Europe Launch

[internets]

pal is in japan too, but its only umd movies and who really wants them...

Japan does NOT use the pal system, its NTSC like the US.

[Spark]

Japan has always been NTSC, they do use Region 2, but it's in the NTSC format.

[Odie]

Indeed, Japan is NTSC.

However I really don't understand why people keep referring to NTSC and PAL when talking about the PSP, since it uses neither standard.

[Spark]

Exactly.

It does use Region codes but only for UMD Video and I honestly can't see UMD Video taking off anywhere.

[tidusuk123]

Exactly.

It does use Region codes but only for UMD Video and I honestly can't see UMD Video taking off anywhere.

i agree. who here buys DVDs often?? NO ONE!! I bet everyone downloads them via P2P programs!! - unless there is something that must be bought (final fantasy advent children).

So why would anyone buy a umd? Maybe just once to see what the big deal is but everyone else will definately invest in a 1gb memory stick and convert them.

[DarkCheetah]

the europe release will be the final product, hence, with all the problems solved. expect the europe psp's to be better units.

japanese and american users are normally beta testers to organisations who work with technology.

even though everyone may say that japanese units are fine, most suffer from a less responsive square button, and if something goes wrong then you have to send it to a sony repair centre in japan (a trip there and back will probably add a few dead/stuck pixels, or create new ones).

those that bought it from ebay probaby don't have a reciept from where it was bought...so no repairs.

i think the europe release will be the best version of the psp - although the firmware won't let you run emulators, unless someone finds a way.

This would be nice if Sony wasn't outsourcing it's production to Taiwan. The production value of the units will definately drop when that happens. NOt that I have anything against the Taiwanese but Japanese hands temper tech far better than those from Taiwan. I would expect the US models to be sturdier than European models at the very least. And as far as repairs go, Sony doesn't require registration of products so I think it should work like any other product where you just send it in and they charge you for fixing it. At least that's how it was with both my CD Rom drive and my Discman.

[tidusuk123]

yes i suppose you can get repairs which you will have to pay for - high cost though, and it will hurt even more knowing that you have a 1 year warranty (but no reciept from where it was bought).

IF, the production is helped by Taiwan, it will only be the assemble of the units:

"We're making the key components here, but we're looking to expand assembly of the product outside of Japan," (http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?ID=11834)

I'm sure this will not affect the build quality at all - how hard is it two screw a few things together using machinary?

I still don't know if the less responsive square button was fixed in the american psp's like it was said by sony.

[criptix]

I had a Jap one and the Sqaure button was $#@!. I Have a us one and the square button was fixed as with my freinds psp it didnt have a problem either

[Spark]

i agree. who here buys DVDs often?? NO ONE!! I bet everyone downloads them via P2P programs!! - unless there is something that must be bought (final fantasy advent children).

So why would anyone buy a umd? Maybe just once to see what the big deal is but everyone else will definately invest in a 1gb memory stick and convert them.

No you misread my point a bit there chief, it's not that nobody will want to buy films, although that will be a factor particuarly with the ease of home MP4 conversion that's endorsed by Sony, it will be that nobody, including myself, will be prepared to spend $30 on a movie that can only be played on a PSP.

DVD has taken off and pretty much replaced VHS because it's cheap, durable, compatible with a wide range of affordable hardware. UMD is none of these things, and nobody is going to want to bother with it. I buy DVD movies releases all the time, but there's no way in hell I'd buy a UMD Video.

[Spark]

I have a Japanese unit, and the square button is fine, I wouldn't put things like that down to regions, maybe yours' was just from a faulty batch.