PSP -- New PSP Owners Thread

Great! Thanks for the help all.

Hey guys,
I just picked up my PSP from FYE with the $30 mail in rebate. So far so good - looks like it's firmware 2.60, so I am reading through everything on how to downgrade then get the open firmware. (Reading before I begin.)

However, it looks like there's some banding across the screen. No dead/stuck pixels that I can see, and it looks fine when looking straight on. However, when I hold it lengthwise in front of me and bring it close to eye level, it looks like there are a few lighter bands that run vertical (from normal POV) across the screen. Just wondering if anyone else has seen that and if it's normal.

I'm excited to join the crew, hopefully I'll have it working by this weekend.

Scaphism wrote:

However, it looks like there's some banding across the screen. No dead/stuck pixels that I can see, and it looks fine when looking straight on. However, when I hold it lengthwise in front of me and bring it close to eye level, it looks like there are a few lighter bands that run vertical (from normal POV) across the screen. Just wondering if anyone else has seen that and if it's normal.

I seriously have no idea what you're talking about

I guess that's a good thing then. Some parts of the screen are lighter in bands across the screen when you hold it at that angle.

I've been reading references to banding over at avsforum.com (researching a new TV), but I still don't know what it is.

You got a great firmware there, Scaph. Now just determine what motherboard you have and that will tell you exactly what you need to do.

Hey Fedaykin98-- is SPECTRAL SOULS worth playing if I rip it to the memory stick? I know you had it, and I know it got knocked for bad load times... what's the verdict?

I put a couple hours into it, that's all. Probably too early to tell. The combat system doesn't really rock my world right off, and of course the fights I've been through were all really easy.

Also, there are these stupid unskippable cutscenes, some of which are TEXT-ONLY. My most recent save? Before the cutscene. There doesn't seem to be a way to save mid-battle - I guess they figured they didn't need once, since the PSP can sleep. But in my case, I knew it would be sleeping for days or weeks, so that doesn't work (unless I'm really overestimating power comsumtion in sleep mode). So anytime I want to give it another go, we're talking about sitting through the same cutscenes for the third time, which takes about 10 minutes. And you have to press a button everytime someone finishes what they're saying.

That stuff is definitely not a deal-breaker, though, and someone who was into the game would only see each scene once, I imagine.

The only TRPG that I've really put a ton of time into is FFTA. I've dabbled with FFT and Tactics Ogre GBA, but that's it - so my frame of reference is FFTA, more or less. SS doesn't seem as good to me in the little time I've given it, but it's quite possible that it would scratch someone's TRPG itch while we wait for games like D&D Tactics, FFT and Disgaea.

A little more about combat - your character has X action points to spend in moving around and attacking, and if you have enough, you can attack more than once. It's kind of like Fallout in that regard. But, there's a huge emphasis on comboing your attacks together into one big ball of stuff that's more than the sum of its parts, or chaining attacks together with another one of your characters, OR doing both at the same time. Which seemed tedious to me - you've no reason to ever use a "regular" attack - you're always casting Fire AND Wind, or just two Fires, three Attacks, etc. I preferred the cleaner system that FFTA had, where you could move X spaces and perform 1 attack (not counting Doublecast). But that may be my personal preference.

Load times are indeed negligible when you play a ripped copy. If you're really curious, I'd recommend you borrow a copy and figure out whether it's worth buying.

But in my case, I knew it would be sleeping for days or weeks, so that doesn't work (unless I'm really overestimating power comsumtion in sleep mode).

Why don't you just leave it in sleep mode and plugged into the wall?

Folks who follow the homebrew scene may have noticed that Fanjita recently released a keyboard driver called piKey that allows you to use wireless infrared PDA keyboards to control your PSP. He just released v .2 which has full support for the standard os and standard on-screen keyboard (OSK) which is in the browser, as well as the popular Danzeff OSK which is used in some notable applications.

I just got the recommended Targus keyboard and so I will let y'all know how well it works after I play with it tonight. I am looking for a decent notepad program that uses one of the supported OSKs so that I can do a little writing on the go.

Stric9 wrote:
But in my case, I knew it would be sleeping for days or weeks, so that doesn't work (unless I'm really overestimating power comsumtion in sleep mode).

Why don't you just leave it in sleep mode and plugged into the wall?

Apathy about the game, mixed with barely noticeable but still there lack of apathy about the environment.

Dutty--

I saw that posted, but I didn't pay too much attention. Way back when, I had a keyboard for my Visor Neo, but it had an actual connector port (so no IR). Let us know how it works.

BTW, I've said this before. but if you haven't tried AFKIM, you're missing out. It's a great universal instant messenger client (AIM, ICQ, MSN, GTalk, Yahoo!). It has a really nifty virtual keyboard too that uses the analog nub and the 4 face buttons.

I have yet to find a very good ebook reader, though. The best I've found is BOOKr, but it only supports plain TXT files. I'm used to using programs on my PocketPC that opened pretty much everything, exp. zipped HTML files. Anyone have any suggestions?

Luna and I just bought a PSP yesterday, along with Loco Roco and Metal Gear Portable Ops and 32 MB card to hold us over until the 4 GB one I ordered from Amazon gets here. It appears to be a TA-082 and has 2.71 firmware, so once the 4 GB card arrives I will be following this guide to downgrade to 1.50 and then this guide to upgrade to 3.40 OE-A. (Do these guides seem sound to those of you who have gone through the process already?)

Wish me luck!

Edit: Also, any homebrew suggestions other than those already mentioned?

Great timing Zero!
I just (not 10 minutes ago) got through the downgrading/flashing process myself.

My firmware was 2.60 (TA-82 motherboard) and the instructions on how to downgrade to 1.5 were kind of vague, but plenty detailed when using 2.71, so I upgraded to 2.71 (via Sony, I couldn't find detailed enough instructions on QJ.)

From there, I used this guide to downgrade from 2.71 to 1.5. Everything worked. Note that whenever it says to rename a file, you must rename it before moving.

After that, I followed the same guide you linked above to upgrade to DA 3.40 OE-A. Everything worked on the first try.

It was slightly nervewracking but exhilirating once done! Congrats on your purchase!

Alternate Downdgrade Guide

Scaphism wrote:

It was slightly nervewracking but exhilirating once done.

Such is the PSP haxoring experience, indeed! Congrats Scaphism, and good luck, zero!

Here are a few other useful guides I used, maybe Matt will put them in the first post?

Find out the firmware before you buy!
Ultimate Newbie Guide
Guide to QJ Guides

Guide to QJ Guides

Ah! Very useful. Thanks!

Mmmm, yes... *wringes hands together*... welcome more to the Dark Side. There is no escaping once you can homebrew.

Indeed. Homebrew and save states are just SO much more condusive to the portable experience, not to mention the ability to load games off the memory. When I'm playing my psp on my commute and loading times off of umd's eat up 1/2 my playtime, something is WRONG.

Enjoy!

Anyone else looking forward to Crush?

Other homebrew:

PSPcomic -- if you read a lot of "scanlated" manga, or enjoy downloading comics in the popular ".cbr/.cbz" formats, this program is for you. It natively reads zipped picture archives, allows you to zoom in, out, rotate, etc., and resizes very quickly. I personally find it annoying to try and read american comics this way (too much zooming), but it works pretty well with manga (provided the translator used a large enough font)

Bookr -- I still haven't found my ideal ebook reader, but this is the best I have come across so far. Bookr only supports PDF and plain TXT formatted books, but it does allow for bookmarking and other handy features. I really wish someone would come up with a program that works as well as uBook does on the PocketPC.

PSPRadio -- a music player, but also a program that supports shoutcast streaming. I haven't had a whole lot of luck with the new version for custom firmware, but when it does work, it works like a charm.

So, I'm still looking to pick up a PSP for my birthday this weekend; how serious is the risk of bricking while installing custom firmware?

(Of course I guess if it gets bricked the day after I purchase it, I could always return it to Wal-mart and claim its defective.)

I don't directly know of anyone who has bricked theirs. I mean, some have, but lots of Goodjers have done it with no problems. I've done two myself, one more than once.

Get it, get a 4gb card from Amazon, and hack it first thing.

Duffman wrote:

So, I'm still looking to pick up a PSP for my birthday this weekend; how serious is the risk of bricking while installing custom firmware?

(Of course I guess if it gets bricked the day after I purchase it, I could always return it to Wal-mart and claim its defective.)

I haven't heard a single person say they did this while folowing the instructions correctly, nor have I read a single post to that effect.

I wouldn't even give it a thought.

Nod. Just make sure you are going through the right process for your current firmware, and follow the instructions to a tee. I think a lot of bricking is likely due to human error.

What do you all use to convert videos to PSP format? I tried out PSPVideo9 which did not work, and the conversion times were really slow to boot.

I also checked out PSPRadio, and while it looks slick, I don't actually get any channels, and when I tried to use the web browser plugin it freezes. Has anyone had success with these homebrew apps? If not, what alternatives do you use?

Hi, All. I got my copy of GTA I was looking for from a guy I work with. downgraded then upgraded to 3.40 OE-A and I couldn't be happier. Thanks for all the help and links! Scaphism, Try XviD4PSP http://www.winnydows.com/xvid4psp.html It seems to work really well for me.

Oops, these work computers are always laggy Sorry for the double post.

for video conversion, I use Cucusoft video convertor.

It's designed for the ipod, but the PSP plays the same exact MP4 videos, in the same resolutions. The current Dark Alex firmware (and even the real firmware?) supposedly allows for full 480x272 resolution, but it doesn't seem to work all that well. I just use standard 320x240 (or 320x180) and it works just fine.

I can convert a 22 minute TV show from .avi to .mp4 in about 1 minute with the Cucusoft program.

as for the PSPRadio... make sure you're using a dynamic IP (for some reason it doesn't like a static IP). once the program starts, go to the options/settings page and hit "update shoutcast database." That usually clears things up. It used to work flawlessly for me under the old eBoot system, but now it seems to constantly need buffering every few seconds. Well, still gotta play with it. Keep in mind that most of these homebrew apps were made WAY before the custom firmware came to be, and some of them don't work all that well yet.

Sivok - I seriously cannot figure out the interface for Xvid4PSP. Yes, that probably makes me an idiot. I'm stuck using PSPVideo9. Can you help?

And Matt - I just boggled at your conversion times. PSPVideo9 takes something like an hour for 1 Battlestar episode! What gives?

Fedaykin98 wrote:

And Matt - I just boggled at your conversion times. PSPVideo9 takes something like an hour for 1 Battlestar episode! What gives?

Maybe cause it's freeware crap?

I don't know. My current laptop is an Intel core 2 duo running at 2ghz, with 2GB of ram.

Seriously, the Cucusoft video convertor works great for me. You can download a free trial for all of their suites (they have various programs such as DVD to ipod, avi to ipod, DVD to PSP, etc.).

Oh... are you converting to MP4, or h.264? The latter takes much, much longer.

I don't think PSPVideo9 even offers h.264. I'm mp4 all the way. I'll have to look into that Cucusoft.