Originally posted by tipex
Even een post van IGN Insider met juist het vergelijk van dvd kwaliteiten van ps2 en xbox... winnaar.... PS2! Lees op je gemakkie.
PS2 vs. XBOX: DVD Head-to-Head
What next generation console makes the best DVD player? We put them to the test.
June 14, 2002 - With both the PS2 and Xbox being able to play DVD movies a lot of gamers are wondering what console is the best DVD player. Using the PlayStation 2 with the latest DVD drivers and remote and the Xbox with its DVD remote, we put the two systems through a head-to-head comparison to determine which one actually makes a better DVD machine.
Features
Using the latest PS2 drivers that are included with the official remote, Sony's system sees a bit of an upgrade in terms of features, but the Xbox still has one cool toy to play with that the PS2 doesn't.
Both systems' feature set can be best compared to a low-end DVD player as they include only the bare necessities for DVD playback. You get rewind and fast-forward as well as chapter skip, and other regular features.
The 2.10 to 2.12 drivers (and remote) on the PS2 adds the A-B repeat feature (which the Xbox does share) in addition to Shuffle, Program, and Slow Motion Reverse. Those features bring the PS2 a little closer to a stand-alone DVD player in terms of functionality, but only the Xbox has the frame-by-frame advance.
On the Xbox side, the system is missing the Shuffle and Program features that the PS2 now has, but it has everything else in addition to a very cool (and fun) zoom feature that ranges from 2x to 10x. It's not a crucial feature, and although it's fun to play with, the PS2 currently has more features for your DVD buck. Also, the forward and reverse commands on the Xbox can go from 1/2x to 32x speed.
Also, each system has an on-screen display to control the DVD playback. Since the PS2 can also be controlled with the Dual Shock 2, most of the important features are accessible from this small transparent menu. With the Xbox, you are able to access the subtitle, angle, audio, A-B loop, and zoom features with the rest only available on the remote.
Winner: Tie.
Remotes
On the same line of thought as features, we need to look at the remotes and once again the PS2 takes the lead.
Sony's official remote has all of the features right there for your fingers to play with, while at the same time featuring a small, compact, design that matches the look of the PS2 product line well. Also, once you have the IR receiver plugged into the PS2 you can use your normal Sony DVD remote to control the system.
The only big drawbacks with the remote is that there is no power button to turn off or on your PS2, and you need to have at least 2MB free on a PS2 memory card in order to store the driver that controls the remote.
Microsoft's Xbox remote isn't quite as nice as the PS2 one. It's more comfortable to hold, but it also feels like a cheap RCA remote (which it is). As with the PS2, once you plug in the receiver, you can use any RCA universal remote to control the DVD playback.
Unlike the PS2, not all of the DVD features are controllable from the remote. The basics such as forward and reverse are, but you can't access the A-B Repeat or Zoom features without bringing up the on-screen display.
Winner: PS2
Picture Quality
Before addressing the picture quality issue, you need to know that neither the PS2 nor the Xbox can playback movies in progressive scan. The Xbox does it for games, and Tekken 4 on the PS2 does, but as of right now neither DVD player does.
However, the next driver release for the PS2 is rumored to add progressive scan support to the DVD playback, although the delivery method for the new drivers has not yet been announced.
Looking at the two DVD players running Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace side by side it is obvious that the PS2 has the better image quality when it comes to DVD playback. Both are about equal to a low-end DVD machine (so those with expensive $500 monsters have nothing to worry about here), but the default brightness of the Xbox's player is set a little high to give the image a slightly faded look. While on the other hand, the PS2 looks perfectly fine.
Then again, this all depends on your own personal TV settings, but by the default settings the PS2 looks better.
Here are some comparison images. Left is PS2 and right is Xbox. Click on an image for a larger version:
Winner: PS2 by a hair.
Compatibility
This is the biggie, and the one that nearly turns the tide in the Xbox's favor. What good is a DVD player if a good majority of your movies have problems running on it? You can have all of the best features in the world, but if your DVDs don't run well on the player those features don't really mean that much.
The PS2 has at least four different DVD drivers floating around out there. 1.10, 1.20, and 1.30 will be pre-installed onto your system depending on when you bought it, while 2.10 to 2.12 are included with the official DVD remote.
Those multiple drivers bring up the biggest problem with the PS2 DVD playback, and the thing that makes the Xbox a better (and more reliable) DVD player - some discs will run fine on some drivers while others cause problems.
Problems on the PS2 can range from the disc simply not reading, crashing after the layer change, or skipping like crazy after the layer change. What's worse is that some discs that ran fine on older drivers now have problems with 2.12.
The Xbox isn't completely innocent in this regard, but the number of problems with discs running on the system is much lower than on the PlayStation 2.
Winner: Xbox
Overall
The PS2 has the best remote and the most features (but just barely), but there are a lot of compatibility problems with the DVD playback of the machine. That is a big problem with the PS2, and something the Xbox does better, but Sony's system simply provides slightly better image quality for your DVD buck.
Another great thing about the PS2 is that Sony does update the DVD drivers on a regular basis. They've added features and have more on the way (progressive scan!), while at the same time there hasn't been a peep out of Microsoft on the issue of improving the Xbox DVD capabilities.
If this comparison was done back when the Xbox first came out, it might have taken away the prize in features as well as compatibility. But, Sony has been very aggressive with the PS2 and has made sure that it is up-to-date enough to compete with the Xbox, and as of right now the picture quality gives it the edge.
Overall Winner: PlayStation 2
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