PSP Firmware 5.00 Musings, Hackers vs Sony

by Justin Baillargeon October 27, 2008 @ 4:28 pm

If the disappointment of 4.00 wasn’t enough for you, Sony has released their new firmware update 5.00. And surprise, surprise, it lacks any useful features for the older revisions of the PSP. However, some light has been shone on from the PSP-3000 with it sporting a newer, brighter, and glare-resistant screen. For those in the homebrew community, a new firmware gives us a new hurdle to jump over as we seek to enable all PSP’s to have homebrew capabilities – hopefully we will be able to conquer that hurdle. Have we met our match, has Sony finally defeated us?

Even though firmware 5.00 seems to be lacking those key features that we associate with these major upgrades, it still provides some key information to the community. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Sony is indeed abandoning the older models of the PSP as they phase in the new ones (which would only make sense), however they are abandoning them on both the shelves and in their software. The original PSP-1000 (Phat) gets little love in this update which leaves you needing to purchase an entirely new PSP just for those additional features. Is this a way of Sony endorsing weight-loss programs?

Official Change Log From The UPDATE Itself:

  1. The [PlayStation Network] category has been added, and [PlayStation Network] is now available under this category.
  2. The sleep timer feature can now be used under [Music].
  3. The system will automatically change the USB mode when a USB cable is connected.
  4. The [Original] theme has been redesigned.

Updates for the 2000:

  1. PlayStation ® format software images can be output in full screen.
  2. Connect your cable TV and video output in the case of interlaced, PlayStation ® format software to allow video Outputs

Updates for the 3000:

  1. Automatic Backlight Adjustment.
  2. Color Space Has Been Added.
  3. Flicker Reduction For Screen

Other Updates Not Listed:

  1. Full Screen keyboard
  2. Video Title option
  3. Redesigned Music Options
  4. The Wave visual player redesigned
  5. MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video Main Profile (AVC CABAC) in the file size of 640 × 480

Conclusion: Big number, small features. =(

Get Sony”s new firmware here.

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