Has anyone modded their PSP with unofficial Firmware?

I just bought a PSP with modded unofficial Firmware on Ebay and was wondering if anyone who knows about this stuff would be willing to endure me PMing them questions? Or I can keep this thread open for all to see my dumb questions. I don't much care to be berated as a newbie by the smarties on the PSP forums, that's why I prefer to come here.

Questions such as:
A good place to get homebrew games
Which FW version is best?
How the heck do I do xxxxxx?
Will I need fastloader or devhook anymore if I install 3.52 m33?

I don't have any answers for you, but I have a question for you. What do you think of it so far? I've never even seen a PSP except in a box at a store. I just looked it up to see what they do. It seems kinda neat, though. Can you download movies or can you only play those that come for the PSP?

I haven't got it yet but I can say with the modded PSP you will be able to watch ripped movies as well as play game written by people other than Sony. You will also be able to get the games off of the UMD (CD) that sony makes and put the games on a memory stick... no more worries about lost or scratched game disks.

You can also, with the off the shelf as well as the modded PSP, surf the net, listen to music, watch video, and look at photos.

This is for my daughter, so I'm sure she'll just use it for games.

I have not modded mine, just so you know you don't need to mod them to rip movies to the memory stick.

You can also stream movies from your PS3 (which I know Cham has) and other media from you computer using a PS3.

You can subscribe to and use RSS channels, and a camera and GPS are going to be released this December.

The UMDs come with a plastic shield that is clear, only a small window of the disc is exposed at a time. I have allowed kids as young as 5 to play with mine and never seen a scratched disc or other major problem.

Just make sure to get a quality screen protector!

As for modding, the thing that Sony has done from the beginning is constantly update their functionality so that every couple of months you get more features. If you are using "home brew" you will not necessarily get those features, of course if you get other features that you care more about with the home brew, it makes it all worth while.

Things I would most like to see with a PSP:

Ad hoc or IR media exchange between PSP units.
mini keyboard with instant messenger.

Thanks for th reply, grizzled, Like I said I'm new to this so sometimes I get things mixed up.

I found some more stuff that my PSP will do... whether the regular PSP does it too, I don't know.
# Play old NES, Snes, Gameboy, Genesis and playstation 1 (PSX) ROM'S.
# Able to run alternate operating system shells such as windows and mac

Chameleon wrote:

What do you think of it so far? I've never even seen a PSP except in a box at a store.

Shantara and I both own one, and we really enjoy them. They're nice for trips, bus rides, and even just catching trax downtown.

IMO they're far technologically superior to the DS, but I can understand how the children's titles for the DS make the DS more appealing in those markets.

TheDruidXpawX wrote:

Chameleon wrote:

What do you think of it so far? I've never even seen a PSP except in a box at a store.

Shantara and I both own one, and we really enjoy them. They're nice for trips, bus rides, and even just catching trax downtown.

IMO they're far technologically superior to the DS, but I can understand how the children's titles for the DS make the DS more appealing in those markets.

Didn't know you two have one. Of all the times I've been to your place! What else are you hiding over there?

I was reading about some router type thing that makes it so you can hook it up to a T.V., DVD player, etc and be able to watch stuff from other places away from home. I'm wondering how well that works.

There are several types of those that I have researched that "make it easy" by not being a full computer with lots of programs running.

Sony makes one called the location free player

another company makes the slingbox.

I do not know how well either of them work. lately I have been researching how well you can do it on your own with a TV tuner card with your PC, there are several options there.

I have a good TV tuner card but about 6 months ago my ISP switched to digital signal and it has become obsolete.