Product: DVD Region X Price: £19.95 Available from: Electronic Boutique and all good stockists.
Requirements: Playstation 2 memory card (in slot 1), some DVD discs to play. Your television must support NTSC playback if you wish to watch import DVD movies (Region 1).
Here's a brilliant piece of kit for all those Playstation 2 owners. As most of you will already be aware, DVD movie discs feature 'region' protection. United Kingdom DVD players are region 2 encoded and only play region 2 DVD discs, the same applies for other regions such as USA and Canada (Region 1). A multi region DVD player can cost hundreds of pounds if you want to play import DVD movies.
DVD Region X comprises of a CD-ROM not hardware modification to your Playstation 2 needs to be carried out whatsoever: you simply boot the disc and the DVD Region X menu magically appears with 6 numbered boxes. Select the region for the DVD disc you wish to play, and your Playstation 2's disc tray magically ejects itself. Insert the DVD disc you wish to watch, and press the eject button again to close the tray. You are then returned to the PS 2 browser screen, click on the gold DVD disc icon and away you go. You can now play all six regions of DVD discs including import films as well.
That is not all, DVD Region X also banishes 'green' screen, when playing DVD discs through on your PS 2 through your standard scart capable.
I've tested a number of American DVD Region 1 discs and they all work faultlessly. At last I can finally watch my US Joe Satriani Live in San Francisco concert DVD which has only been released in Region 1 format (US and Canada)! A superior piece of kit for movie buffs. When you consider most new films are released in the States before they are released over here. DVD Region-X is a must have piece of kit.
Product: Official Sony Playstation 2 DVD Remote Control Unit Price: £19.95 Available From: Electronics Boutique and all good stockists. Requirements: Playstation 2 memory card (in slot 1), some DVD discs to play.
One annoying aspect of playing DVD movies on your Playstation 2 is having to use your joypad to navigate through the DVD menu system. It's fiddly and trying to remember what all the buttons do is a nightmare. There are quite a few third-party DVD remote control units available for the Playstation 2, but Sony's 'official' 1 has to be the best. Included is Sony's DVD remote control unit 2xAA size Sony batteries and a infra-red receiver (about the same size as a standard memory card, although slightly fatter), plugs into joypad port 2, and the new DVD driver (V2.10E) which comes on the CD which is included.
Simply plug the infra red receiver into joypad port 2 of your PS 2, insert the 2xAA batteries into the remote control unit, ensure a memory card is inserted into memory card slot 1 and turn on your PS 2. The supplied new DVD driver discs is then booted which is then copied to your memory card this only needs to be done once. Once the new DVD driver software (V2.10E) is copied to your Playstation 2's memory card, you can reset and now enjoy the luxury of operating your PS 2's DVD functions straight via the remote control.