Do you use your console for movie playback?

[expletive]

Thought it would be interesting to see how people watch DVD movies today when they own consoles that can provide such playback. After you answer it would be useful to put some commentary on why you do what you do.

Since the GC does not playback movies, this poll really only applies to (and assumes) Xbox and PS2 (and 360 i suppose).

 

[Carl B]

Well, I do. And I do so because I like minimalism/as few gadgets lying around as possile.

Since launch until today. I also use my PC mind you.

 

[eDoshin]

In the early days I used PS2 to play DVDs .. that was back when I only had one standalone connected to the main home system. It still has its usefulness in my room to avoid having a separate game console and dvd hookup cluttering everythign up. My HDTV is sitting in a box waiting for some construction to be completed so that I can hook it up. I would imagine that I will be using it to watch BR movies for quite awhile.

 

[Synergy34]

Hell yeah, I even traded in my launch PS2 for the new model with the IR port and pro scan playback. Can't wait for the PS3.

 

[Pugger]

Nope, not when you can buy a Denon 1920 Multiregion HDMI DVD player for £200. Makes you realise how bad the DVD playback and sound quality on the Xbox and PS2 is.

 

[expletive]

OK the poll is now finished, had some trouble with meeting the character limits...

 

[sir doris]

I've got a DVD player now but for the first year and a bit I only had my PS2. It worked ok but the lip sync would get out of phase about half way through some of the movies and the stand alone player is better all round.

 

[expletive]

For those of you that responded #2, was it a matter of preference or cost considerations (damn i knew i would forget something relevant) ?

 

[Carl B]

For those of you that responded #5, was it a matter of preference or cost considerations (damn i knew i would forget something relevant) ?

Wait, with #5 if both are owned, how would cost considerations factor in?

 

[expletive]

Wait, with #5 if both are owned, how would cost considerations factor in?

Sorry #2, edited.

 

[Sis]

I've tried movie playback on PS2, Xbox, and now Xbox 360. I was disappointed in all of them, though the Xbox 360 does a decent job. It has problems with some encodings, particular content based on television shows, such as Family Guy or Scrubs.

Personally, I'm sold on my HTPC DVD playback, solely because of AnyDVD.

.Sis

 

[Carl B]

Sorry #2, edited.

Well, for myself I already stated it's for 'minimalism' reasons - certainly though I don't mind being pleased with myself for not spending money on an additional player though.

But it's hard to say, because that's just sort of my own psychology. Clearly I could buy standalone DVD players a-plenty if I decided to do so.

 

[avaya]

I got a PS2 in 2001, that's when I started buying DVDs. I had always used the PS2 as the DVD player and never really moved on up due to cost considerations.

Finally got a nice multi-region standalone player in 2004 and have never used the PS2 for DVD playback since.

 

[Bobbler]

What about an option for those that used to use the console for playback, but don't now? (Like when stand alones were expensive, and the console was their only player). I know quite a few people that used to use their console, but don't anymore since stand alones are so cheap (similar to Avaya's situation, it seems).

I think if this poll was done in 2001-2002 the results would be very much different than today (which paints a skewed picture, because it means at one time the console player was very useful, but now isn't so much). Just something of note that I realized while reading the poll options.

I still use my PS2 for playback, because I have a 13inch TV from 10 years ago ... so the picture quality doesn't matter.

 

[Synergy34]

For those of you that responded #2, was it a matter of preference or cost considerations (damn i knew i would forget something relevant) ?

Actually neither. It's more because of convenience than anything else. I have a PS2,XBox, GCube, receiver, cable box and an over the air HD receiver. So adding it just adds more clutter. I don't see any problems with the playback of the PS2 so no need to add one.

 

[expletive]

Actually neither. It's more because of convenience than anything else. I have a PS2,XBox, GCube, receiver, cable box and an over the air HD receiver. So adding it just adds more clutter. I don't see any problems with the playback of the PS2 so no need to add one.

Yeah its more of either "cost" or "anything else". Since cost is probably the biggest driver of these types of purchases, i wanted to try and account for it somehow if it was figured into the decision.

 

[DigitalSoul]

I got a PS2 in 2001, that's when I started buying DVDs.

Same here.

Anyways, now my PS2 is in my bedroom and I have a standalone DVD player in the living room( I got one back in christmas '03). I mostly use the standalone player to watch movies these days.

 

[Carl B]

I think Bobbler and Avaya make good points by the way in terms of not only what the situation is now, but what the situation was a couple of years ago. It's not accounted for in the poll, and it's too late for that, but it's something to keep in mind when reading the results of the poll.

 

[expletive]

Yes but i think that in itself is telling. To me it says that, ultimately, they prefer a stand alone device to a console, for whatever reason. Even though, as console owners, it was conevnient (or cheap) at one point, the optimal configuration for them ended up being a stand alone movie player. I wish i could account for all these ideas but the poll would have goten too confusing...

 

[BlueTsunami]

I do

When I just want to pop in a DVD and watch something without haveing to set stuff up, I use my PS2. I recently watched Die Hard 1 and 2 on my Samsung 27" HDTV with my PS2. Quick and Easy. Though, if you have a 7.1 Setup, with a 60" Sony HDTV, I would want to use a nice separate DVD player.