A wild Playstation appears! Now what?

[Jorpho]

- Jorpho checked the dumpster.
- Inside the dumpster, there was a Sony Playstation!
- Jorpho takes it.

It seems I now have an SCPH-5501. It even came with a power cable! Fortunately I had a suitable AV cable kicking around. Better yet, it came with a 4-player adapter and four controllers. Only one of them is an official Sony model, and they have a not-so-fresh feeling that makes me want to know as little as possible about where they've been. Initially the lid wouldn't close (a common problem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7f-TMeabA), I guess?) but the Open button started working fine almost as soon as I popped the top half of the console off. Tests reveal that it is at least capable of playing audio CDs.

So... now what? I'm not going to question that there are heaping piles of excellent (and not so excellent) games available for the PSX. It's just that I already have a fat PS2 (complete with network adapter), and I hear a lot of stuff is quite nice emulated on a PC, so what would this be good for?

[T2KFreeker]

Get it modded and play some awesome Imports on it now! So many great imports for the original Playstation that make it worth it.

[Emperor Megas]

I don't think that you could play the PS1 game Tomba! on the PS2, so there's that.

[Niku-Sama]

Some times it's just better to play the games on the system they were made for

[CRTGAMER]

Ever notice the first games that fail on a PS2 are the blue CD PS2 discs? Save wear and tear of the PS2 Laser and play the PS1 CD based games on the PS1. Oh and it does have that beautiful port for utility carts! Be sure to get a SVideo cable for the PS1.

[Tanooki]

Yup a notable flaw the original PS2 model had for sure. When I had one, it took just about 2 years before it started to flake out, ended up selling the system not long after as shitty workmanship built into a system makes me not want to keep it around.

That PS1 you got there is the 2nd release, it still has that audiophile love fest chip set inside but lacks the RCA jacks on the back to use it (but can be modded to.) Supposedly the best CD player audio processing quality around more or less, and not just on a console through RCA cables. People pay a premium for the original one when they're after an ear full with their CDs is my understanding of it. Also that model is less prone to the wear/failure of the CD drive/laser assembly where commonly many of the old systems would die, unless set upside down then it would magically play games again which is just odd.

Aside from Tomba, the various SNES FF ports hate that PS2 system to one degree or another, the worst being FF5 which if I recall technically is unplayable to completion due to graphical and save/load issues.

[Jorpho]

I guess the obvious advantage here is the Multitap. I see that will apparently work with my PS2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Multitap), and apparently PSX backups (https://versatile1.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/how-to-play-ps1-psx-backups-on-fatslim-playstation-2-v9-and-above/) will still work there too. But one of the few games I can think of that I might actually want to play that way, Poy Poy 2, is indeed PS2-incompatible, according to Wikipedia.

Where do you get PSX modchips these days? I guess they still require soldering to install.

[Niku-Sama]

Get a mod cart. No soldering needed, just a funky spring to hold the lid closed button down

Example:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=221725107349&alt=web

Missing the spring but one of those. Basically a game shark plus backup/import ability. I can explain it better when i get on my PC

[BlastProcessing402]

Ever notice the first games that fail on a PS2 are the blue CD PS2 discs?

Not on mine. For me it was dual layer DVD that went first, then regular DVD. Mine only stopped reading CD when I messed it up trying to tweak it to get a little more life out of it. Fortunately, it was super easy to replace the laser, and depending on the model you have, you might even be able to use a higher quality one than what it came with like I did.

Still, depends on what kinda TV you're using. With a CRT, yeah a PSX is fine. On LCD, you may be better off using a PS2 + component if your set supports 240p over component.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah PS1 and PS2 over component looks so colorful. It almost makes you forget you're playing a blocky PS1 game.

[Jorpho]

Get a mod cart. No soldering needed, just a funky spring to hold the lid closed button down

I found one reference that suggests using mod carts for booting burned games can be damaging.
http://www.theisozone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=26081

[Niku-Sama]

I don't see any reference to that in the linked post

edit:
ok now that I am on my computer I re read that and theres a lot of people not paying attention to what other people are saying in that thread. some people were talking about disc swapping while the motor was running while others weren't.
how ever the mention of the mod carts using the serial I/O people have misunderstood that you are not swapping a disc while the system is running

infact pro action replays stop the disc from spinning before telling you to put in the new game.

what happens is theres a spring that holds down the button in the back, you boot with the action replay plugged in and turned on (cause you can flip a switch to turn it off and just regular boot).
select the option to play import (or backup depending on version) and hit X. it starts the process, it'll read the disc in the drive. if you want to play an import, say a Japanese game, and yours is a US system, you have to have a US game in the console while its reading after you select play import (or backup). What the system does is reads the region code while its showing the reading disc. when its done reading the action replay will tell you to put in the other disc you want to play. its loaded that reigon sector into the systems memory so it'll read what ever info after that as a regular game no matter the region. even PAL games (although that gets funky on a US system) when it tells you to swap it'll COMPLETELY stop the disc in the system and prompt you to press X after the new disc is put in. if your system cant handle another disc being put into the system at a full stop then there is a bigger problem with your playstation at hand.

every time the button in the back under the lid gets released it basically clears the region info (amongst other things it checks every time) out of the memory and has to read it off the disc again. with the action replay brining the motor to a full stop before swapping a new game and while the button is being held down with a spring its able to store that info while you put a new game in.

I feel its a better way to go. its not really a soft mod but its not a mod chip either. its hardware with the ability to play burned/import plus other features. I think that's why it gained the name mod cart (or card depending on localization) its completely reversible, its never messed up one of my systems and I have used them on SCPH 1xxx to 7xxx (where the port was blocked but still there)

[Jorpho]

I have used them on SCPH 1xxx to 7xxx (where the port was blocked but still there)So you cut a hole in the case for those?

[Niku-Sama]

Ran it without the top.
Was interesting looking. Taped the lid's button down and made sure the CD was clear.

I needed to adjust the pots on the laser assembly to get it to read again and i can't remember why i used the action replay. Maybe because it was faster with results when getting it to load. I think one i have had a file browser thing for vcd so you could pick out different video files

I should hook one up and do a video with it