After a quick trip to Sim Lim Tower I ended up with a PSP seeing as I can’t purchase a Mylo. For the grand total of $543 (£175 at the current exchange rate) I got:
modified PSP (plays all region UMDs)
4Gb memory stick duo with about 15 full games on
utility UMD (required for the games to work)
additional high-capacity battery (3600mAh)
additional external battery charge pack thing (9800mAh)
crystal protective case
USB data cable
UK plug and cable
headphones with remote control
Not bad when you consider that the PSP itself back home is £140, though that pack includes the headphones (as well as a wrist strap and a soft carry case I’d never use).
I’ve had a fiddle with it and the online capability is good, though it does need some kind of keyboard if someone ever developes one. I can send email from GMail with it, but can’t post to this blog for some reason. Blogger “works” until I click “publish” at which point knack all happens.
There’s WMV and MP4 video format compatibility so I now need to find out how easy it is to convert all those episodes of Heroes I nabbed into a viewable format. Plus I’m carrying just shy of 10Gb of mp3s around with me. Another 4Gb card may be a worthwhile investment, especially as the one I have is half-full of games software!
All I need to do now is sit and wait for the batteries to charge. The small one takes over 2 hours, apparently. Hey ho.
Good purchase man. I know it’s like after the horse has bolted, but I know a lady who works at the nearby US Airbase who should be able to order US-based gear, and the best bit is it all gets shipped to a ‘US’ address. this means no import tax!
How’re you dealing with stuff like that? Are you getting it shipped home or what?
Or are you going to really, really hate the weight of it in about a thousand miles’ more walking? 😛
I had one for a while and they are rather good.
The only bad thing I found about it was that for some reason I didn’t blink whilst playing it. I would put it down after an hour or two and then think “****! my eyelids have dried open!”.
I would then spend the next 3 hours blinking every other second and having double vision when looking at things in the distance.
This didn’t seem to happen if I was watching a film on it. It is a rather handy little movie player.
Damo – see your email!
Dewi – I’ll be popping home in Jnue for 4 days for the download festival (wanna come? We need to fill our hotel room to keep costs down!). I’ll ditch a lot of my stuff in Cardiff with Anni before I leave, including the laptop.
Chris – I seem to remember you saying that about yours (the eye thing). I’m trying to find some software to convert the videos I have into an MP4 format the PSP likes. And which is free. Not having much luck!
I googled for that when I had one.
From what I can remember free software is available for download to do this.
It is a two step process. You have to first rip the dvd with one piece of software and then convert it to the correct format with another.
I was warned that this can be a very slow process. People said it is best to leave the ‘puter to work at it overnight.
If I have kept the links I’ll mail them to you.
No worries. I am now the proud owner of two fully functional *cough* demo *cough* programs which will convert pretty much anything to PSP MP4 format. Cool.
The blurb pretty much says this thing is for US use only. You alright with that?
I love my PSP – I picked mine up in Hong Kong for around £130 a couple of years ago (due to good exchange rate), with a Star Wars game thrown in.
Totally understand where Chris Parr is coming from about not blinking, hence I try to ration my game playing.
Only have one UMD movie though, one of my favourites – The Matrix! 🙂
Damo – yup, fine. As the FAQ states, most of the standards that it used are International ones, not US. It only warns that you may be breaking some kind of sanction by using them abroad. This is true in Thailand where wireless hasn’t actually been “permitted” by the government yet! That is, the radio frequencies used haven’t been specified for that purpose so technically 802.11b is an unlicensed radio transmission. Of course, this is just a matter of time and they won’t prosecute otherwise their jails would be full in 2 days…
weenie – I have one UMD and it’s a Chinese Utility disc that I have to have stuck in there so the games on the memory stick work. Got programs to work that convert from pretty much anything to PSP MP4 so I can pop any old films I want onto the Memory Stick 🙂