Media players
Media Players
A modded PlayStation 2 makes a surprisingly capable little media box. The standout tool here is SMS, short for Simple Media System, a homebrew player that turns the console into a way to watch video and listen to music without a retail movie disc.
What SMS plays
- Common video files from USB storage.
- Audio tracks for background listening.
- Network streams, when a compatible adapter and source are available.
Mind the hardware limits
The PS2 is a console from the early 2000s, not a modern streaming device. High-bitrate or high-resolution files can stutter or refuse to play. Standard-definition content encoded with modest settings runs best, so re-encoding a file on your computer often fixes playback problems.
Getting media onto the console
- Encode Convert your video to a PS2-friendly format and resolution.
- Copy Place the file on a USB drive or transfer it over FTP.
- Play Launch SMS and browse to the file.
Other options
SMS is the best-known player, but the homebrew scene has produced several other audio and video apps over the years, each with different format support and interfaces. If one player chokes on a file, another may handle it, so it is worth keeping a couple installed.
USB playback is sensitive to drive speed and filesystem. A slow or fragmented drive can cause skipping even when the file itself is fine.