Need a PSP Expert

mountainofdebt

can someone tell me the difference between the PSP Japanese version and the UK version please?

greatkingbowser

Power adapter. That's it. Possibly the firmware version if that's of importance to you. A conventional figure 8 plug can be used with the provided universal power transformer provided with the PSP so you can have an easy UK plug (such as the figure 8 lead used on the PS2). Or alternatively just get a plug adapter, shouldn't be a need for a stepdown transformer due to an external one being provided with the PSP.

There's no region-lock on games, and Japan and the UK are both region 2 so UMD movies bought in the UK will work on a Japanese unit and vice versa. Hope that helps.

mountainofdebt

Sorry ...I'm not very technically minded ....so does that mean to charge the PSP I would need an adapter?

Also can you explain what you mean by firmware ....is this likely to be of mega importance to a 13 year old?

matty_c608

There used to be something about dead pixels more common on Japanese ones?

Someone may wish to clarify that for 'mountainofdebt' as I'm not totally sure!

mattbianco

Hi everyone,
My mate has bought 2 for his kids from a shop. He was told that the Japanese ones were basically the same except for:

*Instructions in Japanese / no English
*Power adaptor plug for UK was needed

However just as the last post mentioned about dead pixels, he did have one that had 3 dead pixels on it when he tested. So he does have to take this one back. So maybe the dead pixel thing is something to be careful of. Presume get it tested before you buy ?

All the best, Matt.

slowen

Most reputable companies will check their PSP's before sending them out to check if they suffer from dead pixels but that is not to say they wont still send you one. The firmware is not a big deal unless you want to run "extra" techie programs on your PSP but you are required to have firmware 1.00 or 1.50 and this can be hard to obtain as most PSP's are 1.51 and upwards plus firmware upgrades are built into some games which require you to install the update before playing the game i.e a upgrade is in Coded Arms

If you pick up a Japanese PSP all you need to do is swap the power adaptor to a VCR 8 design lead also used on a PS2 and are quite cheap to obtain

I picked up a Japanese PSP at the start of the year and don't really use it that much so I think it will end up going on ebay to get some money together for christmas

kgreel

Jap ones have supposedly better Sharp-made screen, other regions use Samsung screens. No dead pixels on my white Jap PSP.
Jap ones use the circle for OK instead of the X button.
Mine didn't come with the demo disk which UK ones do.
Power lead as already mentioned.

mountainofdebt

So all in all guys if you could only get hold of a japanese version would you go for it?

Chriswil

If you have any techy psp questions, best to post them on https://www.avforums.com. There are loads of technical minded people who will help you out!

slowen

mountainofdebt wrote:

So all in all guys if you could only get hold of a japanese version would you go for it?

If that was the only version I could get hold of I would get one but the only problem is if that the PSP breaks and needs repairing it needs to be sent back to Japan (at your own cost and you have to pay for it's return) as Sony Uk will only repair units that were released in the UK and the same situation is with USA PSP's.

I don't know if Sony have changed their mind on this matter but the last I heard they will only repair UK models but there are some UK based companies will repair PSP problems for you