Watch Full-Resolution Movies on Your PSP

Now that Sony Computer Entertainment has finally realized that movie UMDs are not going to sell as well as they had hoped, they recently (and finally) released a firmware update that allows users to view videos encoded at full resolution.

So even though the PSP was already an excellent portable entertainment system, the full resolution videos add a whole new level of quality to the otherwise stretched videos that users had to make do with. But there was still one small problem—Sony didn’t launch any video encoder to convert videos to full resolution.

But what Sony left out, independent developers were quick to fill in. And now, through this guide and the use of some excellent freeware, you should be able to watch movies, the way they were meant to be seen on your PSP. But first, here’s what you’ll need.

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Hardware:

Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable)
If you don’t have one yet, and you’ve still read the guide this far, you must have the patience of a Jedi. Make sure the firmware of your PSP is version 3.03 or above.

1 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo
Full-resolution movies can go anywhere between 500MB to over 900 MB in size, so this is a minimum requirement. It’s better if you have 2 GB, so you can store more movies as well as keep the rest of your data on a single stick.

USB Data Cable
Or a memory card reader for the memory stick pro duo. Anything that can transfer the data to your PSP.

Software:

Winnydows Xvid4PSP (v4.113 used for this guide)
The video encoder, or the software that makes the magic happen. You can get it in our downloads section here.

Microsoft Framework 2.0-3.0
Essential APIs required to run Xvid4PSP. Click here to download it if you haven’t already installed it.

FFDShow
For those essential video codecs. You can find this one right here.

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Encoding the Movie
Install everything in the software list above and start Xvid4PSP.

Open the video file in Xvid4PSP. If you’re planning on converting a DVD then you’ll need to copy the VOB files to your hard drive first using DVD Decryptor.

The first screen you’ll get after opening the file will be the preview window, where you can set the section of the video that you’ll be converting to PSP format or crop the video. Since this tutorial is about converting the whole film as it is, you simply click “Ok” here to move on.

Once the preview window closes, you’ll get another window showing the encoding settings that Xvid4PSP would use for that video. The main thing you need to ensure here is that the “Format” is set to “MP4 PSP 3.30”, and the rest of the options will automatically get set. You can compare the settings you’re getting to the screen below. Click “Ok” when done.

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In the main program window you will now notice your video file in the waiting list. Use the same steps as above to add more videos for encoding, or click the “Start” button at the bottom to begin encoding.

The encoding process can take 5 hours or above depending on the configuration of your PC and the length of the movie. When converting a full length feature film, it would be best to leave the process on overnight, when you’re not using the PC for anything else.

After the encoding complete, you will see the name of the converted video on the lower pane of Xvid4PSP.

To copy the file to your PSP, just plug in your PSP to your PC using the USB cable (or memory card reader), right click on the file name and select “Move to PSP”.

That’s it! Enjoy your movie in all its glory.