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Are Sony PSP's regionally encoded?

My question is: I am going to buy my husband the White Sony PSP, from Japan. I am not a technical wizard, so, I would like to know if there is a difference between the American version of the psp and the Japanese version. I tried reading what you have on your website, but i really don't catch what you are trying to say. Please Help Me!

Dave's Answer:

I see variations on this question with some frequency, actually. I think it's the "eBay effect" where sellers in Asia can offer really good deals on the Sony PSP, but don't bother to mention that they are indeed regionally encoded devices.

Just like how DVD disks are encoded for one of seven different geographic regions, the Sony PSP is now also regionally encoded. Though I don't know how many regions they've chosen, I imagine that it maps directly onto the DVD space.

Here's how that breaks down for DVDs, at least:

Region 01: Canada, U.S., U.S. Territories.

Region 02: Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East.

Region 03: Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong)

Region 04: Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, Caribbean

Region 05: Former Soviet Union, Indian Subcontinent, Africa (also North Korea, Mongolia)

Region 06: China

Let me repeat this again, since I do hear from unhappy PSP customers:

Sony PSP devices are regionally encoded and if you buy one from the wrong region, you won't be able to play UMD movies and, possibly, UMD games

If you think this through, it also means that it's a mistake to buy games from the wrong region too: I have heard at least one report of someone who bought an overseas game and then couldn't get it to run properly on his Sony PSP. I'm sure that it was just money thrown away, because Sony won't replace it, the game manufacturer doesn't want to know about tricky money-saving sales, and the auction seller probably says it's something wrong with the PSP device.

Having said that, I also get the impression that the regional encoding system has been added after the fact: if you have an early Sony PSP unit still running firmware 1.5 or similar, it might well be the case that your device is not regionally encoded, though I haven't experimentally verified that and wouldn't bet hundreds of dollars on this theory!

Anyway, I would encourage you not to buy the cool white PSP from Japan if you aren't also planning on buying all your UMD movies and games from Japan too. The risk of having a "brick" is just too high, even though the white PSP is clearly a sexy alternative to the standard black one. HOpefully Sony will release white PSPs into the US market some time this year...

If anyone has more specific information about PSP regional encoding,please do add it to this discussion so we can figure out exactly what's going on!

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Comments

Thank you so much!! You saved me money, and a broken heart! My husband would've been crushed if he had the psp in his hands and not have been able to play any games.. Thank you so very much Dave..

Posted by: Cynthia at January 19, 2006 4:00 PM

Hey,

Sony says that UMD Games are region free, according to this article:
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58810

But Sony told us the PSP will continue to use a 'worldwide' code system for games, "which means that games purchased anywhere in the world will run on any PlayStation Portable".
...
"For movies or other UMD video content, it is up to the publishers of the content to decide whether to adopt a region code," says Sony. So don't blame them cos your US copy of Bella Loves Jenna won't work on your UK PSP, in other words.

Posted by: Ellord at January 19, 2006 8:31 PM

I'd like to believe that, Ellord, but if Sony says individual companies can "regionalize" UMD disks, wouldn't it be logical to assume the company will allow game manufacturers to regionalize UMD game disks too?

Posted by: Dave Taylor at January 19, 2006 9:17 PM

what is a psp hack

Posted by: unanumous65 at January 31, 2006 5:32 AM

Can't you buy a psp and put the US firmwre on it?

Posted by: guiman at January 31, 2006 5:33 PM

ive recently bought a white psp from japan (yesasia.com) and so far it has played al the games that ive bought from the uk but ive not tried to play any umd movies yet but if the games work i think the movies will aswell james valentine workington

Posted by: james at February 14, 2006 10:31 AM

Games from any region will play on all PSPs, however only UMD movies from the region you bought your PSP in will play on it. However, I heard a rumor that if you download a specific (i.e. American) region's firmware this will allow you to play movies from that region. This has not been verified by me but you can try it.

Posted by: dstein at February 17, 2006 2:53 PM

I'm yet another PSP buyer who should have waited until he came back from holiday! One thing I found was that when playing FIFA 06 (game and PSP bought in the US) using adhoc connection to a UK region FIFA 06 player it does not work! Otherwise UK games have been fine.

My advice to anybody with the UMD Video region issue is to buy a DVD to MP4 conversion tool (CUCUSOFT) and a bigger chip (bought a cheap 2Gb one from Amazon). I had wasted many hours looking for the solution (cheats hacks etc) and have one UK region UMD Video of Spongebob (bought for my daughter) gathering dust. I won't be wasting any more of time or money on UMD Videos!

Posted by: Dan at August 24, 2006 10:08 AM

umd movies don't work one the white psp i just got escaflowne
and can't see it because of the region code

Posted by: steve at October 11, 2006 6:27 PM

Well... I sure hope that "Breath of Fire 3" works on my PSP. I just bought it from the UK and I am from Australia.

Me and my family went for a trip to America about 2 months back and I bought "Loco Roco" and it worked on my Australian PSP.

I wouldn't buy a white PSP though unless I was completely sure it would work with all different UMD's. Perhaps ask a more reliable source.

Posted by: Jayson at December 3, 2006 11:06 AM

You CANT play UMD movies from US on the white psp. I bought it and it wouldn't work.....but everything else works fine, including games.

Posted by: colten at April 8, 2007 9:06 PM

My PSP is Japanese and I am having trouble connecting to the internet, I get so far and then when it comes to testing the connection it is timing out on me whilst trying to obatin the IP address? Any suggestions, please help.
Regards
Martin

Posted by: martin steele at May 6, 2007 9:48 AM

Just to add to this debate, Sony recently added a small note on their UK PSP site in the troubleshhoting section that says some UMD games might not work on a different region machine.
I discovered recently after updating my firmware on a UK PSP that the SOCOM 2 game I had bought in America no longer worked on my UK PSP (all I was getting on my psp was the message cannot read disc).
I rang Sony's helpline and I was told that an algorithm had been added to the later firmware that prevented me from playing this particluar game. No doubt the problem I have with this game could have something to do with the fact that Sony are the publishers and they are not keen on people importing/buying their games overseas at half the cost that they are in the UK.
I'm unsure whether this problem is specific to the SOCOM 2 game or whether it will also apply to futute games published by Sony.

Posted by: johnny at July 29, 2007 3:08 AM

Hey,my psp dosent turn on and i dont know what to do. Should I pay for repairs wot do you think?

Posted by: kieran at October 14, 2007 4:11 AM

We are from Mexico and my son just got his PSP from US due to it's price and because in my country we never find anything but from US, anyway we are moving to live to Australia in 4 months wich is region 4 same as mexico, but what happen to its video output of the new slim model in Australia is PAL and in Mexico NTSC in spite is the same region, Does the PSP output both video systems?

Posted by: Edgar at December 29, 2007 11:33 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!