Would the DVD format have caught on without PS2?

[Buyatari]

Would it have gone the way of the LD had it not been for the PS2?

[slownerveaction]

DVD was already well on its way to becoming the dominant video format before the PS2 arrived, and the amount of PS2s out there is minimal compared to the overall market penetration of DVD players. Yes, without a doubt, DVD did not need the PS2 to become a mainstream format.

[Milk]

Yes. The PS2 might have put a cheap DVD player in many homes, but by the late 1990s it was already becoming clear that VHS was on its way out.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Maybe not so much in japan and other parts of asia where they use VCDs, but I think alot of americans already have or were thinking of getting a DVD player before the PS2.

[Archenemy]

Let's see...

DVD Players can play DVD movies, VCD movies,Music CDs and MP3 music Files, and display Digital Pictures.
PS2 can play DVD Movies, Games CDs/DVDs and Music DVDs.

DVD Players can -usually- play more than Region, allowing you to watch japanese or PAL movies without a problem.
PS2 have a Region lock-on and usually can play only R-1 movies.

DVD Players cost at much $100.
PS2 usually stock at $150 or more.
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What kind of a question was this? :hmm:

[Rogmeister]

I don't think the PS2 can claim any part of the credit in the success of DVD. When I think DVD, I certainly don't think of video games but a first-rate home console unit that plays movies with dazzling picture and excellent sound. I have never watched a DVD through a video game system and I never will.

[Gamereviewgod]

In Japan it was a huge factor. The Matrix DVD was the biggest selling piece of software for the console. Either that says something about how people were using it or how bad the launch lineup was.

In the US, it was a nice feature, but hardly one that sold the console. DVD was already well established.

[sabre2922]

yeah the DVD format was already very popular before the PS2 was released.

It might have had a small impact on the Japanese DVD market but thats about it.

[InsaneDavid]

In Japan it was a huge factor. The Matrix DVD was the biggest selling piece of software for the console. Either that says something about how people were using it or how bad the launch lineup was.

THANK YOU! :D I don't know how many similar threads about the PS2 I've posted in saying pretty much the same thing only to have 10+ posts after me going on and on how it's BS with no evidence to back up their claims.


It might have had a small impact on the Japanese DVD market but thats about it.

Read above, anyone in Japan during the first year of the PS2 launch, even if you were just visiting for three days (as I was) can tell you that video stores were selling PS2's as DVD PLAYERS FIRST and game consoles second.

[Mangar]

Read above, anyone in Japan during the first year of the PS2 launch, even if you were just visiting for three days (as I was) can tell you that video stores were selling PS2's as DVD PLAYERS FIRST and game consoles second.

Which means that there was already a large demand for DVD players, which is why they marketed the PS2 as such in Japan.

I think it's pretty clear that the PS2 had pretty much no impact on DVD's becoming the dominant format in the U.S. Had there been no PS2, DVD would still maintain the exact same market share it does now. I don't know enough about the specifics of the Japanese market to state as an absolute fact one way or the other - But i think it's safe to say that if no PS2 existed, DVD would still be the dominant format over there as well. The sheer logistics of media available, the quality over VCD in the video and audtio departments, and the large weight of the entire movie industry behind it - Would have a larger impact imo, then a simple gaming console.

I'd say that the PS2 needed the DVD format, much more then the DVD format needed the PS2.

[kevincure]

Then again, PS2 at least helped DVD penetrate the US market quicker. I remember when the PS2 first came out, the low-end poor quality DVD players were still US200+.

[Teo]

The guy who says something about this on the Sony conference seems not think so PS1 shouldered it .

[Tron 2.0]

DVD was already well on its way to becoming the dominant video format before the PS2 arrived, and the amount of PS2s out there is minimal compared to the overall market penetration of DVD players. Yes, without a doubt, DVD did not need the PS2 to become a mainstream format.
Agreed even befor the, PS2 came out i all ready had a DVD player by that time.

[video_game_addict]

But is Adam speaking specifically of the format as a whole, or it's use in the videogame world?

DVD was already pretty popluar before PS2, I think everyone agrees to that, but prior to PS2, CD media was the main format in use for most of the disc based systems. Only the Dreamcast boasted a better than CD media in it's GD-Roms, although that turned out to be a compression technology. DC games were being copied in no time flat after a little info was spread around the web. But most platforms that predate the PS2, including the original Playstation used CD. PS2 was the first system to add DVD media into the mix, although not every release used it. I think it's here to stay now, although it may one day be replaced with something more efficient.

[sharp]

I owned a DVD player before there was PS2. I'm only pissed that Nuon died before arriving in Europe (yes, there seems to be a Nuon player with joypad-ports in Swissor somethinG). I would love to have a European Nuon player to play Tempest 3000 and also watch my movies, but sadly Nuon died too young and I had to import a Nuon-dvd-player from the USA just to play that game.

But DVD is great if they could only add a joypad port to play conversion of all those LD-games :D .

[WanganRunner]

the PS2 was instrumental in bringing DVD to Japan as the standard, as most Japanese homes did not have a DVD player before the PS2 was released (mostly VCDs).

DVD would have caught on in the United States regardless. I think I already had a standalone player and 2 PCs with DVD drives by the time the PS2 came out.

[Kejoriv]

Absolutely, it was only a matter of time. If it wasnt PS2 it would have been something else.

[lurpak]

How blinkered a view,
I was on my 5th dvd player before the PS2 was out. christ I had a DVD writer before the PS2 was out.
I still dont own a ps2, yet I have multiple ways of viewing dvd's or dvd suplied media.

the ps2 owes its success to dvd technology, far from the other way around.

theres probably 20 alternative DVD products in the home for every one PS2.

I cant believe anybody seriosly believes this to be the case ??

unless its just a US thing and you guys were slow on the uptake of DVD.

[tylerwillis]

Owned a DVD player before the PS2 debuted. There was no question in my mind that DVD was the next standard. I don't claim to know anything about the Japan situation, but here in the US, DVD was well on its way without the help of the PS2.

[aaron7]

I think it would have, just due to the size of some games. Not sure what other format could have been used! I would love to see the size cart it would take to house GT4 LOL

[rolenta]

Then again, PS2 at least helped DVD penetrate the US market quicker. I remember when the PS2 first came out, the low-end poor quality DVD players were still US200+.

And the PS2 was $300 and was far from being a high-end DVD player.

Anyway, I bought a low-end DVD player before the PS2 came out and it was $125.

[ozyr]

Well, I've bought 3 DVD players so far, and no PS2 at all. That's my side of the story - no impact at all..

[slownerveaction]

Regarding DVD's adoption as a format for games (or anything else beyond video): Remember that DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. It was pretty much planned from the start as an easily adaptable format for storage of any kind of data.

[Push Upstairs]

I know everyone bought a PS2 for the ability to play DVD's...but i remember it being notoriously known for not being that great of a DVD player (and having trouble playing certain movies).

And while thier PS2 might be a junky DVD player...Sony's actual DVD players were top quality stuff. I have a Sony DVD player i purchased in December 1999 that has *NEVER* given me shit when it came to playing a movie. I remember when newer players wouldn't play the (then) new "T2 Ultimate Edition" (double layer, double sided edition)...my player played it just fine.

And no, i don't believe the PS2 helped the DVD format "catch on"...DVD was poised to become "big" back in 1999.

[Moon Patrol]

The PS3 is definitely going to be a big factor in pushing out sony's new blu-ray format, as opposed to how the ps2 did with DVD. Toshiba better start marketing that HD-DVD crap real fast, because they're fucked if they start after sony sells an assload of ps3's next year.

[video_game_addict]

And while thier PS2 might be a junky DVD player...Sony's actual DVD players were top quality stuff. I have a Sony DVD player i purchased in December 1999 that has *NEVER* given me shit when it came to playing a movie. I remember when newer players wouldn't play the (then) new "T2 Ultimate Edition" (double layer, double sided edition)...my player played it just fine.

I had a JVC at the time. I promptly sold my Ultimate Ed T2 & kept the original which I owned prior to that re-issue. The movie played, but my menus were all fubared. I have a Sony 5-disc carousel now though. Quite happy with it. :)

The PS2 was no great DVD player though, that's for certain. I was already well on the dvd bandwagon, but I wanted to try out the PS2 just to see how it worked.

Gladiator stoped midway through, and X-Men skipped through out most of the movie. They were unplayable. But both were mint discs. And this was in a then brand new PS2, launch unit. :roll: I haven't used it as a dvd player since. I think if anything, this may have hurt it's chances in this topic, as people were turned off by it's preformance at the beginning. Also if didn't come with a remote, and the first ones coming out were 3rd party, and didn't work well with it. Finding the menus, often locked up the movie. Sending it to some sort of blank page with just a list of buttons that could not be accessed. Then it would reset, and I'd have to find the chapter selections to try & find the point I was at in the movie. It was a royal PITA.

[Push Upstairs]

We used to watch movies and such on a PS2 at the game store i was formerly employed at. I remember one time i had a big scare because the PS2 would skip and freeze on one of my "Excel Saga" DVDs....it was so bad it wouldnt even play an entire episode.

Call it dust or whatever affliction the PS2's have, but my home player showed no symptoms that anything was wrong with that disc (neither did my computer).

I'll stand behind my Sony DVD player...no matter what any Sony naysayer says. Its an old man in the DVD world...almost 6 years old. It doesn't read CD-R's and it doesnt have DTS decoder built in but its still hanging on.


Anyway, I do recall that certain Toshiba DVD players had some serious trouble with those T2 discs. X-Men was a movie that gave some players problems as well as (most recently) the first "Lord of the Rings" movie DVD. I've not tried LOTR on my player, but i am confident it would play.