Alongside games, I also like to collect DVD’s. Because I am a snob, I like to watch my DVD’s on the good old Playstation 2 as god intended. However I have been having an issue where my PS2 will not play some of my DVD’s.
At first I thought it has something to do with widescreen DVD’s as usually those are the ones that don’t work most of the time, but that cant be it because:
A) I can play my widescreen Sweeny Todd DVD and it works fine, albiet shrunken to fit the PS2’s aspect ratio
B) The problem extends to some DVD’s that are not widescreen, like my copy of Matilda which appears to be in 4:3.
My second theory is that it may have something to do with the speed the disk’s are being burned at by the companies that make them. My reasoning for thinking this is that whenever I burn my own CD’s or DVD’s at a faster speed, my PS2 and other older devices struggle to read them; but I have no way of knowing if this is the cause.
Does anybody else know what may be causing this issue?
Disc Read Errors — The PS2 Slim often experiences disc read errors due to laser wear, which can prevent DVDs from playing.
Region Locking — DVDs must match the region code of the PS2 Slim to be played, which can cause issues if the regions do not align.
Dual Layer Problems — Dual-layer DVDs are more challenging for the PS2 Slim to read, often leading to playback issues.
Sensor Malfunctions — Faulty door sensors can prevent the disc from spinning, leading to read errors.
Laser Calibration — Incorrect laser calibration can result in the console failing to read DVDs properly.
This is what Arc Search came up with. I don’t actually know anything.
Sensor malfunction. I can relate to that. I also might have soldered in a wire to bridge out one of them. Not sure if it was the front or the back one.
It could be region locking, but OP mentions knowledge that other local DVD players will work on those same discs. My bet is either dual layering stuff, so basically ‘discs burned differently’ or laser degradation/malfunction. https://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10151 apparently a film tends to build up on the lens, especially in a smoking or dusty environment. Maybe a quick cleaning can help?
DVDs were released with a region code to prevent e.g. Europeans to buy and use DVDs from the Americas or Asia. Not 100% sure it’s that, but these codes were set per player and could (if at all) only be reset twice.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code
Or possibly color format (NTSC vs PAL)