrade (Score:5, Informative)

    by rf0 ( 159958 ) <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:34AM (#5735652) Homepage
    Will there be an upgrade path for those of us with existing PS2's. Also I hope Sony are going to make this a PS2 - Special Edition, i.e. upgrade the CPU/graphics as well and as such they give it the ability to play new special games that won't work on the original PS2.

    Now if they could have a special mode on new games that would take advantage of that cool.

    Also the i.Link (firewire port is going). Only time I've seen it used is in a 3 screen display og Gran Turismo 3

    Rus

    • Sadly, no. (Score:3, Informative)

      by MtViewGuy ( 197597 )
      I think due to the design of the PlayStation 2's highly-integrated mainboard you can forget about upgrading the video output of current PS2's in the North Ameerican and European to support progressive scan video. =(

      It's more likely that we'll see new-production PS2's that will sport progressive-scan outputs using the three-RCA connector component video connection found here in the USA or the special component video connector used in Europe.

    • Re:Upgrade (Score:5, Funny)

      by WD ( 96061 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:42AM (#5735721)
      Also I hope Sony are going to make this a PS2 - Special Edition, i.e. upgrade the CPU/graphics as well and as such they give it the ability to play new special games that won't work on the original PS2.

      Yeah... It's going to be called "PS3"
    • Sony's upgrade path is the same as Nintendo's upgrade path for the Game Boy SP: a big fuck you.
    • The entire direction of Sony is to make sure older games play on newer hardware... although PS2.1 or whatever is an interesting idea. Besides EA, who can afford to develop major games for 2 different specs of the PS2 ? Transition period was bad enough from PS to PS2 :(

  • Still waiting on VCD and other rants (Score:5, Informative)

    by doublem ( 118724 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:35AM (#5735653) Homepage Journal
    And of course this will be another $300 for those of us who already bought the thing.

    If we want the new features that is.

    I'm not even THINKING about it until I hear it supports VCDs. I know the quality of a VCD is terrible compared to DVD, but a VCD is comparable to my camcorder and is sometimes the only format in which some Chinese and Japanese material is available.

    I was PISSED when I tried to play a VCD of my sister's wedding in my PS2 and it didn't work.

    The sickening thing is that the DVD player in the PS2 was based on hardware that CAN play VCDs, they just disabled it.
    • Not trying to be rude buy why not just spend $100 on a new DVD player than can play VCD's? Surely cheaper, easier and you can get it now

      Rus
      • Not rude at all.

        I am actually planning to get a region free player a friend of mine recommends. The running joke is that "It plays pancakes." Darn thing even plays mpeg videos that have been burned to CD. (Only way to see some of the now banned Disney WWII propaganda films. Find "Educated for Death" to see some disturbing old material)

        I'm just annoyed that someone buying it in a few months will have better video quality, a remote that can power the damn thing down and a few other features I would have
        • (Only way to see some of the now banned Disney WWII propaganda films. Find "Educated for Death" to see some disturbing old material)

          I would hardly say they are banned, one of them one an academy award in 1942 (the one where Donald dreams he lives in Nazi Germany). They aren't shown, I don't think, because they aren't in good taste and contain many stereotypes which are offensive to quite a few folks these days.

          It IS out there, and is not banned, but there is a reason it is not shown on the Disney Channe
      • 100 bucks? I can find two or three right now that retail for about 60.
    • the PS2 doesn't play VCDs? seriously? thats weird, Sony even released a version of the PS ONE that played VCDs! came in a white box i think, though i only ever saw one once in s'pore.
    • No kidding. I too was furious that the PS2 wouldn't play VCD or SVCD. A number of Sony's other DVD players also don't support VCD, so I suppose it shouldn't be a huge surprise, but it
      s still a major disappointment. No cdr photo cd support either.

      I'm glad they made the PS2 quieter - I was disappointed with how noisy it was compared to my PSX.

      I wish they offered a high speed DVD drive, thought - the game load and access times from the standard DVD are pretty bad for computer gamers. For a few bucks they cou

  • photos of SCPH 50000 on i4u (Score:5, Informative)

    by i4u ( 234028 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:35AM (#5735660) Homepage
    Sony SCPH 50000 [i4u.com]
  • Allthough no date is given this sure is good news. The PS2 will continue to grow as a replacement for a some other devices. Consider running linux on it, watching DVD (home brew or not I don't care), and game all you want and all this on your TV screen. Other points are the thing isn't realy ugly and therefor easily accepted in the living room, it's quite so the noise won't bother you too much.

    It could be a poor man's PC if you ask me

  • WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brandorf ( 586083 ) <brandorf@brandorf.com> on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:38AM (#5735686) Homepage
    Why age they getting rid of the Firewire Port? I actually have games that us it! I never understood the logic of putting expansion bays on products, then, because of "lack of support" remove it later, after I have something that uses it, forcing an interesting situation. Probbably I won't be able to use the Linux kit with the new model either. I'm willing to bet that the US release ditches the HD slot as well, as it seems that there is little chance of it being used outside of the linux kit.
    • Extra revenue from people buying PS2 for firewire port Consider the original Playstation. First the phono outputs on the back of it went, then the expansion port making each successive model cheaper to produce. If anybody ever chipped then they'll know how much simpler it got inside. Started off as multilayer board, then single double sided, then single sided, then the whole thing was shrunk even further for the PSOne.

  • burned dvd support? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by thadeusPawlickiROX ( 656505 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:38AM (#5735688)
    I'm really suprised that burned DVD's will be supported. It looks like the reasoning is for DVD movie playback, but to me it looks like its inviting movie/game piracy. There must be more to it then just playing any burned DVD, but whatever protection is used is just asking to be hacked. I really don't see where Sony is going with this one.
    • There must be more to it then just playing any burned DVD, but whatever protection is used is just asking to be hacked. I really don't see where Sony is going with this one.

      Remember that Sony sell DVD burners. It's odd, at the moment, that I can burn my DVD on Sony equipment but not play it back on Sony equipment.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    • Um, in case people don't realize this - my PS2 already *does* support DVD-R discs. Granted, they have to be Verbatim Brand DVD-R discs, but it will read them just fine. I have a lot of home movies on them, and they work great. If you buy cheaper dvd-r discs though, they skip like nothing else, so maybe Sony is simply making the PS2 handle those better.
      • I have played both a DVD-R and a DVD+RW in my PS2 within the last week. The +RW was Meritline no-name disks, and the -R was from a sampler, I don't even know what brand it was. Both played perfectly.

        • Re:burned dvd support? (Score:3, Informative)

          by hawkbug ( 94280 )
          Yeah, it depends on what type of PS2 you have. For instance, if you have SCPH-300001, good luck with getting any DVD-R to work. I have found CompUSA brand to work. With SCPH-39001 though, a lot more options are there for you.
  • This sounds like a marginal addition to the PS2, trying to attract the consumer who'd like a console and a DVD player, and for whom this would provide a good opportunity to get both in one package. While I can't imagine that this will be a huge boost to PS2 sales, it'll hopefully keep things going until the next generation console comes along...

  • Japan release date (Score:2, Informative)

    by KillerCow ( 213458 )
    The bad part of all of this is that they don't have dates for availability in North America or Europe

    From i4u [i4u.com]:
    On May 15th Sony starts selling the SCPH 50000 model of the PS2 in Japan. The biggest improvement is the support of DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R und DVD+RW. DVD-RAM. Additionally the annoying Fan noise was reduced significantly (30%). The TV Output supports progressive scan now for better screen quality on high-end TV-Sets. The updated remote control (SCPH-10420) features an eject button and can also po

  • Some observations about the changes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:44AM (#5735732)
    Progressive scan and a quieter fan. This makes the PS2 much more compatible with home theatre setups. One of the things I don't like about the current PS2 is it's extremely loud fan (well if you're watching "quiet" movies or listening to music).

    One "benefit" to Sony with supporting dvd-r is that they will probably sell more dvd-r burners now. Someone mentioned vcd, it makes no sense to support vcd as doing so will not drive more sales of other Sony products. I know that I'm more likely to buy a burner now since we use the PS2 as our primary dvd player and we are constantly worrying about the kids scratching up their dvd's.
    • Are you sure your PS2 ins't broken? My (version 3) PS2 has a fan so quiet I have to put my ear right next to it to hear it running. The DVD drive's seeks are way louder than the fan for instance.
      • My PS2 is extremely loud as well, I've often though of opening it up and replacing the fan in it. Hmph. Project.
      • Are you sure your PS2 ins't broken?

        It is more likely a matter of preference. For example, my PS2's fan is tolerable, in general, but is clearly audible during quiet periods of movies or classical music. If your PS2's fan is really quiet, you may be lucky, where manufacturing variations erred in your favor, or its location causes the sound to be absorbed or reflected away somehow.
  • Many of the initial purchasers of the PS2 in Japan bought itfor the DVD playback feature. DVD players were still on the pricey side in Japan when the PS2 was released, so it was actually cheaper to get a PS2 and use that for DVD playback.

    Sony sold a huge number of PS2s in Japan for the launch, but didn't see the launch game sales to match the console sales. DVD movie sales in Japan, however, skyrocketed at the launch of the PS2.

    The PS2 was never used as much for DVD playback in North America. Neither

    • I bought a PS2 tp play games AND watch movies.
      So did my friend.

      I want my game consoles to play games

      Go buy a GameCube then.

      I want my console to play games, play games from the previous console, play movies, play music, and some day, make me breakfast (playstation 6 or something). I want the bang for my buck.

      I bought a PS2, now I don't need to buy a DVD that would eat away precious living-room real estate and precious bank account money.

      Oh, and the cool thing about the PS2 is that since I allready had

  • My DVD-R's already work in it! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wumarkus420 ( 548138 ) <wumarkus@NOSpAm.hotmail.com> on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @09:51AM (#5735797) Homepage
    That's strange - I wonder why they would want to support more formats that are currently be used for piracy, especially when most DVD-R's work fine. What they should really focus on is the quality of the lasers they use in their drives. They are already on the 7th or 8th revision of the PS2 board, and they STILL haven't gotten a decent laser that doesn't crap out after a few months of heavy use. When I bought Xenosaga (their first dual-layered DVD game), I had to swap my PS2 with a friend's whose was only a month old. It would skip on my PS2 and two others I tried the game on. I even returned it for another disc with the same results. Get your laser to work with existing media properly before opening the door to even more piracy!
  • Here's my take. It won't cost more. Your average user doesn't know what progressive scan is, and they're not going to understand why a video game machine that cost X yesterday costs X+Y today when it seemingly does the same thing. My guess is that Sony has come up with ways to simplify the internal design of the PS2, and while they're doing that, they've decided to add some functionality (IR, Progressive Scan, etc.) If you look at the history of consoles, they almost always do a redesign of the console

  • Xbox has already done this (Score:5, Informative)

    by Glyndwr ( 217857 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @10:06AM (#5735913) Homepage Journal
    The Xbox has already been through a major hardware revision (v1.0 to 1.1) which offered many of the same improvements: it eliminated a 40mm fan from the GPU, which quietened the unit considerably, and replaced the bloody awful Thomson DVD drive with a shiny Samsung that can, for the first time in an Xbox, play CD-Rs (note that some units do still come with the middle-of-the-road Philips drive though). Oh, and it has a 20gig hard disk instead of the 8 in the original Xbox, too.

    Funny how Sony made a song and a dance about it and Microsoft didn't, though. Not like MS to miss a marketing trick.

    • What's the easiest way to determine your Xbox's hardware rev?

      • Take it to pieces :o)

        Seriously, there's a way of telling from the serial numbers but I don't know it offhand. I've only ever ripped them to bits.

        Some links for you:
        http://www.xbox-scene.com/
        http://www.xboxh acker.net/

        Aha, here's what you're after:
        http://www.xbox-scene.com/versions.php
    • It's still only an 8 GB or 10 GB (formatted so only 8 GB is useable) drive in the Xbox, depending on the drive manufacturer. The console is only designed to natively read the 8 GB, so putting a 20 GB drive in there would just be a waste of money; since MS would be wasting 60% of the potential. They only waste 20% of the potential using the 10 GB drives.

      Uncle Thursday
      ---Too many posts, not enough witt.---

      • Re:Still only 8 GB HDD (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Glyndwr ( 217857 )
        I have read up on this and I stand corrected -- I saw a 20,000,000 number on the top of a machine I had in pieces a week ago and must have misread it. I realise the extra space would be wasted but I just figured that MS had bought larger drives because no-one makes 8gig ones anymore, making it cheaper to waste 60% of the disk than to hold a production line open just for the Xbox.

        The disk I was looking at had instruction on the sticker on the top of it that walked you through running fdisk and putting it in

  • I Feel Slighted... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Finlandia ( 666116 )
    Damn...Companies sure know how to screw their loyal fans. I bought my PS2 the week it came out. First, there were the price cuts. These are somewhat understandable, with competition and all, but it burns my ass paying $100 more for the same product. Then, it was a cheaper PS2, plus games bundled in. Now, it's a PS2.1. Shoot, I can understand lower prices or pack-in games, but giving the system features, ahhhhh, it screws over the loyal.

  • ironic (Score:2, Funny)

    by deus_X_machina ( 413485 )
    whooooa, wait a second... on one hand, sony is a major critic of recording media, citing in their case against Napster (along with the RIAA) that CD/R sales are up but CDs are down. The music industry, which Sony is a major player in, has been trying to devolop CDs that won't work in a PC, and CD players that won't read CD/Rs.
    Then on the other hand, now they're implementing DVD drives that can read actually DVD/Rs. Jesus, next thing you know, Sony might start devoloping devices that help you listen to mp

  • Progressive Scan (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kirby-meister ( 574952 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @10:41AM (#5736246)
    The Playstation 2 has been able to do progressive scan for awhile now, but only for games. This update will allow DVD playback in progressive scan mode (this is assumed by how the story is wording it, as it mentions the upgrades are mostly for DVD playback - it never specifically says "for DVD playback" but hell Sony demoed progressive scan mode on a PS2 years ago). Sony didn't want the PS2 cutting into its high-end DVD players' sales at the beginning of the PS2's lifespan. Now that it is very cheap to produce, selling more PS2s could probably bring in more net profit.

    For reference, I believe The Getaway, SOCOM: US Navy Seals, and Guitly Gear X2 are examples of games that do prog scan output. And only in 480p.

    My guess is, since the hardware support is already built in, this is a dvd driver update and might become available to all of those who had already bought our PS2s. Of course, I could be wrong completely...

    • The problem with making it a driver update is that it's not just a matter of magically transforming the video. Creating progressive scan output requires use of one of several different possible algorithms to 'de-interlace' the video, and some methods are better for some video formats (movie, television, etc) than others. A 'generic' progressive scan DVD player could just use a single deinterlacing method, but the results could be worse than a standard interlaced player (I've heard of one Philips DVD playe
  • at least thats what a few friends have said. They burnt a DVD with a sony A500 and the disc played.

  • American/Euro versions at E3, I'd expect (Score:3, Informative)

    by grahamwest ( 30174 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @11:04AM (#5736459) Homepage
    It's less than a month to E3 and Sony will want to make any announcement about a western version of this system there, to maximise publicity.

    The SCPH-50000's big difference is that it supports progressive scan for DVD playback, has an integrated IR receiver and removes the firewire port.

    Games have always been able to do 480p on all consumer PS2s. Very few games do this because you need a 720x480 framebuffer instead of the usual 640x448 or 512x448. This is because the pixel clock is 1440 units per scanline in 480p instead of 2560 in 480i - you can only set whole multiples of clocks per pixel, hence the constraints. No consumer PS2 has ever had progressive scan DVD playback. Since Xbox doesn't do progressive scan for DVDs either this is a nice little sales bullet point for Sony.

    Sony absolutely will not change the CPU or GPU in any way games can detect. Their whole business model is based around games having as large a potential market as possible. As soon as you split the hardware base like that you split your market. This is also why they won't add controller ports.

    The removal of the firewire port is surprising to me given that GT3 uses it for system link play (and for the cool 3-monitor single player view) but I would imagine market research told them not enough people are using it for it to be worthwhile. Either that or people are standardising on USB or Ethernet.
  • One of my big complaints about the PS2 is its slow load time compared to the GC and (to a lesser extent) the Xbox.

    Anybody know if this updated box will improve the speed at which games load? I seem to remember the PS1 had a couple different iterations with different speed CD-Rom drives, hopefully this will be along the same lines?

  • PS2 can support DVD+R/RW now (Score:5, Informative)

    by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @11:36AM (#5736801)
    .. if you have the right model.

    I bought my PS2 the day they came out, as a dual-use DVD player and console. Worked fine for about a year and then I got bit by the now-infamous Disk Read Error.

    After the usual cleanings and whatnot the problem degraded to the point where I just got fed up and bought a brand new PS2. This time, I checked the model numbers very carefully. Here's what I found... there have been at least 7 revs, all with new capabilities. The first number of your serial indicates what you have:

    Serial Number on rear of machine begins with:

    version 1 = serial number (refer to yellow rectangle in right of image) start with "U1" and has 10 case screws.

    version 2 = serial number (refer to yellow rectangle in right of image) start with "U0" and has 10 case screws.

    version 3 = serial number (refer to yellow rectangle in right of image) start with "U2" and has 10 case screws.

    version 4 = serial number (refer to yellow rectangle in right of image) start with 'U3' 'U4' 'U5' or a 'U6' and has a total of 8 case screws.

    version 5 = model number contains the letter 'R' (refer to the red rectangle in right side of image) at the end (example SCPH-30001 R).

    version 7 = 3900X is the new PS2 Version 7 (what I have)

    Once you have esatblished what version you have, examine the limitations using this chart:

    Version 1 - Basic playstation 1&2 Games no dvd-r,dvd-rw compatability, NO DVD+R, NO DVD+RW COMPATABILITY

    Version 2 - Basic playstation 1&2 Games dvd-r,dvd-rw compatability, NO DVD+R, NO DVD+RW COMPATABILITY

    Version 3 - Basic playstation 1&2 Games dvd-r, compatability, NO DVD+R, NO DVD-RW,NO DVD+RW COMPATABILITY

    Version 4 - Basic playstation 1&2 Games dvd-r compatability, NO DVD-RW, NO DVD+R, NO DVD+RW COMPATABILITY

    Version 5 - Basic playstation 1&2 Games dvd-r compatability, MILD DVD-RW, MILD DVD+R, MILD DVD+RW COMPATABILITY

    SECOND GENERATION PS2 VERSION 7 - (SECOND GENERATION PS2) Basic playstation 1&2 Games DVD+R,DVD+RW,DVD-R,DVD+RW compatability

    Also, the latest version (available now) does away with the 2MB code that had to sit on your 8MB card just to use the DVD remote. It also seems a bit faster to load, and the fan noise is quieter.

  • Upgrade (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dmarx ( 528279 )
    Will there be any way to upgrade exististing PS2s when the new drive comes out, or will the purchase of a new unit be necessary?

  • Straiten a couple things out... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Loto_Bak ( 660238 ) on Tuesday April 15, 2003 @12:00PM (#5737055)
    FYI this model will probably be dubbed the v9 console by the ps2 community.

    v8 seemed to be a test bed for some new anti DVD-r protection. They added some extra checks for DVD media on this model (which have already been cracked by two mods).
    Bottom line is that new DVD game media checks were added on the v8 console, these are most deffinatly going to roll over to the v9 if not getting improved in the process. This is to protect sony from burned games since the console will read burned media so well now.

    As for progressive output, yes the ps2 had support for progressive output but in games only, DVD progressive output requires a de-interlacer which the current PS2 models do NOT sport. It is impossible for the current ps2 models to output progressive DVD movie output.

    This new model will also allow the remote to turn the console on/off and eject the drive tray with a newer model of remote. The older remote requires the controller port IR dongle and does not support eject power on/off features.

    As far as modding is concerned, its a wait and see situation. Hope is always there for compatability with v8 compatable mods but sony may have very well added some other sort of check.

    If it supported mp3 and dvdrw then happy days. Alas it appears not

    With a mod you can boot the divx player and play mp3s from there

    There is a new model comming soon (unknown when) SCPH-55000 that is speculated to include a 40gig HDD and NIC (Maybe modem also?). Exspected retail price is around US $350

  • If the new version played SVCDs and DVDs, it'd be worth it. If it played DivX, even better. Otherwise, I don't quite see the reason to upgrade ...

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