I spent almost half the day trying to figure out how I can utilize (or exploded, depends on your point of view) my PSP to the max. Here's my finding, in case you are also interested in it.
- Video Playback
The best feature of PSP from my opinion is the screen, so I am very interest in using PSP as a video player. So I tried several different software and got various result. The ultimate goal to me is to find a way to convert video that can utilize the highest resolution of PSP, which is 480 x 272.
The first software I tried was PSP Video 9. It does the job fairly well, but it failed to automatically recognize the native dimensions of the video and optimize it to fit on PSP screen with best aspect ratio. It does, though, handle DVD rip very well natively. It also takes a lot of time to do the conversion. At the end I gave it a pass.
Then I tried WinAVI Video Converter, which is one of the portable software in my tool set. The application works fairly well and pretty fast. The biggest, though, is that it does NOT support the highest 480 x 272 resolution. Granted, the software hasn't been updated for years, and back then using older firmware you simply can't play video from memory stick using the 480 x 272 resolution, still it's kind of a disappointment.
And then I tried sevarel other software, and it was extremely frustrating because a lot of them have spyware.
Finally, I came cross MediaCoder, which is yet another portable software in my toolset. Surprisingly, the tool handles PSP native resolution very well, and yield awesome result. Here's the procedure for setting up MediaCoder to convert PSP video with optimization:
- Open MediaCoder (I am using 0.6.0 Build 3905
- Add (Or remove) files to the file list. (That way you can covert files in a batch) It supports drag and drop
- Make sure Output Folder and Working Folder are correct. You can access them at the bottom left of the screen by selecting the tab "Output"
- In "Picture" tab, make sure the Aspect Ratio is correct. I sometime need to readjust it a few times before I get the best result.
- Select menu [Extension][Console][PSP], and PSP mock up scren will show up.
- Uncheck "Transfer Files to PSP after done." I like maintaining files myself.
- Check "Keep Transmitted Files on PC"
- On Format drop down, select "MPEG-4 AVC (480x272)"
- Click "Crop" button then select "Auto Crop to Fit"
- Click "Start" button.
Now just relax and see the awesome videos being created. Once done, put them in the Video folder of PSP.
- Photo
PSP is a nice slideshow player on the desktop. I am photos loaded in PSP and start a slideshow. However, the slideshow feature of PSP seems very limited. It also didn't remember the configuration I set last time. In addition, there's no way to tell PSP to shuffle photos while doing slide show. It also does do any fancy transition like iPod Touch does.
- Music
Music playback is OK, but it doesn't have Podcast friendly feature, namely the ability to remember bookmark or last listen spot. It's nice to have the feature, but no way can PSP replace my iPod.
- Playing PSOne games
One great thing about PSP is the ability to play Playstation One game. One of my all time Playstation One favorite is Xenogear and I still hope that someday I can finish the game. PSP always me to continue my dream. However, I am still have trouble bringing in my PSOne save game. I already went thru the trouble by First converting my .psx (CheatFactoryFile) into Bleem format usng PSXGameEdit, and then converting from Bleem format to ePSXe format using the tool provided here. And then I get the correct ID for the game. But when I try to bring up CWCheat by holding SELECT button, it didn't work. I tried several times, and I finally gave up. So I guess I have to start to game all over again, which I don't think is way too bad.
- Play SNES emulator
I was told that my modded PSP is capable to run SNES emulator. I tried, but it seems like it involves some steop of turn on/off certain firmware feature. Since I am still a little bit green on mess with PSP firmware, I am giving it a pass for now.
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