Long Haul Flight Sanity Revisited : 'Pimp Your PSP'

Web: www.fishfotoworldwide.com -- E-Mail: fish@flyingwithfish.com

21/07/2008 - Long Haul Flight Sanity Revisited : 'Pimp Your PSP'

Having traveled extensively with my Sony Play Station Portable (PSP) over the last few months I have become very fond of this pocket sized source of entertainment.

I have discussed the Sony PSP in previous posts, such as this post 15/04/2008 - Long Haul Flight Sanity : Hand Held Movies. As I have integrated my Sony PSP into my 'travel sanity' it has become my entertainment device of choice. Compared to using my laptop or portable DVD player the Sony PSP offers far more advantages than disadvantages. Obviously the PSP's screen is far smaller than that of a laptop or portable DVD, but it's ability to keep someone entertained for hours and hours and hours while in-transit more than makes up for screen size.

On a recent 70-hour journey that took me from New York to Beijing to Hong Kong to Beijing to New York I was able to use my PSP to watch movies for an astonishing 13 hours on two batteries. Once I arrived in Hong Kong I charged both batteries and watched movies on the entire return leg as well, try that with a laptop or portable DVD player.

How did I get such incredible battery life? Simple, I moved away from the 'UMD' disk movies and ripped movies from DVD directly to Memory-Stick Duo flash media. A single 4gb Memory Stick Duo can hold 8 movies! By using a Memory Stick Duo rather than a UMD disk the PSP draws no power for spinning the disk or reading the disk. Playing a movie on the PSP with these memory devices draws almost no power from the PSP when compared to other options. Solid-state memory increases battery life while also cutting down on significant space taken up by UMD disks. It is a win-win way to store your movies.

Since handling the PSP in you hands to watch a movie can be tiresome I travel with PSP Swing-Grip from Naki. For US$15 I can place my PSP in the Swing-Case, which doubles as a stand. The case can be used for transporting your PSP, or keeping it clan while playing games on your PSP. I personally transport my PSP in another case, but use the Swing-Grip to prop up the PSP to watch movies on the tray table to while away the hours.

So what now travels in my ultra-compact PSP-Kit?
- Newswear Small Press Pouch (everythink fits in the Newswear Pouch)
- Naki Swing-Case
- Skull Candy 'Low Rider' headsets
- Sony PSP (Limited Edition Star Wars model)
- Two 2gb Memory-Stick Duos / Two 4gb Memory-Stick Duos
- Spare PSP extended life 2200mah battery
- Sony PSP power supply
- Manhattan Portage 1004 Accessory Case (sleeve for PSP)

This kit fits neatly in even the tightest of packing situations (for ultra-tight packing situations I don't pack the Skull Candy headsets). The space taken up by this set up is far smaller than that of the most compact portable DVD player.


Elsewhere in my gear I pack an addition external PSP battery charger and second 'spare' 2200mah battery for the PSP. I also pack a set of Sony MDR-NC22 noise canceling headsets.

Below is a photo of my 'PSP Sanity Kit' on the bumper of my 1990 Volvo 245. Why is it on the bumper of my Volvo wagon at the beach? No idea, I just felt like playing around (a similar style shoot may show up again later this week :0))

Happy Flying!
--Click Image To Enlarge--