was going to get an axim50v 2 months ago but ended up getting a psp.i have a couple of games for it but usually just watch converted movies on it.i am now considering selling it and getting either a s/h axim 50v or a new 51v.was wondering if the quality of playback on the pda is as good as the psp and also will i be able to put the mpeg4 files i have for the psp onto a memory card for the pda or will it need converting to another format.i am sure that i will play some of the games available for the pda when i need to pass some time during work.the main reason for changing though is to get sat-nav and the pda combined instead of a sat nav system and also psp.all advice welcome thanks john.

i think the psp is best for watching video. i was about to get an psp too until i found out what the axim can do.

I read in a review that PSP has a better contrast than x51v (and of course slightly bigger screen), other than that the quality are same. On the other hand, the benefit of x51v/x50v is that you can watch the xvid/divx videos that you download off internet directly, no need to convert. Actually this is one of the reasons I eventually bought x51v rather than a PSP.

psp looks slightly better...and bigger...but the x50v for a ppc still gets the job done incredibly

lol, Brooklyn, where does the quote comes from?

fyi...
PSP uses a 272 x 480 pixel screen at 4.3 inches while X50v uses a 480 x 640 pixel screen at 3.7 inches. better resolution on a slightly smaller screen means a much crisper image. Plus, the X50v has the 3D acceleration which when used with beta player, can run movies without buffering when the PPC is underclocked to 208 MHz therefor, I was able to watch a full length movie using only 35% of the total battery power. My advice it to get a PSP to play games, and an X50v for everything else.

sorry... I can't think of anything witty or funny to say...

I beleive it looks much more crisp on my axim if use a movie I converted, over what it looks like on my psp.

I myself think that the UMD Disk Video's for the PSP look so better on the PSP compared to my X50v. This is because the screen is larger and in widescreen ratio, thus being much bigger. The X50v's 3.7 inch screen is not in widescreen ratio, thus the picture your getting is very small, sometimes too small to enjoy the movie. I perfer the PSP.

Personally, I hate everything to do with widescreen and still don't understand why it was ever invented. A large, full screen provides more viewing area total than a comparable widescreen, anyway. So, I always make my movies fullscreen (by force if necessary) when watching them on my Axim. It's just better looking that way.

Although the potential of a crisper X50v movie does indeed exist, the movie's total quality might not reflect this.
UMDs tend to look a little bit better than PPC-converted movies because the file size of the movie on the UMD is usually much bigger (and therefore higher quality) than what many pda memory cards even support.

Personally, the pull of a VGA non-widescreen device plus my PPC/emulated games, etc make my all-in-one Axim more attractive to me for movies, too. Besides, I tend to tweak the contrast on my Axim anyway, so that isn't an issue for me.

Cheers!

--THE GABEXTREME--

The Axim is superior in almost all aspects of watching videos over the PSP.

Videos on the PSP that are saved on the memory stick are limited in resolution, which means you will never get pixel per pixel perfect (480x272) videos like you do on the Axim. I believe you are limited to 320x240 and then having to stretch to full screen, or some variation on that.

Flash memory is also much cheaper on the Axim.

The only exception is that UMD videos look amazing on the PSP. But I'm sure you don't want to spend the $$$ buying UMD's that cost more than the DVD counterparts?

I never liked the widescreen format you dont get a full picture you always are looking at people with half their head chopped off I like fullscreen with a full picture

 

well thats the psp advertised for sale so hopefully that will be sold at the weekend.after that i will decide on whether to go for a x50v s/h or a new x51v.judging by the problems wm5 is causing the x50v with 2003 installed seems a safer bet at the moment.i know its the wrong forum but does anybody have any good combo of x50v/x51v and gps for smooth running as being a rookie with the pda a simple life will be good.also what price for a s/h x50v in the uk.thanks john

Actually it is fullscreen that does the chopping on movies. See the example with on this page with a normal movie (widescreen) butchered into fullscreen - you lose so much of the image, up to 45%. http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml

Nothing drives me more insane than fullscreen movies. 16:9 makes so much more sense - the human eye sees more horizontally than vertically naturally. I am really glad to see the movement towards widescreen TVs/projectors/monitors. Even though the Axim screen is not natively 16:9 all movies stay original when I watch....but for personal viewing, movies are ultimately better on a 100ft widescreen projector, but you can't cram one of those in your pocket!

I think the widescreen vs. fullscreen issue is just a matter of opinion. I don't really favor one over the other, its just squishing and stretching the screen different ways. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I believe that movies are shot in widescreen and you lose the edges when converting to full. On the flipside, T.V., TV programs, and most other media is shot in fullscreen and you end up with empty edges and a smaller picture. I guess it depends on what you plan to watch.

sorry... I can't think of anything witty or funny to say...

Yeah you're right about movies - they're shot in wide aspect ratios, and fullscreen typically cuts of the edges (see previous link)...but it does often result in a lot of the actors/action getting lost. With everything going high definition eventually most major tv programs will go widescreen too.