Hardware A few PSP questions

[The Milkman]

Hey, I know, know theres a topic like right next this one asking a similar question, but not exactly what I need to know.

Now, I have been thinking for a long while of buying a PSP and I have some questions before I run off and grab one. Most are hack oriented so I felt I should make a new topic for it, but I have read most of the others about this. And I want know what model would be best for me.

Now, first off. I want a PSP thats not going to give me any (or atleast minimal) problems with hacking it. Mostly because I only plan on using mine for hack based content (homebrew and emulators and ISOs and such)

Second, I don't really plan on using it for media (other then a back-up MP4 for what my mobile cant hold) but I do want it to be bluetooth capable (I read that some have it but im not sure which)

Third, How stable can emulators run on PSPs? Can they run PS1/N64? I know they can do GBA and SNES fine

Fourth, Which has the most memory? And I mean I need it to have a large amount because I dont want to play "memory stick tango" with Sony.

Fifth, Whats up with these, CFWs? Are they like custom roms on Android?

Last, how does PSN work on it? I got a friend with a PS3 and he says I can use his old PSPs account but, im not sure what exactly that means.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Hyro-Sama]

I have two PSP 1000s I could sell you. Anyway, I have the found the N64 emulator to be buggy. PS1 works fine for me though. I don't think any of the PSP versions have bluetooth capabilities. (Maybe the PSP Go has that ability.) You might be thinking of the Vita. Finally, all PSPs are hackable and the difficultly of installing CFW is low.

 

[Rydian]

If you want one with no problems being hackable, get any 2000 or an early 3000. As long as the PSP has had firmware 6.20 or less installed on it at any point in it's life, you can downgrade it to 6.20 with a softmod and install a perm hack. If you get a new 3000 then it'll come with 6.60 and while it can still be hacked just fine, it won't boot up in hacked mode so after a full shutdown you'll need to run a homebrew to put it into hacked mode again.

IIRC only the Go does bluetooth.

The PSP natively supports PS1 games. They're available on the PSN (so you can just pirate those), or you can use converter programs to home-convert some versions (but those tend to have compatibility issues depending on how it's done and such, PSN versions are preferred if they exist).

N64 emulation is meh. Most games are playable, but not at full speed. I mean it's good enough to play Super Mario 64, but with a heavier title it'll struggle and might be no fun.

PSPs use memory sticks (Memory Stick), officially the limit is 32GB. Most people deal fine with an 8GB or 16GB stick, unless they horde.

CFWs are akin to custom ROMs, yes... only instead of needing to flash an entire new image to the NAND, usually when installing a custom firmware the installer just modifies some of the existing files (since sanity checks can be patched out).

PSN works fine, unless you do something crappy like try to activate the same PSP more than 5 times without de-activating it (due to forgetting to de-activate it before flashing the firmware), like I did to my old one. ^^;

 

[The Milkman]

If you want one with no problems being hackable, get any 2000 or an early 3000. As long as the PSP has had firmware 6.20 or less installed on it at any point in it's life, you can downgrade it to 6.20 with a softmod and install a perm hack. If you get a new 3000 then it'll come with 6.60 and while it can still be hacked just fine, it won't boot up in hacked mode so after a full shutdown you'll need to run a homebrew to put it into hacked mode again.

IIRC only the Go does bluetooth.

The PSP natively supports PS1 games. They're available on the PSN (so you can just pirate those), or you can use converter programs to home-convert some versions (but those tend to have compatibility issues depending on how it's done and such, PSN versions are preferred if they exist).

N64 emulation is meh. Most games are playable, but not at full speed. I mean it's good enough to play Super Mario 64, but with a heavier title it'll struggle and might be no fun.

PSPs use memory sticks (Memory Stick), officially the limit is 32GB. Most people deal fine with an 8GB or 16GB stick, unless they horde.

CFWs are akin to custom ROMs, yes... only instead of needing to flash an entire new image to the NAND, usually when installing a custom firmware the installer just modifies some of the existing files (since sanity checks can be patched out).

PSN works fine, unless you do something crappy like try to activate the same PSP more than 5 times without de-activating it (due to forgetting to de-activate it before flashing the firmware), like I did to my old one. ^^;

Thanks! I was looking at the Go since its got 32 GB built in (or was in 16...hmm) can I put that on older firmware?

 

[zygie]

It's 16 GB, 14.7 or something useable.

The Go ships with 5.70 as far as I heard, or even if it didn't it's still probably a 5g mobo. Those can downgrade fine to 6.20 where you can use perm PRO CFW on it.

 

[Alaude]

i recommend the early 2000s because you can mess with em a lot and do not have to worry about bricking (cuz it can be unbricked)

 

[The Milkman]

i recommend the early 2000s because you can mess with em a lot and do not have to worry about bricking (cuz it can be unbricked)

Im gonna take your advice and look for one, they seem to be the cheapest model also

 

[Alaude]

i recommend the early 2000s because you can mess with em a lot and do not have to worry about bricking (cuz it can be unbricked)

Im gonna take your advice and look for one, they seem to be the cheapest model also

glad i was of help but remember 3000s and Go models have a bit more picture quality but they can never be unbricked (until to this day). just for info i'm a 2000 model owner and happy to be one

 

[Foxi4]

Now, first off. I want a PSP thats not going to give me any (or atleast minimal) problems with hacking it. Mostly because I only plan on using mine for hack based content (homebrew and emulators and ISOs and such)

PSP-200x, Data Code 8B or lower (can be found in the battery compartment, under the battery). They're Pandora-compatible, so even if you screw up big time while fooling around, you lose nothing and can easily re-flash. The only problem is that the 200x, unlike 300x, doesn't have a built-in microphone, but finding a headset shouldn't be too difficult. The second-best choices are the 300x and Go. Don't buy the 100x models unless you collect consoles - they have significantly less RAM (32 megabytes, as opposed to 64 on all other models)

Second, I don't really plan on using it for media (other then a back-up MP4 for what my mobile cant hold) but I do want it to be bluetooth capable (I read that some have it but im not sure which)

...only the PSP Go has Bluetooth, but it has no UMD Drive so forget about UMD-Based games or game dumping.

Third, How stable can emulators run on PSPs? Can they run PS1/N64? I know they can do GBA and SNES fine

The PSP natively supports PS1 titles, as for the N64, emulation is decent considering the platform, but not perfect.

Fourth, Which has the most memory? And I mean I need it to have a large amount because I dont want to play "memory stick tango" with Sony.

Only the PSP Go has a built-in flash drive that's usable for games and such, plus an M2 Stick slot. the rest use Memory Stick Pro Duo's. If you want to stack up on capacity cheaply and quickly, get a Photofast-CR5400 adapter and two SD cards. It's simple and reliable. The best combination is having a small Sony stick dedicated solely to hacking (Pandora can be picky about the stick, most adapters don't support IPL modification) and a simple adapter with SD's for everything else.

Fifth, Whats up with these, CFWs? Are they like custom roms on Android?

They're pretty much "patches" to the original firmware, not like ROM's on Android - we're past that stage. Nowadays CFW's come in a Light-CFW format that simply applies patches to the OFW.

Last, how does PSN work on it? I got a friend with a PS3 and he says I can use his old PSPs account but, im not sure what exactly that means.

The only problem you may have is registering the PSP too many times on PSN when you change firmwares on and on and on, but if you stick to one account, you should be perfectly fine. No bans await you.

Thanks for the help!

You're welcome.

PSPs use memory sticks (Memory Stick), officially the limit is 32GB. Most people deal fine with an 8GB or 16GB stick, unless they horde.

One of the latest updates apparently allows for sticks of higher capacity. I've seen PSP's running a dual-32GB SD combo with 64GB total memory, the theoretical limit is 256 or so GB's, at least according to one of the CFW developers - can't recall which one.