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General discussion

Leaving ps2 on

Sep 11, 2007 11:18AM PDT

Is it ok to leave ps2 on while not playing but still in game mode,or set to pause,or is this extra wear and tear on the console.I also read something about image burning onto tv set.Time wise I'm talking about 8 hours or more.Reason-some games can't be saved till you finish a mission,otherwise you have to start over.

Discussion is locked

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I wouldn't
Sep 11, 2007 2:22PM PDT

The reason I wouldn't recommend doing this, doesn't really have much to do with console wear and tear, as it does with just being wasteful in terms of electricity use.

I'm frankly unsure as to whether or not the PS2 keeps game discs spinning at all times, but if it does, that would be some significant wear and tear for nothing. I would suspect it spins the drive down if the game hasn't requested data in some amount of time, but can't say for sure that such is the case. If someone has a clear PS2 case and wants to test it, or already has, I'd be interested in knowing the results.

Image burn-in on a TV or computer monitor is pretty hard to do these days. If the TV set is less than 10 years old, there's not a thing to worry about. You'd have to leave the same image up for a couple of weeks. Still, the best thing to do would be to simply switch the telly off.

But, I would just deal with the minor annoyance of having to repeat some level as opposed to leaving the system on. If the cooling fan should give out some night, you could find a rather crispy console in the morning. Assuming it didn't burn the place down. And while you can get replacement fans if you know where to look, game consoles are not designed to be taken apart once assembled. They're a huge pain to get apart. Maybe you should think about just stopping a bit earlier at night when you're gaming. If you finish one level and won't have enough time to finish the next, don't start it.

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Video on tv quality
Sep 15, 2007 9:03AM PDT

Thanks,I didn't want to take a chance on that.Now that I have the controls down a little better its not all so bad.Another question I wanted to ask about was picture quality.I,m playing Shadow of the Colossus,a really good first time game.But I noticed everything is a little grainy.Taking in the age of the game and all,I'm using a fairly old tv set,so I was wondering if it would be to my benifit to pick up something a little newer.This set I'm using doesn't have an aux. channel,so I had to buy a sort of spiitter to use the set for gaming.Do you think a newer set would improve grafic quality or is it just the age of the game? Thanks

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Depends
Sep 15, 2007 11:31AM PDT

If it's something like grainy video, then a new TV set might help. Particularly one with composite or s-video inputs. Component would be even better, but also something of a waste on a PS2.

If you're hoping it will make the game's graphics look crisper in some way, or anything like that, you're going to be disappointed. The graphics level of console games are fixed.

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REPLY
Sep 16, 2007 3:47AM PDT

I'm thinking it is a game grafic thing,because I noticed when I changed angles when viewing, it did change the texture.Also messing around with the tv's contrast-brightness-and such I can sort of fine tune it.I just though having the pc2 go through the cable side instead of the normal 3-terminal hook up thats on most sets now would have been a factor.Thanks again.