Virgin launch PSP

I bought 2 PSP's at midnight when they were launched March 24, 2005. One was for my little brother, whose birthday and high school graduation were coming up, and the other was for myself. However, I have never used the PSP I bought for myself. I've moved a few times since then and it was packed up for a while and I never bothered to get it out. A few months ago I took it out of the box and put it in one of those silver carrying cases, but I didn't use it or mess with the battery at all. I have bought a 2 GB memory chip for it, and I have a few movies and games for it, I bought all those things on sale in anticipation of using the PSP at some point. Is a virgin launch PSP any more useful to homebrew users than other PSP's, or does it really not matter because any PSP can be downgraded all the way back to launch or homebrew compatible level?

[ace]

Moved to help section, next time post in the correct place.
It doesn't really posses anything that other psp's can't do other then the fact you don't even have to downgrade. All you have to do is upgrade to a custom firmware. Since the firmware 1.50 was shipped on all the first PSP's launched, and it is also the only firmware you can run homebrew directly off of (other then 1.0), which is why everyone downgrades to 1.50 to upgrade to a custom firmware. So yea, since yours is already 1.50, it just saves you a lot of time.

[DarkPacMan77]

There's only 1 reason why a virgin launch psp unit is "valuable" anymore. That's because if you have a version ta-082 motherboard (released later after launch) then you may have problems using some downgraders like the 2.71 HEN downgrader or the GTA downgrader. Some issues of those are loss of sound - loss of proper screen brightness, and other finicky details. But those symptoms are rare, and therefore, the launch psp really has no more "VALUE" than any other psp unit - but it's still a valuable thing in itself.

-DarkPacMan77-

Thank you for the input gentlemen. I appreciate the information. Sorry for posting in the wrong area. Do you have any suggestions for what I should or shouldn't do? I don't know much about homebrew, but I'd like to be able to keep my PSP in its current state so that I can take full advantage of its capabilities. Let me tell you what I have and maybe you can warn me about potential problems.
These are the games I have:
ATV Offroad Fury Blazin' Trails
Capcom Classics Collection (Remixed)
Darkstalkers Chronicle The Chaos Tower
Killzone Liberation
NBA Street Showdown
Star Wars Battlefront II
The Warriors

I also have these movies:
Ultimate Avengers The Movie
Species
Richard Pryor Live On The Sunset Strip
Not Another Teen Movie

When you load games and movies will they automatically upgrade the operating system or will it ask you if you want to? What are the best homebrew operating systems or applications to use on the PSP? Thanks again you your help.

[ace]

First of all, DONT upgrade your psp. I have noticed a good amount of newbs get the idea "O man I have to upgrade to play this game", then they become inpatient and upgrade for some unknown idiotic reason, when all you have to do is upgrade to a custom firmware. In order to get a custom firmware you need to download the files and upgrade manually. DON'T use any games or anything or, like a lot of other newbs (or noobs) screw them selfs for being ignorant. Like I say to a lot of people, read the tutorials in the tutorial section. There's a lot of good info there. Also I highly suggest, don't tinker with the flash0 until you know what your doing, only then do it manually Don't use automatic programs that do it for yourself. Read some tutorials about flashing flash0 and you'll know what we are talking about. It's basically the palce where all the "theme" files are stored (the icons for the xmb).

It will ask you...

Not sure how much you know so i'm just gonna treat you like a grade 4 and educate you a little bit on the psp homebrew scene...

First of all if you havent heard yet, custom firmware is highly recommended. Custom firmware is basically an unlocked version of your psp that combines 1.50 firmware along with the firmware you choose to update to. The result of this enables you to have the features from both firmwares (sort of like its unlocked as I mentioned a second ago)

Carrying on...if you have custom firmware on your psp, you can run homebrew applications, iso, cso, mpeg4, along with be able to fully customize the interface of your psp. Homebrew applications, many developers submit programs which allow you to do some neat stuff with your psp such as use it as a gps, control electronic appliances, use your psp as an alarm clock, and a bunch of other great stuff. ISO and CSO files, these are dumps of regular umd games which you can play straight from your memory stick. MPEG4, these are movies you can watch straight from your memory stick.

So as you can see custom firmware unlocks some useful features for your psp. We have lots and lots of tutorials to help you out, and of course if your unsure about anything or just need some extra help we're all here to give you a hand.

"unlocked"? i thought it was hacked

I will have to go read some of those tutorials and learn a little more about homebrew. So you are saying that once I have installed the custom firmware onto my PSP I will still be able to play any retail PSP game or movie? Do you have any suggestions for a specific custom firmware that I should install?

yes it is just like a official firmware except with more features
custom fw = a LOT of features
official fw= suck

i heard that 3.51 m33 is good, also i heard that 3.40oe-a is also good. im not shure, im still stuck in h*ll

Either 3.40 oe-a or 3.52 M33

If you want the latest firmware then go with 3.52 M33. Yes you will still be able to use the same functions you did before you updated to custom firmware...so yes your umd's will still work.

Thanks guys. You've been a big help. I will check those out.

P.S. I checked out the site that has 3.52 M33. I saw that there were four different versions: 3.52 M33, 3.52 M33-2, 3.52 M33-3, and 3.52 M33-4. I assume the others are more up to date versions of 3.52 M33. So, should I get 3.52 M33-4 or stick with 3.52 M33? I'm sorry if I sound like a noob, which I am, I just want to make sure I get the right one.

Yeah those are updates to that firmware, but you need to install 3.52 M33 then 2 then 3 then 4. They're just fixes to minor things.

You're the man! Thanks dude. I appreciate all the information.

P.S. Man! When you click on those links it takes you to a Russian forum that is very difficult to understand. Even if you change the language to English at the bottom it's still just gibberish. How did anyone ever find out about this stuff, download it, and use it? I hope I can do all this stuff right. Here goes.