TV Adaper Kit for Sony PlayStation Portable without Modification: Hands-on Review

[wraggster]

The great people over at Lik Sang have done a crackin handson of the new NO MOD PSP TV Adapter by Blaze, heres their findings:

We have today received a new TV Adapter Kit from Blaze, which follows up on the so-called PSP2TV Adapter Kit that we have been reviewing in October. There are two major differences between the latter and the new Blaze product: this new model requires no modification of the PSP whatsoever and comes in at half price. Additionally, it offers a NTSC-PAL switch which makes the item universally compatible. Please note that this new Adapter Kit is also different than the 98.90 US$ model from Q-Mark/Gametech that we have been reporting about, and which is also known as PSPonTV, after some american marketing genius renamed it this way. The Blaze TV Adapter Kit for PSP is in stock and ships within 24 hours for the attractive price of US$ 59.90 only.



We have played around a bit with this new toy earlier today and have been overall satisfied with the item, without jumping up and down of excitement neither. Hooking up the device took less than two minutes: pluck the big black adapter on top of the PSP screen and connect both the supplied AV cable as well as the original AC Adapter that you received with your PSP console. Turn it on with the black button on the top, select NTSC or PAL with the switch at the back of the product, and configure the focus with the dialer. It's that simple. The image displayed on the PSP screen is captured by a mirror-and-lens system, similar to what you can find inside a camera. Yes, this means finger prints and dust will be visible on the TV, if you don't properly clean up your display beforehands. Compared to the previous TV Adapter that we had in our hands a couple of months back, the display result you get varies from "as good" (16:9 ratio wide screens) to "better" (on 4:3 ratio) depending on the type of television set you use the devices with.

At the end, the picture quality is alright, the price is affordable (at last), and the installation is a piece of cake... but... one still has to wonder what exactly is the point. Except of course if you're in it for the fun of freaking around with a new gadget, we have to say that for playing PlayStation games or even movies on a TV, you get a better result by using a PlayStation 2 and sticking to just that configuration. As a matter of fact, , even though it's still relatively lightweight, the adapter kind of makes the handheld bulkier and less comfortable. It for sure doesn't quite stand the comparison when playing with the good old Dual Shock 2. Same goes for the display of the image: it works fine and all but it doesn't come close to the crispness of the graphics you can get by using a home entertainement system with an RGB or S-Video cable. In conclusion, it's probably the TV Adapter Kit for PSP that makes the most sense so far but it doesn't transform the PlayStation Portable into a PlayStation 2. Mankind just can't fight fate or change destiny I guess. To go down from my philosophical horse, I would say you can't change the purpose of a system by releasing any kind of converter for it. If the PSP was meant to be played on a television, there would be a signal output going out of a connector on the actual machine, and there would be an official Sony cable allowing you to do just that. Like Sony does for all its digicams. Like Sega did for the Nomad in the nineties. Or like with the PlayStation 2 actually.



Many more screenshots and a movie of the device at Lik Sang

[princeras]

a nice little thing, but what sense does this make?? if you like to play those games on your tv screen, save money and either get a ps2 or something, or go and get your pc plugged into the tv!

[xuphorz]

how would pluging the pc into the tv help at all?

also, the ps2 costs above $60, so that makes no sense either