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[acklame]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3137013

New PSP Multimedia Details
Including a nifty camera-to-handheld connection.

By David Smith

Less than two weeks before the PSP's planned release in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed some more tidbits related to the new handheld's multimedia capabilities. Impress AV Watch reports that users will have some interesting options when it comes to displaying images, music, and movies with their PSPs.
The PSP can display varieties of all of the above media stored on Sony's Memory Stick flash RAM media. Images must be in JPEG format, while the handheld supports audio in the common MP3 format or two flavors of Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 format -- ordinary ATRAC3, with a maximum bitrate of 132kbps, or ATRAC3plus, with a maximum bitrate of 256kbps.

Users will be able to create MPEG-4 movies for playback on the PSP, but converting them into its variety of the H.264 codec will require the latest version of Sony's Image Converter 2 program, for either the PC or Sony's Clie handhelds.

For a quicker solution, Sony's upcoming DSC-M1 digital camera, which can record MPEG-4 movies on Memory Stick media, will be directly compatible with the PSP. Users can plug their Memory Sticks into the PSP and immediately view movies recorded with the camera.

We'll be interested in the games first and foremost, but hopefully we'll be able to give the PSP's multimedia capabilities a field test when it hits the market later this month. Look forward to it.

 

[jiggle]

No patience to convert all my movies to mpeg4. Just gonna wait for a homebrew divx player.


Still nice to know it can run non-UMD movies out of the box

 

[neptunes]

They should package sonic-stage with the psp, or at least add an information card to inform those who aren't familiar with it.

What's this new digi-cam they speak of?

EDIT: Oh it's this

 

[Blimblim]

So no need to buy some UMD disks ? Just convert your (put your movie format here) to the PSP codec, put it on a Memory Stick ?
Sold !

And since the drive won't be used we can expect to be able to watch stuff for quite a few hours.

 

[Minotauro]

The PSP is going to be the best portable porn jerkoff device ever.

 

[border]

Just gonna wait for a homebrew divx player.

Which means you are going to have to wait for the console to get hacked, then wait for a mod chip to come out. I doubt that the out-of-the-box system will run executables from a memory stick.

 

[drohne]

sweet. the movie and music functionalities would've been useless if sony had tried to push umd sales at the expense of copied content. i'll definitely buy a big honking memory stick and dump music and movies to it. though rewritable umd's would be way better!

 

[acklame]

i plan to grab a big ass memory stick as well, for psp and my digital camera to use.
what's the largest one right now? 1gb?

 

[Tabris]

I am so glad they kept with mp3 format.

This should mean developers can allow custom soundtracks?

 

[captainbiotch]

Wow, sold. Wasn't really that excited for the PSP due to the lineup, but portable southpark n mp3s PLUS videogames does it for me. May be my first Sony system if I don't get a Pstwo before then

 

[border]

512 MB memory sticks are $130 at Sony's site (probably cheaper at retail)

I will probably not be there at launch day, but the news is certainly encouraging. Whether or not it's really something great will depend on:

--how much battery drain is reduced
--how quickly Sony's software will convert movie files (if it's too slow then the whole process will be too much of a hassle)
--how much disk space MPEG4/H.264 video takes up (I would like at least 3 hours on a 512MB memory card)
--video quality (never seen H.264 video before)
--if you can prevent 4:3 video from getting all stretched on the widescreen

 

[drohne]

i think johntv mentioned that the psp demo units in japanese subway stations are running movies off memory stick for 6 hours between battery swaps. that's vastly better than the (iirc) two hours cited for umd movies.

 

[Amir0x]

i plan to grab a big ass memory stick as well, for psp and my digital camera to use.
what's the largest one right now? 1gb?

The largest ones available are 2gb ones. You can get a non-namebrand 2gb stick for like 350 dollars. But the 1gb non-namebrand stick comes in at around 150.

 

[Elios83]

But can avi and wmv movies be converted in Mpeg4 or H.264?

 

[Elios83]

i think johntv mentioned that the psp demo units in japanese subway stations are running movies off memory stick for 6 hours between battery swaps. that's vastly better than the (iirc) two hours cited for umd movies.

Sony said 4 to 5 hours for movies in the final specs.
The 2 and half hours quote is old from E3.

 

[border]

i think johntv mentioned that the psp demo units in japanese subway stations are running movies off memory stick for 6 hours between battery swaps. that's vastly better than the (iirc) two hours cited for umd movies.

Wow....six hours would be great if that's really true. You would probably run out of space on the memory card before you would run out of battery power.

That's why I don't really get why you'd prefer a rewritable UMD....you'd have to buy some kind of separate writing apparatus, plus kill battery life on playback. The only thing better in my mind would be if the system supported more common codecs out of the box.

 

[drohne]

simply because a blank umd wouldn't cost $150. although when you consider the cost of a writer, the cost savings are wiped out. ideally the psp would've been capable of writing umd's, but i guess it's breaking sony's back already.

 

[Defensor]

 

[McFly]

http://handbrake.m0k.org/

HandBrake is a GPL'd multi-platform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. HandBrake was originally available on the BeOS, but now has been ported over to MacOS X and to GNU/Linux.

Fredi

 

[Arcticfox]

But can avi and wmv movies be converted in Mpeg4 or H.264?

With the right software, any video/audio format can be converted into any other video/audio format.

 

[Miburou]

Wow, this is incredible news. While I have no intention of ever buying a UMD movie, being able to run music and movies off the memory stick is a big selling point for me. I have a 128MB for my digital camera, but I guess I'll get a 512MB for the PSP.

The PSP is a much better platform for Sony to try its games + media convergence thing than the PS2.

 

[btrboyev]

Yeah great just what people need..spend hundreds of dollars just on memory sticks....then spend hrs converting your movies on sonys propriety software. this is a good deal how?

 

[Arcticfox]

Yeah great just what people need..spend hundreds of dollars just on memory sticks....then spend hrs converting your movies on sonys propriety software. this is a good deal how?

You can get a 512MB stick for less than $100, and I don't see why you would have to use Sony's software since the H.264 codec is a standard part of mpeg4 (and if they do change it, I doubt it will take long for people to backwards engineer a usable codec).

 

[acklame]

Yeah great just what people need..spend hundreds of dollars just on memory sticks....then spend hrs converting your movies on sonys propriety software. this is a good deal how?

i don't mind buying memory sticks because i've got other device that uses it and i'm running out of space there anyways. i'm very excited cos now i can take a bunch of stuff from my comp to go and that's gonna rock very hard

 

[Amir0x]

You can get a 512MB stick for less than $100, and I don't see why you would have to use Sony's software since the H.264 codec is a standard part of mpeg4.

Not only that, but Sony has said they're ramping up production on these memory sticks.

Expect the price to begin to drop rapidly on these.

 

[Particle Physicist]

i heard the PSP can play dvds .

 

[Amir0x]

i heard the PSP can play dvds .

Wrong!!

PSP can play HD-DVDs, the next generation of cool!

 

[border]

512MB Memory sticks are $91 on Newegg.com (out of stock at the moment though).

this is a good deal how?

You get to take your movies and music wherever you go, for less than $300. Conversion may take some time (and I admit this may turn sour if encoder/convertor is awful), but it also saves time in the sense that you will not be recharging your battery as much.

Anybody that wants to avoid the hassle of encoding or the cost of flash cards can buy commercially released UMD movies.

 

[btrboyev]

unfortuantely 512 MB is not enough to store most full length movies on unless the quality is reduced. And spending over $100 just for this feature is something I guess only the hardcore will do. One card will not be enough for movies,music, and game saves. Its going to cost you quite a bit of your wallet.

 

[kaching]

Yeah great just what people need..spend hundreds of dollars just on memory sticks....then spend hrs converting your movies on sonys propriety software. this is a good deal how?

Prices keep coming down for the Memorystick Pro Duos. You can get a 512 meg MS Pro Duo from Sandisk for $76.00 now. And there's still a few months before PSP's NA release for prices to come down further. I see deals for these and flash memory modules all the time from online retailers. End result being that I'm sure that, with a little smart shopping, you could get yourself a gig worth of MS Pro Duo for less $150 or less, esp. if you wait a few months. Not "hundreds".

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-191-417&depa=1

And I don't know why you'd personally "spend" hours converting movies, when you can just click a button, walk away and do something else while the computer does it for you. Not unlike ripping CDs or burning music/movies onto CD/DVD now...

 

[btrboyev]

You get to take your movies and music wherever you go, for less than $300.

psp most likely $199-$250, 512MB memory stick for music $100, 1GB memory stick for movie $150-$200. Not even counting games.

 

[btrboyev]

yeah you will need more than one memory stick. and i can rip a cd in 5 mins..to rip and dvd and convert takes hrs.

 

[Arcticfox]

unfortuantely 512 MB is not enough to store most full length movies on unless the quality is reduced. And spending over $100 just for this feature is something I guess only the hardcore will do. One card will not be enough for movies,music, and game saves. Its going to cost you quite a bit of your wallet.

You could fit several hours of mpeg4 video at 480x272 resolution in 512MB. 1.5Mbps should be enough for high quality video at that resolution.

 

[border]

BTW, will the PSP accept Memory Stick Pro? Or just Memory Stick DUO?

Here is a 1 GB Memory Stick Pro for $130.

http://store.yahoo.com/digi4me/sa1gbmestpro.html

Frickin' sweet...

psp most likely $199-$250, 512MB memory stick for music $100, 1GB memory stick for movie $150-$200. Not even counting games.

Heh. After the Japan price announcement, I don't think anybody expects PSP to top a $200 price tag. I am imagining a $179-199 range. You are in for another shocker announcement if you are praying for $250.

At any rate, why do I need TWO memory sticks all of a sudden? That's silly. You're just looking for excuses to run up the hypothetical price.

 

[btrboyev]

You could fit several hours of mpeg4 video at 480x272 resolution in 512MB

maybe if your using super small bitrates. Most 2 hr xvid rips are at least 700MB.

 

[StoOgE]

Some of you people sound like you would be happier if they didnt have this at all..

I probably wont use the movie playback (allready have a DVD in my car and a portable one I got a few years ago).. but I never did jump on the I-pod/MP3 player phenomena, I will likely grab a memory stick and dump all sorts of music on it.

 

[btrboyev]

I'm not praying for a $250 pricetag, I just see a $250 price if sony decides to include a memory stick, headphones etc..like the japanese counterpart. I don't see sony releasing two versions here. One memory stick will not be enough if you want to play both music and movies while on the go...you see? Not hard to grasp.

The truth is, I'd rather spend money on a dedicated player for music and movies...I have no problem carrying an mp3 player with me in my pocket when I'm out..I don't care if it gets scratched and stuff..however i don't want my psp being out exposed to get abused and scratched up or possible stolen..not to mention its not pocket friendly at all.

 

[lunlunqq]

Regarding length of the movies stored in the Memory Stick for PSP, Sony released some testing results to address this issue:

in the table, the rows are the different size of memory sticks, and the columns are the different quality of movies (from left to right: "high-quality", "standard", "compact")

according to this table, a 512m memory can hold 3 hrs 40 mins of movie at "standard quality". i think that's more than enough.

 

[jiggle]

this is a good deal how?

It's a good deal for people that would want to use it.

 

[Arcticfox]

maybe if your using super small bitrates. Most 2 hr xvid rips are at least 700MB.

And those rips are at 640x480 or 852x480 resolution. The PSP's screen area is about 30% of that, so you can use smaller bitrates to get the same video quality.

 

[kaching]

BTW, will the PSP accept Memory Stick Pro? Or just Memory Stick DUO?

Just Duo and Duo Pro sticks, border. "Duo" designates the half size (physical) Memory Sticks. "Pro" designates a higher data transfer rate. Standard size Pro sticks won't fit in the PSP.

 

[acklame]

psp most likely $199-$250, 512MB memory stick for music $100, 1GB memory stick for movie $150-$200. Not even counting games.

I don't know about you, but even if the prices on those stuff ended up being on the higher end of your prediction, the ability to do all that for the sum of those cost sounds like a damn good deal to me. Especially because I've never bought a portable MP3 player or a portable DVD player, so the 3 in 1 deal is very attractive.

psp provides the functionality that supports all those functions. Buying memory sticks to play the music and movies for me is no different than buying games to play. Do you not spend a shit load of money on buying games for consoles? I got my ps2 at $299 and I've since bought around 30 games (vast majority at full price too) over the last few years. That's by no mean a small sum if you calculate the overall cost (yikes) but the price for me is well worth the enjoyment I got out for the last 3 years.

 

[mumu]

That sounds good but honestly i don't see people spending time converting their DVDs to watch them on some tiny screen, except for watching hentai in the subway or jerking off on porn during lunchbreak at work (there are crazy people out there).

 

[jiggle]

The truth is, I'd rather spend money on a dedicated player for music and movies...I have no problem carrying an mp3 player with me in my pocket when I'm out..I don't care if it gets scratched and stuff..however i don't want my psp being out exposed to get abused and scratched up or possible stolen..not to mention its not pocket friendly at all.

Don't forget about the low battery life, way too big screen, lame excuse for an analog stick, lack of two screens, 50 dollars games. Did I miss anything? Really ppl, who'd want this.

 

[border]

We can start testing video conversion speed right now, probably. Are there any encoding programs that support H.264? VirtualDub only seems to go up to H.263. I doubt that Sony's software will be the best choice, but maybe it is available for download.

maybe if your using super small bitrates. Most 2 hr xvid rips are at least 700MB.

First, Xvid is not the same codec as H.264.

Second, they are that size for the sake of convenience and space utilization. Bitrate is purposefully jacked up to the point where a 700 MB CDR can be filled. Scale bitrate and resolution downward and you will start saving space.

One memory stick will not be enough if you want to play both music and movies while on the go...you see?

Even with the ridiculously high estimate of 700MB per movie, a 1 GB memory stick leaves me 300 megs for MP3s. How is that not enough space?

 

[kaching]

The truth is, I'd rather spend money on a dedicated player for music and movies...

You're going to spend a lot more to do that. Personal media players are generally more expensive than the PSP right now, by a hundred dollars or more.

 

[Defensor]

Don't forget about the low battery life, way too big screen, lame excuse for an analog stick, lack of two screens, 50 dollars games. Did I miss anything? Really ppl, who'd want this.

No clamshell design

 

[border]

Personal media players have 20 gig hard drives.....much more space than any memory stick. But they don't play games.

 

[mumu]

It should be noted that H.264 is quite superior to XviD, so lower bitrate should give the same or even better results. However that means it takes quite a bit longer to encode as well. And even a lot of CPU power to decode. So i'm sure SONY has some dedicated chip in there, else the battery would be *poof* after half an hour already.

You can check out H.264 quality yourself by using the new Recode to encode some movies.

 

[kaching]

That sounds good but honestly i don't see people spending time converting their DVDs to watch them on some tiny screen, except for watching hentai in the subway or jerking off on porn during lunchbreak at work (there are crazy people out there).

Plenty of other video to grab out there besides DVDs, hentai and porn. TV shows, newscasts, short movies, etc. Sony will also be offering movie downloads through their Connect site.