Sony Struggles To Define the PSP

Brian Crecente has a piece over on the Rocky Mountain site talking about Sony's struggle to make the PSP stand out. The failure of the UMD format, its de-emphasis as a media player, and the lackluster stable of games leaves PSP owners wondering exactly what to use it for. From the article: "While digital media is a key focus for Sony Computer Entertainment right now, the company is also working to expand other elements of the portable as well. In November, the PlayStation 3 will launch with built in PSP support. While [PSP Marketing Manager John] Koller wouldn't discuss specifics, he did say that the PlayStation Portable will be a 'remote control device' for the next-gen console. He says more details about that connectivity will be coming out in the coming months, perhaps at the Tokyo Game Show next month."

Comments

Re:99% of all PSP games?

[ozbon]

Maybe I've been lucky, but I've mainly been able to buy what are ( in my own opinion ) non-sucky games for the PSP. Lumines is fine, and can occupy plenty of time if I'm travelling or whatever. Wipeout Pure is sensational - I love it. OK, so it's not original, but it's still a damn good game, and works fantastically on the PSP. Also, the ability to expand the game by going online and getting more tracks/music/ships is a great idea, and one I'm amazed more games haven't taken advantage of.

I also play the Colin McRae 2005 rally game a lot - again, ideal for travelling - although I admit that it took a larger learning curve than usual to get to grips with some of the (ahem) "features".

As for others, both LocoRoco and Mercury are simple but addictive.

One of the best portable media players...

[gregger]

I bought a PSP for the video capabilities. The screen is simply AWESOME (if you don't scratch it). Be sure to get a protective case for it!

How I use it: In flight entertainment. It's amazing what a flight attendant stopper it is.
Ingredients:

• at least 1 >= 1GB memory stick and a memory stick reader
  
• A Media Center 2005, TiVo, MythTV etc. box
  
• PSPVideo9 or PSPWare
  

Options:
DVD backups (VOB files) that you save to another file server.
Converting FLV videos from YouTube or Google (a bit too much effort for the resulting crappy quality).

Basically, I take PSPVideo9, add a line to its XML configuration file to recognize a DVR-MS file (I have a Media Center), and then pick about 6 hours of Colbert Reports and Daily Show's I've missed in the past week or so. Anything with a DirectShow filter installed can be converted by PSPVideo9... it just takes an extra line of XML to recognize the file extension.

This process takes a while, so I start it the night before my trip...

In the morning, I copy the files to my Memory Stick during my shower (once a month, whether I need it or not). This can take some time depending on your card reader speed.

I then laugh my ass off on the plane all the way across country. You can do this with a DVD backup program and PSPVideo9 as well. A 30 minute TV program is about 60MB and a 2 hour movies chops down to less than 300MB. If you have a 16:9 aspect ratio movie, it fills up the screen as the director intended. If you have a 4:3 show, just zoom the PSP screen and it will fill it (you lose 10% off the top and bottom, but it isn't stretched out).

Now, here's the next part... there are 100's of ways to skin this cat, but here is how I did it...

Get TV programs remotely (extra credit):

• Set up a private VPN in your favorite way (I used Hamachi, but you could do SSH etc.)
  
  • this may require a DynDNS or HomeIP type access to your router / Media Center / MythTV
  
  
• Set up TightVNC or similar (usual precautions apply about security)
  
• Set up FTP on the box you wish to fetch your final media from
  
  • you could do this in some really interesting ways, but this is easy
    

So, on your remote computer:

• Join your VPN and use VNC to access the computer
  
• Convert your TV or DVD files as usual (PSPVideo9) using VNC
  
• Ensure the finished files end up in your FTP directory
  
• Minimize it and log out
  
• Later... FTP to your home machine, download the content to your remote PC
  
  • now that Firmware 2.8 is out for the PSP, you could set them up as RSS feeds and download directly to your PSP

I'd like to do the RSS route... that would be cool.
Everyone I've let use my PSP to watch video (even iPod users) are blown away with the quality of the playback.

Battery life for memory-stick based operations is *great*. I use 1 bar out of 3 watching movies or TV for 2 hours. iPod / iTunes video does work well.

Be sure to pick up a combination USB and PSP cable so you can charge your PSP and another USB device as well off 1 port.

Drawbacks and gripes:
1 GB Mem sticks are a small. 4GB will be great. Those can be had for $150 or so now.
You can't take a HUGE library of media with you (like a 60GB iPod)... which is fine for TV for me
File format for video has to be MP4... way lame, but you have to chop it anyway.
Volume for playing video back isn't great - it needs to get boosted during conversion
Playing audio through FM tuners is NOT good... too quiet for most cars with the road noise

But, I think it is a really nice piece of hardware... I dan't play many games, but the ones I have, I enjoy. I don't play a lot of other games on other platforms either, so I don't have a lot to compare it to...

TTFN