Official PS2 Sony remote impressions

Picked up the official PS2 remote at EB today, I didn\'t think it was coming out for another two weeks or so, oh well.

First, what you get:

Remote itself
2 AAA batteres
IR module
Instruction book
DVD driver upgrade CD

Anyway, the remote itself is very nice, smaller than I expected though.  Some may consider the buttons in the upper half of the remote small and cramped, but it is managable and definately better than all the other 3rd party remotes out there.  It gives you access to the new features such as slow motion, a 3 speed search, angle, repeat, etc.  The buttons near the bottom are labeled with the names of the controller buttons and you can use them for whatever -- someone told me the remote actually works pretty well with Final Fantasy X, but I certainly wouldn\'t try and play an action game with it or anything.  This also lets you use it to control the CD player function of the PS2.

About the drivers:

I could have sworn the drivers for the PS2 DVD player were on Flash ROM internally in the US PS2 so they could be upgraded.  If they are this isn\'t taken advantage of here because you simply use the supplied CD to copy the drivers to a PS2 memory card.  If you don\'t have the memory card in the slot it loads the original DVD drivers that are in its internal memory.  If you have the memory card in the slot it loads the new drivers.  The drivers take up 2.2MB on the memory card by the way.

I haven\'t really noticed anything in the way of increased picture clarity or anything from these drivers, it basically just adds the extra functions needed by the remote and obviously makes the player operational by the remote.

I had hoped the new drivers would fix a problem I have playing my "Princess Mononoke" DVD.  Whenever I got into Chapter 16, either after watching Ch. 15 or jumping straight there from the Chapter Menu, the player stops and says "unable to read disc."  The drivers didn\'t help this so I guess my disc is just messed up a bit or something (but it plays fine in my dad\'s stand-alone player).

Overall:

A nice little remote, definately the best available for the PS2.  In my case it is a mixed bag though.  I basically paid $20 for the upgraded drivers and the IR module.  I taught my universal remote all the DVD and CD commands I usually use from the PS2 remote so I will probably never use the actual PS2 remote all that often.  Not sure if it was worth it, but then again, if I didn\'t buy it I wouldn\'t have any way to teach my universal so it all gets really circular  Oh well,  I\'ll feel guilty if I don\'t use the remote since I paid $20 for it, so I\'ll probably use it regardless just to get rid of my consumer guilt

Well it may be BETTER that you cannot upgrade your internal Flash ROM..... Here\'s why:

Whenever you upgrade a Flash ROM (BIOS on a PC for example) the process takes a certain amount of time, and in that time if you shut the machine off, you corrupt your FLASH ROM, this renders the hardware inoperable because there\'s nothing there to tell the machine what to do!

So if you were upgrading your PS2 and your power went out or a kid kicked out the power cord.... you\'re SCREWED.

Thanks for the impressions. I was ready to go pick one up for the faster search, but once you mentioned it took 2.2mb on the memory card I lost interest. So much for the flash ROM bs. Oh well. Maybe it\'s time to get a real DVD player.

/ dm /

I got mine today and I can finally get those easter eggs! YES! Especially for ID4! Plus it is waaay easier to navigate now.




:hat:ScottyJ:hat:

[nO-One]

What about the IR module itself? Does it fit nicely into the PS.2 design, or is it big and bulky and looks like a big box on the console. A friend of mine has some POS 3rd party remote,and the IR module uglyfy\'s the console.

Do the new DVD drivers add widescreen anamorphic playback?  The old drivers built into the PS2 couldn\'t do this.  There was a menu command for "4:3 / 16:9" but I think it was always grayed out, and only played in 4:3 mode.

Also:  I hate AAA batteries.  Why don\'t manufacturers just standardize on AA?  They aren\'t THAT MUCH bigger!

Ummmm, the original drivers have always been able to play in anamorphic widescreen, you just can\'t change it from 4:3 to 16:9 while a disc is playing.

These new drivers say nothing about supporting progressive scan output though.

It does fix some dvd playing problems. The second disk of Toy Story now works with it. I\'m sure others do to but thats the only 1 I\'ve heard of.
Sounds all good thoug. 2.2meg isnt that much room really. Still 6 meg left on my memory card so I\'ll have 4 left with that on it.

Originally posted by teiresias
Ummmm, the original drivers have always been able to play in anamorphic widescreen, you just can\'t change it from 4:3 to 16:9 while a disc is playing.

These new drivers say nothing about supporting progressive scan output though.

I just tested my PS2, and you\'re right, it does anamorphic output.  I stand corrected.  It did generate some odd visual artifacts in anamorphic; a pattern of soft vertical lines.  It would be interesting to see if the new drivers correct this and other little errors.  I wouldn\'t expect it to output progressive video though.  Don\'t you need a dedicated chip for that, not a software driver?

Are you doing an anamorphic squeeze trick on your television?  I get the same vertical line pattern (not long vertical lines just a bunch of small ones scattered across the screen, kinda looks like a projection screen texture actually) but only when I do the anamorphic squeeze on my 4:3 TV, I also get the same lines when watching other sources when the picture is squeezed so I doubt it is the PS2.

Either way I can\'t see the lines from my actual viewing position so it doesn\'t matter to me.