Can Sony really afford to do this with all those lay offs of employees? Nothing really wrong with the current model except the crappy battery life. Fix that, lower the bleedin memory card prices and more importantly sort out the games and things should get better.

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So by changing the screen to reduce battery drain, including 8Gb of internal memory so you don't need as many memory sticks and lowering the price so it sells more and is a more inviting platform for games, what have Sony done wrong? If this is true, of course.

I think that many people will be made happy by any improvements to the d-pad and/or analogue nub. Speeding up the UMD drive will cut the sometime way too long loading times and make another huge crowd of people happier.

As to the price, $170 is a good price, but remember how we get ripped off in Europe and the UK in particular? The PSP and Wii were priced using the USD=EUR->GBP+some model. 170 EUR is currently worth 115.664 GBP according to xe.com, so I'd expect a price of £120-130 for this new model PSP when it's released in the UK. Reply

Yippee, at last an reason to buy the PSP. My waiting has been rewarded (now for the Game Boy Advanced 2). They don't have to add new hardware, all they need to do is to speed up the existing hardware, to compare with game boy advance 2 (unless that becomes an version of the Wii hardware) and maybe an higher res screen.

What I would like to see, higher res 3D touch OLED/OEL screen, bigger version, and mobile JavaFX/Linux version, better 3D hardware, Keyboard, and 6 axis ;) . Reply

Question 1
Which of the following is an HDTV resolution?
Your answer: 1920 x 1080
Correct answer: 720 x 1280

Question 2
What is the benefit of a TV's adjustable color temperature?
Your answer (correct): Color saturation can be adjusted, allowing for the enhancement of some colors over others

Question 3
Which of the following should be recommended to a customer who wants a TV that consumes the least energy per square inch of viewable picture?
Your answer (correct): LCD

Question 4
Which is a common aspect ratio for a "traditional" television?
Your answer (correct): 1.33:1

Question 5
Which of the following is a common aspect ratio for a theatrically released, studio-produced movie?
Your answer (correct): 2.35:1

Question 6
Which of the following are different TV technologies?
Your answer (correct): CRT, LCD, DLP, LCOS, Plasma

Question 7
Which of the following is a benefit of progressive scan video?
Your answer: De-interlacing creates vertical lines that are scanned in succession in a single pass
Correct answer: De-interlacing creates one full frame of video that is progressively scanned every 1/60th of a second

Question 8
Which of the following should NOT be recommended to a customer who has a room where ambient light is hard to control?
Your answer: Plasma
Correct answer: DLP

Question 9
What is contrast?
Your answer (correct): The relative difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image

Question 10
What is 1080p?
Your answer (correct): 1,920 x 1,080 pixels = 2 million colors flashing 60 times per second, making the best picture possible

Question 11
Which of the following are true?
Your answer: Rear-projection CRTs require lamp replacement
Correct answer: Plasmas can be affected by altitude

Question 12
Which of the following can experience image burn-in?
Your answer (correct): CRT

Question 13
What are the benefits of HDTV?
Your answer: Resolution, images, surround sound
Correct answer: Resolution, audio, widescreen

Question 14
What does the color control on a TV adjust?
Your answer (correct): The amount of chrominance applied to the image

Question 15
Which of the following is NOT a fixed-pixel technology?
Your answer (correct): CRT

Question 16
Which of the following should be recommended to a customer who wants to recreate the theater experience in a new, large dedicated room in the basement of their home?
Your answer (correct): Front projector

Question 17
What is color temperature?
Your answer (correct): A picture's tendency toward blue or red from neutral shades of gray

Question 18
Why does the aspect ratio of a TV matter?
Your answer (correct): A widescreen aspect ratio fills your peripheral vision

Question 19
Which of the following processes is required to view non-HD content on a fixed-pixel HDTV?
Your answer (correct): Scaling

Question 20
Which of the following technologies allows customers to sit closer to a larger screen?
Your answer (correct): HDTV

Question 21
Burn-in may occur in some television technologies when ________.
Your answer (correct): Static images are displayed for a long time

Question 22
A better ________ in a display device (such as a television) will ________.
Your answer (correct): Video processor; increase picture performance

Question 23
Plasma displays should last, on average, about ________ a traditional rear projection set.
Your answer: Seven years less than
Correct answer: As long as, but usually longer than

Question 24
Plasma is often referred to as a(n) ________ display.
Your answer: Reflective
Correct answer: Emissive

Question 25
DLP is often referred to as a(n) __________ display.
Your answer: Emissive
Correct answer: Reflective

Question 26
Which of the following is a benefit of an LCD television over a CRT?
Your answer (correct): Lower power consumption

Question 27
LCD is often referred to as a(n) ________ display.
Your answer (correct): Transmissive

Question 28
DLP is typically more ________ with light and ________ than an LCD.
Your answer: Efficient; dimmer
Correct answer: Efficient; brighter

Question 29
What is the advantage of a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD)?
Your answer: Allows customers to have larger screens with no digital artifact defects
Correct answer: Creates pictures with extremely high contrast ratios and color purity at a reasonable price

Question 30
What is a benefit of a DLP television?
Your answer (correct): Provides a large clear image at an affordable price

Question 31
What does "DCR" indicate?
Your answer: Digital cable is ready to view High Definition
Correct answer: CableCARD compatibility

Question 32
The differences that high contrast makes include all of the following EXCEPT ________.
Your answer: Better grayscales
Correct answer: Light source life is cut in half by the reduction of light variations

Question 33
Finer steps in grayscale algorithms do all except ________.
Your answer: Reduce deeper black levels
Correct answer: Render the light used by the gray tones to make the bulb last longer

Question 34
An advantage of a 10,000:1 contrast ratio is that ________.
Your answer (correct): It delivers deeper, richer blacks and brighter whites

Question 35
Which of the following is NOT a benefit of progressive scan video with HDTV?
Your answer (correct): More motion artifacts

Question 36
Plasma displays are illuminated at the ________ level, giving them a wide palette of colors and contrast.
Your answer (correct): Sub-pixel

Question 37
A "line doubler" in an HDTV is also called a ________.
Your answer: Trans-coder
Correct answer: Scaler

Question 38
A contrast ratio is:
Your answer: The relation between the number of colors a display can show and the black level
Correct answer: The difference between black and white colors on a display

Question 39
The Telecine process is used to do what?
Your answer (correct): Convert film's 24 FPS to television's 30 FPS

Question 40
A movie or motion picture is made up of ________ images.
Your answer (correct): Still

Question 41
On average, customers buy a TV once every _____ years
Your answer: 5
Correct answer: 10

Question 42
When is DTV video compressed?
Your answer (correct): It is always compressed before being distributed

Question 43
The 16:9 aspect ratio was chosen for HDTV for which reason?
Your answer (correct): All of the above
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Informative though that all was, what did it have to do with a slimline PSP?? Reply

Hahaha! Yeah, you crazy tech-fiend!

I saw Tekke: Dark Ressurrection for 20euro the other day, and it amde me want to buy a PSP. What with BioShock and Mass Effect coming out, I don't think I'll be playing any hand-helds for a while. Reply

Is making the PSP slimmer gonna fix it's problems????...... Reply

If they're slimmer you have room for a spare in your pocket when the batteries on the first run out - so that should double sales. Reply

Depends on what you think its problems are.

However, if you slim it down, improve the battery life, provide 8Gb of internal memory, speed up the UMD drive and improve the d-pad, what problems are left to fix with the hardware? Reply

i dont think the problems are with the hardware? Reply

Fair enough, I'm not that impressed with DS games. I'm obviously not in the majority with that opinion, but there you go. On the other hand, the PSP is selling about the same number of software units as the Wii in the UK at the moment, sometimes more on a weekly basis, so it's got games that appeal here.

If this slimmer, cheaper PSP does come to light, I think you'll see an upturn in hardware sales closely followed by an uptake in software sales. Hopefully that will encourage more developers and publishers to put more varied games on it.

Don't hold your breath though! :-) Reply

I got a PSP on the day it came out in America, & was amazed by it, it really is a top bit of kit but over the years I've used it less & less for what I bought it 4, (which is gaming) & I use it for a movie player. I never bought a DS because I always saw that as a little kids machine or for girls, but I bought a cheap DS lite a little while ago & it really has what a handheld should have, which is that pick up & play appeal, I don't tend to play my PSP, unless I'm on holiday & have plenty of time to use it, I like the GTA on the PSP but it's like I've played this game a zillion times now!!, one of the problems with the PSP is it doesn't have it's own game franchise or mascot, it's all PS2 rehashed stuff. I know this is no news flash!! but the controls on the PSP don't always work with games that are designed for the PS2, I was really lookig 4ward to Metal gear ops but as hard as I try I find it almost unplayable, it feels so restrictive. Another problem with the PSP is it never felt like Sony had a game plan with it, they need to focus on what the strengths of the device are, & what it will be primarily used for, which is the same mistake (in my eyes) they are making with the PS3.
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He, He, That's how I felt too (apart from the uncoolness of the slack processing power, and dingy little twin screens with less resolution than one descent screen). You know, for cool looking handheld games, the Pocket PC has an lot, maybe Sony should look at trying to convert some of those developers to the PSP. An pocket PC emulator code would be an good basis for setting up an translation layer to PSP hardware, then all that would be needed is an simpler recompile of the PPC code to the Mips target (and an touchscreen, but not strictly needed). Reply