Will we ever be able to mod the PSP?

[Neipas02]

Well, they're a lot more costly importing. Once they're local a lot more people will be able to afford them and start tweaking them..

Also I don't think there would be but in case there are any hardware software modifications for the US versions, the modding community would want to know and incorporate them into their modding efforts.

The Jap versions are NTSC region free so that probably won't be an issue.. I'd love to support the forums and import one from Lik Sang but its just not in my budget.

[David88]

No, I mean I would buy a UMD blank cartridge from overseas if they were unavaliable here.
I would love to be able to write my movies and music to mini DVD's and then use them in the UMD.

I will be waiting until PSP's are released in Aus. before buying one (who knows when that will be?).
Too big a premium to justify importing one from Japan.
Also you may get screwed if Sony decide to region encode their games.
I know commercial movies on UMD are.

Also, was at the shops today and saw writable mini DVD-R's which are 1.8GB and the same size as the discs inside the UMDs.
I think it is just a easy way for Sony to prevent copying.

I also found out that the PSP uses a standard DVD laser so the UMDs are definately just small DVD's in a case.

[Neipas02]

Someone will probably manufacture a UMD case with a removable disc so you can burn to the 1.8gb dvds and insert them into the UMD housing..

Backing them up though would be trickier considering I doubt the Discs are removeable for the cases. A UMD reader perhaps?...

I'm just whistling dixie here..

[David88]

Well I know that when I get my PSP I am going to remove one of the discs from the casing and chuck it in my computer and try to make a backup of it and burn it to a mini dvd then insert it into the UMD case and try to play it.

It just might work.
The hardest part will be dismantling the UMD so I can get the disc out and then put it back in.
But it must be done.

And maybe you wont need a modchip to play these games.

I guess the UMD I take apart will be a movie like spiderman 2.

[David88]

discovered hole in my theory.
groove in burners are 80mm so the 60mm discs wont fit.
hmmm.....

[lufcfan]

How about loading a hack onto Memory Stick and connect the PSP via USB to the PC so it'll read the disc off to the HDD?

Only problem is, I doubt that Sony will release the rights for media manufacturers to produce the blank UMD discs...

[TylerDurden]

Originally Posted by David88

discovered hole in my theory.
groove in burners are 80mm so the 60mm discs wont fit.
hmmm.....

What about some laptop burners that have the snap on hub?



Tyler!

[Neipas02]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden

What about some laptop burners that have the snap on hub?

I thought about that too.. But the media would still be 60mm.. (taking davids word for it) and the media sold in stores is 80mm.. So it wouldn't fit in any jerry rigged UMD case.. I thought about the memory stick hack and you'd have to shell out some cash for a 2gb stick.. Unless you compressed the hell out of a game somehow.. That and you'd have to swap all the data out just to play each of your backups when you wanted to.

[Spike7]

Originally Posted by Neipas02

Someone will probably manufacture a UMD case with a removable disc so you can burn to the 1.8gb dvds and insert them into the UMD housing..

Backing them up though would be trickier considering I doubt the Discs are removeable for the cases. A UMD reader perhaps?...

I'm just whistling dixie here..

a UMD reader is the PSP UMD reader vis USB to PC

[SilverF4]

The PSP uses a proprietary Sony disc called the UMD, or Universal Media Disc. Capable of storing up to 1.8GB of data (a CD holds 0.650GB, a DVD holds 4.7GB), the UMD is a disc format enclosed in a small cartridge (similar to the Sony Mini-Disc format.)

Are PSP discs writeable or rewriteable?

No, the UMD cannot be written to. Only Sony will be able to create UMD media -- the company has no plans to make external UMD writers devices, and even third-party publishers will not be able to create their own discs without Sony's ability to press the data to UMD.


So with that said, I don't think the PSP is worth it and will die because of this UMD format. why would I buy a movie in UMD format if I can't play it in anything else??? If you could burn your music or data if they are going to turn it into a pda then it might have been worth it. With the screen size I can convert a movie to fit onto 256mb and use the memory stick to watch my movies I can convert from DVD's I own. But that's still only 4 movies on 1Gb stick. Maybe Netflix will make them allow you to rent UMD movies and the only good thing is you are less likely to scratch them up. that's my 2 cents.

[hchuang]

Why is everyone talking about reading UMD on a dvd drive, sony licensing 3rd party UMD re-writables, or etc etc. These hacks are completely counter-intuitive.

Without claiming to know all the technical details, I can already envision hacks installed on the Memory Stick that will enable us to:

1) Rip the entire game or movie off PSP to a computer via USB or the WLAN.

2) Run ripped content in some sort of modified package on the memory stick. There are already 2gb MS out there with 4gb or more coming in the future, so the capacity is hardly a problem.

3) Hacked firmwire that, using the USB cable, can connect to external USB hard drive or hard drive-based mp3 player(such as ipod) for transfering files. Playing video directly off the drive is possible too.

What i think is unlikely to happen is to actually have some sorta of pirated UMD discs running around, because it is expensive and unpractical.

[skub]

What about the speed of the memory sticks, are they slower or faster than the UMD disks, because if they are slower to read than that would be a big problem playing games off of them.