The PSPonTV Allows You To Play PSP UMDs On TV!

Have you been searching for the cheapest and easiest way to play your Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) games and movies on your television set? PSPonTV was developed to give PSP owners the opportunity to watch and play their favourite games and movies on the big screen, rather than having to focus on the small handheld display, which is much more efficient when traveling.

PSPonTV was designed to work for any PSP owner. This means that PSP owners won’t have to take apart their handheld gaming device to project the image up on their TV sets. To get things started, just attach the PSPonTV device onto your PSP and route the composite cable to your TV monitor… and that’s it! No tools or special wiring are required to get this cool little device working.



Although it may look a bit unusual, the pyramid-shaped device has been designed with a sleek and attractive plastic that matches the PSP. It is also fairly light (approximately 120g), so it’s easily portable if you decide to play or watch UMDs at a friend’s house or in your hotel room during an out-of-town vacation. Currently, it works with 60 Hz television monitors.

So far, we have the NTSC PSP version available, but other versions should be added sometime soon. If you’re ready to order, you can pre-order the PSPonTV device for your NTSC PSP for £24.95!

The Difference in Speed Between the US Wii and the UK Wii

3D graphics processing hardware is not the only thing that determines the speed of a system. The local system for displaying a television signal has an influence as well – while the United States uses the NTSC system with a refresh rate of 60 Hz (meaning that the image on the screen is refreshed 60 times a second, the United Kingdom uses the PAL system; while the PAL system has somewhat better image quality and color, it refreshes the screen at a rate of 50 Hz.

What this means for speed is that if the speed of a game is tied to the number of times that the screen is updated per second, there can be a slight speed difference between what is displayed on NTSC versus what is displayed on PAL. The system may also be able to play games at both refresh rates – for example with the United Kingdom version of the Wii, you can play games in both NTSC and PAL. UK Wii games run at 60 Hz, but when you play games on the Virtual Console with the UK Wii they run at 50 Hz.

Playing games that were designed for one display system on another may mean that they have to be played with a black border at the top and bottom of the display to fit them to the resolution of a different kind of screen. The USA version of the Wii and the United Kingdom version of the Wii also have somewhat different compatibility with old Gamecube games – while the USA Wii is generally unable to play PAL Gamecube games, the PAL Wii in the UK tends to play all of the compatible Gamecube games, although the frame rate may be lower by a factor of 1.2.

Have you noticed any difference playing VC games on the UK Wii? Let us know!

Powering a USA NTSC Xbox 360 with a UK Power Supply

If you have both the USA version of the Xbox 360 and the UK version, you may be wondering what the difference is between the two power supplies and if it is possible to use one power supply with the other. After all, there are only a limited amount of outlets on your power bar and if you can save space with only one power supply then it’s all the better. Also, if you intend to import an American 360, you can grab a UK power supply to use with it.

While the power bricks for the USA Xbox 360 and UK Xbox 360 have different numbers written on them, users have reported that the UK power supply will work just fine with the USA Xbox 360 as is. Considering that the plugs are the same and recognizing the possibility for confusion, Microsoft had the foresight to design the power supply so that it can be used as is. The power brick itself is set to the region's voltage, so if you're in the UK you can power a USA XBox 3 with the 220V UK power brick.

This is great news, considering the fact that voltage converters tend to be expensive and the power results can still turn out to be a little irregular. It’s also great news in that you only need plug in a single power supply if you own both region's Xbox 360s, and you do not need to spend nearly as much time crawling around behind your home entertainment system to keep your game consoles powered up!

Using RGB Scart on the SNES, N64 and Gamecube

If you are trying to get the best picture possible from your SNES, N64 or Gamecube, using an RGB Scart cable is the best quality solution. The resolution and clarity that you get with the RGB Scart cable is much better than S-Video or standard AV, however there are some compatibility issues.

Nintendo has engineered some of their systems so that RGB output is restricted. Here are the basics on which systems restrict RGB Scart output, and of those which ones can be upgraded or modified to use RGB Scart.

The SNES, N64 and Gamecube all come in two versions: the USA / JAP version which is designed to work with NTSC style television signals, and the PAL version which is used throughout Europe and other locations where the PAL standard is followed. If you have a SNES which is USA / JAP, or a Gamecube which is PAL, you will be able to get RGB Scart output simply by getting an inexpensive RGB Scart cable to plug in.

If, on the other hand, you have a SNES from the PAL region, the cables will need to be modified before it will work. It’s a fairly simple modification that just requires soldering out some resistors.

With a USA / JAP N64, you will need the console itself modified to work with the RGB Scart cable. This is a lot trickier and we advise only the experienced to go down this route. A PAL N64 cannot be modified to work with the RGB Scart cable.

Surprisingly, Nintendo of Europe gave us UK gamers a break, as PAL ‘cubes require no modifications to work with RGB Scarts straight out the box. However, if you own a Gamecube from the USA / JAP region, there’s a cable mod that can be performed to enable RGB.