Like the PlayStation before it, the PlayStation 2 reflected Sony Computer Entertainment of America then-CEO Ken Kutaragi's philosophy of putting hardware first. Flush with success after winning the previous generation, Sony displayed the same sort of boundless ambition with the PlayStation 2 that would later get it into trouble with the PS3. The launch of the PlayStation 2 in 2000 was a momentous occasion. Maybe the PlayStation 2 really is the greatest console of all time. The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether Caty is right. Its dominance in the first decade of the 21st century is matched by only a handful of platforms: the NES, the Game Boy, and maybe the PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 2 isn't just the best selling console of all time it's home to a dizzying number of unassailable classics. Before the PlayStation 4 had Grand Theft Auto 5, the PlayStation 2 had GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas-the games that revolutionized the open-world sandbox genre as we know it today. Before the Wii struck out into gaming's "blue ocean," the PlayStation 2 had the Eyetoy and Singstar. Before World of WarCraft, the PlayStation 2 had Final Fantasy 11. Still, I have to admit that the PlayStation 2 had one hell of a run.ĭigging into the history of the PlayStation 2, which celebrates the anniversary of its release in Japan today, I've been impressed by the sheer breadth of what it had to offer. Nostalgia is often the beginning and the end of an argument over a particular platform's impact, and I grew up with the SNES, not the PlayStation 2. In truth, I've tended to be more of a Super Nintendo stan than anything. I had never given serious thought as to whether the PlayStation 2 was in fact the best console. It's the best console." Her reaction caught me off-guard. Senior Editor Caty McCarthy, who grew up playing Kingdom Hearts, piped up, "Me. It also looks like a regression in V4L2 because there are Ubuntu-recorded videos on Eyetoys that aren't that slow.As I was planning for PlayStation 2's 20th anniversary last week, I asked the team at USgamer if anyone had substantial nostalgia for the platform that cemented Sony's position as the dominant player in the console space.
This side of things does look like a driver issue. Through avconv I'm only getting 7 frames per second. That's from vlc v4l2:///dev/video0 :input-slave="alsa://hw:2,0"īut the framerate is an issue. Even in an otherwise pitch-black drawer (with just the red video light), it isn't grainy. The lens and sensor are awful examples of cheap hardware but the quality isn't nearly as bad as your example.
I've since bought a second hand Eyetoy and the picture quality on 14.04 is fine. Here's a decent guide of what you should be aiming for. I could easily imagine people in 320×240 stills being unrecognisable and thus material being inadmissable. In terms of security cameras, these might be okay (you might want lower resolution) but I'd consider something better at entry points.
I don't know what Skype is doing but I suspect it's a software effect. The Playstation Eye was somewhat better but far outside what you'd consider decent. It's a really cheap and now very old camera. The hardware specs for the Eyetoy are 320×240 25fps.
It seems there must be some settings I am missing somewhere because it doesn't appear to be a hardware problem…Įdit2 – These images were taken seconds apart – top Ps2 eyetoy (better quality, worse framerate), bottom ps3 eyetoy (terrible quality, good framerate)
However, in Skype for example the resolution is amazing and the framerate is good.
Mind you with default settings in Windows VLC, the resolution isn't great. (Security software like motion and zoneminder, I couldn't get installed correctly on my system- so I haven't tried those yet).Įdit – I tried the same camera on a Windows system and the frame rate is much better in VLC compared to the Ubuntu system.
To give you the full information I wish to attach multiple eyetoys to the system and record from all of them. What software or settings can I use to take full advantage of my eyetoy? The best program that I have have found is VLC because its advanced options allow you to change many settings but the framerate setting appears to have no effect. If I recall, the eyetoy is much better than this (~60fps) but cannot find any way to fix this. However, It seems like I am capped by 25fps. My eyetoy works fine on Cheese, gucview and various other media software like VLC. Don't worry – this is not the sterotypical " how do I get my eyetoy working" question. I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and a PS2 eyetoy "Namtai".