Buy PSP in Ireland, 2nd hand or in US?

FrankGrimes

I'm in Seattle for the week and saw a few people on the plane with PSPs, and was thinking I might buy one as a bit of an impulse purchase cos I hate flying and this would help pass the time.

Not really familiar with its capabilities to be honest, but the idea of playing pro evo 6 on the move is class. Seems like it has wi-fi which can be used to play against other psps etc, and internet access. Is the net access only for online games or anything else?

What's the other capabilities of the psp that might not be obvious to a novice like myself?

Would I be likely to get a better deal buying a new one in the US or a 2nd hand one at home? Seems to be a lot of them for sale on adverts.ie - that's not a bad sign is it?

Seems to be a lot of importance on the firmware - what's the deal with that, and why are people interested in downgrading as opposed to upgrading firmware (am assuming its to do with some restrictions on the later versions)?

Seems to be a lot of talk about the place about modding the psp - what options does this open up?

Nice one.

shortys94

You can play Playstation games on the PSP, it interacts with the PS3 for further unlockables on games and media wirelessly plys between the two machines. There are many capabilities suchas the TV option which I think can be used if done properly. You can use homebrew if you have a previous version of the firmware and play old school games. You can access websites on wifi and there lots of other things Im sure I havent mentioned. THe games library is good now and popular in Ireland. Although its as if sony are trying to make it into something which is similar to a home console.

chrislad

If you are going to get some UMDs for it, I would get an American one. The movies are dirt cheap in Region 1.

Conor108

Just don't use the wi-fi on the plane

qz

I'd go for an Irish one, just incase there's any problems with dead pixels, or anything that goes wrong.

FrankGrimes

Thanks lads, what's the ideal firmware version to go for, and is this what's now installed on the new models in the shops?

Does a single dead pixel really make a big difference and does it really affect the re-sale value?

FrankGrimes

Am probably gonna buy a PSP tonight in Seattle. Will just use the 32mb card till a 2gig card I'm gonna order on ebay arrives.

Should I just go with whatever firmware is on the one in the shop or should I look around to find a particular version before buying? I've read a bit more into it and I defo want to leave the option open to install custom firmware so don't want to buy one that is going to restrict my options. Am I right in thinking its possible to install custom firmware that will essentially let you switch between two modes so that you can get the benefits of the latest versions when you want to, but can also slip back to v1.50 (which is the best version right?) when you want to do things like SNES emulation? By the way, the idea of playing mario kart on the go is pure class.

What length of battery life can I expect when just playing a game and not using wi-fi?

4Xcut

Not too sure if there's other custom firmwares but the one from dark alex(afaik) combines the best features of 3.03 and 1.50 if you will. there is a guide to check the version before you buy:

http://forums.qj.net/f-guides-general-psp-42/t-determining-psp-firmware-using-box-codes-jan-3-2007-28718.html

As for whether you should buy in the states i'd say no. This is just part of a thing i have about buying things abroad, you can't bring them back and it would be just a shame if it went and got damaged. If you really want to buy it check if they have an international warrenty but i'm fairly sure they don't

Dakeyras

the story in short:

if you buy any psp with firmware 2.8 or earlier you can downgrade and upgrade to 3.03oe.

what does that mean i hear you say? well you can have the latest firmware but you can play homebrew and backed up games (.iso) and psx games

homebrew is emulators (nes, megadrive, etc). iso means copies of games and psx games are obviously your playstation games.

buy a psp thats 2.8 or less. much more choices and all the functionality of the latest firmware. you'd be silly not to

FrankGrimes

So I went ahead and made an impulsive and probably rash purchase, but hey I had it for the the flight home and I reckon the escapism it gave me in the longest taxi journey home ever complete with waffling taxi driver made a hefty return on investment already.

I bought it in the US and went for the Entertainment Pack - psp, 1 gig memory stick, and ATV Offroad fury for $250. also bought vice city stories for $30 planning to play it on the plane, but looks like I need an update before I can play it.

From reading the forums linked above, I'd guess my psp has 2.70 or 2.71 firmware and one of them TA-082 motherboards, which can be downgraded for the moment at least. It's asking me to update to 2.81, so obviously I'm not gonna do that. How can I check which version I currently have?

Once I know where I'm starting from I'll start searching for the right upgrade steps, though any pointers on what particular custom firmware I should go for are more than welcome.

Is there any way of getting it to play DivX or similar movie files?

Just using it for the basics so far and have to say its fair good.