I bought the PS2 so that I could play both games (mostly PS1, though the access to both PS1 and PS2 libraries is fantastic) and watch DVDs in my office. I have a small TV (13″ or so), that happens to be a TV/VCR combo unit.

This was bought in 1995, so that I’d have a TV for my dorm room. The VCR combo bit was hugely convenient, as I love movies.

The VCR part eats tapes now. I’m gonna fix it, but it doesn’t work. I CANNOT record anything with it.

And yet, when a DVD is played through my PS2, I get copy protection retardation.

I CANNOT PLAY A DVD THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED THROUGH A PLAYER THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED ON A TV THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED. Okay, that my parents legally purchased.

Now I have to hook up an R/F modulator (that I already own because I’m USED to this horse shit), and consume more electricity.

Irate isn’t even the word.

All this makes me want to do is tape DVDs, once the modulator is set up and the VCR portion is fixed, and give them to people. Not that I will, but I freakin’ WANT to.

Death and destruction.

Update: Since the copy protection trigger lies in the TV itself, the R/F modulator does nothing. The irony, of course, is that while our big-screen TV, inherited from , is dead, this thing just keeps going.

Lesson learned: Never, EVER buy a TV combined with anything else.