Nyko’s
Play On TV adaptor allows you to view PSP games and movies on your television
set. The device clips onto your PSP and RCA cables connect to your television.
Once connected, you can set the screen to various levels of brightness and
contrast, and hopefully make a decent viewing experience. The device’s
technology is relatively simple, but the results aren’t that great. So is it
worth the money and time, or is this just a cheap gimmick? Read on and find out.
One of the main criticisms players have with the advent of the UMD format was
the lack of a method to play the films and movies on a larger screen. Limiting
the format to strictly PSP viewing has some advantages. The console’s screen
is bright and crisp, but even with it’s large (for a handheld) design, staring
at it for an extended period usually brings on some pretty severe eye-strain.
This is particularly noticeable with movies, which require a passive viewing and
highlight the shortcomings of this system. Until now, there’s been no way of
connecting the PSP to a television or using the UMD discs in anything other then
a PSP. This definitely limited the format’s potential is probably a key reason
why it hasn’t taken off. Accessory providers Nyko have stepped into this
seemingly impossible breach with a clever device that snaps onto your PSP.
Labeled rather dryly, the Play on TV Adaptor is a clam-shaped device that clips
onto your system.
You can hook the device in more securely by using the two screws on the back of
the PSP. After doing this, you can connect two shorter cords to the PSP’s
power and audio-jacks. Once connected, it uses a system of mirrors and lenses to
transmit the picture from the PSP’s screen to your set via a set of attached
RCA cables. Fortunately, it doesn’t block any of the trigger, face or, control
buttons, so you can play unencumbered without having to worry about the adaptor
getting in your way. Unfortunately, a black bar at the bottom of the device
covers the lower buttons, making it difficult to get to the select, start and
other buttons on the lower cross bar. The good news is that since the device is
entirely outside of the PSP, you don’t have to unscrew your PSP and mess
around with its internals. It’s relatively easy to attach and remove so you
won’t have to worry about scratching your screen unless you are careless. The
device seems to work as advertised, though its clunky nature adds some weight
and heft to the PSP. This makes playing a bit awkward, especially since you have
to worry about both the power cord and RCA cables getting tangled up together.
The extra size of the device also lessens the PSP’s balance, making it feel
heavier in your hand and less agile than it is normally.
Once
this is completed, you flick the on-off switch on the back of the adaptor, as
well as the PSP’s power and it’s off to entertainment on the big screen. The
video-out shows up on your screen in a letterboxed format that accurately mimics
the PSP’s 16:9 cinematic screen-ratio. You can, however, see an annoying
brighter border surrounding the image, and some areas of the images seem like
they’re darker than others. This inconsistency makes for a distracting
experience that isn’t the greatest. Even watching a short-length cartoon on
the device is annoying, and using it for anything that requires an extended time
investment seems almost cruel. This cannot be changed, but you can adjust the
brightness using the PSP’s buttons to create different levels of brightness.
Depending on which one you use, the screen image will either become very bright
and blurry or very dark and blurry. You’ll probably need to play around with
both your TV and PSP settings for awhile before you come across a good
configuration that allows you to see the screens without excessive blurring or
ghosts.
However, even at its best, the projected image on your television doesn’t come
close to matching the crispness or clarity you’d expect it to. The image
degradation that occurs by using this device is severe. This is particularly
true with dark games and movies, which appear muddy and blurry no matter what
configuration you’re using. Brighter films and games, such as anime or arcade
classics seem to work much better, though some of the sports and racing games
suffered from ghosting and image degradation. The overall effect is somewhat
underwhelming, particularly at the lower brightness settings, where the edges of
the screen tend to fade off. This is a result of the non-direct feed video, and
while it’s decent for a projection it really doesn’t do much to impress you.
Since you can’t change the size of the image, it makes for a somewhat limited
device that only performs a single function. The mirror and lens technology
definitely doesn’t do the PSP justice, and makes the images seem blurry and
low-resolution. The good news is that the sound quality is excellent, thanks to
the direct connection, which allows you to hear the soundtrack in full stereo at
the best. While it doesn’t completely make up for the poor image quality, it
helps to mitigate the poor image quality somewhat.
For such an expensive device, you’d think its overall quality would be higher,
but sadly this isn’t the case. Retailing for almost twice the price of a PSP
game, the smoke and mirrors technology causes significant image quality
degradation that makes many games unwatchable. Movies fare a bit better, though
this is only due to their inherent passive nature. While the Play on TV adaptor
does indeed work as advertised, it doesn’t work that well. This is a
disappointing hardware attachment that most players are probably better off
without. While the performance was decent, we recommend just holding out until an official, or at least
direct-feed device comes out.
Grade: C-
