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The PSP Supports Which Movie Types?

The PSP, PlayStation Portable, is an advanced hand-held gaming device made by electronics manufacturer Sony. The advantages that the new Sony device has over its previous generation competitors are many but include such features as built-in wireless Internet, mp3 player capabilities, as well as the ability to watch movies and TV shows on the fly. To play a movie on the PSP, the content has to be formatted properly. Having the correct type of content is the key to creating a portable multimedia experience.

Video Formats
- When you see a movie in theaters, generally it's being rolled from film and projected onto the screen. When you have a movie on a disc or as a file, it's completely different. Your computer, DVD player or PSP has to be able to decode the raw data to turn it into a visible image on your screen. Due to rapidly evolving computer technology, many file formats have emerged to host the data, and there has yet to be a consistent universally accepted file format. The PSP is one device that has a rather limited number of file formats that it can decode.
Knowing Your Format
- Figuring out the format of the file you have is not difficult. Usually, it is simply a matter of examining the file name on your computer before you transfer it to the PSP. As with all files on your computer, the movie will have a file name extension that follows the name. This lets you know what type of file it is and also lets the computer know which program it should use to open it. To find out which type it is, right-click on the video file and select "Properties." Under "Type of File," it will give a description of the video file and in parentheses the extension itself.
PSP-Ccompatible Formats
- The PSP has the ability to decode several movie file formats, including one that Sony created itself, MemoryStick Video Format. It also supports MPEG-4 and AVI files. For the MemoryStick Video Format, the PSP supports files with descriptions that include MPEG-4 Simple Profile or H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile/Baseline Profile. These files will all have the file extension ".mp4." It can also open other ".mp4" files not created by Sony. As for AVI files, the PSP supports those motion JPEGs coded as Linear PCM or u-Law. These files will have the extension ".avi."
Other Options
- The PSP also has other options for movie playback, if your files do not conform to the formats required by the device. Primarily, the PSP has the capability to play back UMDs, or Universal Movie Discs, by inserting them into the device and running them like you would a game. Finally, if you have movie files on your computer but they are not of the appropriate type, you can use a computer program to convert the files from one format to another, usually with very little or no loss of quality. Many of these programs are freely available on the Internet.

Sony PSP