does it matter which firmware is used?

[bilbo]

apologies I know very little about this. My husband has just bought a PSP and he's completely IT illiterate so thought I would fiind out whats what! I guess he will mainly use it for watching movies and possibly playing the odd game or 2! I have been following loads of threads concernong diff versions of firmware but can someone tell me what difference it makes as to which version you have? Also another very basic question- what is homebrew?

[gotmilk0112]

"what is homebrew?" O_O;; ok let me explain. on firmware 1.00 (which was ONLY in japan) you could just put a homebrew game folder in the PSP/GAME/ folder and goto the memory stick and play it. but in US they instantly released 1.50 (which all us psp's start as except the new ones) and you would have to use a special program to fromat homebrew for 1.50. in 2.00 you can use a special EBOOT loader (thats what the game format is for psp,, think of it as a .exe file but for psp) if you have 2.01 2.50 or 2.60 you can use Fanjita's GTA-loader (E-Loader) to play homebrew on it. but you MUST have gta:LCS to use it. here ill give you a guide to installing homebrew and a link to where you can get !A TON! of homebrew. note that if your husband has 2.01 2.50 or 2.60 that not all homebrew works on the E-Loader

LINKS:
E-Loader:http://www.fanjita.org/psp.html
PSP-News (homebrew site): http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/
Fanjita's Site:http://www.fanjita.org/psp.html
Guide to installing homebrew:http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19849
if u have any further q's just ask!

[kale125]

hi...i plan to buy psp soon...but i still not so sure about this firmware thing...what version is the best to buy because i want to get the ceramic white psp one...if i get version 1.5, can i play any games i buy and how about umd?what is the difference between japan and us version?
please someone help me........

[AR15]

Homebrew are homemade programs, like games, emulators etc. Firmware 1.5 is best if you want to use homebrew.

If you just want to use it to watch movies or play UMD games, firmware doesn't matter. In fact if you don't plan on using homebrew, you should upgrade to the lastest firmware (2.6) because of the extra features like internet browser, radio etc (I heard you can watch tv but I'm not sure because I'm sticking with 1.5).

[benny blanco]

sorry, but I own a psp 1.0. This is the best firmware ever made for this system. 1.5 is the next best. You wont be able to find a 1.0 anywhere unless your lookin to pay alot of money. If you can find a 1.5 you have to use 2 memory sticks to load most homebrew. On 1.5 the only major systems you can use are sega and snes. If you obtained a psp with a firmware of 2.0 you can downgrade the firmware to 1.5 and enjoy. I myself have programmed a few 2.0 psp to become 1.5 then took a firmware changing program to make the system think it was a 2.6 to allow it to play the new umd games. But i have a 1.0 so I dont have to deal with the bologna of 2 memory sticks. If you need more details feel free to private message me.

[Cooe14]

sorry, but I own a psp 1.0. This is the best firmware ever made for this system. 1.5 is the next best. You wont be able to find a 1.0 anywhere unless your lookin to pay alot of money. If you can find a 1.5 you have to use 2 memory sticks to load most homebrew. On 1.5 the only major systems you can use are sega and snes. If you obtained a psp with a firmware of 2.0 you can downgrade the firmware to 1.5 and enjoy. I myself have programmed a few 2.0 psp to become 1.5 then took a firmware changing program to make the system think it was a 2.6 to allow it to play the new umd games. But i have a 1.0 so I dont have to deal with the bologna of 2 memory sticks. If you need more details feel free to private message me.

You don't need to use two sticks anymore they fixed that about a half a year ago the homebrew comes in two eboots for 1.5 instead of the 1.0 one. And every homebrew thats playable on a 1.0 is playable on a 1.5. They usually have two different downloads for homebrews, one for 1.5 the other for 1.0. If all the have is the 1.0 one you can use KXploit (or whatever it's called) to split the 1.0 eboot into two eboots for 1.5. So 1.5 is almost as good as 1.0 just a slight more of a hassle.

[benny blanco]

I haven't even seen a premade nes emu for the 1.5, 1.0 is way less of a hassle to use. There is no way a 1.5 is as good as a 1.0. It's impossible because of the hardware. The graphics from a 1.0 playing a umd game look smooth and soft, on a 1.5 they look a little different, believe me, I tried it myself with Metal Gear Acid. There is a difference...

[Accordion]

how the hell do the graphics quality of official sony games change between firmware. metal gear acid does suffer some texture issues with colour etc but that is the game.
"hardware" how the hell does the psp hardware change when you update the system software? does it evolve like pokemon???????

you have obviously been living under a rock for the past year if you know nothing about kxploit it was the major turning point in psp homebrew