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No Modification PSP TV Adapter

Craig writes "PSP Owners have long been interested in watching the UMD films and playing games on the TV, well now according to a report from Lik Sang they can, the new PSPTV being produced eventually by Gametech will be a no modification addon. From the article: 'The TV Adapter for PSP lets you hook up your PSP to your home television (NTSC and PAL) via Composite or S-Video and Stereo connectors. This adapter requires no modification of your PSP console. This new peripheral takes a completely different approach and clips on top of your PSP screen, with two screws to fit at the back of the handheld (in these two holes you can see on the top of the UMD drive). Some sort of pyramid grows from the base, with a precision lens and mirror system at the top, capturing the image and light, in a similar way a scanner or camera would. It then converts it into a video signal that is sent through video leads going from the adapter to your TV set.'"

40 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. now all you need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... is a TV that fits in your packet

  2. anyone else by firl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    think this is a horrible idea?

    Covert it from the out put via capture to digital back to analog, just a couple conversions too many imo.

    1. Re:anyone else by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "There's a sucker born every minute." - David Hannum

      Someone will buy it.

      --
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    2. Re:anyone else by TrappedByMyself · · Score: 4, Insightful

      think this is a horrible idea?

      Yeah, it will look like ass. And what the hell is the point of providing component and s-video support when the video is already trashed?

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    3. Re:anyone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Somehow this keeps coming to mind:

      http://www.ebaumsworld.com/images/howtoprint.jpg

    4. Re:anyone else by Ironsides · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I believe that quote was P.T. Barnum, but I could be wrong.

      Yup, you are. One of those popular misconceptions. Though PT Barnum is related to the quote.
      http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    5. Re:anyone else by Bachus9000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This particular implementation is stupid and probably sucks horribly, but the idea of playing a portable system's games on a bigger screen is appealing (at least to me). I'm visually impaired to the point where I can barely make out the picture on these modern handhelds--I can barely make out the GBA picture as it stands. I'd pay a fair bit of money to play DS and PSP games on a television (well, mainly DS games, but there are some interesting looking PSP games, too). I hope Nintendo and Sony are listening...

    6. Re:anyone else by exhilaration · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I fully expect that Sony will be putting out DVD / UMD combo players soon enough

      Why would they do that when they've discovered that millions of suckers will pay for both a DVD and UMD of their favorite movie(s)?

  3. Hahahah. by Seumas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you paid $20 for content on UMD so you could watch it on a tiny little screen, you deserve to be shot. Spending $20+ on a full sized DVD that you can watch on your widescreen television once or twice in your life is absurd enough, much less this PSP UMD nonsense. But it just proves, people will buy anything!

    UMD? More like D U M! Giggady giggady gig!

    1. Re:Hahahah. by cbreaker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Fighting on Slashdot is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

      PS. You're a shining example of why I don my sig.

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    2. Re:Hahahah. by SmokeSerpent · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Spending $20+ on a full sized DVD that you can watch on your widescreen television once or twice in your life is absurd enough ...
      Trading less than an hour's work for 4+ hours of entertainment is well within reason.

      Besides, do you really think that most people watch most DVDs that they buy only 1 or 2 times?

      --
      All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    3. Re:Hahahah. by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "If you paid $20 for content on UMD so you could watch it on a tiny little screen, you deserve to be shot. Spending $20+ on a full sized DVD that you can watch on your widescreen television once or twice in your life is absurd enough, much less this PSP UMD nonsense. But it just proves, people will buy anything!"

      Or it proves that some people find themselves spending time idling and they want something to occupy themselves. I've heard a few times that people who ride the bus a lot find the PSP to be a wonderful little device. Frankly, I'd probably be interested in one as well if I were still at my previous job. I travelled by plane a lot. Sometimes I'd spend up to a week at a time in a hotel. The idea of a pocket sized device with an interesting collection of movies would have been quite attractive to me. Every trip, I'd pick up a couple of UMDs and be off.

      That said, I'm actually more attracted to the video iPod. 30/60 gigs of storage plus a video out. I could keep a reasonably large library of shows or movies to watch on it, then hook it up to the TV at the hotel to kill a couple of hours before bed. Not a bad deal since I'm on the market for an iPod anyway.

      You don't see it, that's fine, but that doesn't mean everybody's stupid.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    4. Re:Hahahah. by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except that being stuck with UMD disks that likely won't ever be readable by anything useful doesn't sound too great.

      DVDs, encumbered with the stupid zoning and encryption as they are are, at least reasonably versatile. I can read them on my desktop, on my TV, on my laptop, I can rip them to a pocket media player...

      When you buy UMD content, there's a fair chance you'll never be able to do anything worthwile with it, even if you manage to extract the video, it will look like VHS at best. But it's still sold at about the same price as a DVD.

      All in all it's not very tempting.

      --

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    5. Re:Hahahah. by FLEB · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm in a hotel, EVERYTHING (including the food) is VHS quality.

      By George, I think you may have just hit upon my next snappy saying du jour.

      --
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      Entertainment wants to be paid.
      You just want to be cheap.
  4. Overhead projector mod? by saskboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does this essentially turn your PSP screen into a transparency, and a digital version of an overhead projector sends it to the TV screen?

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    1. Re:Overhead projector mod? by Fred_A · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually there's no headphone plug, it comes with a tiny mic which you glue on the speaker for the audio...

      Otherwise the sound quality wouldn't match the images.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  5. I'm skeptical by bchernicoff · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder what this will cost, weight, and how good the picture will look. Also, can I clip it to my wang?

    Ben

    1. Re:I'm skeptical by Geminus · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not sure if I want to watch anything clipped to your wang...

    2. Re:I'm skeptical by masonbrown · · Score: 5, Funny

      From this picture of a Wang, it looks like you'll need a much bigger Lik-Sang for your Wang.

  6. Is it the 1st of April already? by CountBrass · · Score: 2, Funny

    Surely this is a joke?

    --
    Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  7. What's the point? Buy a PS2 by poopie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The whole exercise seems like a lot of work to hook a PSP up to a TV with a device that's got to be ugly and unweildy. Why not just buy a PS2 if you want to play games on the TV?

  8. I Don't See... by monkaduck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So essentially I'm paying for a UMD disk, then a converter to play it on the TV? And then the PSP version of the game and said converter to play on TV? I already have this. It's called my PS2. I'm not paying for stuff twice just so I can be "cool."

    --
    Napalm is nature's toothpaste
  9. hmmm... by atarione · · Score: 5, Funny

    PSP $249
    UDM movie $20
    funny looking video capture device on top of your PSP $100
    watching crappy degraded UDM movie on your TV...... PRICELESS.

    oh wait... no this seems really f'ing stupid... why dosn't the psp have some sort of tv out anyway?

    --
    actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
  10. Pict by PyroX_Pro · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a picture, LoL.

    You'd be a tool to buy this.

  11. Version 2 in the works already by TheGuano · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why do you need a TV for a big-screen experience on the PSP? Just make a verison that clips on to a huge fresnel lens. Instant 40" widescreen action!

  12. If it works then great but... by Brad1138 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It sounds awful cheesy to me.

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  13. Excellent by taskforce · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While I'm sure nobody is particularly thrilled or compelled to rush out and get a PSP so they can use one of these, It sure does present a great way of getting the UMD content onto a PC (albeit through an analogue in) on a VIVO equipped PC of some kind. In the days of DRM, analogue is your friend.

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  14. I know what this is like.. by CdBee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ..Don't buy a printer! Just stick this flat-screen monitor in any photocopier and have one-click printing with no hassle !!!!

    --
    I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
  15. UMD by TX297 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I for one don't see the purpose of buying movies on UMD, especially since you can buy a full-size DVD and rip it to your PC to use on a memory stick. Much more versatile that way.

    Also, Lik-Sang does sell a modification kit with a pure s-video out and PS2 controller port if you look around in TFA.

  16. Sony is not going to like this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sony is gona have a field day since people can intercept the signal and upload it as pirated UMD movies. Given Sony's love for DRM, I am not suprised if they ask the customs to intercept those devices and have the courts declear them illegal.

  17. Um... okay by mcc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So between this and the PSP's already-announced "virtual boy" addon, do you think we're starting to see a trend here?

  18. Obvious! by Stavr0 · · Score: 4, Funny
    So how does this compare to putting the PSP and a camcorder in a black shoebox and running the cables to your TV?

    Patent pending: to use this technique you must send me $100.

  19. Re:Theaters by ratpack91 · · Score: 2, Funny

    yeah you got lost. In fact you didn't even make it out the door.

  20. Stupidist Idea Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    UMD Video will be on our tv's soon enough. People think the content was only designed for the psp screen but in all reality, UMD Video is actually encoded at 720x480 (Same resolution as a DVD Video). Think about the math for a second
    1.8 gig umd encoded with mpeg 4 avc codec.
    4.7 gig dvd encoded with mpeg 2

    Mpeg 2 -> Mpeg 4 cut file sizes in half by itself
    Mpeg 4 -> h.263 (avc) Cuts file sizes almost in half again
    That really comes down to mpeg 2 dvd quality can fit in 1/4 the space when encoded with h.263
    1.8 gigs a disc is really quiet a bit for a h.263 encoded movie at dvd resolution, just look at divx, where you can rip an entire movie down to 700meg and maintain most it's quality. H.263 pushes that even further.

    If sony was to encode video for the psp at 480x272 with a bitrate of about 1 meg a second for video and 128kb sound, it would come out far smaller then 1 gig, but the reason you don't see umd rips (which could be played back on a computer using a special player) is because currently there are not many 2 gig pro duo sticks and it makes these movies hard to rip because they almost always take the full 1.8 gig of the umd.

    This sony encoding at 720x480 is not just a hunch based on file sizes either, it's a little bird that wispered in my ear. I think in the next year or two, you can expect to see other umd format devices, such as home players and maybe higher resolution portable movie players.

    People who take this path of scanning there psp to show it on the tv are morons, and they are potentially going to have the worst quality ever seen on a tv. The only way it would be bareable is if the tv your watching it on has a smaller screen then the psp itself, otherwise you'll just have a blurry mess.

  21. PSone by PopeOptimusPrime · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If I wanted to play PSP games on my TV I'd buy a PSOne.

  22. Long been interested? LONG?!?! by vain+gloria · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal'. Which is all well and good, but why the fuck can't I hook my PSP up to the TV? It's a God-damn simple concept! I just keep asking myself how long is it going to take for someone to crack this shizzle, you knizzle?"

    - Abraham Lincoln, 19 November 1863

  23. Sony vs Sony by FullCircle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You KNOW that the only reason there is no video output on the PSP is because the Sony content masters are a separate division from the electronics division.

    One has to protect the content at all costs, the other has to sell hardware with restrictions imposed by the content division. What fun it must be to work at Sony ...

    It's like all the DVD players they sold that wouldn't read DVD-R (even those written in Sony burners) a few years ago.

    --
    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
  24. I'm surprised they didn't mention this by gr3g · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not sure how well This is going to work but it claims to let you use a ps2 controller! No more carpal tunnel after a marathon session of Lumines.

    --
    "It has always been this way and it won't change, god bless the fucked up USA" The Briefs
  25. H.264 by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 2, Informative

    AVC is H.264, not H.263.

    I think you overstate the level of compression possible without losing quality though.

    I don't believe PSP videos are encoded at 720x480. But time will tell, I suppose.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  26. This is a dumb idea, unlike the original adapter. by John+Pfeiffer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Guess what? The PSP is not designed to be hooked up to a television. if you want to do so, you have two options. The first, is to get some half-assed contraption like this, which is going to likely offer crap video quality.

    And then there's the RIGHT WAY. http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3696 Which has been adopted by many gaming news outlets, prior to it even being released.

    It even lets you hook up a PS2 controller. Are you really going to play your PSP with this new contraption on the front of it? I think not. Unlike this new one, it actually taps into the video signal going to the LCD directly. That certainly seems like the more intelligent method, and is certainly liable to be the option with the highest quality output.

    Face it, the serious PSP users have already voided their warranty for homebrew apps, piracy, or just to stick it to Sony by downgrading their firmware out of spite. Replacing the faceplate with one that has a connector at the bottom allowing you to dock a REAL video output solution to it is a sound idea that makes a hell of a lot more sense than this thing.

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