Connecting a PSP to a non-HDTV for gaming purposes

[MrMatthews]

Has anyone played games with their PSP hooked up to a TV using the standard AV connections? A guy at Fryes told me that this wasn't possible because the PSP displays its game images in HD.

I find this highly questionable, since that was a feature added to the PSP 2000 a few years ago, when HD was hardly the "standard" it is now. Even if it's true, that's quite a bullshit move on Sony's part.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

[jerry coeurl]

I don't know, personally, but I find it questionable that you wouldn't be able to. I mean, you can play PSX games on a PSP, and those certainly aren't widescreen.

[Guntz]

HD is really only a screen resolution size. Sometimes there are signals that are specific to the cable you're using (Component supports 720i/p and 1080i but not 1080p on Xbox 360) but usually it's just a matter of image resolution vs. what the TV can display. In the PSP's case, I find most things are set at a low screen resolution, so all you need is a regular CRT with component (that would be 480i/p or something) and you'd be good to go. Maybe 17days or somebody could further elaborate. I've only ever heard of a Component PSP video out cable, though maybe there are S-Video and Composite ones (though who wants those over Component?).

EDIT: Jerry Coeurl brought up another point. Aspect ratio has no effect on a TV's ability to display something. 16:9 images on a 4:3 set will usually either get letterboxed or stretched, depending on how the TV interprets the signal (this also doesn't depend on HD compliance. Just if the TV is good or not).

[Waterfaller]

I've had a few customers return the composite AV out cables for the PSP back to me (I work in the electronics department at my local Kmart) and said that they wouldn't display their games at all. It would display the menus, movies, and pictures, just fine, but no gameplay.

[Knuckle Duster]

I don't remember the specifics, but the PSP 2000 and 3000 output via proprietary cables for a reason.
The difference between the two is that the 2000 is purely progressive scan output when games are running.

Sony can't support SDTV's with the PSP2K series, it lacks the hardware necessary to output an interlaced signal while running games.
3K's 'can' do it, specifically because of the new display hardware that runs the new screen that everybody 'bitches' about.

It has nothing necessarily to do with 'HD resolutions'.

[Guntz]

Should have mentioned the 3000 in my earlier post. That's the one I have access to. The 3000 displays just fine so I guess it's the 2000 with the problems.

[Knuckle Duster]

I know I'm right about the 2K, not too sure on the 'specifics' of the 3K hardware.

[M4R14NO94]

I really don't understand why Sony decided that it should be only for HDTV's (or TV's with progressive scan or composite), because I always thought that it would display the games in full-screen, but it's the PSP's actual resolution, with huge black borders. The first time I went into a Sony Style store, I saw that they had a TV with the PSP plugged in running LocoRoco, and it displayed at the PSP screen's actual resolution (well, not exactly the system's actual resolution, 480x272, but you get the idea), so why did Sony decide it to be like that?

[MrMatthews]

Should have mentioned the 3000 in my earlier post. That's the one I have access to. The 3000 displays just fine so I guess it's the 2000 with the problems.

I'm not sure where this leaves us. I have the 3K also - so are you able to hook it up to a normal TV to play games?

Really, has ANYONE done this? What about PSX games from the online store?Will they be displayed with the other cable?

[Knuckle Duster]

I'm not sure where this leaves us. I have the 3K also - so are you able to hook it up to a normal TV to play games?

Really, has ANYONE done this? What about PSX games from the online store?Will they be displayed with the other cable?

I'm not sure what you're asking here?

There are 2 specific cables for PSP, Component & Composite.
As far as I know, they're also separated between two versions, one for PSP 2K & PSP 3K.

The 3K can play on anything, the 2K only works on Progressive scan TV's.

Everything should get displayed on the screen, PSP games get letterboxed for no good reason.
What's the problem?

[MrMatthews]

Okay, I'll get really specific here:

There are two cables I've seen, both for the 2K: component and composite. One says it will NOT display games, the other one says it will ( although clearly only on HDTVs).

So are you saying that the cable for the PSP 2K that says it won't display game images WILL display game images with the 3K?

[Knuckle Duster]

Okay, I'll get really specific here:

There are two cables I've seen, both for the 2K: component and composite. One says it will NOT display games, the other one says it will ( although clearly only on HDTVs).

So are you saying that the cable for the PSP 2K that says it won't display game images WILL display game images with the 3K?

Yes.

Read the review feedback on amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/PSP-Composite-...R2CWYVDYR2KTQ9

Like I said.

PSP 2K: Plays everything through Component. Plays everything BUT games through composite due to Progressive scan issues.

PSP 3K: Plays everything through both cables.

I'm surprised Sony hasn't rebranded them for the 3K series.

[MrMatthews]

Thank you, Knuckle Duster. This thread was almost a PM directly to you, but I decided to give everyone a chance to answer my question. Looks like I'm going back to the store.

[17daysolderthannes]

I didn't read the thread, but I have both the component and composite A/V cables, so I'll throw down the info:

The 2000 is progressive scan and doesn't support scanlines for PSP games nor homebrew PSP stuff (if your PSP is modded). HOWEVER, the XMB, Movies, and PSX games WILL play on a standard CRT TV with either the composite or component cables. With an HDTV, you can play PSP games and homebrew as well if you use the component cable (ONLY the component cable will work for PSP games and homebrew on the 2000). You CANNOT play PSP games on a CRT even with component cables (unless it's an HD CRT, which is super uncommon).

The 3000 is interlaced instead, which allows you to play anything on a CRT TV with either cable (I'm 99% on this, but I never used an A/V out with a 3000). IMO, it's kind of ass backwards from where it should've been. I think the 2000 should've been compatible with all when people still mostly had CRT and then switched to progressive for the 3000 when HDTVs became standard.

Still, the 2000 is miles better, especially if you want custom firmware. It kinda sucks to not be able to play PSP games on my TV since I don't have an HDTV, but perfect PSX emulation is worth it alone (just download or rip your own PSX ISO [downloading will insure it was ripped right, though] and convert it to EBOOT format with PSX2PSP, just make sure to keep the EBOOT it makes in a folder and then place that folder in the "GAME" folder of a custom firmware PSP)

[Chilly Willy]

Look at it this way - the PSP display is 272 lines tall, but the max for NTSC is 262 INCLUDING the vertical retrace period. The max active lines for NTSC is 243. Since 272 is more than 243, you cannot show the PSP display on non-interlaced NTSC. However, interlace would make the display half the height, making the aspect ratio WAY off, so you cannot show the PSP display on interlaced NTSC. You need the 720x480 60Hz progressive display from component out to HDTV to display the PSP display. That's on the 2000. The 3000 included a scaler in the TV component to handle interlaced NTSC output.

So what do you do on a 2000? You install custom firmware and use the FuSa plugin. It converts the screen to an appropriate format for display on component interlace or composite cable output. It works for games and homebrew that is not TV aware.

Note, some homebrew is TV aware (like all my PSP homebrew). TV aware homebrew will use any TV cable, and some even allow for better display on TV out. For example, my version of Doom renders in high resolution when using the TV out for a better display.