Size Comparison Of Sony's PSP and a HP iPAQ

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://img14.imgspot.com/?u=05/82/21/0000062.jpg' target='_blank'>http://img14.imgspot.com/?u=05/82/21/0000062.jpg</a><br /><br /></div>I commute a lot, and find my Windows Mobile devices to be a good companion for game-playing. The news of Sony's PSP US release made me curious if it would be yet another good companion to add to my increasingly large portable device collection, and so this image comparison from PPCT reader Serge was striking. The iPAQ pictured is an rx3715.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20050325-SonyPSP.jpg" /><br /><br />The PSP is one slick-looking device -- no doubt about it. But it's surprisingly large, and doesn't seem remotely pocketable. Are any PPCT members proud new PSP owners, and if so, how do you transport your device?

[foebea]

i was sorely tempted to get one, but they went with memorystick exclusively so that locks me out.

If they had sd or cf compatibility or a builtin hard drive (rather than the skimpy 32 megs it has) then i would have gotten it on day one. i dont plan on growing to a third card format that is only usable in one device.

the screen size is nice though as i watch lots of movies and tv on the go.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I'd love to hear feedback on this as well. I had to give my Gameboy SP to my girlfriend as she recently flew back from the US to Thailand and needed something to occupy her time. I had considered a purchasing the Gameboy DS, but was specifically holding out to see what the PSP would deliver!

You're right though, that's not as easy of a device to carry around as I would have expected. As for the support for MemoryStick, I'll be interested in seeing just how important the extra storage card proves to be in playing games.

[Alpha2004]

Hi everybody. Im the one who sent in the pics, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

The mem stick is perfect for savegames, and not much else (32mb)

Many psp's have 1-5 dead pixels. I have around 4 dead and 1/2 stuck

[Phoenix]

I just bought two of these - one for my significant other and one for myself. She and I pick them up this evening. :D

As far as memory stick goes, well, I don't like it anymore than the next guy, but I don't mind at all with this particular device. The memory stick would only be for loading little snippets of video or a bit of audio (and according to some of you who know better than I, for saving games also), and although it will handle video and audio beautifully, it wasn't designed to store a lot of these types of things (no HDD) and it's not designed to be a handheld (although this could change in the future as the device evolves). For now, it's really just meant to be a gaming/movie machine, and the UMD disc is Sony's media of choice for that sort of thing. Not to mention all games come on UMD, and it comes with the entire Spiderman 2 movie on UMD as well (more movies will be released on UMD soon, and who knows, maybe music as well), so the fact that it doesn't utilize another card format other than memory stick really isn't much of an issue (at least for me, anyway). So the memory stick slot is really just an added bonus, it's not meant to be the media centerpiece for the PSP. And for music, we just use our Ipods.

It's looks like a great gaming/movie/entertainment device and we both can't wait to get our hands on them tonight!


As far as toting them around is concerned, I found a padded leather case with a magnetic snap that I might purchase for each of us for now for protection (I'm not sure if the case that comes with the PSP is something we'll like or not, we'll have to see). Eventually, though, I think I'm going to buy us a couple of Logitech PlayGear Pocket (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2362,CONTENTID=10181) cases when they arrive next month. It looks like it'll offer excellent protection while offering a way to prop the machine up at an angle when watching a movie, all without being too incredibly bulky.

[crashdau]

I got on line in NYC @ J&amp;R on Thursday with a peer from work, so he could get one. Let me say this.... WOW!!!! :jawdrop:
I was floored by the screen!

The clarity was phenomenal. An interesting software feature, I thought: My friend was watching the included Spiderman 2 movie on it and he hit the home button and the movie paused and the menu came up over the movie. Effectively making the movie the menu background with a green overlay.

It was cool I thought.

[ricksfiona]

I was considering getting one, but I don't like the thought of spending my time outside my home playing video games. I go outside to enjoy what the real world has to offer. I'll stick to my gaming indoors. BTW, you should check out 'City of Heroes' if you want to see some awesome gaming.

I think it's a pretty slick device nonetheless and it will bring more light onto Pocket PCs as an added benefit. Why do I say this? Because the PSP really shows off how far miniaturization has come over the years. When I'm having lunch in a diner and I'm working on my iPAQ 5550 w/keyboard and mouse, people are astounded. When I tell people the advantages and disadvantages between my Pocket PC and the PSP, many people become very interested in the Pocket PC.

[Janak Parekh]

I think it's a pretty slick device nonetheless and it will bring more light onto Pocket PCs as an added benefit. Why do I say this? Because the PSP really shows off how far miniaturization has come over the years. When I'm having lunch in a diner and I'm working on my iPAQ 5550 w/keyboard and mouse, people are astounded. When I tell people the advantages and disadvantages between my Pocket PC and the PSP, many people become very interested in the Pocket PC.
Perhaps, but my officemate bit the bullet and bought one. I have to say, the 16:9 screen on the PSP is so perfectly geared to movies it isn't funny.

Anyway -- it is a pretty sweet device. He's peeved about the Memory Stick Duo bit as well, but I think he still couldn't resist. :lol: My other officemate is sorely tempted, too.

--janak

[Steve14965]

I don't know why some people seem to be comparing the PSP to a PDA???? The PSP is a gaming device that happens to play videos, music, and pictures. The PSP does what it should very well---and that's play games.

I am making use of the video/music/picture function too, however. Watching lost episodes on this screen is amazing. The clarity will blow you away!

Oh, and I found this article particularly interesting....
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Playstation_Portable_Editorial

Can someone tell me why they compare it to a Pocket PC? I'm so confused.


--Steve

[Janak Parekh]

I don't know why some people seem to be comparing the PSP to a PDA???? The PSP is a gaming device that happens to play videos, music, and pictures. The PSP does what it should very well---and that's play games.
Because they're both mobile devices that compete for one's wallet, mostly. ;) That said, I'm fully aware the PSP isn't a replacement for a Pocket PC for most people. If you read my post carefully, you'll note I'm not making comparisons between the two, just using the picture as an observation of size. It's a Friday night, and we usually post on things slightly offtopic then.

--janak

[Steve14965]

Because they're both mobile devices that compete for one's wallet, mostly. ;) That said, I'm fully aware the PSP isn't a replacement for a Pocket PC for most people. If you read my post carefully, you'll note I'm not making comparisons between the two, just using the picture as an observation of size. It's a Friday night, and we usually post on things slightly offtopic then.

--janak


Ah, I see. I do agree with you, then, that the PSP isn't a replacement for a Pocket PC.

To answer the original question of how do I carry my PSP around with me: I usually carry it in a jacket pocket or something with a lot of room in it. It's far too large to fit in my pants pocket--it would stick out. Once you're using it, the size isn't a bother. In fact, for me, it was quite comfortable.

[saru83]

Actually this is a great device to appriciate but i would never buy a device for a specific tusk...

For example: Mp3 player, portable gaming counsole, PDA, cell phone bla bla bla

Why in the world will some one carry more than 4 devices with him. come on guys.... pocket pc phones are the best AN ALL IN ONE DEVICE, u can do almost every thing, listen to music, watch movies, play games, organize ur life and call people on the go.

In my opinion IMATE JAM is the best i have one with 1GB SD card and i do all these stuff with it, each and everything besides its really tiny....

I know people have differently mentality but isnt this LOGIC??? :D

[ignar]

How long is the battery life? Does it last long enough for a full movie?

[_4saken_]

wouldnt make much sense to sell a device with the spiderman 2 movie if it wount last the entire movie, huh?!

[Alpha2004]

Im guessing 4-5 hours for a movie

I easily watched the entire spiderman 2 umd...no battery problems.

[marcm]

I recieved mine yesterday, and have pretty much been playing it since I got it... and I LOVE IT! The graphics are amazing, it can play movies so I can watch them on the go (as well as my Pocket PC, but WAY better quality) and so far it looks like it's taking off with lots of game developers. I also noticed it is easy to get used to the controls as it feels much like a PS2 controller. As for people having problems with dead/stuck pixels, and dust under the screen, etc. my screen is absolutely flawless, (knock wood) and I wish I had a screen with this quality on my Pocket PC (It doesn't help that I have an X30 without VGA...) I don't need to worry much about space as I either carry it in my backpack with my laptop and Pocket PC, or in cargo pants where I have two large pockets: one for my Pocket PC, and one for my PSP.

[Craig Horlacher]

A friend of mine at work got one. The screen is awesome. Extreamly bright, crisp, and clear. No other handheld game system ever came close to this. Good bye nintendo...they have no chance with this thing out. It still doesn't have the resolution of a high end pocket pc - it's only 480x272 - but it looks great none the less and sure is good enough for handheld gaming.

Battery life is supposed to be 2.5 hours for movies and 10 hours for music only.

Besides the screen, the integrated speakers are amazing! I don't think I've ever heard speakers that small that sound that good. The speaker in my toshiba e830 is excellent for a pocket pc and I'd say that each of the two speakers in the psp were better than this - as they should be.

If you like handheld gaming this is a must have. Pocket pc's have a lot of potention but the people who design them have long since strayed from the good gaming button layout of the oldskool casio devices.

It's too bad it does use memory stick but oh well...I think that's the worst thing about it. I think 2GB is going for about $250 for it, a little high but that would give you lots of room for mpeg4 movies!

[zetsurin]

I am a very happy owner of an imate Jam with 1GB SD card but I would be seriously kidding myself if I thought it cut it where games are concerned. The games I can play on it now are barely above the level I was playing 15 years ago on my Amiga. That's why a PSP is top of my list when I hit (hopefully not literally!) Japanese shores in July (I'm in Australia and we in the 'arse end' of the globe won't be seeing the device for some time I fear, plus the Japanese games are a great way for me to improve my nihongo!

Comparing a PSP to a Pocket PC is like comparing a PSP to the touch screen half of a Nintendo DS only :roll: However, that's not to say I didn't find this post quite interesting, I was curious how big they were (I've playd a PSP quickly once before at an import gaming store but didn't hold it up against anything). It has been said that if the PSP is no way a replacement for a Pocket PC then I would also like to turn that around and say that the Pocket PC is in no way a replacement for a PSP. It would be great if a device could be truely convergent but I honestly don't think that is ever going to happen as for me you can simply not have a satisfying movie and gaming exprience with a tiny touch screen, yet you can't have a truely pocketable experience with a big screen, so I don't see anything short of device with some kind of foldable screen that will ever be able to cut it for everything.

At least that's my justification for sinking my hard earned $$ into two platforms now :lol:

[mcsouth]

For reasons that I am not able to comprehend, I actually put my money down, and preordered a PSP from my local EB Games store two months ago - I spent my entire lunch hour on Thursday driving to the store from work to pick it up.

Considering that I am not much of a gamer (not like my kids, who have their GBA's grafted to their hands!), I still am not sure what drove me to this insanity. However, I will admit that I am looking at the PSP as an entertainment device as much as a gaming device.

Will it replace my MP3 player? Nope. Will it replace the PC gaming that I do? Nope. But it does offer an incredible screen with terrific portable gaming and movie playback, with music playback to boot. Is it pocketable? Not in my opinion - it is too bulky to slip in a jacket pocket without worrying about it falling out, and too big to slip into a pants pocket for more than a brief period.

It is hard to say if Sony will have a homerun here, and redefine mobile entertainment like they did with the Walkman - while the local EB Games presold all 65 units that they received in their first shipment, I saw about 30 units in the cabinet in each of two local Walmarts that I happened to be in today, so there certainly isn't any shortage of units in my area - at least not yet! Time will tell if the PSP is a watershed unit, or merely an interesting footnote in portable electronics.

For now, I have no regrets, and plan to buy a 1 GB MS Duo to load movies and TV shows on - we'll see how the excitement fares in a few months. I certainly don't see myself carrying it everywhere, like I do with my PPC, and I don't see it completing with the PPC either - at least not until the rumored web browser and other enhancements come out.....

[opus]

I'm Janak's officemate who "bit the bullet" and picked one up. It's too expensive, memory stick duo is a pretty lame format, 1GB duo pros are nowhere to be found, entering text is extremely tedious, and for reasons known only to Sony, the UMD cartridges have an enormous hole on the bottom side just asking for fingerprints, dust, scratches, etc.

Despite all of the above, I'm extraordinarily happy with the purchase :D . The thing is just dead sexy, not to mention sleek and professional looking. Graphics vary from awesome to outrageous. When I broke out Ridge Racer on the subway, many folks were trying to sneak a peek at the screen.

RR and Lumines, the other game I've picked up, are both really fun, in that dangerous, just-one-more-game way. As for movie display, while some have complained that action-filled parts of Spiderman 2 ghost a bit, I was more struck by the incredible detail and clarity of some scenes, reminding me of my brother's HD TV.

With an external keyboard and the right software, it would be a seriously badass PDA with built-in Wi-Fi, not to mention that killer display. Since it's capable of updating it's software over an Internet-connected Wi-Fi link, I'm hoping that Sony has some PDA-ish goodness up its sleeve.

[palmsolo]

The Tapwave Zodiac is sold as a gaming and multimedia device and the fact that it is a full Palm Powered PDA is mentioned as an afterthought. I like the fact that it has 2 SD slots and a higher resolution display along with rumble features and incredible Yamaha stereo sound. I am a bit surprised there hasn't been more talk of this device since it is priced close to the same when you include a game or two.

[beq]

Hehe I too received both the 850MHz i-mate JAM 128MB and the Sony Playstation Portable yesterday. The former is considerably smaller than my i-mate PDA2k, while the latter is considerably larger!

I do not like the MemStick Duo slot at all either (that and UMD -- Sony needs to get off its proprietary mindset), eh but what are you gonna do... Actually though I had a couple of brain lapse episodes with the MS Duo card (posted here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38628&amp;start=28)) :mrgreen:

To repeat my question:
Does anyone know if there's such a thing as:

1) miniSD or microSD to MS Duo adapter
2) MS Duo to SD adapter (doubtful as they're almost same size)

With #1 I can then just buy miniSD/microSD cards and use them in my Pocket PC (with an SD adapter) or gadgets that take MS/MS Duo like the Sony PSP.

The thing is, I don't know why the media keeps reporting that the PSP is already pre-sold out everywhere, and that the few stores with a few units available had looong lines of people since the crack of dawn, and stuff like that. I live in a large city and only came looking around in the afternoon/evening, and my nearest Best Buy still had over 60 boxes available on first-come, first-serve basis. My nearest Circuit City had around similar number. And I was told it's the same situation in all the stores here! :?:

Anyways I must admit I hadn't gotten around to playing much with the unit. I brought it to work this morning intending to start playing with it, but it got swiped by co-workers and I did not get it back until I left...

[beq]

FYI I did notice my unit that I got from Best Buy has two dead (dark) pixels, luckily they're in the left and right edges of the screen so not as noticeable. Before that I had actually bought one from Circuit City but ended up returning it (unopened) because CC only sells a $290 bundle with the Twisted Metal game, whereas Best Buy sells the basic $250 package and had specials going on for all the games and accessories (and I can use my Reward Zone).

I ended up getting 3 games for the $20 gift certificate promotion, but I'm not sure if they were good choices as admittedly I haven't been into console games in a long time (Spiderman 2, Metal Gear Acid, Ridge Racer). What do you guys like in the initial roster of some 15 games available? The only one sold out at my store was Dynasty Warriors...

One friend told me that he would've gotten the PSP it if was able to surf the net (which he said is a shame especially considering it already has built in Wi-Fi). Speaking of which, for some reason I haven't been able to get it to connect to my home Wi-Fi network, the testing on the PSP keeps returning some error code. Even though I've already added the PSP's MAC address to the WAP, and I've entered the 128-bit WEP key correctly in the PSP network settings. Is the problem perhaps that the PSP only supports 64-bit WEP keys?

[beq]

Oh I also haven't followed the PSP's development at all and was wondering if anyone has similar questions:

- Can the PSP be recharged using the same common charger which also works for the i-mate PDA2k, the iPAQs (from the iPAQ 2210 back to the original 3600 series), various Bluetooth GPS devices, etc? It seems to use the same charger round plug size (with same positive tip) and the PSP's bundled charger also outputs the same 5V 2A. It's nice when all sorts of different gadgets share the same power specs :)

- But if so, how come the PSP cannot be recharged from the USB connection like is common for PPCs?? It has a separate USB connection jack but I've tested it and it does no charging.

- And does anyone else think the all-white cable accessories that came bundled with the black PSP is iPod "inspired" ;) I wonder if the PSP will be as popular... I'm going to try to compare its screen to the much smaller iPod Photo screen when I visit my gf tomorrow hehe...


Edit: Lastly for some reason the PSP's screen doesn't "feel" as fragile or as much in need of a screen protector as a PPC. I don't know if it's because it's not a touchscreen so that I don't have to keep poking it with my finger or stylus, or if it's because of the hard surface glass of the screen (whereas the touchscreens on PPCs have a softer, bouncier, more fragile feel perhaps due to the digitizer layer). Regardless, I get the subjective feeling that the PSP's screen doesn't need extra protection. In case I'm mistaken I went ahead and bought the $4.99 PSP screen protector from Best Buy (compare that to the much more expensive screen protectors for PPCs at $10-20 minimum)...

[galt]

Everyone has said how excellent the screen is on the device, this is such an understatement it's almost a lie...

After playing Wipeout Pure on my friend's PSP for a few hours (fantastic game, amazing graphics) I couldn't get the images from that screen out of my head. It distracted me from sleep last night, it was like electroluminescent honey laced with acid had been injected into my brain through my eyes. 8O

This device feels like it is from 10 years ahead in our future. The screen alone is worth $250.

[spinedoc]

It distracted me from sleep last night, it was like electroluminescent honey laced with acid had been injected into my brain through my eyes. 8O


LOL, EXACTLY how I feel. Cant wait till someone comes out with a web browser for it.

[Phoenix]

We've been playing with our PSPs tonight, and we both came to the same conclusion: simply awesome!!!

The screen is unbelievable. Movies and games look incredible. We both have perfect screens and I can't say enough about the units.


I'm going to be purchasing an iMate JAM here very soon, but as cool/flexible as any PPC or PPC Phone is, they can't compete with something like the PSP for all around entertainment, IMO...

Entertainment on an electronic device as I see it (and probably most everyone else, I suppose), primarily consists of music, photos, games, and movies. The steps required to rip/encode/load music on a PPC is the same as it would be for the PSP. The steps required to configure/load photos on a PPC would be about the same as it would be for the PSP. So as far as those two things are concerned, and in terms of storage capacity, PPCs and PSPs are very similar to each other and equally suited to those tasks.

But as far as games and movies are concerned, the PSP, I believe, would win hands down. I say this because first of all, as cool as a lot of the games are for PPC, the PSP was designed from the ground up to be a gaming machine. That's its primary function. No PPC can touch this thing right now as far as game quality is concerned. Not to mention, how many PPCs can handle wireless multiplayer ad hoc gaming via WiFi? The PSP does.

And the PSP was also designed to be a movie machine from the ground up as well. People can talk about resolution all they want, but its screen and graphics processing I believe will beat out any PPC right now. It simply will do a better job with movies, and just from my experience with the UMD of Spiderman 2, I can see it's easier to sit down and watch a movie on a PSP than it is on a PPC. Although, it may take a little while for a library of movies to become available for the PSP (and granted, it's extra money to buy a UMD-based flick, but that's another issue), when that happens, watching a movie on the PSP will be as simple as going out and buying it and popping it in and watching it. With a PPC, this is another matter altogether...

First, you must have a computer and a pretty powerful one at that to handle encoding. Next, you buy the DVD you want to watch on your handheld. Next, you decide whether or not you want to buy all-in-one DVD-to-PPC software that handles the entire process of ripping/encoding/configuring a DVD to play on your PPC, or whether you want to invest in separate programs that each handle one step of the process. Once you determine this, you buy the software, load it and learn how to use it. And if you buy separate programs, make sure you know something about what files to choose after ripping and how to encode or you're out of luck. Next, you begin and complete the whole process, which takes hours to do. Then, you make sure you have a large enough memory card to store the movies, and if you don't, you buy one. And when completed, finally you load it onto your memory card, and you're ready to watch your movie. Just know you'll go through these same steps with every movie you want to watch, and oh yeah, don't expect the same level of quality afterwards that you'd find with movies professionally encoded and configured specifically for the PSP. Just make sure you're near your computer each time you're ready to remove old movies off your card in order to load new ones, because cards only have so much room. Whew. That's an awful lot and too much of a hassle for the average person just to watch a single movie on a PPC. Ease of use and video quality make the PSP a much better movie machine than a PPC. Buy UMD, pop it in, enjoy movie. That simple.

Now I realize that people will say, "Well, you'd have to go through a lot of those same steps when loading video onto the memory stick card." Yes, I realize that, but the memory stick is not and will not be the primary vehicle for watching movies on the PSP. The UMD is and will be.


Although some will disagree with me, as someone who now has experience with both PSP and PPC, overall, for the reasons and illustrations above, the PSP is a better entertainment device, IMO, than any PPC. As more games and movies become available for the PSP over time, it will only support this perspective more.

People can also talk about how the PSP has no touchscreen and doesn't browse the internet right now, but neither does the Ipod, and look how much people love that device which only handles music (and photos for the color versions). (I should also mention that Sony may have something up its sleeve in terms of internet browsing with the PSP - its built in WiFi looks as though it will support more than just ad hoc connections, but maybe this is just for wireless firmware updates. I'll look into this more as I become more familiar with the device).

One day if/when the PSP is designed with, let's say, a 40GB HDD, it would make an already serious entertainment device dangerous.

[PR.]

Actually this is a great device to appriciate but i would never buy a device for a specific tusk...

For example: Mp3 player, portable gaming counsole, PDA, cell phone bla bla bla

Why in the world will some one carry more than 4 devices with him. come on guys.... pocket pc phones are the best AN ALL IN ONE DEVICE, u can do almost every thing, listen to music, watch movies, play games, organize ur life and call people on the go.

In my opinion IMATE JAM is the best i have one with 1GB SD card and i do all these stuff with it, each and everything besides its really tiny....

I know people have differently mentality but isnt this LOGIC??? :D

The PocketPC as a converged device is a jack of all trades but master of none.

- As an Music Player its fiddly to use has no remote control on the 4700 there is an annoying hiss, getting large amounts of memory on the device is as expensive as an mp3 player, reducing battery life for meetings etc.
- As a movie player, slow unreliable, have to fight with software and spend time tweaking to get good results, reduced battery life for meetings etc.
- As a picture viewer I have no way to move pictures from my Cameras MultiMediaCard (the ones with the SIM card style contacts) on my 4700, reduced battery life for meetings.
- As a note taker for meetings I find the screen to delicate and open to scratching so use a keyboard but have problems with small screen space, it takes time to set up the keyboard, 4700 and textmaker, unreliable - I have an IT meeting once a month for two months running I lost my notes when either textmaker crashed or the 4700 froze.
- As a games machine I find game incompatibility a big problem on the 4700 with its resolution, most games are simple design, again unreliable and fiddly to play.

Back in December I bought a TabletPC to replace my PPC for Note taking this I feel has been a great success for me, OneNote has held all my handwritten notes, if I need a PDF or Repligo document its all held in off-line files, need an email I can fire up the real Outlook and have all my emails available rather than the last 7 days all with attachments.

By accident I also managed to get an MS Smartphone which I use with exchange hosting along with my PPC, TabletPC and home PC this allows me to keep all my contacts/calendar/emails in sync, I also put a copy of Flexwallet on the Smartphone and now when I need my PIN for my Visa card or other personal information I can fire up my phone its ready to go and the buttons are quick to press and not at all fiddly.

I also recently bought a iRiver 320 as I was finding it difficult to fit all the music I wanted on my 512mb SD card. Now with 20Gb of storage space I can fit every MP3/WMA/OGG file I own on there, with shuffle I have rediscovered several tracks that I had forgotten about.

I've surprised myself really as I felt converged was the way to go but going in the opposite direction has proved to be a better solution for me! :D

BTW, I am likely to get the PSP but it all depends on the price it will sell for in the UK

[njl2016]

Is it me, or is the screen on the iPAQ hella scratched?

[szamot]

I got on line in NYC @ J&amp;R on Thursday with a peer from work, so he could get one. Let me say this.... WOW!!!! :jawdrop:
I was floored by the screen!

The clarity was phenomenal. An interesting software feature, I thought: My friend was watching the included Spiderman 2 movie on it and he hit the home button and the movie paused and the menu came up over the movie. Effectively making the movie the menu background with a green overlay.

It was cool I thought.

so the OS is a bit like Windows Media Edition - It does a simiral thing

[Alpha2004]

Is it me, or is the screen on the iPAQ hella scratched?

Correction, the screen protector on the iPAQ is hella scratched :lol:

[x999x]

I got a PSP, and how in the heck Sony plans on using it to replace it's Clie lineup is seriously beyond me...

The PSP is not so much a gaming device as it is a multimedia device, this is evident by it's more than lackluster launch software lineup, but hey at least I got a copy of Spiderman 2 with it, and boy does it look friggen incredible.

There's nothing pocketable about this device unless you wear MC-Hammer pants, so I opt to keep it in my backpack, where it's much much safer anyway.

The battery life has not been a problem, and is suprisingly more power conscience than using a PPC with a microdrive if you can believe it, I know I was suprised...

As far as encoding your own video is concerned, it's fairly simple, and the results are top notch, with the only constraint on quality being the size of your memory stick. Thanks to mp4 compression, you can evoke some very nice looking video for just pocket-change in megabytes, so a 512 memstick is all you'd need to throw your own good looking movie on the device. If that's not your cup of tea, you could always buy a UMD movie from sony which looks as good as a dvd.

[RKosin]

OK confession :| is good for the soul...being one of many like the original photo making the immediate comparison with the next gen and their "new" toys....the question remains, is there a browser that Sony will support especially since this device supports WiFi?

[x999x]

There's lots of rumors in the psp community that a web browser will be included in one of the next firmware upgrades. I'm not sure of the validity of this, but in such a heated race of "killer apps" being announced at E3 for the Nintendo DS and PSP, I wouldn't be suprised if there was some mention of this.

[Steve14965]

I got a PSP, and how in the heck Sony plans on using it to replace it's Clie lineup is seriously beyond me...

The PSP is not so much a gaming device as it is a multimedia device, this is evident by it's more than lackluster launch software lineup, but hey at least I got a copy of Spiderman 2 with it, and boy does it look friggen incredible.

1) Sony is trying to replace it's Clie line with this??
2) PSP's launch lineup is actually pretty good! Look at the DS lineup- it shows how the PSP is superior in this spot.

[Alpha2004]

wipeout pure comes with a built in web browser.

the way to get it to work for practical use is...well, its not practical.

[KH]

I read PR's post and found we have nothing in common...

As a Music player my 4705 is awesome, I can play it in the background while reading any one of the thousands of eBooks I can get from Palm or Fictionwise or Baen. The Playlists are fine and the music quality is impressive.

The screen is beautiful when I watch movies with Betaplayer - and by the way, the shape of the IPAQ lends itself very well to landscape.

Did I say it works really well outside in daylight as well?

I have been using the WriteSHIELDS from http://www.pocketpctech.com/ for years, and really love the Clear ones they offer for the IPAQ 4705. They are totally tough and take any amount of stylusing. I have used Calligrapher for notetaking for years also - at least 85% accuracy, and my conference and meeting notes are instantly converted to text and ready to sync with my PC and issue as notes with only a little cleanup.

MY cameras are the Canon EOS Digital Rebel (although I am having pixel envy for the 20D) and the Olympus 750UZ. The Canon takes CF, the Olynpus XD cards can go in a CF adapter. I love being able to pop the cards in my IPAQ for an instant view. I use the HP Image Viewer software for some things, Dockware for others (what a screen saver!!), and most often, Resco Picture viewer - which lets me easily adjust brightness, color and zoom for any of my Pics. I take a LOT of Pics!

The one thing I am still wishing for is more VGA-compatible software - I generally use SE_VGA for 'Real VGA' resolution. And I have to admit I like Puzzle games more than action ones. But I still log a lot of hours on my IPAQs.

I think HP has made a terrically sweet machine. I can't IMAGINE buying a handheld that doesn't have a touch screen! It would be useless!!! Personal opinion, of course...

[x999x]

1) Sony is trying to replace it's Clie line with this??
2) PSP's launch lineup is actually pretty good! Look at the DS lineup- it shows how the PSP is superior in this spot.

1-They've stopped making them in Japan, and have said they plan to flesh out the PSP to fill that new void. I'm clueless as to how...

2-Sony's lineup is worse than the DS', which at least had more "new" titles to it's credit than rehashes. Furthermore, statistically speaking, DS games have reviewed higher thus far.

[marconelly]

The PSP is not so much a gaming device as it is a multimedia device, this is evident by it's more than lackluster launch software lineup
That's a bit weird comment. The machine has just launched, and there's around 20 games avalable for it, some of unusualy good quality for a launch title, I might say. How many games PS2, Xbox or Gamecube launched with? I don't know the exact number, but I know it wasn't much more than 20, for sure.

Furthermore, statistically speaking, DS games have reviewed higher thus far.
Personal preferences aside, that is simply not true.
DS games so far average at 65.6%, while PSP's average at 76.7%. PSP also has two games that average over 90%, while DS has none.
You can get these numbers from the aggreagated reviews tracked at Gamerankings.com

wipeout pure comes with a built in web browser.

the way to get it to work for practical use is...well, its not practical.
True, but for those who want to give it a try, here's how:

http://homepage.mac.com/ablack6596/PSP/index.html

WIth this procedure you essentially get a nice web browser on a PSP, as long as you own Wipeout Pure game.

[beq]

Speaking of which, for some reason I haven't been able to get it to connect to my home Wi-Fi network, the testing on the PSP keeps returning some error code. Even though I've already added the PSP's MAC address to the WAP, and I've entered the 128-bit WEP key correctly in the PSP network settings.

Well I think I figured out the problem with my wireless router. Turns out the PSP's Wi-Fi does not seem to work when using WEP with shared key authentication. Open system authentication is required (actually the router offers 3 choices: open system, shared key, and auto/both -- I changed it to the last one).

It's too bad, I'm being forced to lower my home Wi-Fi security gradually. First I had to stop using WPA-PSK and go back to WEP (which means I can't upgrade to WPA2 either). Then I had to enable SSID broadcasting since the Wi-Fi CF card for my old PPC requires it. Now I can no longer use WEP shared key authentication (exclusively) because of the PSP.

[Steve14965]

1) Sony is trying to replace it's Clie line with this??
2) PSP's launch lineup is actually pretty good! Look at the DS lineup- it shows how the PSP is superior in this spot.

1-They've stopped making them in Japan, and have said they plan to flesh out the PSP to fill that new void. I'm clueless as to how...

2-Sony's lineup is worse than the DS', which at least had more "new" titles to it's credit than rehashes. Furthermore, statistically speaking, DS games have reviewed higher thus far.

1)Somehow I have a feeling that plan isn't going to work :wink: But still, could this mean we will get PDA functionality on them?

2)Well yeah a lot of them are remakes, but most of these are actually pretty good remakes in the sense that they were good games.

[Alpha2004]

1) Sony is trying to replace it's Clie line with this??
2) PSP's launch lineup is actually pretty good! Look at the DS lineup- it shows how the PSP is superior in this spot.


2-Sony's lineup is worse than the DS', which at least had more "new" titles to it's credit than rehashes. Furthermore, statistically speaking, DS games have reviewed higher thus far.


WHAT are you smoking? 8O

psp rating fromg gamespot

8.2
9.0
8.3
8.2
6.9
8.8
7.2
7.3
8.5
7.9


ds rating:
4.5
7.2
8.4
5.2

Now explain your comment. 0X

[beq]

The photo / music / video playing functionality of the PSP seems crippled to me, has anyone had better luck? It seems that in order for the PSP to recognize any media files on the MS card they must be placed in the proprietary PSP folder structure:

\PSP\Photo
\PSP\Music
\PSP\Video

Yet the manual also says that you should be able to just take out the MS card from a digital camera and insert it into the PSP. But in that case the photo files would always be under \DCIM\{XXX} which the PSP wouldn't see??

I also tried the .MP4 (MPEG-4) video capture files from the i-mate PDA2k and JAM (which play back just fine with QuickTime on the PC, and I think with BetaPlayer on other PPCs), but the PSP would not recognize those files. So the PSP must only recognize a specific format of .MP4 video?

BTW can anyone recommend other PSP discussion forums that might have some answers?

[FrozenIpaq]

It is not hard to believe. I have my PSP in my pocket right now with the caase. It is a very good device. I almost love it more than my PPC. If any1 has 250$ i suggest buying it, but make sure you haave enugh for a game, i dont :( so im left with watching spiderman 2 on the biggest and baddest handheld screens ever.

Note: Pants size 16, and they are cargos, fits right into my two top pockets with ease

[beq]

Yeah I wish we can leverage the amazing screen for other things too.

As I mentioned the photo viewing function seems crippled (and the viewer/slideshow software is very basic too -- I wish they can use the extra space on the left/right of the 16:9 widescreen to display photo metadata for example).

And it would've been cool if the PSP comes with built-in TV tuner and such!

BTW does anyone know if the PSP supports USB host (assuming device manufacturers can create drivers for the PSP OS easily)? Then perhaps there will be USB add-ons that can be snapped on the top of the PSP. Like TV tuner/antenna, GPS receiver, the planned cellphone add-on that I read elsewhere, etc...


P.S. Just curious, does Sony use some special new screen technology for the PSP? Is it OLED? Is the reason it looks better than the average PPC screen is because the digitizer layer of the PPC's touchscreen inherently makes the display worse?

[jlp]

...
Why in the world will some one carry more than 4 devices with him. come on guys.... pocket pc phones are the best AN ALL IN ONE DEVICE, u can do almost every thing, listen to music, watch movies, play games, organize ur life and call people on the go.

In my opinion IMATE JAM is the best i have one with 1GB SD card and i do all these stuff with it, each and everything besides its really tiny....

I know people have differently mentality but isnt this LOGIC??? :D

It's logical except it only covers part of the story.

Besides my PPC I also carry a phone (used to like the integration of a PPCPE but they're too much compromise and too little choice), a CC-sized SD moviecam, a shirt pocket sized digicam; all of which no PPC can replace.

Even a Jam couldn't replace any of my devices, its screen is just way too small at half the size of a standard PPC. And its digicam is no good for anything else than..., well it's no good at all for anything, period.

Worst, the jam's screen is half the size of a ragular PPC, but the overall size is just too close to any PPC or PPCPE.

Now if it was half the screen size for half the volume... maybe...

[jlp]

...

It's too bad it does use memory stick but oh well...I think that's the worst thing about it. I think 2GB is going for about $250 for it, a little high but that would give you lots of room for mpeg4 movies!


I highly doubt Sorry has an MPEG, WMV or even DivX player in the PSP :!:

And I highly doubt you could read much more than saved games from those MemorySH!T cards, and I heard you can only read some type of pix out of the MemorySTINK cards too.

[jlp]

...

... watching a movie on the PSP will be as simple as going out and buying it and popping it in and watching it. With a PPC, this is another matter altogether...

First, you must have a computer and a pretty powerful one at that to handle encoding. Next, you buy the DVD you want to watch on your handheld. Next, you decide whether or not you want to buy all-in-one DVD-to-PPC software that handles the entire process of ripping/encoding/configuring a DVD to play on your PPC, or whether you want to invest in separate programs that each handle one step of the process. Once you determine this, you buy the software, load it and learn how to use it. And if you buy separate programs, make sure you know something about what files to choose after ripping and how to encode or you're out of luck. Next, you begin and complete the whole process, which takes hours to do. Then, you make sure you have a large enough memory card to store the movies, and if you don't, you buy one. And when completed, finally you load it onto your memory card, and you're ready to watch your movie. Just know you'll go through these same steps with every movie you want to watch, and oh yeah, don't expect the same level of quality afterwards that you'd find with movies professionally encoded and configured specifically for the PSP. Just make sure you're near your computer each time you're ready to remove old movies off your card in order to load new ones, because cards only have so much room. Whew. That's an awful lot and too much of a hassle for the average person just to watch a single movie on a PPC. Ease of use and video quality make the PSP a much better movie machine than a PPC. Buy UMD, pop it in, enjoy movie. That simple.

Now I realize that people will say, "Well, you'd have to go through a lot of those same steps when loading video onto the memory stick card." Yes, I realize that, but the memory stick is not and will not be the primary vehicle for watching movies on the PSP. The UMD is and will be.

...

Interesting reasoning. However CONTRARY to what you said "Just know you'll go through these same steps with every movie you want to watch...", you only have to decide on software, install and learn it ONCE.

OTOH with the PSP you'd have to buy your movies TWICE, coz I don't think you want to watch ALL your movies just on your PSP.

AND I doubt your ENTIRE movie collection is on UMDs only.

Besides you can't watch your UMD movies on your telly either.

Then you will NEVER find UMD burners, as Sorry wants to avoid people to duplicate and spread everywhere their games, movies, etc. So you will NEVER be able to directly duplicate your DVDs onto UMDs.

So for EVERY movie on DVD you want to watch on your PSP you'd have to go thru the very same steps as those for a PPC and that you vehemently fight against :devilboy:.

[supac1]

hi, all. I bought the PSP in Japan back in December when it first came out. I also shelled out some money to get a SanDisk 1gb memory stick with it, along with 5 japanese, and 2 american games. Awesome machine, I dumped my 4700 for movies and games because of this. When PSP does get the Official internet browser, i will have to look into downgrading my 4700 to a 4100 or 1945 or something. The PSP will take the mass market by storm.

[lanwarrior]

Well I think I figured out the problem with my wireless router. Turns out the PSP's Wi-Fi does not seem to work when using WEP with shared key authentication. Open system authentication is required (actually the router offers 3 choices: open system, shared key, and auto/both -- I changed it to the last one).



Try to remove "SSID Broadcast Disable" feature in your router (leave WEP on) , turn-on the WiFI in your PSP, and do "Scan" instead of entering the information one-by-one. Once connected, you can enter the WEP key. Then turn on the SSID Broadcast disable.

I got the same issue and I did the above. It works with 128-bit WEP.

[beq]

Well I think I figured out the problem with my wireless router. Turns out the PSP's Wi-Fi does not seem to work when using WEP with shared key authentication. Open system authentication is required (actually the router offers 3 choices: open system, shared key, and auto/both -- I changed it to the last one).



Try to remove "SSID Broadcast Disable" feature in your router (leave WEP on) , turn-on the WiFI in your PSP, and do "Scan" instead of entering the information one-by-one. Once connected, you can enter the WEP key. Then turn on the SSID Broadcast disable.

I got the same issue and I did the above. It works with 128-bit WEP.

Thanks for the help it's appreciated. But I didn't really have any problem with the PSP in regards to the SSID broadcast setting. I did try disabling SSID broadcasting and the PSP still works as you said. My problem with the PSP is in regards to the WEP authentication mode -- it seems to require Open System authentication to be enabled in the wireless access point (not Shared Key authentication exclusively, which is supposed to be more secure than Open System).

In the end I do still have to enable SSID broadcasting, but not because of the PSP -- it's needed by the old Socket Wi-Fi CF card used with my previous Pocket PC.


P.S. Speaking of Wi-Fi, do any of the available PSP games support Internet multi-player, or are they only limited to ad-hoc Wi-Fi multi-player (which requires all participants to be physically nearby)?

[beq]

The photo / music / video playing functionality of the PSP seems crippled to me, has anyone had better luck? It seems that in order for the PSP to recognize any media files on the MS card they must be placed in the proprietary PSP folder structure:

\PSP\Photo
\PSP\Music
\PSP\Video

Yet the manual also says that you should be able to just take out the MS card from a digital camera and insert it into the PSP. But in that case the photo files would always be under \DCIM\{XXX} which the PSP wouldn't see??

I also tried the .MP4 (MPEG-4) video capture files from the i-mate PDA2k and JAM (which play back just fine with QuickTime on the PC, and I think with BetaPlayer on other PPCs), but the PSP would not recognize those files. So the PSP must only recognize a specific format of .MP4 video?

Actually it turns out BetaPlayer doesn't (http://www.corecodec.com/modules.php?op=modload&amp;name=PNphpBB2&amp;file=viewtopic&amp;t=1306) fully play back the MP4 videos captured from the PDA2k and JAM...

[Phoenix]

Interesting reasoning. However CONTRARY to what you said "Just know you'll go through these same steps with every movie you want to watch...", you only have to decide on software, install and learn it ONCE.

Yes, that's true, but that wasn't my central point, jlp. I understand what you're saying, but the point is, providing that a person follows through with all of that, they still have to repeat all the other steps and spend/wait many hours ripping and encoding each and every movie, and the quality still won't be as good as what you get with UMDs on a PSP (if the Spiderman 2 movie is any indication of what we'll see from other UMDs).


OTOH with the PSP you'd have to buy your movies TWICE, coz I don't think you want to watch ALL your movies just on your PSP.

AND I doubt your ENTIRE movie collection is on UMDs only.

Besides you can't watch your UMD movies on your telly either.

Then you will NEVER find UMD burners, as Sorry wants to avoid people to duplicate and spread everywhere their games, movies, etc. So you will NEVER be able to directly duplicate your DVDs onto UMDs.

Also true. But as I mentioned, the money spent on a UMD movie is a separate issue. As far as watching movies are concerned, I'm looking at it from ease of use and picture quality perspectives. You could go through all the steps that I mentioned and place your movies on a Memory Stick Pro Duo card if you desired - so that's always an option. It's just that UMDs make things easy and their quality makes them worthwhile, even if at a small cost.


So for EVERY movie on DVD you want to watch on your PSP you'd have to go thru the very same steps as those for a PPC and that you vehemently fight against :devilboy:.

Not unless you went the Memory Stick route. And again, that's not the primary way movies will be viewed on the PSP. I'm glad that UMDs are and will continue to be an option.

If you've managed to watch the Spiderman 2 movie on the PSP and you witnessed how amazing it looks, the thought of dropping $20 for a movie that you can watch time and time again on what also happens to be the finest portable game player out there, isn't hard to accept.

It's my belief that most people who make the decision to buy a PSP in the first place are going to be committed to it to the degree that at the very least they'll be buying games for it, and subsequently won't have much reservation buying UMD movies as well.

[Jonathan1]

I know people have differently mentality but isnt this LOGIC??? :D

And what happens after you've spent an hour listening to The Rolling Stones, 30 minutes playing a game, and 5 minutes surfing the net and all of a sudden you need to take a call that last an hour on a system that only has maybe 30 minutes left of battery life. Now lets look at my setup.

Cell Phone - About 3 hours of talk time.
iPod Photo - About 12-15 hours of battery life
Game Boy Adv - I've never checked. It’s at least in the range of 15-20 hours I think.


Any one of these I can spend hours on and not effect any of the other devices. This week I've been in the server room setting up a couple new servers. So far today I've listened to about 4 hours of music. Spent about and hour with someone in corp trying to track down how they want the RAID configured. Spent 30 minutes playing a game while building the RAID/installing the OS and so far I don't have any device under 50% on its battery.
Then you simply have the fact that an all in one device never outdoes a dedicated system. Take a PSP vs a Pocket PC. First off the PSP blows the doors off of the PPC in terms of graphics. Secondly game play. Since Casio left the market I've yet to see a PPC designed to work well with games. Even the latest iPaq's are borderline horrid. Now look at any dedicated gaming system. Holding it in your hands just feels natural.

All in one devices cater to those who only want to dabble in these functions but at the end of the day they are not a full blown replacement and IMHO will never be since PDA's and phones first purpose is to something other then audio and gaming.

[Jonathan1]

If you've managed to watch the Spiderman 2 movie on the PSP and you witnessed how amazing it looks, the thought of dropping $20 for a movie that you can watch time and time again on what also happens to be the finest portable game player out there, isn't hard to accept.

Actually its only not hard to accept if you have an *** load of money to shell out on a movie format that:
1. Only plays on a dinky screen
2. Only plays on one system.
3. Could be discontinued as easily as Sony screwing over its pre MS Pro users.
4. Did I mention that it only plays on a dinky screen?

Did you happen to be one of those users who thought the Divx optical disk format was a "wonderful thing".
Why would anyone in their right mind buy into a proprietary format that only Sony will use and doubtlessly abuse in the future?

The only way I could EVER see UMD movies take off is on a Netflix type scheme. If I knew I was going to be on a long business trip I could order 3 UMD's instead of normal DVD's.

[Joseph]

First off, I'm not a PSFanboy. Matter of fact this is the first PS system I have purchased, the only other Sony item I have is my DSC-V1 Digital Camera. I wanted to stay away from the memory stick but the camera was just soo slick and perfect for what I wanted it for (traveling Asia, Australia and Europe for 1 1/2 years). Needless to say the PSP would have been great on the flights. I also have a PDA ipaq 4155, my 3rd ipaq. Had a 37xx and a 39xx. I've also got a new laptop for work, Dell 700m p4 2MHz 1gig Ram, thin and light. I travel to manhattan all the time with at least my PDA, Camera and laptop. Love them all.
When I played with the PSP, I was hooked on the graphics. It's not going to replace my xbox, pda or desktop.... but in this mobile world its nice to have a REALLY nice gaming system. The DS is cute, but the PSP is just SEXY. Compare the screens, you'll see what I mean. As far as usage is concerned, I will us it for games, all I need is gamefly and I'm all set. I've had it now for 3 days and whenever I use it, in the office or on the train, people take serious note. UMD movies may not be in my future, but I've seen then for about $13 on amazon, so its just like sacrificing a few coffees at Starbucks for a movie.
My impressions, its a sweet system. Screen is great (had a dead pixel, but I bought the extended warranty ($20) and the store exchanged it no problem). Heard that sony will still replace the screens if one chooses, just pay for S/H. The Games are addictive. I love my console, but its nice to play while being outside, waiting in the car or on a commute. Looking forward to my next long flight. As far as battery life, I've gotten about 5 1/2 hours on it. I'm able to watch spiderman2 3x on the medium screen brightness. Its good the battery is replaceable, so I'm sure I'll pick up an extra one later on. Then again I really shouldn't be spending 6 hours a day on the dam thing anyway.
I've got a 1gb duo card from my camera (I use a memstick pro adapter) and I'm able to put music, videos and soon my tivo2go.. Its pretty wild. I'm sure its going to boil down to 2 things cost and need.
I'm sure we all buy what we NEED no matter the COST, though how much do we spend when it's not really a NEED? Fanboys of all products can argue, but IMHO I love all my gadgets, can live with them, and without them. But living with them is pretty fun. :lol:
I highly doubt that the PSP will replace my laptop, xbox, phone or pda, but I also doubt that any of those things can replace the PSP. It was a total impulse buy for sure, I bought the last one at the store and let it sit overnight (sealed) as I read and researched the pros and cons. I eventually opened it and love it.

So was it a good purchase??

My wife knows I love gadgets and she loves all the ones we own together, aside from her phone and ocassional use of her PDA she is happy to be without
- but when she saw Spidey2 on it, realized the features and the uses for travels, her response says it all.. "WOW maybe I should get one too!"

For me - case closed.. :D

Cheers,
Joseph

Feel free to ask any questions...

[Altaman]

Well after watching Spidey2, playing Ridge Racer &amp; Wipeout Pure I am completely satistfied with my purchase. The screen can not be touched by any portable device, sound is really good out of the builtin stereo speakers (the earbuds suck (hurt after a while)).

This machine is a true multimedia system, games, video, music &amp; photos in one great looking device! The Memory Stick format does not really bother me as I will be picking up a 1 gig MS and it will stay in the machine, hardly anywhere near a deal breaker. Will it replace my E830? Nope, it just allows me to to not have to tie everything to one thing and does what it is made to do very well.

Alt

Tooshiba E830 &amp; PSP owner and proud of it!

[kellybelly]

P.S. Speaking of Wi-Fi, do any of the available PSP games support Internet multi-player, or are they only limited to ad-hoc Wi-Fi multi-player (which requires all participants to be physically nearby)?
I know that Twisted Metal: Head On supports internet multiplayer games, and from what I've heard three of the sports games (MLB, NBA, and Gretzky NHL) and ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails are also playable online.

[victore]

On a somewhat related note, does anyone know if there is a SD to Memory Stick Duo adapter available? Basically, I don't want to have to buy a 1GB Duo if I can by an adapter and use my 1GB SD card instead. Anyone?

[jlp]

...

It's my belief that most people who make the decision to buy a PSP in the first place are going to be committed to it to the degree that at the very least they'll be buying games for it, and subsequently won't have much reservation buying UMD movies as well.

With the great risks of
1) incompatibility with any other optical drive
2) the risk to not be able to watch their movie if Sorry stops making these things, remember this is 1,000% proprietary stuff

At least with DVDs encoded onto memory cards you'll never have to worry about that and you can read them with every DVD drive too 8).

[jlp]

If you've managed to watch the Spiderman 2 movie on the PSP and you witnessed how amazing it looks, the thought of dropping $20 for a movie that you can watch time and time again on what also happens to be the finest portable game player out there, isn't hard to accept.

Actually its only not hard to accept if you have an *** load of money to shell out on a movie format that:
1. Only plays on a dinky screen
2. Only plays on one system.
3. Could be discontinued as easily as Sony screwing over its pre MS Pro users.
4. Did I mention that it only plays on a dinky screen?

Did you happen to be one of those users who thought the Divx optical disk format was a "wonderful thing".
Why would anyone in their right mind buy into a proprietary format that only Sony will use and doubtlessly abuse in the future?

The only way I could EVER see UMD movies take off is on a Netflix type scheme. If I knew I was going to be on a long business trip I could order 3 UMD's instead of normal DVD's.

AMEN !!

This is exactly what I was thinking, about those proprietary DivX-DVDs that were sold by that electronics chain store up untill 1999 when they stopped the business.

Now Phoenix &amp; co, imagine how those guys feel, those thousands of people who bought now uselss DivX-DVD discs!!!

Imagine it profoundly and well, because that's how you'll fell when Sorry will drop you like a Kleenex like they did 1) with the millions of Betamax tapes and players owners 2) with the millions of MemorySH!T enabled devices owners (who can't use any of the newer, various, numerous and mostly incompatible card formats) 3) UMD discs will be next, then 4) MemorySTINK will follow.

[jlp]

On a somewhat related note, does anyone know if there is a SD to Memory Stick Duo adapter available? Basically, I don't want to have to buy a 1GB Duo if I can by an adapter and use my 1GB SD card instead. Anyone?

Tough to say but chances are nill you'll ever see such an adapter.

Again Sorry promised much but lied on you: they promised you'd find a MemorySICK slot in every one of their device

BIG LIE!!!

Nowadays you can find 8, yes E-I-G-H-T different and mostly incompatible MemorySINK card formats. If only the PSP, which is large enough, had a full-size MemorySTING slot, and IF you could find an SD to MemorySH!T adapter then you could use your card.

But that's not even the case, as they put the tiny MemorySTINK Duo slot in it.

That's the high price to pay to touch something from Sorry.

[Phoenix]

Actually its only not hard to accept if you have an *** load of money to shell out on a movie format that:
1. Only plays on a dinky screen
2. Only plays on one system.
3. Could be discontinued as easily as Sony screwing over its pre MS Pro users.
4. Did I mention that it only plays on a dinky screen?

I'm not sure where you're coming up with the idea that you have to spend a mountain of money on movies. How much you spend depends on how many you want, but that is subjective and has nothing to do with my central point that PSP makes a better movie machine, in terms of viewing quality and simplicity, than a PPC.

I wouldn't call the screen on the PSP "dinky", as though to suggest that you can barely see anything on it. But are you aware that PPCs have even smaller screens?

Have you ever seen a PSP in person? Have you watched the movie or played a game on one in person? Since when does someone have to have a giant screen to enjoy a game or a movie? It's a great machine and the screen is so superb, the word "dinky" simply doesn't enter one's mind.

You're correct about it being proprietary, but that's not unlike so many other things. It's up to each individual to decide whether they want to invest in UMD movies or not. But you could also adopt this mentality with the games as well. They're also UMD-based and don't play on anything else either. But once again, these are separate issues from my central point.

Think about people with massive DVD collections. DVD technology is advancing (HD DVDs and their players will soon arrive), and as this technology continues to advance and DVDs shrink in size (as they undoubtedly will), will all the DVDs we own be obsolete one day? As much as I'd love what I invest in to last as long as possible, nothing lasts forever. You know as well as I do, that's the nature of technology.


Did you happen to be one of those users who thought the Divx optical disk format was a "wonderful thing".

No, I wasn't. That's different, though. What I watch on my home DVD player and TV demands a different set of needs be met. People often times have more than one TV and DVD player in the house, or they want to bring a movie over to someone else's house and play it on their entertainment system - but those components are stationery, so I'd say that DVD standards are more important in that capacity because not only do hardware brands vary from home to home and even room to room, you'd also be moving the DVD from place to place, not the components. But the PSP is a portable device that you can take anywhere, and you only need one of those, not one for each room, and Sony is the only one making the PSP, so the need for a UMD movie to play on half a dozen different devices, really isn't necessary. Therefore, I'm more flexible in my decision to buy UMD movies.


Why would anyone in their right mind buy into a proprietary format that only Sony will use and doubtlessly abuse in the future?

I don't know that they'll abuse anything. That's just assumption. But again, you could ask that question when buying games. The PSP is primarily a gaming machine, and as with every gaming machine on the entire planet, their games are also proprietary and don't play on anything else except the machine they were specifically designed for. So would buying those games (or any games at all for that matter) be a waste of money then? Why would buying UMD movies be any different? Why buy a PSP or any type of gaming machine at all then? The PSP just came out... don't you think we should give it some time before making unsubstantiated assumptions that Sony's going to screw us all?

As far as the movies are concerned, I would invest in them because no other machine in the world as portable can play movies so beautifully and simply as the PSP. My money, my choice.


The only way I could EVER see UMD movies take off is on a Netflix type scheme. If I knew I was going to be on a long business trip I could order 3 UMD's instead of normal DVD's.

You never know. Maybe that will happen. Maybe UMDs are a sign of things to come in terms of watching movies on the go - a new standard. If anyone can make it happen, Sony can. I'd be all for it.

[marconelly]

The photo / music / video playing functionality of the PSP seems crippled to me, has anyone had better luck? It seems that in order for the PSP to recognize any media files on the MS card they must be placed in the proprietary PSP folder structure:

\PSP\Photo
\PSP\Music
\PSP\Video

Yet the manual also says that you should be able to just take out the MS card from a digital camera and insert it into the PSP. But in that case the photo files would always be under \DCIM\{XXX} which the PSP wouldn't see??
I'm not sure what kind of problem you have? Have you got it to work at all? As long as you keep your photos in the \PSP\PHOTO folder, or one level of subfolders in it, it will show fine (note - JPEG pictures only!). You can also definitely (I've personally tested) just plug in the memory stick recoreded in the photo camera, and PSP will show pictures from it just fine.

Same with MP3s. Just keep them in \PSP\MUSIC or one level subfolders, and they will be recognized. You can also embed album art into MP3s and PSP will display the thumbnails. You can also put .m3u playlists into subfolders in the music folder, and the playlist will be recognized and used.

I also tried the .MP4 (MPEG-4) video capture files from the i-mate PDA2k and JAM (which play back just fine with QuickTime on the PC, and I think with BetaPlayer on other PPCs), but the PSP would not recognize those files. So the PSP must only recognize a specific format of .MP4 video?
You have to have MP4 files encoded with some of the speciffic codecs. As you may or may not know, there's tons of them, and PSP supports some of them (H263, H264 and some others maybe). Just use the PSPvideo9 (http://www.pspvideo9.com/) or 3GPP Encoder (http://www.nurs.or.jp/~calcium/3gpp/) software to encode/transcode videos, and it will play them fine. I am not sure what codec i-mate is using, but I know that with Sony's M1 digital video camera you can plug in the stick into PSP and watch the recorded MPEG4 video.

Note, videos are not supposed to go in the \PSP\VIDEO folder. You have to put them in the \MP_ROOT\100MNV01 folder, and they have to have a speciffic naming scheme "M4Vxxxxx.MP4". Where 'xxxxx' is any five digit number. Software I listed above takes care of all that management for you though.

[Fishie]

Hey Marconelly, surprised im staying out of this one?

[Jonathan1]

I wouldn't call the screen on the PSP "dinky", as though to suggest that you can barely see anything on it. But are you aware that PPCs have even smaller screens?

It’s dinking when you consider you are buying a movie for a single platform. With a DVD I can play it in a portable DVD system, a laptop, my widescreen TV, and even a PPC all for $20. I spend the same $20 on a PSP movie I can only watch it on that system. I currently have just over 500 DVDs in my collection at home. So what happens when I build up a nice collection on my PSP. What am I going to sit down with a bag of popcorn and watch Lord of the Rings on a "dinky" display when I could be watching it on a nice big TV?

Have you ever seen a PSP in person?

I've been playing with a PSP since December. A friend of mine imported one with Ridge Racer and that rebranded Dark Stalkers game. It’s a beautiful system for gaming. Best controls I’ve ever seen on a portable system with the possible exception being the Sega GameGear.
That being said only someone with deep pockets would spend money on movies that will only run on a single system and may not run on the next gen, or the next gen, of the PSP.
You do realize you are spending aprox $20 on a disposable movie right? 5 years down the line my DVD collection is going to be still kicking in one form or another. Can you tell me that Sony won't have changed media types in that time rendering your PSP movie collection junk?


It's up to each individual to decide whether they want to invest in UMD movies or not.


Agreed. Its up to the individual user to decide whether or not they want to lock themselves into a proprietary format that will only run on a PSP and may be discontinued as soon as the next revision comes out. I’m not saying you don’t have a choice I’m saying that such a choice is, in my eyes at the very least, questionable.

But you could also adopt this mentality with the games as well

The difference is that the game console industry has by and large never been backwards compatible. (With only a few notable acceptations such as the PSX and PS2. Sega Genesis and 32X, Game boy adv and Nintendo DS.) The point I’m trying to drive home is you are spending $20 on a movie that you could spend on a DVD and not only watch it on multiple formats but also transfer it to a MS and watch it on the go. I’m simply talking versatility here. Why spend $40 on a DVD to watch at home and a UMD movie to watch on the go when you can spend $20 and do a little bit of legwork and get the same experience at half the price.


Think about people with massive DVD collections. DVD technology is advancing (HD DVDs and their players will soon arrive), and as this technology continues to advance and DVDs shrink in size (as they undoubtedly will), will all the DVDs we own be obsolete one day? As much as I'd love what I invest in to last as long as possible, nothing lasts forever. You know as well as I do, that's the nature of technology.


Bull. Do you have ANY idea how long DVD is going to be around? I mean for the love of god VCRs are still in use. There are massive collections of VHS tapes out there still. (I myself have about 2 dozen.) You can still walk into Best Buy and grab a VHS player for about $50 ($100 for a really good one.) and this is after the format has been around since the early 80's.
The DVD format is going to be around for at least another 10+ years in some form or another with backwards compatibility. And even when it does go away the fact remains that I can rip the movie off of the DVD format and transfer it over to the new format because unlike the UMD I can play those disks in my computer. We are already seeing this happen with dual layer DVD burners.


No, I wasn't. That's different, though. What I watch on my home DVD player and TV demands a different set of needs be met.

Now you are just talking rubbish. The same demands are there: The ability to watch high quality video wherever you want. Purchasing a DVD and ripping it to a 1GB memory stick meets those demands as easily as just purchasing a UMD and as I pointed out it does a better job because if you have a DVD player at home you have to go out and spend more money to get that movie to play on your home systems.



People often times have more than one TV and DVD player in the house

Perfect example. I couldn't have framed it any better myself. Purchasing a UMD based movie is no different then purchasing a movie for each DVD player in your home, for your computer, for your laptop. Do you do such a thing? No because it’s a universal format. Why would you do the same with a PSP when you could take that $20 DVD, download a set of really simple tools, and rip it to a MS. Again this only makes sense if you have a ton of cash to burn on a disposable media format that could disappear with the next rev of the PSP.

But the PSP is a portable device that you can take anywhere, and you only need one of those, not one for each room, and Sony is the only one making the PSP, so the need for a UMD movie to play on half a dozen different devices, really isn't necessary. Therefore, I'm more flexible in my decision to buy UMD movies.

So you are telling me you are going to make the PSP your only movie playback unit? So when you are at home relaxing and want to watch a movie you are going to sit down in front of a 4.3" screen to enjoy a movie? Because if this isn't the case you are going to have to buy a copy for your PSP for "on the road" and a DVD copy for at home.



I don't know that they'll abuse anything. That's just assumption.

That's an assumption based on Sony's history of dinking with formats. Look at their bastardization of the FireWire format. Look at how they have SERIOUSLY screwed over Memory Stick users in the past. Sony has a known history of playing with standard be it their own or others. I'm simply basing this on past behavior. It’s a bit morose but I don’t give any company the benefit of the doubt when they have a bad history of doing stupid things.

[Phoenix]

I won't even bother responding to most of that. You've either completely turned around or misunderstood some of the things I've said, or in some cases are engaging me in circular argument.

And the rest? Well, suffice it to say, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Although I addressed costs and media lifespans, my central point was not about or focused on those things, it was focused on the technology itself.

Maybe UMD will survive and become something great, or maybe it won't. But the PSP just came out in the States barely a week ago. So I believe in giving this media type a chance before making a bunch of unsubstantiated claims by labeling it "dead in the water" before it's even had a chance.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

The point I’m trying to drive home is you are spending $20 on a movie that you could spend on a DVD and not only watch it on multiple formats but also transfer it to a MS and watch it on the go. I’m simply talking versatility here. Why spend $40 on a DVD to watch at home and a UMD movie to watch on the go when you can spend $20 and do a little bit of legwork and get the same experience at half the price.
Quite simply - time and money. If someone has enough money to throw around and does not want to spend the time to invest in learning the software packages needed to convert DVDs into a pocket-friendly format (or more likely isn't even aware that there is software to handle such conversions), this could be considered a luxury that some folks can't resist... especially for those folks who travel a great deal and like the idea of carrying one entertainment device.

Assuming that the PSP gets even close to the kind of popularity that the Gameboy has enjoyed, I could easily see video stores carrying both games and movies for rent on the PSP.

Do I see UMDs ever reaching the levels of DVDs in terms of acceptance? No way... and I certainly won't be one to line up to buy UMD movies. But in terms of comparisons, I can actually see more similarity between UMD and MiniDisc than with the MemoryStick. It wasn't so much designed to be personal storage as much it is a medium to enjoy entertainment... and while MiniDiscs never caught on worldwide, they enjoyed tremendous popularity for a long time in Japan and have gone a very long time without any worries about compatibility or the need for changes.

[jeffmd]

I plan to buy the psp sometime when ever I actually get money for it. How ever I can pretty much say right off the bat, im not buying any UMD movies, i'll just buy a good size stick. Aside from the fact I mostly watch anime and tv shows not available on umd ever, its cheaper in the long run. Unless I was filthy rich, $20-$30 psp movies disc are not worth it. I don't watch the same movie more then a couple times. And compressing movies on a pc is not that hard nor time consuming these days unless your pc is fairly anchient. 24 minute anime and 40 minute Tv sows (csi, house, ect) take no time. and dvd movies are about double time (and tricky since my high powered game pc isn't the pc with the dvd reader ;) ). How ever a good rule of thumb for movies is, create a portable version of the movie and burn it. When you get some free time, setup your pc to encode a movie or two a night while you sleep. Then burn them to a cd or dvd. Now when ever you need to take a trip someplace or away from the house for many hours, just copy a movie or two from the cd onto your memory stick.

This is actually what I do for my PPC most of the time.

[Phoenix]

Quite simply - time and money. If someone has enough money to throw around and does not want to spend the time to invest in learning the software packages needed to convert DVDs into a pocket-friendly format (or more likely isn't even aware that there is software to handle such conversions), this could be considered a luxury that some folks can't resist... especially for those folks who travel a great deal and like the idea of carrying one entertainment device.

That's exactly right - time and money. Personally, I know how to encode movies and have, as many of us have, but we're geeks and most people aren't... but even as a geek, I don't like the idea of having to spend hours and hours on the process for each and every movie that I watch - not to mention, I simply don't have time for that - especially knowing that the quality still won't reach the quality you'd get from a movie on a UMD.

It's my belief that for someone who really wants to watch a movie on the go on a device more portable than a portable DVD player, I don't think saving a few bucks initially is enough motivation for most people to deal with the complication and time involved ripping and encoding flicks. It's also about lifestyle - I want to be productive with other things and balance the time I spend tinkering with technology. Time is money, too, you know. You're going to spend one or the other. And for many, myself included, hours and hours of my time is worth more than $20. So I suppose like many things, it's what we value most: time or money, but in many cases, time is money. But the difference being that if we spend $20, we can make $20 back, but once time is spent, it's gone forever. For a device as portable as the PSP, UMDs clearly will make watching movies on the go a lot simpler for many people and will save them a lot of time, and for a lot of people, it would ultimately be the cheaper way to go.


Do I see UMDs ever reaching the levels of DVDs in terms of acceptance? No way...

I don't believe it will reach that point either. For UMDs to even attempt to find that level of success or get close, naturally, many manufacturers would need to adopt the media type and make machines for home/car, etc., that could play them, and both online movie rental companies and brick &amp; mortars would need to offer them.

[jlp]

To summerize everybody's take:
UMDs makes it very simple and easy to play games and watch movies on a portable (pocketable??) device
however since UMDs are proprietary and because no other manufacturer will buy into it, this forces you to buy movies that you can only watch on one type of device with a tiny screen. OTOH DVDs plays on anything from pocketable devices to wall projection on machines sold by 10's of suppliers.
chances are very high that UMDs will be very short lived. OTOH the CD is 25 years old and still playable today and for the next quarter of century and certainly well beyond, atfer all you can still find LP players today. Same thing with the close to 10 years old DVDs
because UMDs are higly proprietary and nobody else has any incentives to develop devices around it, it will go the way of the Betamax and MemorySH!T formats
you will NEVER find UMD discs burners or home cinema players. Sorry controls entirely the format and sh!t their pants to the idea anyone could duplicate UMD disks
UMD based movies will be very rare for all the reasons invoked
so for all those very reasons UMD discs will always be more expensive than DVDs, keeping them rare, that's the perfect example of the vicious circle

Those are more than enough reasons to stay away from UMD movies. Fine for games (although...), horrible choice for movies.

.

[jlp]

The point I’m trying to drive home is you are spending $20 on a movie that you could spend on a DVD and not only watch it on multiple formats but also transfer it to a MS and watch it on the go. I’m simply talking versatility here. Why spend $40 on a DVD to watch at home and a UMD movie to watch on the go when you can spend $20 and do a little bit of legwork and get the same experience at half the price.
Quite simply - time and money. If someone has enough money to throw around and does not want to spend the time to invest in learning the software packages needed to convert DVDs into a pocket-friendly format (or more likely isn't even aware that there is software to handle such conversions), this could be considered a luxury that some folks can't resist... especially for those folks who travel a great deal and like the idea of carrying one entertainment device.


...

If you really have cash to spare then you're much better off getting a portable DVD player:
you won't have to mess with expensive, highly restricted and proprietary formats
you won't have to mess with duplicate movies
some of which you highly risk never be able to watch anymore
you just watch the same movies on your portable device or wall projection system, etc.
you have many manufacturers, prices, screen sizes, etc. to choose from
you can still hook it up to any TV, projector, etc. at friends', families', etc.
and you even get a remote controller with it too :mrgreen:

[jlp]

Just a comment seen on PDAgeek.com. The reviewer says:

More on the defect
The problem with the door has gotten worse, and the open and close mechanism no longer latches automatically when the door is closed; I now have to hold the door closed and then slide the close lever over. Since I don't have any bad pixels I'm scared to bring it back to Best Buy for the door issue and risk getting a bad pixel-firing PSP as a replacement. (emphasis added)

Not anything to give confidence in it.
first proprietary memory card that no other manufacturer is getting into* (xcept a couple of insignificant products here and there)
then proprietary optical unit that no other manufacturer will get into
now these unreliability problems with dead pixels and drive mechanisms failing :evil:

...a few more reasons to stay away from Sorry products 0X.

* card adapters/readers don't count, I'm talking about electronic devices like digicams, moviecams, multimedia players, PDAs, etc.

[Jonathan1]

That's exactly right - time and money. Personally, I know how to encode movies and have, as many of us have, but we're geeks and most people aren't... but even as a geek, I don't like the idea of having to spend hours and hours on the process for each and every movie that I watch - not to mention, I simply don't have time for that - especially knowing that the quality still won't reach the quality you'd get from a movie on a UMD.



When was the last time you encoded a movie for a portable system? It doesn't take hours and hours. I've encoded one movie in less time then it takes to watch one keep in mind that you aren't encoding for a 1024 x 768 screen. the PSP's and PPC's screen is A LOT smaller which translates into a compression file that only takes a fraction of the time a rip/encode for a PC would take.
Also you apparently aren't familiar with the tools out there for ripping/encoding a movie. In most cases its literally less then 5 clicks to create a mobile movie with ripping and encoding taking less then an hour.

As for quality compared to UMD? Do you know this for a fact? You are making things up as you go along. Do you have any idea what H.264 is and why the fact that the PSP supports this codec is such a big deal?
You also seem to be glancing over the fact that you are actually going to get BETTER battery life off of a MS based movie then one on a UMD. Optical drives are notorious battery hogs.
I’m sorry if this comes off as if I’m focusing this all on you but frankly when you consider the pros and cons you really don’t have a leg to stand on other then pure convenience which just loops back to my original statement that the only people who care about UMD movies are those with deep pockets.

[Jonathan1]

To summerize everybody's take:

you will NEVER find UMD discs burners or home cinema players. Sorry controls entirely the format and sh!t their pants to the idea anyone could duplicate UMD disks



Well there is another reason why you will never see a UMD player for your home system. The resolution is tailored for the PSP. Its a much more compressed lower res movie. So with a UMD you are dealing with a movie at 480 x 272 that from what I've read is aprox the resolution of a VHS tape. So there really is no reason for Sony to EVER release a home media player for a UMD because it would look like crap.

[Phoenix]

When was the last time you encoded a movie for a portable system? It doesn't take hours and hours. I've encoded one movie in less time then it takes to watch one keep in mind that you aren't encoding for a 1024 x 768 screen. the PSP's and PPC's screen is A LOT smaller which translates into a compression file that only takes a fraction of the time a rip/encode for a PC would take.
Also you apparently aren't familiar with the tools out there for ripping/encoding a movie. In most cases its literally less then 5 clicks to create a mobile movie with ripping and encoding taking less then an hour.

As for quality compared to UMD? Do you know this for a fact? You are making things up as you go along. Do you have any idea what H.264 is and why the fact that the PSP supports this codec is such a big deal?
You also seem to be glancing over the fact that you are actually going to get BETTER battery life off of a MS based movie then one on a UMD. Optical drives are notorious battery hogs.
I’m sorry if this comes off as if I’m focusing this all on you but frankly when you consider the pros and cons you really don’t have a leg to stand on other then pure convenience which just loops back to my original statement that the only people who care about UMD movies are those with deep pockets.

Forgive me for saying, but you strike me as a bit of a "right-fighter". It seems as if it's difficult for you to accept that someone else has an opinion that differs from yours. Either that, or you have some real aggression toward the PSP. :lol: I don't care if you agree with me, but you seem to be taking some of this a bit personally.

I do in fact own software to rip and encode and have used it on several occasions. I guess you skipped over that part in one of my previous posts. The computer you have plays a big part in how fast you can rip and encode, so you can't make generalized comments regarding speed by assuming it's the same for everyone, because it's not. I have a bit of an older system right now (in big need of replacement I might add), so for me, the process takes much more time than I can or would even care to devote.

As far as quality comparisons are concerned, I think the quality on the PSP (from what I've seen so far) is indeed better than what I've seen on a PPC. Movies that are put out by big studios and professionally encoded and configured to specifically take advantage of the hardware found in the PSP I believe are going to achieve better quality than what one of us geeks can achieve out of our "garage" by simply piecing together software and doing our best. And no, I'm not making things up, I have eyes and I'm simply expressing my opinion regarding what I've seen. Maybe you think otherwise. If that's the case, then we can agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Yes, I'm aware of codec H.264. If I don't have a problem with UMDs and if I have the ability to encode a ripped DVD into this format and load it onto a M-Stick if I so desire, then why would you expect me to care about H.264? What difference does it make? What I care about currently is that I get a great end-user experience. And I do. The end.

Yes, optical drives can use more battery life. So what? Tell me something I don't know. That goes the same for anything with a spinning platter of some sort (HDDs, ODDs, Microdrives) found in laptops, PPCs, Ipods, and whatever else, too. Should we just scrap these drives altogether, then? People don't expect devices to run forever do they? I watched a two hour movie on the PSP with a full charge and afterwards still had two-thirds of the battery life left. The battery life is fine on the PSP so why do you expect me to be concerned about it? I really question just how much exposure you've truly had with the PSP.

I don't have plans to buy 100+ movies for this thing... just certain ones that I really like. That hardly takes deep pockets. And it also loops back to my original argument that time is money, and an hour of my time spent ripping and encoding is worth more than $20.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every minute of this beautiful device. Have a nice day! :D

[murph]

The photo / music / video playing functionality of the PSP seems crippled to me, has anyone had better luck? It seems that in order for the PSP to recognize any media files on the MS card they must be placed in the proprietary PSP folder structure:
yes, very lame on Sony's part. they need a better interface and PC management software.

I also tried the .MP4 (MPEG-4) video capture files from the i-mate PDA2k and JAM (which play back just fine with QuickTime on the PC, and I think with BetaPlayer on other PPCs), but the PSP would not recognize those files. So the PSP must only recognize a specific format of .MP4 video?
You have to have MP4 files encoded with some of the speciffic codecs. As you may or may not know, there's tons of them, and PSP supports some of them
anyone find a PPC/Windows Mobile media player that will play these PSP .MP4 files? ideally i'd like to be able to convert my tv captures once, and play on either device (PPC/PSP).

[MitchellO]

I am looking forward to receiving my PSP. Should come monday. I will post some pics with my XDA Mini.

I am hoping to get a 512mb MS duo off ebay to put in it for movies and such. Shame it doesn't use the SD format. I have two 1gb sds. One in my Mini, the other 50% full of movies/shows with 400mb free in my Digicam. Love to put it to better use.

[musicman5150]

It distracted me from sleep last night, it was like electroluminescent honey laced with acid had been injected into my brain through my eyes. 8O


LOL, EXACTLY how I feel. Cant wait till someone comes out with a web browser for it.

There is an article on how to set up a browser connection to browse the web! I can send it to you if you haven't seen it yet.

[DonnyEMU]

I have owned four pocket pc's all the way back to Microsoft's gray scale "Palm Sized PC".. I have to say that some of the people here make statements that are really unfounded. Maybe it's because this device puts them on their guard or something.

I own an Ipaq 2215 right now, it's a great little device. I have even moved a movie from DVD down to SD memory card and played it back.. The problem I saw with doing this is due to screen size the quality of the playback isn't there. HP also refuses to upgrade the version of Windows CE in the unit making landscape display not as easy to get to happen as well. I said I'd never buy another unit from HP because of their "non upgradeability, even though the latest CE update was developed and shown running on this unit. They preferred to suggest I buy a new machine..

So anyway I started to evaluate the Windows Personal Media Center Machines (like the creative zen). What I didn't like about them was their limited application and no touchscreen like the pocket pc.. They were also limited by the hard drive size and they were pricey..

Then I saw the PSP, I immediately snatched one up. I love the unit. Movies show up and play very crispfully and clearly off of UMD and the battery life is much better. Like 6 hours.. That's 2 movies at least. The screen quality is very good and 16x9 format, and Sony and Disney and a few other manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon. I am not worried that just sony/columbia will provide movies in this format. That statement has been disproven already.

Also, I have got quite a few direct x games for the pocket pc, and while they are nice, the quality just isn't on par with the playstation 3d games that are offered here..

The sound and video playback the unit offers on both UMD and memory stick is wonderful. Also the system is very updateable (with downloads over it's built-in wi fi).. Don't I wish Pocket PCs were this upgradable.. I have been stuck with 2 non-upgradable units thus far both from HP..

As for memory stick, vs sd or some other format.. Memory stick is very supported by Sony and many other readers. It's used in many of their high-end cameras and camcorders. You can even get a 2 gig memory stick and denser sizes come every day.. If you have a fixed sized hard drive, you are stuck with that (as in an Ipod).

Now I doubt that this unit is gonna replace me using pocket word or excel anytime soon. But given the choice of being a windows personal media center or a PSP. I'd buy the PSP on perfomance and features alone.

As for the pervasiveness of UMD, do we really know Sony's strategy? It's a new format right now, with the number of companies that have come out and pledged support for this format, I doubt over time that it will stay that proprietary.

With wifi, IR, USB, and updatable firmware, the pocket pc could learn a lot from these features and function. I think a "windows update" for pocket pc sounds like a great idea for me..

I already have an MP3 player, and Now a PSP for video (though I can play mp3s on it). It's also as easy to work with as a digital camera. I will still use my pocket pc, though to be honest it's looking rather aged right now and I am very skeptical to continue to throw good money after bad when other company's that offer non-pocket pc's seem to get their feature sets right on ther first time out.

As for it not fitting in your pocket, there are a few nice pouch cases for it already and it seems to fit nicely in my carry-on. I would love to see windows CE made available for it on UMD (though it would no doubt require a wireless keyboard and mouse (okay with the analog stick you could avoid a mouse and still control things without the touchpad). I hear there is a Nintendo DS with PalmOS coming out so why not CE on UMD.. I might have to settle for psp-linux.

All in all, it was and still is an excellent value. MP3 music and Mp4 movies move over quite nicely. If you can't handle life without sync software try the freeware/shareware PSP 9 video package or iPSP, or if you are a mac owner and want to sync with iTunes try the software from PocketMac.

Either way, it's a great tool don't knock it till you have tried one extensively.. One last question to a previous poster. What's propietary about having a movies photos music/sound folder? Doesn't microsoft have a y pictures folder. When I don't put a movie in that folder I can still play it.. They do allow PNG icons and thumbnails which is nice. The crossbar interface is much cleaner than the pocket pc start menu..

[DonnyEMU]

I would also mention that I moved movie trailers over from pocketmovies.net to the PSP by just downloading the trailer in mp4 format and they playback just fine without any transcoding..

It's been neat showing friends the Star Wars Episode 3 trailer and having their mouth drop open when seeing the quality of playback.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

If you really have cash to spare then you're much better off getting a portable DVD player
If someone really has the cash to spare, why would they want to burden themselves with a 2nd device to lug around if all they want is to watch movies and play games.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Personally, I know how to encode movies and have, as many of us have, but we're geeks and most people aren't... but even as a geek, I don't like the idea of having to spend hours and hours on the process for each and every movie that I watch - not to mention, I simply don't have time for that - especially knowing that the quality still won't reach the quality you'd get from a movie on a UMD.

Sure, I rip my own DVDs all the time as well into the DivX format and for me, it's a pretty easy process, but the point is that non-geeks don't know how (or aren't williing to spend the time to figure out how) to get to the point where they can encode a movie in 5 clicks or less... and unless they know where to go or where to look this up, just getting there could take a while, not to mention the learning curve they'd have to endure to learn about their PDA options and understand all the various video playback options that they have.

Even the pre-packaged "1-touch" solutions don't work consistently for everyone.

If someone has enough disposable income and already owns a PSP, the UMD movies would be a pretty viable option.

[jlp]

If you really have cash to spare then you're much better off getting a portable DVD player
If someone really has the cash to spare, why would they want to burden themselves with a 2nd device to lug around if all they want is to watch movies and play games.

Please pay attention this time :twisted: (I thought I was clear on my long list from a previous post):
so they can play their same 500+ DVD movies
on a portable device with a much larger screen
AND with much higher resolution
AND from a much larger choice of manufacturers
AND play the same DVDs on their notebook, desktop PC, home cinema projector or big screen TV, etc.
AND enjoy a much larger selection of movies that will NEVER be available on UMDs!!
AND I may forget some other advantages

[marconelly]

Hey Marconelly, surprised im staying out of this one?
The power of PSP compels you! :P

Do not frown upon a machine made by God himself!
(anyone watching South Park will know what I'm talking about :P )

On a more serious note, yes I was fully expecting you to unload the truck of negativity here. No idea why that hasn't happened yet.

Well there is another reason why you will never see a UMD player for your home system. The resolution is tailored for the PSP.
That's actually not proven yet. There's a solid possibility that video recorded on those UMD discs is actually 480p, the same resolution as DVD - at least I know that at some point in the finalizing the specs, it was not decied whether UMD video will be the exact PSP resolution or 480p.

[Fishie]

Hey Marconelly, surprised im staying out of this one?
The power of PSP compels you! :P

Do not frown upon a machine made by God himself!
(anyone watching South Park will know what I'm talking about :P )

On a more serious note, yes I was fully expecting you to unload the truck of negativity here. No idea why that hasn't happened yet.

Well there is another reason why you will never see a UMD player for your home system. The resolution is tailored for the PSP.
That's actually not proven yet. There's a solid possibility that video recorded on those UMD discs is actually 480p, the same resolution as DVD - at least I know that at some point in the finalizing the specs, it was not decied whether UMD video will be the exact PSP resolution or 480p.

If it would be the same resolution as DVD they could never fit an entire movie on em since they are roughly 1/3th the storage size of a DVD.

Oh and when do we meet up man?
Did you read my last bunch of interviews?

[Altaman]

If it would be the same resolution as DVD they could never fit an entire movie on em since they are roughly 1/3th the storage size of a DVD.

Actually not true! Remember that the PSP uses MPG4, whereas DVD's use mpg2. MPG4 is a highly efficient compression technology, which is why you are seeing DBS providers such as DirecTV and DishNetwork looking to go that way to save bandwidth due to HDTV requiring about 3x the bandwidth with current technology.

That being said I find it hard to believe that the movies currently on UMD discs would look that great on my 57" HDTV or if there is any way to use one of the connections on the PSP to add something like component outputs like the XBox/PS2.

But back to the portability aspect, I would sooner use a memory stick (1 or 2 GB) and rip the movies to them for a trip, rather than buying UMD movies. That is unless they drop the price of UMD movies to 1/2 what they are now as paying the same for a UMD compared to a DVD is not feasable in my opinion.

[Fishie]

From my understanding its good for really high bitrates and really low bitrates, inbetween it isnt that much better and the gains definitly wont be threefold.

[ymm424]

Okay, I'm a mother of four (ages 18, 16, 14, and 11), I'm a HS math teacher, and i LOVE techonology. I own the Ipaq 2215, the new Sony PSP and the not so new Gameboy Advance. I usually am the first to buy something but here are my thoughts....why use the psp for music when my IPaq does this easily enough and is easily more portable. Same thought goes for the pictures, although I AM curious to see how they would look on the PSP. I have no desire to own an Ipod, which my son has....seems sort of ridiculous to have thousands of songs, when I easily get bored and want to change my playlist regularly. I also have no desire to own the Gameboy DS....my GB Advance is wonderful, easily portable, plays the games I like, has a lit up screen.... what more can you ask for? As for the PSP....It DOES look and sound wonderful but at this time I'm disappointed with the variety of releases. I am hopeful the promised titles will come out and I will enjoy them. I currently only have bought the Wipout Pure game (and I am horrible at it....crashing all the time). I have no intention to travel around with my psp...it worries me that it might get damaged (although i purchased the extended one year warranty). The Gameboy takes a beating and that's good for me. As for the Ipaq,..I've downloaded a game called Black Core Logic which I enjoy (no shooting and running around killing people...just search for stuff )...and I've all the music I need on it. I also purchased a wireless card but I really have made no use of it. I keep an extra sd card handy is the event I feel adventurous and plan to load a bunch of music to it. I share my Gameboy and PSP with my kids...we all take turns and no one is ever at a loss for playing something (we also have XBoxes and Playstation II's....the Xbox gets played live in one room).
So, in a nutshell, if you like gadgets, get the PSP...it IS cool....be optimistic that more games and movies will come out and then the package will be awesome.
P.S. Even if I did not have kids, I would buy all the items I've mentioned....you're never too old to have fun and curiousity.
Peace

[ymm424]

I forgot to mention that although many people have noted that there is pixel damage in their PSP's... MINE IS PERFECT. :lol:

[Fishie]

Nice post, and an excellent real life example as compared to the nerd point of views we the enthusiasts spout.

[marconelly]

If it would be the same resolution as DVD they could never fit an entire movie on em since they are roughly 1/3th the storage size of a DVD.
I'm not so sure about that. UMD videos use MPEG4 compression (the really good one at that - h246). DiVx also uses MPEG4 variant, so does Xvid. You can compress a kick-ass quality movie in 480p with DiVX and have it at 1.2-1.5Gb.

Oh and when do we meet up man?
There's a slight chance I'll be on this years E3. Slight, but you never know.

Did you read my last bunch of interviews?
Nope, but I'd like to. Where do I find them?

t DOES look and sound wonderful but at this time I'm disappointed with the variety of releases. I am hopeful the promised titles will come out and I will enjoy them. I currently only have bought the Wipout Pure game (and I am horrible at it....crashing all the time).
By the sound of your gaming habits you would probably really like the Lumines on PSP. Probably more so than any other game on it right now. Also look out for 'Mercury' coming out anyday now.

I have no intention to travel around with my psp...it worries me that it might get damaged (although i purchased the extended one year warranty)
The thing is, PSP was probably less expensive than your Ipaq. So why worry about it more and not carry it around?

I share my Gameboy and PSP with my kids...we all take turns and no one is ever at a loss for playing something (we also have XBoxes and Playstation II's....the Xbox gets played live in one room).
.
.
.
P.S. Even if I did not have kids, I would buy all the items I've mentioned....you're never too old to have fun and curiousity.
That's what I call a good spirit! :D

[Fishie]

You can find my recent interviews scattered around at XBox mag(Dutch) Man!ac(German), Official PS2 mag(Belgium and Holland edition), gotnext.com, 1up.com and a few other minor places.
Send me a priv message or email and ill give you a few straight links and lets stay in touch this time.

[ymm424]

Quote:
I have no intention to travel around with my psp...it worries me that it might get damaged (although i purchased the extended one year warranty)

Marconelly wrote:
The thing is, PSP was probably less expensive than your Ipaq. So why worry about it more and not carry it around?

I have to answer this by saying that my Ipaq is lighter, it is in a leather case, it has a clip as well.....I have yet to get a PSP case other that the flimsy one that came with the system.....
Once I've got a stronger protective coat on it I'm certain I will carry it around with me 8)

[ymm424]

sorry....the "quote" part is my comment. Whoops! :roll:

[MitchellO]

Here are some pics from my freshly opened Sony PSP (imported from Japan to Australia). I can post a few more if wanted.

http://img168.exs.cx/img168/3494/pspandxdaminimedium23na.th.jpg (http://img168.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img168&amp;image=pspandxdaminimedium23na.jpg) http://img69.exs.cx/img69/5987/pspandxdaminimedium19ea.th.jpg (http://img69.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img69&amp;image=pspandxdaminimedium19ea.jpg) http://img58.exs.cx/img58/6669/pspandxdaminimedium0hx.th.jpg (http://img58.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img58&amp;image=pspandxdaminimedium0hx.jpg)

[Fishie]

Wow, the IMate Jam makes the PSP look even bigger then it already is.

[MitchellO]

But understand its worth it. The graphics are awesome. All my friends at school (year 11) are soooo envious because nobody else has one (not available here in australia). Looking forward to receiving my 512Mb MS Duo!!

[SoAlive]

Played around with one of these the other night. I've worked hard to perfect the movie conversion process to get the best video for my iPaq, and it doesn't even compare to the PSP.

My question: I'm going to be in China later this year, and briefly in S. Korea. Are these much cheaper there than the US? Should I hold out?

[Fishie]

You must have a pretty crappy Ipaq then.

[MitchellO]

What format for the videos are you using? And what playback software? I use PocketDivxEncoder to make my videos in DivX, and Betaplayer to player them.

PocketDivxEncoder can recognised VOB files ripped straight off dvds, so there is not middle conversion, which reduces quality.

[marconelly]

3gpp or pspvideo9 both do a good job at converting DVDs. They recognize VOB files and produce MPEG4 video.

You must have a pretty crappy Ipaq then.
I have to say that the coating on the PSP screen (or whatever it is about the screen) does make a difference from any PDA I've used. The picture just looks more color rich, defined and stable somehow, if that makes any sense.

[MitchellO]

Looking forward to getting my 512Mb Duo so I can try video, but games look GREAT!!!!!!

[Fishie]

3gpp or pspvideo9 both do a good job at converting DVDs. They recognize VOB files and produce MPEG4 video.

You must have a pretty crappy Ipaq then.
I have to say that the coating on the PSP screen (or whatever it is about the screen) does make a difference from any PDA I've used. The picture just looks more color rich, defined and stable somehow, if that makes any sense.

Video looks a darn lot worse then it does in WVGA on the Sigmarion3.
From memory stick its also still limited to fairly low bitrates and stretched QVGA resolutions.
It just doesnt cutthe mustard.
18 bit colour is nice though but in the end doesnt make that big a difference for video.

[Craig Horlacher]

Interesting but understandable comparison. Though if I wanted a pocket pc mostly for gaming it would be the x50v because of it's graphics subsystem. Anyway, the psp does what it does very well. I own a ton of Pocket PC games and will continue to play them but the psp is in a class of it's own.

I will mention (though I'd be stunned if it hasn't come up in this thread already) the text input of the psp is terrible!!! I'd rather shave my head with a cheese grater. Other than that, this thing is great! I'm hoping that Sony makes an update available (you can check the internet for updates for it, hopefull to internal flash and not memory stick) that will add a qwerty onscreen keyboard very soon.

[MitchellO]

I will mention (though I'd be stunned if it hasn't come up in this thread already) the text input of the psp is terrible!!! I'd rather shave my head with a cheese grater. Other than that, this thing is great! I'm hoping that Sony makes an update available (you can check the internet for updates for it, hopefull to internal flash and not memory stick) that will add a qwerty onscreen keyboard very soon.

Here Here!!!! The keyboard is ridiculous in design. An onscreen qwerty, or even abcdefg keyboard would be preferable. Fortunately it doesn't get used lots...yet! Maybe the update that supposedly has web/email in it will improve the keyboard.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Please pay attention this time :twisted: (I thought I was clear on my long list from a previous post):
Yes you were, but you're still missing my point.

so they can play their same 500+ DVD movies
on a portable device with a much larger screen
AND with much higher resolution
AND from a much larger choice of manufacturers
AND play the same DVDs on their notebook, desktop PC, home cinema projector or big screen TV, etc.
AND enjoy a much larger selection of movies that will NEVER be available on UMDs!!
AND I may forget some other advantages
Same arguments as before, but still ignores those who have the money, only want to carry around 1 device, and like the W!BIC? factor of playing movies on their PSP.

There's already been at least a few posters who have stated they like the idea of playing movies on the PSP or know someone else who does, so that speaks for itself, no matter how much logic you want to use to deny it.

[Fishie]

Please pay attention this time :twisted: (I thought I was clear on my long list from a previous post):
Yes you were, but you're still missing my point.

so they can play their same 500+ DVD movies
on a portable device with a much larger screen
AND with much higher resolution
AND from a much larger choice of manufacturers
AND play the same DVDs on their notebook, desktop PC, home cinema projector or big screen TV, etc.
AND enjoy a much larger selection of movies that will NEVER be available on UMDs!!
AND I may forget some other advantages
Same arguments as before, but still ignores those who have the money, only want to carry around 1 device, and like the W!BIC? factor of playing movies on their PSP.

There's already been at least a few posters who have stated they like the idea of playing movies on the PSP or know someone else who does, so that speaks for itself, no matter how much logic you want to use to deny it.

Yes but how long does that last?

The WBiC crowd is not enough and its attention span is too short to build an industry model on that has to last at least half a decade.

[MitchellO]

I still watch movies on my PPC, and I started years ago. I expect the same for my PSP.

[Arqentus]

Just to trow some more food into this discussion, a while back somebody stated that the PSP won't replace a PPC becouse lack of a touchscreen ( and thus, lack of a keyboard ).

Well, looks like they are already working on it:

http://www.gameseek.co.uk/images/products/logic3_keyboard_psp.jpg
Link (http://www.gameseek.co.uk/productdetail/PSPfhyaqce6he5x223r/)

Now, unless i'm wrong, the keyboard posted here, is a) bigger then even most touchpad fullscreen keyboards ( looks about the same size as the 4.5" screen ). b) functions as a screenprotector ( is foldable ).

While we all can rave about how the ppc's have a touchscreen, it's functionality in regards to keyboard input is limited. If you want to type, you need to use the mini keyboard ( *uch*, useless when in a car or on the move ). Or you need to use a full screen keyboard, but that then limites what your screen can display to almost nothing.

Most ppc keyboards i've seen dont looks half as functional as this one...

Next is another thing. While it's true that the PSP is limited now by it's OS ( no brouwser, irc, etc unless you a game's brouwser ), there is also a project active to bring Linux to the PSP. Now, combine a linux os + PSP + Keyboard. Doesent that end up as pocketpc like device ( with it's own strenght's &amp; limit's ).

Extra note: There is also some talk about using the analog stick as a Mouse replacement ( like a laptop it's little red button ;) ). In fact, maybe it's me, but this combo make's the psp look more like a mini laptop ...

[MitchellO]

Yeah I have seen that pic before and it looks pretty good. Would be great if sony release the rumoured firmware update with a web browser/email.

[nosmohtac]

My son bought one, and I was blown away by the quality of this device.

I'm planning on getting one myself for my b'day.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me, when playing a game and connecting to another PSP using ad-hoc WiFi, can you both play a game installed in one PSP or do they both have to have the same game installed to play against each other?

[MitchellO]

From http://dw.com.com/redir?asid=920779&amp;astid=8&amp;siteid=19&amp;edid=107&amp;destCat=36128&amp;destURL=http%3A%2F%2Fdb.gamefaqs.com%2Fportable%2Fpsp%2Ffile%2Fridge_racers.txt

Wireless Battle With One Copy of the Game
-----------------------------------------

- Only have one copy of Ridge Racer, but wanna play against a friend? No
problem! Ya just gotta do some old fashioned UMD swapping. Whenever you
take the UMD out of the PSP, it will ask you if you would like to quit
the game. Say "No" obviously. Here's how to set it up:

1) Player 1 boots up the game and selects Host Race under the Wireless
Battle option. Set up the race and announce it.

2) Give the UMD to Player 2. Have him boot up the game and search for
host (he should detect Player 1 if everything is set up right). Have
him set up, and have Player 1 select Start Race. Both screens should
go black.

3) Give the UMD back to Player 1. After a while, the "Loading" screen
should appear on both PSPs. When Player 1 has loaded the game, give
Player 2 the UMD

4) Player 2's game should load eventually. When both games are loaded, the
3..2..1...Go! countdown should appear, and the race will begin. Enjoy!


This says how to on RR, not sure about other games.

Here are some more pics with my XDA Mini and a Nokia 8210.

http://img19.exs.cx/img19/1517/pspxdaminii86005gs.th.jpg (http://img19.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img19&amp;image=pspxdaminii86005gs.jpg) http://img69.exs.cx/img69/3416/pspinhand6kj.th.jpg (http://img69.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img69&amp;image=pspinhand6kj.jpg) http://img75.exs.cx/img75/2204/xdaminipspscreen0ur.th.jpg (http://img75.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img75&amp;image=xdaminipspscreen0ur.jpg) http://img29.exs.cx/img29/3651/xdamini8210psp29ry.th.jpg (http://img29.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img29&amp;image=xdamini8210psp29ry.jpg) http://img213.exs.cx/img213/1863/xdamini8210psp15yt.th.jpg (http://img213.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img213&amp;image=xdamini8210psp15yt.jpg) http://img227.exs.cx/img227/3735/xdamini8210psp2ir.th.jpg (http://img227.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img227&amp;image=xdamini8210psp2ir.jpg)

[marcm]

Just thought I'd post a pic next to an Axim X30H. In the back you can see my 1GB SD next to my 32MB MS Duo next to a UMD. Sorry for the bad quality, the only camera I have on me right now is my phone! :wink:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/18559/PSP.jpg

[MitchellO]

Heres some more.Theres a CD, UMD, SD, SD WiFi, PCMCIA Card, XDA Mini, Nokia 8210, Dell i8600, Logitech MX900 and of course the PSP.

http://img149.exs.cx/img149/7646/pspsizecompare16et.th.jpg (http://img149.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img149&amp;image=pspsizecompare16et.jpg) http://img40.exs.cx/img40/9500/pspsizecompare4my.th.jpg (http://img40.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img40&amp;image=pspsizecompare4my.jpg)

[beq]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me, when playing a game and connecting to another PSP using ad-hoc WiFi, can you both play a game installed in one PSP or do they both have to have the same game installed to play against each other?

I was wondering the same thing (and about Ridge Racer specifically), thanks for the info MitchellO. It's great that it's doable for this one game, but I wish Sony would've supported this officially in the specs, like Nintendo does with its DS handheld (which I also bought)!

As it stands, buying a second PSP to be able to multi-play with family/friends is a much less attractive proposition if you have to buy two of every $$$ game.

Not to mention the read-only proprietary UMD format means potentially buying another copy of every movie you already have, ugh. If only the PSP supports rewritable optical drive (standards-based such as mini DVD or even mini Blue-Ray/HD-DVD)...

[MitchellO]

http://img205.exs.cx/img205/6007/pspnetworkupdate67yt.th.jpg (http://img205.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img205&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate67yt.jpg) http://img62.exs.cx/img62/5442/pspnetworkupdate50kb.th.jpg (http://img62.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img62&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate50kb.jpg) http://img20.exs.cx/img20/6205/pspnetworkupdate45qv.th.jpg (http://img20.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img20&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate45qv.jpg) http://img39.exs.cx/img39/302/pspnetworkupdate39ix.th.jpg (http://img39.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img39&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate39ix.jpg) http://img97.exs.cx/img97/2672/pspnetworkupdate29mb.th.jpg (http://img97.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img97&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate29mb.jpg) http://img221.exs.cx/img221/1275/pspnetworkupdate19gv.th.jpg (http://img221.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img221&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate19gv.jpg) http://img215.exs.cx/img215/9902/pspnetworkupdate1fm.th.jpg (http://img215.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img215&amp;image=pspnetworkupdate1fm.jpg)

Here are some pics of the network update. They are in reverse order, but if you start with the last image, and go to the first, it shows the whole process. You will notice one of the images it says you can't do the update without being plugged it. You also need a memory stick, and the update I performed (from v1.0 to v1.5 on my Japanese model) was 14Mb.

[beq]

Hmm I just checked my (US model) PSP and it says there's still no update for it :(

[MitchellO]

What version do you have now? Mine shows this now:

http://img146.echo.cx/img146/2020/pspnetworkupdate76hi.jpg

[beq]

Oh I see, yeah mine is already 1.50 :)

But I'm really disliking the pink home menu background color on mine, how did you change yours to green (did you just change the month)?

Edit: Oh I just noticed your date is listed 5/13?

[MitchellO]

Oh I just noticed your date is listed 5/13?

Bingo! I just couldn't stand that pink any longer, so i changed the month to May so it would be green, not pink. Will change it back at the beginning of may.

[Phoenix]

...The WBiC crowd is not enough and its attention span is too short to build an industry model on that has to last at least half a decade.

I don’t know about the “W?BIC!” crowd. But “W?BIC!” refers to devices that have no real purpose. The PSP does have a purpose - it being that it was designed to be an all around entertainment device. So whatever happened to people just having fun and wanting to be entertained? I think that crowd will be around for quite some time. :)


Also, from other comments, I’m not quite sure why some have mentioned the need for deep pockets when referring to the PSP. The PSP is primarily a gaming device, but whether you’re buying UMD games or UMD movies, or both (and both offer repeat entertainment), the need for deep pockets just isn’t the case. Depending on what you buy, you’ll spend just as much and more on a nice camera phone, a smartphone, a 5mp digital camera, a 20GB+ Ipod, a good portable DVD player (not a junkie one), a Pocket PC, or a PPC Phone (which happen to be devices that many of us own), not to mention their respective software, media, and accessories, and right out of the gate than you would on this thing. The PSP comes with everything you need right out of the box, save maybe a nicer case for the PSP and UMDs, which together would only cost you around $30. As far as UMD games and movies are concerned, you’re not going to spend any more on average for these (and at times less) than you would on games for any other gaming system. Besides, people spend their money on DVD movies and rentals, audio CDs, downloaded content, computer software, and games for every other machine out there, so why would UMDs be any different? The fact that UMDs only play on the PSP has nothing to do with it, because the issue is what it will cost to make use of the PSP, and it’s not deep pockets – all devices and their respective software, media, and accessories cost just as much and more, so it only boils down to deciding what your next gadget will be and where you want to put the money you already have and intend to spend.


On another topic, I read in a recent review that when transferring video to a Memory Stick Pro Duo (MSPD) for playback on the PSP, there is a limitation placed on the video’s resolution. The resulting video plays at a resolution that is less than the maximum resolution that the PSP will display and that UMDs will play at. They didn’t say that video playing from a MSPD on the PSP didn’t look good, but it won’t be as good as a UMD. Whether this is due to software or hardware isn’t exactly clear, but big surprise – Sony is undoubtedly doing this to protect future UMD sales. Regardless of who doesn’t like this, it just goes to show that once again, the best way of watching movies on a PSP is and will be UMDs.


…And yeah, I’m still lovin’ it! :D

[MitchellO]

http://img64.exs.cx/img64/8711/pspscreensmall5ez.jpg

Here is my PSP playing an episode of Enterprise off a MS Pro Duo. Looks pretter good! I am happy with it.

[Phoenix]

Here is my PSP playing an episode of Enterprise off a MS Pro Duo. Looks pretter good! I am happy with it.

Looks great!

So what software in particular do you like to use for that?

[MitchellO]

http://www.pspvideo9.com/index.html

PSP Video 9. Its great. It lets you easily convert and transfer the video from the PC to to PSP. It even converts VOB files from DVDs!!

[MitchellO]

Heres my homemade screen cover. I haven't got a case or anything yet, so i made myself one.

http://img208.exs.cx/img208/4158/psphomemadecover79il.th.jpg (http://img208.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img208&amp;image=psphomemadecover79il.jpg) http://img203.exs.cx/img203/9923/psphomemadecover65kn.th.jpg (http://img203.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img203&amp;image=psphomemadecover65kn.jpg) http://img141.exs.cx/img141/6071/psphomemadecover52ay.th.jpg (http://img141.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img141&amp;image=psphomemadecover52ay.jpg) http://img240.exs.cx/img240/944/psphomemadecover46nf.th.jpg (http://img240.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img240&amp;image=psphomemadecover46nf.jpg) http://img237.exs.cx/img237/6020/psphomemadecover38ua.th.jpg (http://img237.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img237&amp;image=psphomemadecover38ua.jpg) http://img231.exs.cx/img231/5500/psphomemadecover22ii.th.jpg (http://img231.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img231&amp;image=psphomemadecover22ii.jpg) http://img228.exs.cx/img228/4558/psphomemadecover16zi.th.jpg (http://img228.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img228&amp;image=psphomemadecover16zi.jpg) http://img225.exs.cx/img225/6937/psphomemadecover5zd.th.jpg (http://img225.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img225&amp;image=psphomemadecover5zd.jpg)

What do you think? The only problem is that it attaches over the UMD door, so you have to remove it to change discs. But considering i only have one UMD it isn't a problem for me!! Besides, its free!

[Phoenix]

Just to touch on the issue of the H.264 codec once again, Digital Media Thoughts posted what I thought was an interesting tidbit about it.

Read about it here. (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54425&amp;sid=4b8aed5ec36f80f407db72b5876c09c5)

It seems this is the best codec for the PSP to be using after all.