After reviewing the changes to PSP Video capabilities after the Sony PSP 2.7 firmware upgrade, currently my recommendation is to stay with version 2.6. If you've already flashed to version 2.7, then you have limited options for converting videos to PSP.

On the Mac, it would appear that ffmpegX is the survivor for 320x240 MPEG-4 SP encoding. Unfortunately, the audio encoding in ffmpegX is lackluster. Currently, the MPEG-4 SP streams produced by MoviesForMyPod/PSP play on Version 1.5 through 2.6 firmware, respectively. The PSP H.264 streams produced by ffmpegX are not compatible with 2.7 firmware.

On the PC, I haven't had a chance to run Nero yet, but the Sony-designed (PC/Windows only) $19.95 Media Manager software can convert most videos into "AVC" (H.264) format. It does not support MPEG-4 SP encoding at all. I also just discovered today that the Sony Media manager supports decrypting DVD's for converting music videos. This is a very interesting development.

The one (and only) good thing about the version 2.7 firmware upgrade is the support for MPEG-4 AAC audio encapsulated in the same file format used by iTunes. Yes folks, .m4a audio files can now be played on the PSP (which also plays MP3).

Labels: download, firmware, mac, psp, sony