Sony PS2 DVD Remote

Because the standard game controller included with the Playstation 2 is not a very good controller for watching movies, Sony has released a high quality official DVD remote controller that solves this problem and adds new DVD playback features to the PS2. During the launch of the Playstation 2, many third-party (unlicensed) remote controls were available for the DVD playback features. Mysteriously absent from the lineup of remotes was an official remote from Sony itself. Finally, an official remote was revealed in Japan and now it has come to the US.

The Sony remote is of noticeably higher build quality than the cheaper, unlicensed third-party remotes. It feels like a real piece of consumer electronics equipment you would expect to find on a real DVD player, rather than a cheap piece of plastic. An infrared receiver connects to one controller port of your PS2 to receive the signal. Oddly enough, Sony’s receiver does not have a pass-through option to connect a controller, so you will have to switch the receiver and a controller when you want to change between playing movies and two player games. The remote itself features many buttons not found on the other remotes, such as Angle, Subtitle, Audio, Title, DVD Menu and Program. All of the standard PS2 controller buttons are featured on the remote as well, so it is possible to play certain games using the remote. Action and fighting games are nearly impossible to play because the remote's response time is not instantaneous, however, turn-based strategy games and RPGs are playable from far away.

Included with the remote are DVD drivers which add new features to the PS2’s DVD player. Problems with certain DVD movies such as The Matrix have been fixed, and there are triple fast forward and rewind speeds. Be ready to spare about 2500 KB of space on your memory card for installing the new DVD player, however.

If there is one remote control for the PS2 you must buy, make it the official model by Sony. It is of much higher quality than the cheaper remotes, and it adds new features to your PS2's DVD playback. As with all remotes it will take some memorization of the button placement when in a dark movie room, but the placement makes sense and is not hard to understand. Priced at only $19.99, the official Sony DVD remote for PS2 gives you a lot of features at a low cost.