< FeroxLog >

So I’ve been playing around with my new Sony PSP and there are a few things I’ve noticed that are just odd.

00) The PSP is freaking sex-in-a-box. It’s usefulness is up to you however.
01) By default the folder structure isn’t EXACTLY correct to do everything you can do with it. The proper folder structre for the PSP’s memory stick is pretty specific.

The proper folder structure
root/PSP/GAME
root/PSP/MUSIC
root/PSP/PHOTO
root/PSP/SAVEDATA

Music folder supports “groups” which as an iTunes user I really have no idea what they are or how to use them on the Mac. The Photo folder is a little more friendly in that is will support ONE level of folders in the PHOTO folder. However, a sub-folder won’t be recognized at all nor will the images inside it. So for example if you have in the PHOTO folder a folder for Cars and one for Naked Chicks you’ll see those as separate folders on the PSP but any folders inside those won’t be seen.

Two weird things about the Music and Photo folder. Some mp3’s I have put on there (the PSP will see cover art from iTunes but only a small thumbnail sized image) seem to add a small 6k file that the PSP thinks is corrupted. For example if you have agreatsong.mp3 in there you’ll see below it, sometimes, a Corrupted Data icon. Getting info on this file sometimes shows it’s name as .agreatsong.mp3. Yes, with an initial period in the name.

Searching for that file when you mount the PSP shows nothing even when searching for invisible files. I have no idea what’s going on but thankfully you can hit Triangle and bring up a menu on the PSP to delete it with seemingly no ill-effect.

Then, like the weird corrupted music file, MANY jpg images do a very similar thing. If you load an image on there that’s called for example mydog.jpg sometimes beneath it you’ll see the Corrupted Data icon and getting info on this mystery file you’ll see it called .mydog.jpg and it’ll be near but less than the size of the original. Again, searching for this file shows nothing on the memory stick.

Two ideas I have are that the PSP is getting confused and thinks some info tag in some jpgs is another file or it’s somehow thinking the thumbnail icon (it’s not I checked) embedded in the file is another file. I’m going to play with this later on and see. One thing I’ve noticed is that the “corrupted” file’s size plus the viewable image’s size totals to just about the size of the original file on my HD. It’s not the preview image withint the file either. Although an image without the preview will have a corrupted file of only 1K while one with the preview will have a corrupted file much larger.

Update: It seems to be the resource forks in files are the cause of the problem. If you download FinderCleaner it’ll strip them away right off the memory stick for you and it’s free!

02) Notice there’s no VIDEO folder? I dunno what Sony was thinking but in order to get a video (mp4 format only, see below) on the PSP you need to create:

root/MP_ROOT/100MNV01

Capitalization counts too. Then the file in there needs to be named M4VC0099.MP4 where you NEED to name it (again Capitaliztion counts) M4VCXXXX.MP4 where the X’s are any random numbers. Crazy huh?

Other than these issues the PSP rocks. The screen quality is astonishing, it really is. The only other issue I don’t like is that you can easily fast-forward a UMD movie but getting it to stop and Play normal speed means (unless I’m missing something) calling up the onscreen menu and hitting Play. Awkward at best.

So far the easiest way to actually get a video on the PSP is to use ffmpeg period. Seriously try that first, it’s simple, fast and FREE. The PSP plays mpeg4 videos but they need specific settings and non-standard headers which just plain sucks. Why the hell did Sony make it so hard to get a video on the PSP?

Another great app for PSP and Mac owners is PSPware which will also convert video for you prett easily.

Japan just got a 1.50 version (the USA version is already at 1.50) update to the PSP’s software so maybe the US version will address some of these issues. And no I still havn’t watched my free copy of Spiderman 2 that came with it and nor will I ever.

Another place for some Mac to PSP tips is pspcrazy.

Overall I think the PSP will succeed but some things will hinder it overall. First off is the propriatary UMD format is non-recordable which means you can only buy things for it and cannot archive your own data or movies or photos to UMD. Basically the UMD is for games because as a movie player for pre-recorded movies the PSP seems pretty useless to me. Unless it’s porn. I really don’t see people buying movies to watch on the PSP when it’s so easy to rip a DVD onto it already. In fact, movies ripped, ready for the PSP are already available online. It’s going to be a new piracy industry in a matter of weeks.

The upside to this is that peecee people will finally start to jump on the mp4 bandwagon and maybe we’ll stop seeing so many crappily encoded avi’s and wmvs.

The only user usable storage on it is the Memory Stick slot which means you need expensive memory sticks that are limited to 1Gig (although apparently a 4Gig is just around the corner). As a photo viewer it’s nice but since you can’t connect it to a tv or anything that limits that to basically a handy porn image viewer.

mp3’s (and sony’s Atrac format) play on it but as far as I can tell not mp4/AAC (ripped via iTunes) audio which is strange.

Given the lack of connectibility to a tv a la iPod Photo, no hard drive a la iPod the PSP is bascially a portable game player (which it does well) with some photo and video playback tossed in. I can’t see anyone using it as their main mp3 player at all due to it’s size and lack of a hard drive and I can’t see anyone using it as their main portable movie player because you can’t connect to to a tv and it doesn’t play DVDs. It’s a LOT smarter to just go buy a small portable DVD player for planes or road trips or just use your laptop.

I love my PSP (I’m going to use it to show clients my reel when I’m on location) but get it for the games…oh and porn. They don’t call it the PornStation Portable for nothin’.

Notes on Ergonomics: The D-Pad’s buttons feel too far apart and the inner-angle of them (where they point at one another) is too shallow, they feel too thin near the center which causes your thumb to move more than it would normally need to were they thicker and/or closer together. Also the analog stick is way too far down on the unit making your thumb bend at an awkward angle. A better design overall would be to place things near where your thumb naturally wants to rest. Move the D-pad down to the bottom 2/3rd’s and then put the analog stick above it. That would be much more comfortable I think.

Here is how to use non-Duo memory sticks in your PSP.

pspsaves is a site for PSP game saves. I have no idea how legit it is though.

Here’s another place to learn and play with the PSP’s web browser.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the PSP’s placement of the D-pad and nub are horribly horribly designed. Try this: turn your PSP upsidedown (and ignoring the fact that the buttons are on the other side while upsidedown) and put your thumb on the d-pad, then try out the nub. To me this feels FAR more comfortable than the actual placement/design of them. It’s almost like someone accidently flipped their relative placement to the thumb on the blueprints for the PSP. I wish how they were placed while upside down relative to your thumb was how they were on the left hand side while the PSP is right side up. It would be SO much more comfortable.

PSP games have already been ripped and released on the internet. Although, as of this writing, there’s no way to play them.

Beware 3rd party PSP accessories or risk something like this.

::PSP LINKS!::

Software:
PSPWare (The BEST software for PSP’s and Macs)
iPSP (The worst software for PSP’s and Macs)
iPSP Movie Loader (Junk, don’t even bother)

Others:
PSP irc
PSPHacker
PSP411
PSPhacks
PSP Images (Note: Plays Music)
Video2PSP
PSPCrazy
PSP Connect (Note: Plays Music)
PSP Save Game Files
PSP Vault
PSP Web Portal
PSP Wiki
PSPMod
PSP Hacks
PSP online PDA functionality
PSPDrive PSP Downloads, images, magazines, videos, save games
PSP Magazine
PSP Games List Looking for a good PSP game?