PSP knockoff MP4/MP5 players- anyone own one?

I've been looking into cheap "MP4" player type handhelds and stumbled on this one that looks like a PSP. It's got basic MP3 and video functions, a camera, mic, basic stuff like that and emulator functions. I can't find a proper list of what it supports but it seems to play NES, GBA, Genesis and maybe SNES going by Youtube videos. But my question is... anyone here own this thing and can tell me more about it? What's the full range of supported emulators? What MP is the camera? Is the firmware ever updated, and are the emulators basic freeware ones or proprietary? Before I spend $35 on one of these I want to know a bit more about it.

I haven't used one of these units, but a member on AtariAge did a little bit of a writeup on one awhile back:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...ayer-off-ebay/

They seem to be rather interesting, but I have been reluctant to spend $$ to get an emulator system when I have both the original hardware + a few emulators loaded on my DS.

-Rob

It's a mostly positive review, and the Youtube vids I've seen say about the same thing. Though much of what I'm getting is from 2009 so I would have to guess that the players now have some minor revisions to them. But it's hard to tell, and with no named manufacturer these could be made by several companies.

My only portable is a DS Lite and as far as multimedia goes, an Acekard can emulate GB/GBC and Game Gear fine but anything else, the screen is too small. MP3 playback is not what I'd call "great" with Moonshell and video is limited by the DS screen resolution. I don't really need a GBA emulator, I have several carts plus an EZ-Flash IV. I looked into a Dingoo, but they're about $100 and not known for being exceptional. If I had $500 I'd get an Open Pandora, but that's just out of the question right now.

I'd just recommend getting a PSP if you're mostly interested in the emulation aspect. It has a ton of great emulators for pretty much every system up to and including the PSX.

I would but PSPs cost more and back when I had one I found I really didn't play the actual PSP games anyway. It sounds like this device does what I want and then some. One thing that seems to get a lot of positive on Youtube reviews is the TV out function. I recall TV out on a PSP slim was not only bad but couldn't even run games unless you used the HDMI cable. I hear the 3000 fixed that but everyone says the 3000 has a bad built-in screen.

There's a new model on eBay that's promising PS1 game support.

Though part of me wonders if it can deliver on that. I just question of a cheapo Chinese device can do that yet, and do so reliably. I mean, yeah, the technology has caught up on stuff like this but for the cost of this model I'd rather have a hacked PSP for a bit more. Have we even seen genuine PS1 clone systems yet?

I am going to buy the basic model. I can get an 8GB one for $36 and from what I hear it sounds worth it for all it does. Though funny thing, even 3 years ago eBay would've kicked these systems off for coming with discs containing ROMs and even for looking like a PSP(and I remember back when Nintendo forced eBay to remove devices that allowed the playing of import games. eBay did whatever they were told even if there was no violation of the law). Now they let everything fly because I guess they make more money this way.

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Originally Posted by Diosoth

I would but PSPs cost more and back when I had one I found I really didn't play the actual PSP games anyway. It sounds like this device does what I want and then some. One thing that seems to get a lot of positive on Youtube reviews is the TV out function. I recall TV out on a PSP slim was not only bad but couldn't even run games unless you used the HDMI cable. I hear the 3000 fixed that but everyone says the 3000 has a bad built-in screen.

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The PSP outputs video using component cables. I don't know where you got that information, but the 3000 has better color than the previous versions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac0yIjQGr1k

Many people hated the interlacing on the PSP 3000 screens. Me, I'll take the better color anyday.

Right, HDMI is a different connector than component. I don't own an HDTV so I don't really use those cables either way. My PC will do HDMI out but my monitor doesn't have HDMI-in so I don't get to use it.

But the Slim couldn't do games via composite which I thought was a total waste of the feature.

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Originally Posted by Diosoth

But the Slim couldn't do games via composite which I thought was a total waste of the feature.

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Why? Most SD televisions manufactured after 2000 have component inputs. It's a much better connection than composite.

I've ordered one of the PSP MP5 players in question. I paid under $36 shipped for an 8GB model. Now to wait for it to ship from Hong Kong.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Why? Most SD televisions manufactured after 2000 have component inputs. It's a much better connection than composite.

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The Slim was actually designed not to output games if you had the composite cable in, you had to use component for the TV-out to display games, and no, not all of us have TVs with component inputs(it's not a matter of "better picture", it's a matter of "I don't have the money for a new TV".) I think the 3000 actually changed that though, since it apparently can display games via composite. Then to make things worse, Sony made the slim s-video capable but refused to sell the cables in the US for some nonsense that it "might confuse customers". S-video is good, I use it over composite but companies seem to be unwilling to support it.

I don't recall seeing composite cables for the PSP.

Either way, the picture looks like complete crap on a television, because of how low the resolution is. The GBA can get away with it a bit better, since everything is more on the level of a SNES.


I'd thought about buying the component cables for the PSP, but I'd only use it for watching UMD movies. I doubt I'd even do that though, since you can get a better picture from a cheap DVD.

Let me see...

The seller ditched the box and threw everything into a standard bubble envelope with no extra padding whatsoever. I think this damaged the screen as I see some odd blue marks when any bright light colors are on the screen. I also think the unit got slightly smashed because the pin for the AC adapter is off center and the R button was lodged stuck out of the package. But then I have to get into the software... the emulators are junk. The NES is about all you can use and some games have bad flickering. Forget everything else. You can not remap the inputs even though it supposedly has an option to do so. It says to hold down the square button on a highlighted key selection until it turns green, then to press the new key. The selection never turns green. This makes SNES unplayable as the R button isn't mapped to anything. The player also has no "home" button and uses one of the other keys to exit a game so even if you could remap keys, SNES would still be unplayable because you couldn't exit anything.

The FM radio "works" but trying to tune it is just painful because it's so slow to tick through each station one by one. It plays MP3s decent but there are no volume buttons and you can only change volume in the MP3 player menu, and to top it off there seems to be no option to stop playback. The screen isn't that great, quality of movies is about Youtube level and the frame rate suffers. Image viewing is just a wash, and the picture viewer can't even find the files, I have to use the system browser. Forget TV out unless you have a widescreen TV, this is a widescreen device but crushes it down to fit on your TV and it's just not good. Aside from that, even forgoing that this unit feels like it was lightly crushed, the build quality is... it feels sold enough but it's also very light and probably lacks any sort of internal metal frame. It's thinner than a PSP slim and not in a good way. The left side of the screen also warbles like mad when pressing the d-pad, though as I recall some models of the PSP have the exact same problem just doe to the d-pad being where it is.

The 1.3 MP camera is garbage. It's very sensitive to light and takes worse pictures than one of those cheap Vivitar or Sakar cameras.

I'd return it to the seller but they only offer an exchange, not a refund. I'm somehow wondering how and where people are finding these for sale in their retail boxes when every seller I spot on eBay says "no retail box". This wouldn't be a problem if the thing was packed properly but shoving it into a thin bubble envelope with no proper padding or securing anything so it doesn't move(the CD was loose, not even a sleeve) is just poor. And seeing as many of the issues seem to be between software and general bad design(no volume buttons) an exchange isn't going to fix it. The instruction manual mentions firmware updates but I almost have to laugh at that idea because I don't even know what this thing is called, let alone where to find firmware or if firmware updates even exist. I'd try the CD but for whatever reason my PC seems to have trouble reading this mini CD with 128 MB of data on it(which means either there are too many individual files and it's taking forever, it wasn't burned right or the disc itself is of bad physical quality).

I am confused as to how almost every Youtube review of this thing is so positive when the model I have on hand is very poor. Maybe these are made by various manufacturers or something, or there is a firmware update, I don't know. But for what I paid and how well it works, I'd have been better off paying 2X for a PSP slim and hacking it. I may just take it to a local thrift/pawn shop and get for it what I can.

You could get a psp knockoff from a reliable website store http://www.dealextreme.com/p/jxd-300...slot-4gb-50968

That's nearly identical to the one I have here, and they're charging the same price that Gamestop charges for a used PSP.

Maybe I got a faulty unit but mine just isn't working. And I've been unable to read the CD at all, Windows Explorer just seems to struggle with it for some reason.

EDIT: after having this thing plugged in for several hours I'm convinced the battery is not charging at all.