This is part two of a head-to-head comparison of the Sony PSP and the iPod with video. The first installment was a hands-on comparison of the technical specifications.
PSP Vs iPod: What’s Better for Video?
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Eugenia Loli
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How about one of these instead:
http://www.gbax.com/aboutgp2x.html
Fully open SDK and no need to re-encode videos either – just drop ’em on the SD card.
The GP2X is one nifty device. It won’t compete with the PSP on screen size, and custom software/console emulators are available for both, but at least the GP2X has Linux available for it
Doing output on a tv-screen is a big plus though, I don’t believe the iPod or PSP have that.
Tomorrow we might see this one reviewed.
The iPod will definitely output to TV.
However, if you load it up with video that is at a higher resolution than the iPod’s screen, I’m not sure what you’ll end up with. It might be at the resolution of the original video, but then it might be at the resolution actually displayed on the video.
The iPod can output video at higher resolution than its screen natively supports.
and custom software/console emulators are available for both, but at least the GP2X has Linux available for it
Well, look at it this way – with the GP2X, you don’t have to worry about a firmware upgrade updating the DRM and causing all of your custom software not to work anymore. IMHO, that is the real issue – just like the iPod, Sony wants to tell you what you can and can’t play on the device you bought and paid for. I don’t put up with that kind of crap in an entertainment device.
Yes, just one problem. It runs Linux… I’d prefer it running Windows, like XP Lite or something to make some games run on it which is worth playing.
Besides, I believe Windows probably has better Battery management capabilities than Linux…
Linux has battery management capabilities; its whether the processor is actually supported; but with that being said, you have raised a valid point in respects to software avilability.
Like I’ve said in the past, its all very nice having a sexy piece of hardware, but its bloody useless if there is sweet bugger all software that can run on it.
DVD Player. or Remote Control..? What’s better for Video.
Repeat three times – the iPod is not a dedicated Video device. It is designed against solely playing video and doing it well. If Apple designed a video player, it would be simpler to use than anything currently out there, lest not be easier to sync with than anything currently out there too. PSP’s screen 0wns BTW.
Holy cow, I just read to the part where batterylife is discussed.
A 2 hour battery life for a portable videoplayer? AND with a non-removable battery?? Is Apple seriously bringing this to the market? I thought 4 hours of batterylife for the PSP was already a joke for a portable gaming device that’s supposed to entertain you on long trips, but first generation video Ipods are to be ignored completely.
Ronald, TODAY the BEST video playback battery life for a PMP (“personal multimedia player”) is only ~5 hours, and that is from the leader of the PMP market, Archos (the AV500 DVR model). All the rest of the PMPs have between 2 and 4 hours of battery life.
When you have about 50-60 such devices in the market today and NONE of them is able to deliver more than 5 hours, I think it reveals something important: that video playback requires the LCD to be ON all the time and CPU/gfx to run almost on the max and the hard drive to seek and read all the time as the bit rate is way higher than plain audio. Naturally, this consumes lots of battery. This is not the case with mp3 players, but it is with video. The smallest the battery, the smallest the battery life (in the case of comparing the PSP to the iPod, where the iPod is physically much smaller).
But it’s not the fault of any of the PMP manufacturers. It’s the battery manufacturers that need to come up with something better, push the envelope and provide more power, for longer.
Ronald, TODAY the BEST video playback battery life for a PMP (“personal multimedia player”) is only ~5 hours, and that is from the leader of the PMP market, Archos (the AV500 DVR model). All the rest of the PMPs have between 2 and 4 hours of battery life.
Sounds like the early 128 MB mp3 players: not really useful, used to open up the market for better devices.
they didn’t mention the fact that the ipod has a video out, this i think is a big deal. If sony released a PSP with a video out it would instantly make UMD movies more attractive to the public because you wouldn’t have to buy the movie again on dvd to watch it on your telly.
I have no idea why ppl are comparing these two DIFFERENT devices? what is that about?
I don’t have a PSP, and even I would rather have the PSP if I wanted to watch videos.
The only PSP drawback is the amount of space you can use to store your media.
You are wrong. The PSP is ALSO marketed as a video device. It is not just a gaming machine (although this is its primary function). It has many movie titles released for it. It has created a market about it. My friend has a PSP and has already bought 5 movies so far for it and only 4 games! Another friend of mine is using his PSP for music and podcasts mostly and very occassionally for gaming!
And as the iPod video was just released, comparison SHOULD be made on THIS specific feature as they do have something in common: video and music playback.
The PSP is widely maligned in gaming circles for its lack of quality games. It’s clearly a multimedia device first and a gaming machine second (or third, if you count homebrew/emulators).
Both are useless. Who wants to watch a movie for 2 hours on a screen that small. Not I.
You’ve got to be out of your mind to buy movies soley for playback on a PSP. The instant gratification generation. Sigh.
There are MANY people who take the metro, bus or train to work EVERY day. And some of these individuals are so busy with their families and work, that they don’t have the time to watch their favorite series or movies on “normal” times. And their two-way trip to work/home everyday is exactly that time they need to watch something and relax.
gp2x looks hot. Flash memory only though? $49 extra for a gigabyte mem card instead of the default 64 MB? I would love to see a hard drive in that thing so I could actually dump more than one xvid at a time on it
I guess that could make 2 AA batteries insufficient though.
Surely seems capable as a gaming device though. Well, not too bad for media either, just a bit limited in storage capacity. Price is nice too.
BTW, here is a head-to-head comparison of the two systems:
http://gp2x.us
PSP is a great system; what they do need to do is offer a UMD drive as to allow people to not only read by write things to it as well; no use have a convienent storage system that no bastard can use!
Oh, added PDA functionality would have been nice, along with a stylus screen; so that it actually does more than just music, movies and games.
RE: WorknMan
Honey, there is nothing stopping you from loading paid for mp3s from other providers, there is also nothing stopping you from purchasing Quicktime Pro, using Mac The Ripper, and ripping your dvds as to allow you to watch them on your iPod.
I’d say the one that is punishing the end user more is the PSP and its enemtically small, non existant storage and limited expandability.
the psp was designed for visual entertainment, Hence the bigger screen, UMD and Memory stick formats.
The ipod is an audio player with video hacks, (apple had to get into that game.)
Even better.. why not a combination of the PSP and iPod. Have a look at this:
http://www.macfeber.se/2005/11/borde_ipod_med_.html
Official site here:
http://www.myviliv.com
Thats a pretty lame idea… the point of the PSP is to play games, and then to play movies/mp3s second. iPod was made to play music, and movies second… that device? It looks like it wouldn’t let you play PSP games properly, and would be much bulkier than an iPod. Yawn.
The best idea for a video enhanced ipod i have heard is adding a touch screen, and when the device is playing music, the touch screen will show the ipod’s click wheel and things like that, when you play a video, it uses the full face of the device to play video.
Yeah, but mostly maligned by Nintendo fanatics who obsessed with such childish games as Nintendogs and Mario whatever.