DATEL 4GB HARD DRIVE FOR PSP

BY GERRY BLOCK for IGN Ever since the launch of the iPod 5G it seems like the world has gone crazy for mobile video. As all PSP fans know, it should have been Sony's handheld that broke open this new market, as in all ways, except for storage capacity, the PSP is a far superior platform for video on the move. Unfortunately, the added expense of Memory Stick Duo Pro cards, and the fact that they don't get bigger than 2 gigabytes, really held the PSP back. Though we can probably still chalk up yet another major opportunity missed by Sony, Datel has released the 4GB Hard Drive for PSP, a solid and relatively cost-effective solution to the big PSP storage problem.

Boxed up.

In case you didn't know, there are plenty of additional uses for a PSP once you've got something larger than the 32 Megabyte pack-in card. With the latest firmware installed, the PSP is compatible with many more video formats than when it was first released. Most notable is MPEG-4 support, which has pretty much become everyone's favorite new format for content encoded with mobile use in mind. Rumors are currently circulating that Sony will soon release a new firmware update that will support H.264, which is what the iPod Video uses. If the DRMs will work out, you may soon be able to laugh at all the peeps squinting at their iPod Videos while you rock the episode of Lost you bought from iTunes Video store on a much bigger screen. Even if Apple won't play ball, MPEG-4 content is all over the internet right now, and you can easily encode your own material with your computer, or one of the new stand-alone MPEG-4 encoders, like the super cool Neuros Video Recorder 2 (feature review coming soon!). You can also pack it full of mp3s, photos, or if you're a real haxxor type, home-brew software for emulators and ROMs.

A good bit thicker.

The Datel kit includes the 4GB Hard Drive, an X2 Battery Pac, and Max Media Manager software. Neither the HD nor the larger battery pack fit in the PSP's normal slots and are thus encased in black plastic shells that attach to the back of the PSP and add about a half an inch to the PSP's depth on either side of the UMD door, which remains unobstructed. Installation is quite simple, as the extended battery simply sits in the old battery's slot with a snap-down cover, while the HD unit has plastic prongs that slip into two post holes on the back of the PSP. A flexible Memory Stick Duo connection wire loops around the side of the PSP and into the expected slot. The plastic Memory Stick slot cover on the PSP does not need to be removed and does not get in the way, thanks to the curve of the connection wire. The only major annoyance of the entire apparatus is the fact that Memory Sticks attach via a spring-loaded connection, which means that if you squeeze the PSP in a way that puts lateral pressure on the connection wire it will eject the plug, effectively removing the Memory Stick just like all the loading screens ask you not to. It only happened once in my weeks spent playing with the Datel HD, but it did cause a problem and was a bit of a hassle.

Installed.

The addition of the battery pack and HD do mar the PSP's elegantly thin design and make the modified unit incompatible with most protective cases and listening stations. In actual use, however, most agreed the additional perimeter thickness makes the PSP quite a bit easer to hold for long periods of time. The covers also allow the PSP to sit on a table at a nice angle for UMD or media viewing.

The HD itself.

Performance wise, the Datel package delivers. When the formatted HD is first attached, the PSP will recognize 3,803 MB of free space in the Memory Stick menus. For MPEG-4 video encoded with the PSP in mind, that's actually a lot of room to work with. If you aren't already familiar with encoding video for the PSP with a program like PSP Video 9, you can use the included Max Media Manager, a fairly intuitive little program that encodes from existing video files, though not directly from DVDs. It will also setup the PSP's file structure, and will aid in moving saved games from a Memory Stick to the HD, or acquiring downloaded saves from Codejunkies. For reference sake, I encoded a couple of, err, "short films" from Budapest that were each about 50 minutes long in PSP ready high quality, which resulted files of about 70 MBs or so.

Attached.

The HD itself is a standard MicroDrive, which is a pretty established technology. Inside the plastic housing it is actually connected to the control board with the standard Compact-Flash ready connection, meaning that if you wanted to you could actually pull out the HD and mount a CF card instead. Exceeding 4GB with either a CF or larger MicroDrive does not work, however.

As one might guess, access times on the HD are noticeably slower than on a solid-state Memory Stick. To put it in rough terms, for every 100 MBs downloaded to the PSP from a PC, the Datel HD takes about 50 seconds longer than a memory stick. In transferring files from the PSP to the PC there is an even greater speed discrepancy. The impact this has upon in-game loading and saving is really quite minimal and is hard to notice. The HD also sucks up a lot more power than a Memory Stick. Running on the standard PSP battery, video playback from the HD will drain the system's power in around 2.5 hours. With the X2 3600 mAh battery pack, the system will run for between 5 and 6 hours.

The complete kit.

Lik-Sang.com is presently selling the Datel pack for $179.90, which makes the system a cost-effective alternative to multiple Memory Sticks. If you can get over the larger form factor, the benefits of 4 Gigabytes on the PSP are broad. With space to burn and a little bit of internet work, you can have all of your favorite shows ready to watch on the road, for free, none the less. Devices like the Neuros Video Recorder 2 allow for super easy on-the-fly recording scheduling from any source, which means you can plug one into your TV's video out jack, set up a time and then let it encode any show you like straight to PSP ready MPEG-4, without any computer hassle. Show that to all those losers that think the iPod Video is so cool. Array;and they'll think you're a total geek. Deep down though, they will totally envy all the great cinema from the Czech Republic you will have on your PSP.

They currently sells for between $20 - 30