I recently have decided to buy the PS2 system but have heard that about 30% of the systems are defected. Does anyone know what the problems are and when they will be fixed? I don't want to buy it if i'm going to have problems.

Not heard that, not had a problem.

one common problem is that your PS2 may suddenly, for no reason at all, track up a DVD to the point it is unusuable. This seems to happen more in the vertical position. I don't know if or when it will be fixed. I myself have not had a problem, but I also only use it for games.

I had problems with my first two PS2 units. However, several of my friends have had no problems at all. Europe was the place that seemed to have the largest percentage of defective units. I have started using mine horizontal just in case. Don't want to risk scratching a disc.

If you keep your unit horizontal, you should have no problem. Some people are having sound synch problems with DVD playback, though; hopefully this will be corrected with an updated driver. Whatever else they may be, Sony is a good electronics company that stands behind its products. There's no way that anyhere near 30% are defective.

Yeah, I've heard from many sources that using the unit in a vertical position is asking for trouble.

I'm on my 3rd unit and it finally seems to be working like intended.

On my first unit I got the famous "Scratching" of the disc. (Note I had it Horizontal too, not vertical). Sony replaced it with another unit. Unfortunitly the second unit suffered very very badly from DVD sync problems. I'm talking like 2 seconds worth. :( Argh. 3rd time was the charm though everything works as sopposed to. Only exception being the DVD quality is sub par compared to my Sony DVP360 stand alone, but this makes sense because the PS2 is not just sopposed to be a "DVD player".

So far while there are some good games, I havn't been overally thriled with my purchase. Can't wait for GT3 though.

although I, like a sucker, bought a PSpoo, if I had it to do over, I'd wait. There's almost nothing worth playing on the whole system. If you don't have one already, buy a dreamcast and stock up on all the cheapo titles that are available now.

I would agree with this.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't do it! It's a trick!

-Matt