Really pissed up with Sony.

[Nuno]

Being quite satisfied with my Playstation 2 DVD performance, I spent 37€ on the Euro-AV cable just to get a RGB connection to my new TV-set.

Connect your console to the TV using the official Euro-AV Cable from Sony Computer Entertainment for the sharpest picture and colours ever. The Euro-AV Cable can be used with televisions that have a 21-pin (SCART) connector. Essential for all perfectionist gamers.

That´s from http://uk.playstation.com

Guess what? It won´t work when playing DVD´s. After a few research, it´s the know RGB green DVD screen. Some kind of copy protection, they have to be kidding me. So I have a PS2, a Sony TV-set with a RGB input, a Sony propriatary cable, and I can´t have the absolute best image quality because they are afraid I´ll copy DVD´s. Why does Sony sell DVD burners, then?

I´ll return the cable ASAP.

[dZeus]

do Sony stand-alone DVD players support SCART-RGB output? if so, I doubt it's got anything to do with copy-protection. Perhaps a marketing move by Sony to make you buy an expensive standalone DVD player for optimal image quality.

[Nuno]

PS2 does support DVD SCART-RGB output. It´s a matter of software. This is what I´ve found on about 5 minutes of research trying to figure what I was doing wrong.

What is DVD Green Screen ?
Sony in addition to Macrovision - a system which prevents recording DVDs onto VHS Video by making the picture go fuzzy if you try to record - also disabled RGB playback on PS2 for the same reason. So DVD Green (a green picture) as it is now known is the image you get if you try to play a DVD with an RGB SCART lead. To overcome the problem get the DVD Region X software which also has the added benefit detailed above.

From http://www.ps2home.co.uk/dvd.htm#Wha...D Green Screen

It can be fixed with a third party software, and I find that laughble.

Perhaps a marketing move by Sony to make you buy an expensive standalone DVD player for optimal image quality.

Why? Wasn´t complete DVD ability one of the biggest selling point about PS2? And it does deliever somewhat. With the recent price drop, I bought the PS2 for about as much as a decent DVD player.

I think I´ll try the S-video cable, that should be better than composite, but not as good as true RGB. I hope I don´t get much more surprises.

[Gurm]

A MOD chip would fix that up nicely.

Gpar_

[Chrono_Wanderer]

LOL... Sony makes burners? Never knew that!

If they do, they will burn YOU!



just kidding

[Gurm]

Yes, Sony makes burners. Their quality is... about what you'd expect from Sony, in that half of them never quite work right and the other half last forever.

Gpar_

[thop]

Yes every modchip usually comes bundled with a RGBfix.

[Nuno]

Yes, but I´m not really into modding it and voiding warranty for now. I exchanged the cable for the s-video output and it works fine. Image quality is, of course, way better than composite, but still doesn´t reach full RGB output quality.

Ok, problem solved, but I still think the PS2 should output DVD on SCART-RGB if it supports it.

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by dZeus
do Sony stand-alone DVD players support SCART-RGB output? if so, I doubt it's got anything to do with copy-protection. Perhaps a marketing move by Sony to make you buy an expensive standalone DVD player for optimal image quality.

EXPENSIVE? Try $79.00.

Why is it that so many computer people think all A/V Gear should be as cheap as their $40 Altec Lansing crapola computer speakers? Geez.. get out of the house more, dude..

[Wombat]

He's not complaining about the price of a component as much as Sony trying to force you to buy a component at all.

[Jammrock]

Sony is notorious for forcing you to upgrade to get a feature you want. For example, when I was buying a DV camcorder, to get a higher still-shot picture resolution, I had to upgrade 4 models and buy one for $400+ more.

Lots of companies like that now, though.

KvH,

DVD isn't as big and inexpensive in Europe sa it is here. DVD is now just getting huge there, while it's been big here for over 2 years. Just because you can get a bottom of the barrell SOny DVD player here for $79, doesn't mean all players are that cheap and that they are equally cheap in Europe.

From what I remember of price differences when I was there, electronics are 150% to 500% more in Europe than in the states. Especially for the upper-end Japanese and American electronics.

Jammrock

[dZeus]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
EXPENSIVE? Try $79.00.

Why is it that so many computer people think all A/V Gear should be as cheap as their $40 Altec Lansing crapola computer speakers? Geez.. get out of the house more, dude..

What are you talking about? Where was I giving an opinion about the price of DVD players in my post????

My whole point of _expensive_ was that Sony probably tries not to cannibalize their sales of high quality standalone units (thus relatively more expensive ones than the cheap 79USD units with crappy output quality), by including a gimmic like SCART-RGB, which many people unfortunately link to 'high image quality'. if the decoder is crap, the image quality will be crap too, scart-rgb or no scart-rgb.

[Nuno]

The DVD decoder on PS2 is not crap. It stands up with any mid-high range DVD player nowadays. Way better than any $79 el-cheapo DVD player out there.
PS2 costs now 200€ because of console price war. If there wasn´t the X-Box it´d cost still around 500€. That´s why it´s such a good deal. You can have a 200€ worth DVD player and still play a couple of PS2 games on it

[Novdid]

Nuno believe me, with a good tv you'll notice the difference. If you are used to watch DVD's with a great player+RGB on a very good tv and then switch to a PS2 on the same tv... there's no comparing. But the main reason is not the picture it's the sound, which by the way is probably the best thing about DVD, that's miles better than a PS2. That makes the PS2 much less than a €200 worth of player.

I got a real good player a couple of months ago with help from dZeus and I'm very happy with it.

[KvHagedorn]

Alright, sorry I overreacted a bit, it's just that I hear this a lot. Too many people out there undervalue what we sell, and I mistook you for one of those, dZeus. Never really examined the output quality on a PS2, but it seems to work well enough for casual use (the one I remembered hooking up we used only composite cables, which seemed to work reasonably well.) I'm waiting for the new Yamahas to come out.. 5 disc changer that plays everything.. dvd, dvd-a, cd, and sacd, as well as burned discs etc. I might trade up if it's all it's supposed to be, since it's just $499 retail.