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The reason I said 'Yes' was because you can't watch a DVD via the SCART output
thanks to Macrovision copy protection unless the SCART convertor that comes
with the PS2 is plugged directly into the TV, leaving you with just the
option of composite video, or an s-video lead if you've bought one separately.
It's understood that Sony went down this route because of an attempt to
combat piracy, but upon seeing the blurry mess that the copy protection made
when I first routed a DVD through the VCR, my other half echoed the sentiments
of millions when she said,
"But I don't want to copy it, I just want to WATCH it!"
Being a UK model, it will primarily play Region 2 DVDs (including NTSC ones
I am led to believe but I cannot check that for myself) along with a good
helping of region-free titles. Surely it can't be long before a region hack
can be found and it'll be one in the eye for the Hollywood hotshots who
think region-encoding is a good idea.
The technical bit
CPU
System Clock Frequency
Cache Memory
Main Memory
Memory Size
Memory Bus Bandwidth
Co-processor
Vector Units
Floating Point Performance
3D CG Geometric Transformation
Compressed Image Decoder
Graphics
Clock Frequency
DRAM Bus bandwidth
DRAM Bus width
Pixel Configuration
Maximum Polygon Rate
Sound
Number of Voices
Sampling Frequency
IOP
CPU Core
Clock Frequency
Sub Bus
Interface Types
Communication
Disc Device
128 Bit "Emotion Engine"
300 MHz
Instruction: 16KB, Data: 8KB + 16KB (ScrP)
Direct Rambus (Direct RDRAM)
32MB
3.2GB per Second
FPU (Floating Point Unit),
Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1,
Floating Point Divider x 1
VU0 and VU1,
Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9,
Floating Point Divider x 3
6.2 GFLOPS
66 Million Polygons per second
MPEG2
"Graphics Synthesizer"
150MHz
48GB per Second
2560bits
RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8:32)
75 Million Polygons per Second
"SPU2+CPU"
ADPCM: 48ch on SPU2 + definable, s/w programmable voices
44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable)
I/O Processor
PlayStation (current) CPU
33.8MHz or 37.5MHz (Selectable)
32 Bit
IEEE1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB)
via PC-Card (PCMCIA)
CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
Overall, for £299 is the PS2 a good buy or is it goodbye? I would
say it's well worth the money. The DVD player exceeded my expectations and
I route all the audio and video through my amplifier (a Sony STR-DB 930)
so have no Macrovision hassles, but the overall score loses half a star
for this reason because a lot of people will be affected.
As for the games, like the Sega Dreamcast, we're finally getting arcade
graphics like we're used to outside our own homes. Some have criticised the
PS2's launch games as not being a great advance on the Sega machine and
they're not that much - yet. Give it time though, since the first PSX games
were a long way short of what the console could achieve later in life.
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