PS2 + Hard Drive?
 

K...

1- I'm a COMPLETE NEWBIE
2- This is a stretch

So... I've been wanting to watch my .avi anime on a big screen instead of on my computer (which anywayz is occupied)... now I'm a COMPLETE newbie... but I remember once being told that you can attach a hard drive to the PS2 and install something... in a sense it could act as a "mini-computer" and play your .avi episodes... I remember being told that I need a small hard drive, internet adapter (for the PS2) and some other stuff...

I have always had an Internet adapter and it does connect to the internet (have played Champions of Norrath online)... but is this true? And if that's the case what should I do?

It will play burned DVD's etc, so if you burn the .avi to a DVD, it is possible that the PS2 can read it.

However, in theory you can place the file on the HDD and you could play it off the PS2 hard drive. Just a theory though. I suggest googling for the PS2 HDD because Sony no longer produces it.

Burning is the easier option of the two.

you only need a ps2 network adapter (which is hard to find) but when you have that you can put it any 3.5 hard drive (those are hard drive for desktop computers not laptops)

but to play avi I think there is something you can get to play them tho I am not sure

This is impossible without having your PS2 modded. AVIs won't load from your PS2 (wihtout a modchip, there's no software to play them.) You were probably thinking of loading it up with the PS2 Linux that was released years ago. It's impossible to find as would still be useless to you.

Your only feasible option is to just convert your anime into DVD format and burn it.

My PS2 is modded (bad, bad me)... the .avi files are on DVD (burned)... I burn all my anime... btw what do you mean by 3.5 hard drive? Like an internal/external hard drive or something? No programs?

There is a homebrew app that works as a basic media player for PS2. You can get it at http://sksapps.com/ if you like, but honestly it kinda sucks. If I were you I'd pick up a used xbox on the cheap, and softmod it. They work as an amazing media player, when modded.

^I can't since it costs around $125 to mod and it ain't worth it anymore... So anywayz can someone please explain to me what I'm supposed to do and why I need a network adapter?

If your computer's in the same room as your TV you might want to just think of getting a card for your computer that would let you output via s-video or something like that. Might be worth it in the long run so you won't have to burn everything to DVD.

Or you can get a dvd player that plays avi files.

internal hard drive used by Desktop computers. It is the bigger Hard Drive so they can't be used in laptops.

There's a softmod which won't cost you anything like that much. You need an Action Replay and a copy of Splinter Cell. That is all. I guarantee you will find the PS2 an unsatisfactory media player.

What you need to do is purchase a standard IDE hard drive, just the same kind as would be used in a desktop PC. The network adapter serves to connect the hard drive to the PS2, and also to allow you to send files to your PS2 hard drive via FTP. You need to format the drive using a PC application called WinHIIP first. You can get it from SKS Apps, which I linked to earlier.

Once that's done, since you already have a modchip, you need to set up uLaunchELF, the PS2 file manager and homebrew application launcher. Get it from SKS Apps. I don't know what modchip you have, so you probably know best how to execute homebrew on your PS2.

Once uLaunchELF is up and running, you can start copying files to your HDD, and then you can easily load other homebrew aps, like the SMS Media Player. You get that from SKS Apps too.

You should also try playing games direct from the hard drive with HDLoader too. It's pretty decent.