Is it mandatory to have a Pandora battery? Heck no. Especially currently with how strong the existing PSP CFW is made. The Pandora battery simply kicks the thing into factory service mode so you could always recover from a bricking situation.I ordered a psp 1000 maybe 1001 off ebay. in the mean time i'd like to know is it mandatory for i to have a pandora battery? the seller told me the psp has the latest firmware (haven't received psp yet still in mail and can't confirm what firmware is on psp).
do i need a magic stick - or can i use the usb cord and the *sd* stick it comes with?
after installing a custom firmware can i still hook the psp up to the tv to play games and movies?
Standard PSP's (basically, not the Go) all use a Memory Stick Pro Duo slot. That said, at least it is possible to get an adapter that can accept at least one (some even two) microSD cards in them to get storage on the cheap that way. And unlike the M2, it's still possible to get a genuine Pro Duo card in stores, though selection is ultra-limited as hell.
The original 1000 series could not do video out without a hardware modification. The functionality was added in later from the PSP 2000's and onward as an official feature.
The good thing is the girth of the 1k series allows for some good sized batteries to keep it running longer. And the fact that it does have an IR port allows you to take advantage of some specialized homebrew for it. The downside is that because it has the least amount of RAM, some of the emulators out there meant for more... intensive systems to emulate are probably not going to work. If that bugs you, I'd just say get yourself a 2000 or 3000 series afterward to cover those gaps... you could even just swap the Pro Duo card(s) back and forth there.