It's official: PSP has 32 MB + 4 MB eDRAM

[wco81]

Why would i want to waste time plugging my PSP to my £2000+ HDTV to watch the same movies i have on DVD (because from what we hear, we would only be able to "transfer" our existing DVD collection to PSP media), but at lower resolution? When i can just watch the freaking DVD itself...

Why would anyone buy UMD copies of DVD movies they have?

Or why would anyone collect movies in UMD when they're stuck to displaying them on a little screen?

Do people really need to watch movies on the go?

It's a nice bit of technology but it doesn't seem to make sense in the market. Those cool 18-34 year olds who buy movies on UMD, once they get past the novelty of watching a few movies on it, are going to regret buying them. And used UMD movies won't be as fungible on eBay/Half or at stores that sell used CDs and DVDs as used DVD movies.

 

[wco81]

Nah I don't like iPODs too big and ugly, besides this flash player I'm getting is sooo much cooler not only in asthetics but also in functionality and performance. Also I only listen to one musical band and all of their albums to date can fit into that 512MB. I really have no use for even the 4GB mini iPODs.

Interesting. Sony introduced some sleek NetMD designs and will intro a hard-disk player with a flashy QVGA 2.2 inch color screen. However, a lot of geeks are trashing them because the software used to load the content on them are so bad. It converts MP3 and WMA into ATRAC files and that can take a long time on anything but the fastest PC, apparently.

Some people were making fun of having a color screen on a gadget which is most likely going to be in your pocket or somewhere where you're not going to be looking at that screen.

 

[Fafalada]

Do people really need to watch movies on the go?

Try hanging with pocket device gadget freaks once in a while, you'd be surprised what some people "like" to do.

I give PSP a couple of months before someone hacks it so you can download DivX to memorysticks. The above mentioned crowd will lap that kinda stuff up.
Granted it's a niche usage, but PPC market in its entirety is just a niche and it doesn't stop its supporters from pimping it like it's comparable to any other truly mainstream ones.

 

[wco81]

And of course i would only "consider" of buying UMD media if it were much cheaper than normal DVD. Other than that, i'd only transfer from my DVD library to PSP, if that's possible.
Also, i would only consider buying PSP if it's close to perfection, at that price...

Are UMDs going to be cheaper to manufacture than DVDs? With that caddy and the fact that DVDs enjoy much greater economies of scale?

I would bet that you won't be able to easily transfer DVD movies to PSP. Nobody wants to encourage people to break the DVD encryption, even though it's done all the time. All the Windows Media portable players shown won't let you easily transfer ripped DVD content on to these hard-disk gadgets.

If Sony made it easy to copy a DVD to blank UMDs, the other studios will not only not bother releasing movies on UMD, they will sue Sony.

 

[London Geezer]

Why would anyone buy UMD copies of DVD movies they have?

Don't ask me. i wouldn't. But certainly it wouldn't be to "plug their PSP to their HDTV" only to see how crappy the resolution is and bitch about it!

Or why would anyone collect movies in UMD when they're stuck to displaying them on a little screen?

Do people really need to watch movies on the go?

The only reason i see with UMD movies is being able to watch the on the go. Personally i wouldn't spend a penny on it but hey, some people might want to watch movies on trains, planes... u know...

It's a nice bit of technology but it doesn't seem to make sense in the market. Those cool 18-34 year olds who buy movies on UMD, once they get past the novelty of watching a few movies on it, are going to regret buying them. And used UMD movies won't be as fungible on eBay/Half or at stores that sell used CDs and DVDs as used DVD movies.

huh? didn't get that last part. But yeah, personally the movie thing is the last worry for me with regards to PSP. If i do get it (that is, if i win the lottery) it will be to play games, maybe (just MAYBE) listen to some music too.... That's it.

 

[jvd]

THe system looks nice .

Its just a bit to long for me.

I like my gameboy sp because it fits in my pocket.

I like my laptop cause when i fly its big enough to enjoy watching a movie on plus my dvds work on it .

So its going to be tough to spend money on this system.

 

[Ty]

For me it's kinda tough to lay down a significant amout of cash for PSP knowing that GBA 2 isn't too far behind. If the battery could last around 5 hours under gameplay conditions and the price was around $180 then I would probably get one just because I'm a gadget geek. 8)

Heck, I'm about to buy a 512MB flashMP3 player for $250 without even flinching

Only 512? Get the IFP-899 (or whatever) from IRiver - has a gig.

 

[archie4oz]

Actually it doesn't really matter if you want to hook a PSP up to an HDTV or a regular SDTV you still need video out!

Actually it'd be pretty trivial for Sony to make a USB2video converter...

It's either DVD or UMD. Guess which one most people would choose? However should they choose the UMD route then it would a very good thing to have video out so that they can enjoy the said movie on a larger tv. BTW just because a person owns a HDTV doesn't mean they can't watch SDTV broadcasts on them or UMD movies.

Actually you're being quite naive about this... It's highly unlikey (although some studios probably would) that UMD and DVD versions would be the same. UMD versions would likely have a different array of features/extras than a DVD. Or more likely the you might see movies bundled with games (sort've like what Bandai did with .hack and may do with Gunslinger Girl) only make the bundled movies UMD exclusive. Likewise you studio might get a little creative where they might try to include PSP mini-games into UMD titles... Then there's obviously the typical games where you unlock movies, and of course a studio could just release a bare UMD movie without the extras in DVDs and sell the UMD version cheaper...

Basically there's quite a lot of different things that studios may try that your overlooking...

For me it's kinda tough to lay down a significant amout of cash for PSP knowing that GBA 2 isn't too far behind.

Now this I find truly amusing... It's fascinating how speculation gets asumed for fact... Besides the GBA's successor would unlikely be a "GBA2"

Interesting...yeah maybe the 2H figure is for everything FULL ON. And the maximum 10H is when the system is as idle as it gets, like playing MP3s off the MemStick, no screen, processors sleeping etc..
Would explain why there is a 8H gap between the minimum and the maximum estimates.

Well movie playback will exercise the most power consumption... From what I've heard about gaming it's *supposed* to last around 8hrs...

Problem is, big MemSticks are EXPENSIVE. But hey, this is Sony we're talking about. Have they ever made something cheap?

You *do* realize that Sony isn't the only manufacturer of Memory Sticks (or the only user of them), right?

I give PSP a couple of months before someone hacks it so you can download DivX to memorysticks. The above mentioned crowd will lap that kinda stuff up.

Forget hacking, I wonder how long it will be before a licensee or some other vendor releases media player apps for it...

BTW, I was pretty floored that Kaz mentioned Axis by name amongst the list of PSP devs at the Sony conference...

 

[Paul]

You *do* realize that Sony isn't the only manufacturer of Memory Sticks (or the only user of them), right?

Uh ditto.

I got a Sandisk 256mb memory stick PRO for 55 bucks after 10 dollar rebate for my new Clie TH55(insane PDA BTW).

 

[MfA]

A USB2HDTV converter would not be cheap, since it has to have seperate decoder hardware.

 

[archie4oz]

A USB2HDTV converter would not be cheap, since it has to have seperate decoder hardware.

You mean "encoder"? Besides I was only speaking of USB to video, and who said it would be cheap (I said trivial remember?)? They usually go in the $150 dollar range although I'm sure Sony could make a dedicated cheapy model specifically for the PSP. After all, Nintendo loves making all sorts of accessories for game boys, I'm sure Sony wouldn't mind delving into that market either...

 

[PC-Engine]

Nah I don't like iPODs too big and ugly, besides this flash player I'm getting is sooo much cooler not only in asthetics but also in functionality and performance. Also I only listen to one musical band and all of their albums to date can fit into that 512MB. I really have no use for even the 4GB mini iPODs.

Interesting. Sony introduced some sleek NetMD designs and will intro a hard-disk player with a flashy QVGA 2.2 inch color screen. However, a lot of geeks are trashing them because the software used to load the content on them are so bad. It converts MP3 and WMA into ATRAC files and that can take a long time on anything but the fastest PC, apparently.

Some people were making fun of having a color screen on a gadget which is most likely going to be in your pocket or somewhere where you're not going to be looking at that screen.

Yes I know what you're talking about that's why the player I'm getting is not a SONY product. That ATRAC conversion process is just so annoying.

Anyway, I think color screens that can do things along with the music is a pretty cool idea. For example you could have visualizations/animations that sync with the music, or a spectrum analyzer with different color bars etc. The screen doesn't have to be lit all the time just when you want it to.

Only 512? Get the IFP-899 (or whatever) from IRiver - has a gig.

That's beyond my budget for now. When the price comes down on those I'll do what I'm currently doing ie sell old model to get new model 8)

 

[Fafalada]

Forget hacking, I wonder how long it will be before a licensee or some other vendor releases media player apps for it...

Oh I can't wait, imagine mediaPlayer classic on PSP

BTW, I was pretty floored that Kaz mentioned Axis by name amongst the list of PSP devs at the Sony conference...

Hehe, I doubt you could say it really means anything, but yeah it's still kinda cool.
Speaking of which the video is shown at Sony booth after all - but it just figures me of all people still haven't seen what the final cut actually looks like -_-

 

[Farid]

Link to Pics of the PSP tech Demos

Look really good IMHO.

BTW isn't the "buildings/city Model" demo, showing some kind of soft shadowing technique?
It's hard to tell from thoses pics, a video may help a lot.

 

[McFly]

BTW isn't the "buildings/city Model" demo, showing some kind of soft shadowing technique?

It looks a lot like it.

Fredi

 

[Farid]

Yeah ,that's what i think too... What technique did they use? Spherical harmonic?

Anothers Videos "In game", The FPS is quite impressive (20,5Mo video)


edit: The 29Mo Video show Axel Impact, and it's incredible if it's actually running on the PSP, Faf?
And when you see Namco porting its PS1 Ridge Racer to it, that would explain why their (namco's) video was only showing CG and very few image of RR PS1.

 

[max-pain]

Sony's E3 Conference 2004

Find out what's next for Sony with this full video of their E3 presentation - including the world's first look at the PlayStation Portable in the flesh. Er, plastic. Whatever.

http://www.eurofiles.net/torrents/Sony E3 Conference 2004.avi.torrent

160 MB

 

[PC-Engine]

BTW isn't the "buildings/city Model" demo, showing some kind of soft shadowing technique?

It looks a lot like it.

Fredi

That looks like Global Illumination. Is SONY trying to say the PSP can do realtime GI now???

If you look at the buildings there's color bleeding from the colored buildings onto it's surroundings. Does the light source move? Is it just static with a moving camera?

 

[McFly]

Is it just static with a moving camera?

Could be. The polycount is very low with all those bricks (Some tesselated corners there?), so maybe it's more, but global illumination would really shock me if that's it.

Fredi

 

[PC-Engine]

I doubt it's realtime GI. It's probably just a precomputed or pre-baked static GI light map with static geometry and static light source. Having a moving camera is trivial with everything else being static.