PS2 Does playing backup PS1 discs on a PS2 burnout the laser ?

[MottZilla]

More ODE options would be good so long as their compatibility is good. What is mstation exactly? From a quick look it seems to be an ODE designed to plug in the same way the original Laser Lens Assembly would? That is something I've wanted to see. In theory if done right you should get 100% compatibility.

 

[Peppe90]

Totally anecdotal on my part, but I didn't actually realize at first that popstarter (on ps2) was an emulator so I played through Armored Core with it. While the game ran without noticeable glitches there was major slowdown in some sections. Armored Core final level was so much more brutal as a result, though I somehow managed to beat it. I then played that section with Duckstation and realized how poorly it was running on my ps2, so I compared with disc versions and running off the disc Armored Core ran much better on ps2 as well.

Long story short, just because the game boots and seems to run okay with popstarter may not mean it's running well, and I guess you just won't know if it's running correctly unless you also try the disc. So I've moved onto burning discs and playing ps1 games that way for now (thanks to mechapwn). I haven't thought too much about laser wear, as I think it's not super difficult to replace the ps2 laser if and when it burns out...

While using POPStarter may be fine in some cases, I'd certainly disagree with it being "the best way" to play any game. It depends on your priorities. I find the best way to play PS1 games these days is on a real PS1 with an optical drive emulator. No need to use any discs. But they aren't cheap which is where something like POPStarter has an advantage due to being low cost or free if you already have what you need to make it work.

I said "best way" on compatible games. I should have add perfectly (compatible), they're a lot. As for slowdowns they're solvable with Hugopocked overclock patches. I tested it with some games, for example Kingley's adventures, you can make it run with better performance than on real hardware without any contraindication.
But I agree you need to have some awareness about the scene, PSIO and such are more immediate (also those are not perfect as compatibility afaIk).