PSX back from the dead – PSP movie sharing explains canning

It was with our heads hung low that we reported Sony’s PSX, the PlayStation 2 DVD recorder and hard disc ménage a trios was being removed from sale.

However, good news today as it emerges that far from being killed off, the PSX was merely going inside for a facelift. Two new PSX models, DESR-5700 and DESR-7700 have been shown, which are seemingly aimed at the ever-expanding PSP installed base.

Both units will have the capability to save movie data to Sony’s Memory Stick Duo which can then be enjoyed on the move via PSP. Several possible issues have been raised however, not least the (mis)belief that the PSX is not the most expedient form of video encoding. However, as the Internet consumes itself in confusion, it would appear that the actuality of the situation is really rather positive.

Some sites are claiming that an hour of video at high bit rate will take five hours to encode, and at low bit rate, four hours. But this makes little sense. High bit rate is lower compression, and must take less time to encode than low bit rate. Add to this the fact that the PSX can record (and therefore encode) TV in real time, annd it would seem that the PSX will encode 768kbps video at 20% of real-time, and 384kbps at 25% of real-time.

Nit-pickery aside, the new models do look rather fantastic (if a bit on the large side) and go on sale in Japan on the 15th of April, with a western, PSP-focussed rollout now looking more likely than ever for what is, without question, one of the most interesting piece of consumer electronics since the GlassTron.