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PSP Prep: Memory Stick Pro Duo Prices / Getting Video Onto The PSP


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I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread about pricing of Memory Stick Duo's. I'm hoping the introduction of the PSP will, eventually, drive down the cost of Memory Sticks (traditionally more expensive than alternative flash storage).

 

So, post your good prices here. What size is optimal? What size are you willing to pay for right now?

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I was going to go for the largest size - 1GB at the moment. But most places seem not to have any of the MS Pro Duos in a 1GB config. available.

 

For the ease of it, I might take the 60$ credit I have at Gamestop and buy the 512MB SanDisk they'll be offering in the next few days.

 

http://www.gamestop.com/search.asp?sortby=title&searchtype=quicksearch&searchcount=12&keyword=memory+pro+duo&platform=0&find.x=0&find.y=0&find=Search

 

Newegg has a selection also, including Sony branded MS Pro Duos;

 

http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?Submit=Go&Range=1&DEPA=0&bop=and&description=memory+stick+pro+duo&InnerCata=68

 

J& R here in NYC has a bunch as well.

 

http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.process?InSearch=t&N=0&Ntt=memory+stick+pro+duo&Ntk=All_Record_Search&lastSearch=&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=GO

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Here's a pricegrabber link for all the MS PRO duo's.

 

There was an article in the newest PSM magazine about converting movies and MS sizes needed. I'll post up the info later.

 

Also, should change the thread titles to reflect that it is a Memory Stick PRO Duo, just to avoid confusion, since there is a MS Duo and it wil not work in the PSP (damn Sony and their multitudes of iterations of the MS card. Bad enough I have to buy the special pink ones for the Aibo).

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change the thread titles to reflect that it is a Memory Stick PRO Duo, just to avoid confusion, since there is a MS Duo and it wil not work in the PSP

 

Oh, I didn't know that. What's the difference between the Pro Duo and the Duo?

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Oh, I didn't know that. What's the difference between the Pro Duo and the Duo?

 

Sony has made things far to confusing over the years by releasing the Memory Stick, the Memory Stick Duo, the Memory Stick PRO, and the Memory Stick PRO Duo. From Sandisks page:

 

SanDisk?s Memory Stick PRO Duo is half the size of a standard-size Memory Stick PRO media and it offers the same technologies including high speed data transfer, built-in MagicGate, and high capacities. The Memory Stick PRO Duo is the ideal solution for the most portable devices such as pocket-size digital cameras and with the use of Adaptor, it can be used in all PRO-compatible devices.

 

The MS Duo is essentially the same thing, but is based off the Memory Stick (the original one). The big differnce between the original MS and the MS PRO is access times, write speed (the PRO is substantially faster) and capacities (the PRO's get subvstantially larger). So, from the sounds of it, the regular MS's can be used in Pro devices but Pro Media can only be used in Pro devices. So, you feasibly could use a MS Duo, you would just have horribly reduced access speeds, you really wouldn't be saving any money, and Sony makes no guarantees about backwards compatability of PRO enabled devices with non PRO media. :thud

 

Life would be so much easier if Sony didn't feel the need to introduce a new media format every couple of years. I'm surprised they used normal cassettes for the original Walkman instead of some proprietary type of tape.

 

 

EDIT: Ok it looks like the PSP will use the regular Duo's as that is what is apparently bundled with it so strike any comments I made earlier regarding compatability. The Sandisk memory that is coming out is of the PRO Duo variety which would give you faster access for playing back media files as well as the larger capacities needed for converted movies.

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From the article at engadget, movie playback from a memory stick sounds pretty sucky. :

you can squeeze an excellent hour of video (at 29.97fps) into a size under 512MB, or up to two hours using 15fps. Even though the conversion program converts files to 320x240 (a 4:3 screen size format), the PSP?s screen modes can stretch that size out to a full widescreen while still looking good. We would have preferred a native 480x272 resolution support...

 

So, vids from the memory stick can never look as good from UMD, and the format is extremely finicky. The resolution is about the same as what I get on my PDA. :P

 

I wasn't really planning on using it for video, as I got pretty bored with converting videos for my PDA, but the info is disheartening anyway.

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The problem is that according to the article, you can only get the screen's native resolution from the UMD, and that you can't use that resolution from a memory stick.

 

I've spent a lot of time working on encoding for PDA's, and can make a darn fine looking video. I was hoping that the PSP would be a step up, but now it sounds like it's the same resolution that I've been using on my PDA. Heck, the PDA's at work can play videos in a higher resolution than the PSP.

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yesterday i tried out the 3GP software with battlestar galactica miniseries which is 3 hours and 3 minutes long. I got it to come in at 630 MB at a good looking setting. Only problem is like a idiot i left the spanish track on instead of the english one so i need to start from scratch ;)

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You might be able to use Virtualdub to strip out the Spanish track and add on the English track. It'd save a lot of encoding time at least.

 

(I did a similar, but stupider thing when I ripped the Ghost in the Shell 2 commentary so I could listen to it at work. The next day at work, I found out it was all in Japanese :) )

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yesterday i tried out the 3GP software with battlestar galactica miniseries which is 3 hours and 3 minutes long. I got it to come in at 630 MB at a good looking setting. Only problem is like a idiot i left the spanish track on instead of the english one so i need to start from scratch ;)

 

What setting did you decide to encode at?

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