Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Using the PSP Playstation Portable as a Portable Media Center

First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a post from the archives. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

« Network Intrusion My Ass | Main | Boo - Shiny CLI Language »

Using the PSP Playstation Portable as a Portable Media Center

Posted in Reviews | Movies | Gaming.

A number of times this conference the comparison between a PSP (Playstation Portable) and a Windows Portable Media Center has come up.

Most folks don't realize that a $250 PSP will fill a specific void in their [media] life. I couldn't justify buying a WindowsPMC brick for >$400, but a $250 PSP was a no-brainer. Why, well, not only is the true 16x9 screen truly unbelievable (literally has to be seen) and it can play games, but it is a VERY accomplished movie viewer.

I have a number of UMDs as they are very inexpensive and fantastically convenient to watch on planes. Flat out: if you fly regularly, buy a PSP and enjoy movies in a great form factor, with a nice screen and stop worrying about laptop battery life (I've yet to drain my PSP battery in a day) or worrying about the guy in front of you whose seat-back will likely come down during the flight.

However, the PSP can also be a fantastic companion to either a Media Center PC, or Beyond TV.

Take a look at PSP Video 9 and how easy (like one button) to transfer video onto a PSP. Note that a 1 GIG Memory Strik can be had for $80 (via Froogle) and can hold as much as 4 hours of video.

This means I can "PSP Cast" a TV show and have the latest episode of "House" show up on my PSP for viewing.

I just can't see how a Portable Media Center (read: brick) can compete with this brilliant device.

UPDATE: I've started using "Crunchie" to convert my Windows Media Center PC's *.dvr-ms files into mpeg or avi. Then they can be fed directly into PSPVideo. This makes one more source I can pull potential TV from. Since I'm going on a 5 day road show next week and have 6 flights, I'd like to have a bunch of TV queued up. I also use DVArchive to pull video from my two ReplayTVs.

Posted at 2005-09-29 01:40 PM by Scott
Comments [5]
Permalink

Tracked by:
"I love my PSP" (Monkeys are very furious) [Trackback]
"Squishing TV onto your PSP" (ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman) [Trackback]
"First Person Shooters on the PSP" (ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman) [Trackback]
"OnTurning0x20AndLookingBackArt2005" (ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman) [Trackback]

Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:19:32 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

You actually whipped up this blog-entry, graphics-and-all, in the time you quickly typed away in that presentation, while asking quesions to Don, as well as chatting to Rocky behind you and me next to you?! Woah. Talk about multi-tasking.

Ernst Kuschke

Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:23:15 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Um, cuz it has.. like.. a hard drive and stuff?

1gb isn't a whole lot when it comes to video.

Wake me up when you can strap a micro hdd to this thing.

Jeff Atwood

Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:29:07 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Do I NEED to have a complete season of Seinfeld on this thing? No. I need to make it 4-6 hours across the country. It's not an authoritative source for video. Why do you need a 40 gig harddrive? A gig is AT LEAST 4 hours with mp4. :P

Scott Hanselman

Friday, September 30, 2005 8:31:28 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Scott,

Chech out the PSP Media Player: http://www.psp-hacks.com/2005/09/30/374/

Pretty much makes "the brick" even more obsolete.

Steven R

Friday, September 30, 2005 10:04:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Just one question Scott, how many GAMES do you have for it? I'm more of a gamer and I'm really regretting the decision to get the PSP.. my DS fuels my need for gaming much better.