New to PS2 ... newbie questions

[Londonner]

I just got a PAL PS2 as a surprise birthday gift from my bro. I think he overheard me yearning for WE8. I've never owned a non-Nintendo console ... So, I've got this silver thing sitting here and I literally don't know what to do with it. So, some questions ...

1) Visuals: RGB is the way to go? Does Sony do an official one, or a third-party - which is absolutely the best lead and how much should I be forking out? I have RGB, VGA, DVI and Progressive Scan Component inputs, if you recommend an alternative.

2) DVD business: Go for the official silver one (will it work with different region DVDs if I choose to mod the PS2 one day?) or this one with the green screen effect (huh?) remover?

3) Ports: What the ... why are there only 2 pad ports? I take it I have to get a multitap style thing like my SFC Are we in 1992?!

4) Stand: Cheapest place to get the official one? Or a third party that looks like the official one?

I have some hard drive related questions as well, but one step at a time ...

Cheers guys

[Madbury]

1) RGB is an absolute must, it looks pants otherwise. Go for the Blaze RGB cable, it has a little switch to knock it back to composite for DVD playback.

2) Modding does indeed make it DVD region free, so no worries there. My advice get it chipped ASAP. Will from Londonconsoles does a top draw job. You won't regret it for one second.

3) Ay multitap is necessary... How crap is that

4) err ok, any game sells these. Not sure how much benefit you will get by shopping around tbh

[Londonner]

2) Modding does indeed make it DVD region free, so no worries there. My advice get it chipped ASAP. Will from Londonconsoles does a top draw job. You won't regret it for one second.

At the mo, I'm leaning towards the hard drive option for various reasons. And DVD region free option not too worried about as I tend to watch movies on the laptop. But it's good to know, cheers.

4) err ok, any game sells these. Not sure how much benefit you will get by shopping around tbh

Well, just been searching and the official one is ?13 ... whilst a third party one is ?4 on eBay ... I'd much rather have the official one (as it looks better imho ) but not at ?13 for a bit of plastic!

Cheers

[Salsa Party Animal]

You will find it hard to get it chipped, as people are scared of Sony Legal team.

Pro Evollution soccer 4 is due out next month.

Blaze RGB scart cable is a must buy

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

Get the official Sony RGB lead if you can find it for ?13 - its an absolute steal at that price!

[Londonner]

Sorry mate, the ?13 is referring to the official vertical stand. But you reckon the official RGB lead is better than the Blaze one (which seems to go for about ?10)? Actually, can't find anywhere that sells an official RGB lead to compare price.

Cheers

[Chadruharazzeb]

Blaze are better. Gold plated connectors, phono leads, RGB/ Composite switch, and they're cheap as chips!

[mt50]

gamestation have got the official ps2 stand in silver for ?9.99.
oh and don't forget you need a mem card ?19.99 for a silver one

oh and the hard drive thing for playing imports isn't meant to work very well, so chipping would be better.

[roobarb]

The HDLoader (if that's what you're talking about) doesn't allow you to play imports at all as far as I was aware... I'd be happy to hear any different though.

And it does work very well from my experience for playing same-region (on an unmodded PS2) games of the HDD which is what it was intended for...

[superkully]

Gamestation are selling the blue RGB cable for ?4.99 - forget the rest, this one is the one you want.

[Lyris]

If he has Component Progressive Scan, isn't that a better option than the RGB Cable? I don't own a PS2, am I missing something... did they bungle up the component output or something?

[Londonner]

Lyris: From what I gather the PS2 has a very limited number of Prog Scan games so getting the lead doesn't sound worthwhile. Plus, the component currently has the Cube plugged in

The HDLoader (if that's what you're talking about) doesn't allow you to play imports at all as far as I was aware... I'd be happy to hear any different though.

Didn't want to go into the HDLoader questions/theories in this thread ... was reserving it for another specific thread, but heck since you bring it up ...

The issue of playing imports on a PAL PS2 and PAL HDLoader is one of my main queries. From what I understand, if I get NTSC WE8

[MartyG edit - sorry but talk of ripping and ISOs will get edited out]

Cheers

[Streets Of Rage]

afaik modding a ps2 does not make it dvd region free?

[Londonner]

MartyG ... I was referring to ripping a purchased version of WE8?! I can see why it was misinterpreted, though:

Surely copying a purchased game onto the HD using HDAdvance is the same as, ripping a purchased game to the HD and transferring to the HD via an ethernet cable?! Not sure why one can be discussed, but not the other. Please clarify.

Cheers

[MartyG]

Because the software you linked is designed to copy ISOs to the HD, not originals, the same reason the same software was removed from the HD Loader thread.