Gaming Considering buying a PSP.

[kosheh]

whoa

Anyway, I've been borrowing my friend's PSP for like two months, I just love the thing so damn much. It's in a class that makes it unique from my DS (which feels more like a toy) Anyway, I've done shitloads for a console that isn't even mine from fixing his Wifi daughterboard [I broke the MS springloader] and upgrading his firmware from 3.71 M33 to 5.50 GEN (oh and it was a pain in the ass let me tell you, piggybacking upgrades). I REALLY like the homebrew community, its ease of use, its broad range of emulator compatability (and of course, piracy lol). So I'm considering purchasing one of my own. My friend's poor and refuses to donate money to my PSP fund ):
Also I'm a dick I'm buying it for the piracy. I'll be honest.

So I've got a few questions:
1) I plan on buying a PSP Slim [2000?] because I've heard that it's less awkward to hold and that it's also somewhat sturdier. But it looks...cheaper to me. Likewise, I know from experience the innards of the PSP-1000 are flimsy. What's your opinion? Fat PSP or Slim?

2) I'm going to buy it from Gamestop. it's $119 used. I don't want a new one. Any suggestions online where I could find it for cheaper and like new/refurbished? Ebay is lame. If not don't get too bent out of shape, it's pure curiosity.

3) I know a PSP isn't as sturdy as a DS, so I want to take extra care of it, too. What kind of accessories should I get? Brand specific? (screen protectors, shock armor etc.)

4) What are you doing when you're "pandorizing" a battery? I did my research - I know the end result of the battery is to prevent it from bricks and to allow backups to be played from a Memory Stick as well as make UMDs region-free - but what's going on with the inside? Does the lithium battery hold memory data for the PSP or something?

5) What's the highest capacity for Memory Sticks, and where's a good place to look? I plan on getting one without a Memory Stick bundled so it's more affordable.


yeah :J

 

[xDlmaoxD]

Go on craigslist.com and find your local area and search for a PSP.
There is bount to be someone selling a modded PSP cheap now a days because the PSP Go came out.
Not all PSP 2000 are hackable, the ones that are not will have to have firmware lower than 5.00 I think I have no Idea.
I have 2 Modded PSP 1000, and a PSP Go.
I never bother getting the PSP 2000 or 3000.
The highest well its the biggest memory card you can find, I have seen 16 GB and 32 GB ones.
Anyways don't pay that much for a used one specially on Gamestop, and make sure you know which PSP can be hacked and which ones can't do to the new motherboards.
If you google you will find the answer easily, also for the pandoras battery you can find that on dealextreme for cheap
and some other sites that also sell DS Flash carts.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

1) I plan on buying a PSP Slim [2000?] because I've heard that it's less awkward to hold and that it's also somewhat sturdier. But it looks...cheaper to me. Likewise, I know from experience the innards of the PSP-1000 are flimsy. What's your opinion? Fat PSP or Slim?: I like my electronics fat. They're more durable and last a little longer, although they look awkward in a pocket

2) I'm going to buy it from Gamestop. it's $119 used. I don't want a new one. Any suggestions online where I could find it for cheaper and like new/refurbished? Ebay is lame. If not don't get too bent out of shape, it's pure curiosity.: You can get some free from those survey sites, but those take a while. You can probably do Amazon or Ebay, but those aren't refurbished or as reliable. I got my used PS2 from Gamestop for only $60 and it's run like a charm ever since. They're pretty good in regards to used games and consoles

3) I know a PSP isn't as sturdy as a DS, so I want to take extra care of it, too. What kind of accessories should I get? Brand specific? (screen protectors, shock armor etc.): IDK, sorry bud. Most of the time it just involves taking extra care of it. I wouldn't throw it in your back pocket any time soon. Maybe a carrying case?

4) What are you doing when you're "pandorizing" a battery? I did my research - I know the end result of the battery is to prevent it from bricks and to allow backups to be played from a Memory Stick as well as make UMDs region-free - but what's going on with the inside? Does the lithium battery hold memory data for the PSP or something?: I think it just runs code through your PSP, that's pretty much it. It does involve removing your standard battery, though. As long as you don't try getting it out with a crowbar, you should be safe as long as you use some common sense

5) What's the highest capacity for Memory Sticks, and where's a good place to look? I plan on getting one without a Memory Stick bundled so it's more affordable.: IDK, sorry bud

I'm not a PSP owner, but just my suggestions.

 

[Islay]

32 gb is the bigest, u get get to fast 16 gb sd cards and an adatoper.

or you can get a cheap 16 gb of DX for 30.

if your that chep 18 dollors for an 8gb, cant go wrong.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12796

 

[DocKlokMan]

Wow, okay here we go.

Get a slim. Why? It has more memory which is utilized by some homebrew and plugins (such as Dark_Alex's save state feature, a complete necessity for a portable). You have to be careful though because not all Slims are hackable, only the earlier models. If you happen to have one of the unhackables, as long as the firmware isn't higher than 5.03 you can use the image exploit Chickhen to mod it. Downside is no way to downgrade if you ever upgrade and you have to run the exploit everyime you fully shut the system off.

If color doesn't matter to you, you can get the God of War red PSP bundle on Amazon for 128.99 USED, I suggested this because as far as I know, all those PSP slims are hackable.

To be honest, I never bothered with a screen protector because the faceplates are easily replaceable. I just bought a custom colored faceplate when mine got too dinged up and put it on. I've been golden since.

When you pandorize a battery, (something you'll need to borrow your friends PSP to do as only pre-hacked ones can do it) you change the serial number of the battery which is stored in the battery's EEPROM to 0xFFFFFFFF which the PSP detects upon insertion of the battery and sends it into Service Mode where it loads the Custom Firmware Installer from the memory stick (which you'll also have to prepare on your friends PSP). You can then change it back the same way.

I've seen 32GB. There is this Memory stick adapter which takes 2 MicroSD instead, though I heard the corruption rate on that is uncomfortably high.

 

[clegion]

whoa

Anyway, I've been borrowing my friend's PSP for like two months, I just love the thing so damn much. It's in a class that makes it unique from my DS (which feels more like a toy) Anyway, I've done shitloads for a console that isn't even mine from fixing his Wifi daughterboard [I broke the MS springloader] and upgrading his firmware from 3.71 M33 to 5.50 GEN (oh and it was a pain in the ass let me tell you, piggybacking upgrades). I REALLY like the homebrew community, its ease of use, its broad range of emulator compatability (and of course, piracy lol). So I'm considering purchasing one of my own. My friend's poor and refuses to donate money to my PSP fund ):
Also I'm a dick I'm buying it for the piracy. I'll be honest.

So I've got a few questions:
1) I plan on buying a PSP Slim [2000?] because I've heard that it's less awkward to hold and that it's also somewhat sturdier. But it looks...cheaper to me. Likewise, I know from experience the innards of the PSP-1000 are flimsy. What's your opinion? Fat PSP or Slim?

2) I'm going to buy it from Gamestop. it's $119 used. I don't want a new one. Any suggestions online where I could find it for cheaper and like new/refurbished? Ebay is lame. If not don't get too bent out of shape, it's pure curiosity.

3) I know a PSP isn't as sturdy as a DS, so I want to take extra care of it, too. What kind of accessories should I get? Brand specific? (screen protectors, shock armor etc.)

4) What are you doing when you're "pandorizing" a battery? I did my research - I know the end result of the battery is to prevent it from bricks and to allow backups to be played from a Memory Stick as well as make UMDs region-free - but what's going on with the inside? Does the lithium battery hold memory data for the PSP or something?

5) What's the highest capacity for Memory Sticks, and where's a good place to look? I plan on getting one without a Memory Stick bundled so it's more affordable.


yeah :J

1. get a hackable psp 2000/slim i have mine, and it rocks, try going for those limited edition such as GOW, and of course starwars, battery is solvable by putting fat battery on it
2. on gamestop do check on what firmware the psp have, some people update it into the las firmware,and you get the risk on not being able to do piracy on it
3 screen protector and maybe hard case armor, just don't drop it, i lost my battery and cap from dropping it
4.psp battery have one of those memory storage or something, it basically tells the psp to enter service-mode
5.original mem stick is around 16 or you could get those adapters which is 32

don't feel bad buying psp for piracy, it's better than some people who is a hyphocrite

 

[kosheh]

man, you guys are awesome. x) Thanks for all your help so far - I'm still a little skeptical of whether to purchase a slim or a fat.

AnalogMan: So some PSP Slims are hackable like a 1000 is - you don't need to enable the ChickHEN exploit every time you boot up the PSP? I'll try going with one of those then - I heard the serial for those PSPs whose serials start with AB02 can't be hacked. I'll keep an eye out for earlier ones, then.

xDlmaoxD: Checked Craigslist; all the PSPs sold there are way above Gamestop pricing. Hopefully they'll become more available during Christmastime :/

Now when I'm in Gamestop, I know that if I'm hunting for a PSP Slim that I should avoid serial AB02 PSPs. Anything else I should keep in mind? Like, what firmware exactly should I be watching for; to see if it can be downgraded?

also whoa
that's a cool function that the pandora battery performs :0


Also I'll probably go with a 16gig stick; but yeah - it's either the 1000 or 2000 at this point. Due to ~complications~ with the Slim it seems I MIGHT be heading with the 1000, though I don't like the 1000's...internal flimsiness. :/

 

[foxgrey]

If you go with a 2000 psp, make sure the firmware is 5.03 or under!! Thats very important. The special versions of the 2000, ie, Daxter silver, Star Wars White, and GOW red are all known to be hackable, so that should give you a few more options. Personally I rock a phat, and love it. Wish the screen was a tad brighter, but its a tank, and I don't use skype.

As far as memory sticks go, The adapter that has been referenced is called a photofast.(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I0T92Q) It takes 2 micro sd cards and uses them as 1 big MS. They do not support magicgate, but are generally faster then other memory sticks. I was able to get one for around $4usd, and a couple of 8gb sd cards for $13 each, so for around $30 you can have a 16gb memory stick with good read/write speed. As far as corruption is concerned on theese adapters, once you get your sd cards, do not remove them...its way to easy to mix them up and corrupt all your data!

 

[kosheh]

Great, now I'm a little paranoid that when I go to Gamestop and try to get a hackable Slim I won't be successful in finding one.
I mean, sure I can ask them if I can boot it up and whatnot, but now there's all the talk about certain motherboards which can't be hacked.
Of course, I'll look for special edition PSP Slims (the God of War one is very cool), but in the case of finding a new PSP Slim with low-number OFW, you can look on the box and it'll have a certain production code that lets you know what new firmware's on it. In my case, I can't easily find a way to tell which one's unhackable, can I? I was considering removing the battery of each one, but that would just be sort of obvious, wouldn't it? And if I had to stoop that low, could I look at the model number [PSP-####] or its serial number to determine this?

Or can I just borrow my friend's Pandorized Battery/MSPro and be like "lol hacked"?


If it's that tough then I'll probably end up getting a PSP fat; because then I can just check the firmwares. However I fear Gamestop will be like "dur theyre all latest firmware lol!!!"

EDIT: Barcode at the bottom of the fat has "PSP-1001" at the end. On the slim, I've heard "PSP-2004" can't be hacked. If I look for a PSP-2000; 2001, I should be fine I guess, right?
Google's really being a dick and refuses to answer me.

 

[clegion]

2001 should be fine, really i believe there's a thread about this somewhere

 

[kosheh]

Just won a 2000 PSP Slim off ebay [not really, I didn't meet the reserve], but I'm considering another auction for a 2001 Slim PSP with "AB003" starting off the bottom. So I'll...probably try to win that one instead because the 2000 one doesn't have a battery slot and doesn't even have a picture.

But yeah, thanks for your help so far guys. Don't feel obligated, but would a PSP-2001 with its code starting with AB003 be hackable? I'd think so - I've heard people hacking PSP-2003s without a sweat.

 

[nico445]

ask for the datecode that's behind the battery if it is 8b or lower it is hackable if it's higher you can't mod it with a pandora.

 

[kosheh]

EDIT: Successfully hacked my PSP, I'm now running 5.00 M33-4. Now I've got to upgrade. Thanks for your help, guys; you've been huge help! :V

One more question before letting this topic die:

Would having a UMD in the PSP (i.e. Lumines) help the PSP load faster or anything?

 

[clegion]

nope, tried sometimes ago

upgrade to gen b-2 it's not as glitchy as everybody making it sounds like