OT: I bit the bullet. Got a PSP

JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2006, 12:02 PM

> Other than video (havent tried it yet), what other cool stuff can I do with the PSP?

Get MLB 2K5! (that’s Major League Baseball 2005) It is so realistic; you’ll swear you’re watching real baseball game! (my son has it)

It’s also an MP3 player.

> Anyone know if you can check your gmail on it? Now that would be way cool. Instant messaging?

It has wireless and when you get the 2.6 firmware it will have a web browser so, yes, you can check your gmail on it if you have a wireless router. ;-)

> $300 for PSP Gigapack wasnt a bad deal

yes, getting the 1GB card for $50 more is a sweet deal.

~jr

Chienworks wrote on 2/9/2006, 12:08 PM

I've had several people log into my chat room and download video files using PSPs.

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/9/2006, 12:21 PM

Got the firmware updated and successfully installed it. Dude, this thing is awesome. Going to make the days I have to substitute and have a free period so much more fun. I havent even begun to try some vidos rendered from Vegas yet.

Still not thrilled with the price tag but then again, I am a miser LOL.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2006, 12:53 PM

> Still not thrilled with the price tag but then again, I am a miser LOL.

Here... I’ll make you feel better. My son wanted an iPod Nano for Christmas. $250 and all it does is play freakin’ music. No movies, no games, no web surfing, nothing. I could have gotten a $50 MP3 player and had the same functionality. AND!!!!!! It doesn’t even come with a CHARGER!!!!! $250 and No Charger! (that’s an additional $30) Now THAT is a rip off!!! (iRip) ;-)

~jr

busterkeaton wrote on 2/9/2006, 1:33 PM

I bought this game for my niece for the Regular Playstation called Katamari Damacy for Christmas, by the end of the night she and her brother and her uncles and her Dad were fighting over who got to play it next.

It's very fun.

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/9/2006, 2:04 PM

No doubt. I had to decide between the 30gb ipod video ($292) and PSP Giga ($300). I figured what the heck. Games, bigger screens, video, audio, browser, heck it was a no brainer.

Going to try some Vegas renders on it later tonight. Now that would rock if the quality is nearly the same as the UMD demo disc that came with it.

Jimmy_W wrote on 2/9/2006, 2:22 PM

We have three of them in our household and me and my son both have some of the same games and we play each other WiFi. I also bought the PSP media manager it does just about any format you throw at it and its drag and drop. Very handy tool. Not bad for 20 bucks.
Jimmy

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/9/2006, 2:29 PM

I thought about dropping $20 on Media Manager but from what I heard, it supports Hi AVC BUT uses mp3 for audio. I would much rather prefer AAC for audio. If Media Manager will support AAC then I might as well grab that too.

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/9/2006, 2:34 PM

So this is what you did with the money that you had lined up for the DVHS deck :)

I may have to follow suit here, if it's as good as it's cracked up to be :)

Dave

winrockpost wrote on 2/9/2006, 2:40 PM

One of many great things about havin kids is,,, you get to play with this stuff and call it a present, and when they get older you just get to play with it cause they dont want to wait for a present and buy it themselves !!! PSP been in the house quite a while now,, cost me nada . Although still cant convince my 21 year ol that he needs a radio control ed plane,, but I'm workin on it !!!

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/9/2006, 3:06 PM

Yeah I was holding out for a DVHS deck and wife wouldnt let me spend $$$ on a new one so I compromised. Now Im hoping Sony will allow us to author UMD discs. I just never seem satisfied do I?

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/9/2006, 3:34 PM

thats how misers are : -]

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/9/2006, 3:47 PM

Oh yeah, I got to order Spots Vegas 6 book as well. I just hope the initial thrill witht he PSP doesnt wear off any time soon.

GrenadaV wrote on 2/9/2006, 8:07 PM

Excellent! I got a PSP at Xmas too...man they are soo cool, I play V8 Supercars on it.

Now I am just a 46yo Kid :):)

Happy PSPing
cheers
Rossco

Stonefield wrote on 2/9/2006, 9:05 PM

So how would this thing be for bringing to the pub or wherever and showing off your past video work ?

Got my eye on this thing as well, or spend half the money on a portable DVD player.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/9/2006, 9:36 PM

This is a GREAT tool for showing clients your work. We bought one a couple months ago when 6c came out for doing just this.
Talk about fun, running around Sundance Film Fest with a PSP, showing off bits of work to friends, cool cover on it. It got a lot of attention because it wasn't the expected iPod.

tkalvey wrote on 2/9/2006, 11:39 PM

Okay, I know that there are obvious answers to this, but in showing off my work to clients what is the advantage of PSP over portable DVD player?

Does the PSP offer video/audio outs for hook up to a projector/monitor/television? Does Vegas compress so much that the capacity of the "Gigpak" PSP would be comparable to what I could put on a DVD or would I need to invest in some higher capacity sticks?

dhill wrote on 2/10/2006, 1:12 AM

"Okay, I know that there are obvious answers to this, but in showing off my work to clients what is the advantage of PSP over portable DVD player?"

I can't speak for everyone about this statement, but part of this would be the "cool" factor and the novelty of it all, not to mention the screen looks incredible. I've been holding out on getting one until Sony (I think it's Sony) releases the new 8GB memory sticks so I can have substantial storage space...MPEG4 vids are incredibly small and quite good from my experimentation any way.

On today's place ride my friend had a PSP and I had the 60GB video IPOD and we were comparing the two. Both screens look pretty unbelievable. I'm buying these for future projects that we release in these formats and have to be able to test my edits. The fun factor is just an added bonus to me.

I wonder if Sony will ever make blank UMD disks available to us though. I've wondered if that is their way of keeping people from making illegal copies of UMD releases.???? Who knows.

Any way, I think it's a great tool/toy and money well spent so fret not! :o) Derek

apit34356 wrote on 2/10/2006, 1:30 AM

"Okay, I know that there are obvious answers to this, but in showing off my work to clients what is the advantage of PSP over portable DVD player?"

1. most small DVD players look cheap,
2. PSP is small and has a clean look.
3. no "bad disk errors" or handling issues in a public place,
4. Client will be impressed that you can put your work on the PSP,
5. PSP is simple for a client to handle and watch in a public place,
6. ....etc....

PSP gets thru almost all security checks, which not all laptops or dvd players will.
I have posted before about clients being positively impressed at the NBA playoffs with PSP being used. Plus, its a gift that is never refused, simple for the client to handle and carry.

farss wrote on 2/10/2006, 2:20 AM

Having watched guys run showreels on PSPs and portable DVD players the PSP wins hands down.
Pulling something out of your pocket compared to opening a bag (need to use desk space etc) doesn't break the connection between them and you. I'd suggest if you need more res / bigger screen than the PSP offers you'd do better with a small laptop and WMV files.
Bob.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/10/2006, 8:47 AM

i doubt they'd let consumers make UMD disc. PS1/2 were extreamily easy to pirate & this is their workaround. UMD is not a normal disk: it's slightly wider & thicker then mini-DVD's (the ones's Nintendo & mini-DVD cameras use). Amazingly though, both Nintendo & Sony came up with simular copy protections for newer ssytems: Sony made a custom disc while Nintendo plans on having the disks rotate backwards (so they can't be read in current equipment).

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/12/2006, 10:57 PM

Yea - guess I couldn't handle being out of the cool people group. So I got one too, today.

Even typed this on it :-)

Dave

kerrying wrote on 2/12/2006, 11:41 PM

I, too, finally gave in and bought a PSP Giga pak, ceramic white edition. It looks and functions wonderfully. Its combined capacity in handling photo, video and audio (and PSP gaming, of cause) is really amazing. All friends that I show my work and video to are really excited about it, too.

While I personally am still on VV4, I've been doing testing and experimenting with the "export to PSP" and "Render As" options in V6 in office. I find that, while V6 handle the encoding really well and the videos look fabulous, the PSP, though, is a real stern and serious dude about the kind of video I feed it. The PSP often refuse to playback videos quoting "unsupported data type". Seem like only certain limited set of parameter combination would work well for video playback on PSP. Encoding with the presets work really well. However, once you start tweaking it (changing the frame-rate, the audio bit rate and etc), be prepared to do some systematic trial-&-error to find out what works and what does not work. That can be quite tiring at times.

Also, I noted that the value put in the title field provided through "Export to PSP" (but not in the "Render As") is saved in the veg file. Shall this field already have a title, any subsequent video of your project rendered through "Render As" would have this same title. To change this title, you must go to "Export to PSP", change it, and render once, perhaps just a small loop, to your PSP connected to Windows, since the OK button is disabled until your PSP is connected, and the title change will not take effect and be saved later if you do not click on OK button. A little unsual way of doing thing, I must say.

Luckily, with a little fooling around, I discovered that a title is appended to the end of an mp4 file in unicode characters, therefore, if you want to, you can manually hex-edit the title of the video without re-encode.

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/12/2006, 11:57 PM

I'll bet he didn't type that on it =) LOL - or he saw my post and started right away.

Well, I got no games with it to keep me from getting my work done - I figure I'll rent if I want and it will do well for movies on trips, but for the time being games aren't an option :)

Dave