Either you’ve already got a shiny, new PSP or you’re thinking about getting one. You already know what it’s about. This tiny machine satisfies all your pop culture desires by playing movies, music and games. If you need a refresher; take a look at this videoclip (27.9 MB). Perhaps the coolest thing about the unit is that it’s always evolving and gaining new functionality. Today, US gamers will be able to download a software update that among other things will finally enable web browsing through the firmware. Even more important than that, however, is another piece of software that will soon be available for PSP: X-OOM movies on PSP.

Until now, gamers have had to pay anywhere from $19.99 - $29.99 for each UMD movie purchased for their PSP. While the PSP/UMD combo has to be the coolest and most convenient alternative to portable DVD movies, the price/value of it is still off. For the same price as (usually more than) the DVD of the same movie, enthusiasts are basically given a super-bit of the movie without all the bonus features. Also, there comes the point of who wants to pay all that money for a movie they can only watch on the go? Wouldn’t it be much better if you could just take a DVD you already have at home, and somehow watch that on your PSP? This is the exact dilemma that X-OOM has solved.

In a nutshell, X-OOM movies on PSP allows you to convert and transfer to your PSP any DVD or movie file on your PC. While there are some other software packages that have been circulating since the PSP’s release that convert movies to the PSP format, the X-OOM solution is the most feature rich and easy to use. What makes it so cool is that it takes all the guesswork out of the equation. All you have to do is put your DVD in, tell the software how big your memory stick is, and let it know where you want to save the movie to (PSP, PC Hard drive, or both) and hit start. The software automatically determines what the proper quality to size compromises need to be made to give you the movie in the best possible quality. The aspect ratio is correct; the video and audio quality scales quite nicely depending on how big your memory stick is and the conversion process couldn’t be simpler.

Likewise, the software also allows you to convert any movie files you may have laying around that you want to take on the go with you as well. Wanna show a friend at school that latest trailer of Quake 4 to hit the internet? Convert it and go. Just finished downloading the latest episode of Naruto but didn’t have time to watch it yet? Cool, convert that and transfer it and bring it with you as well. The possibilities really are endless.

Well, maybe we shouldn’t say the possibilities aren’t endless. The limit to those possibilities will be dictated by the size of your memory stick. We tested the software with Sandisk’s 1GB memory stick. The quality of DVDs converted down to fill up 1GB was very clean with minimal artifacts. All of you PSP fans out there with those 1GB sticks (and we know there are a lot of you out there due to the shortages of memory sticks at that density from PSP launch until just recently) will really be able to take advantage of the software. We wouldn’t recommend anything smaller than a 512 MB stick for copying full DVDs as the sharpness of video lessens and the artifacts increase substantially if you go any smaller than that. For anyone that may be sitting on the fence wondering if that $139.99 price tag for the 1GB memory sticks is worth it, this will be a big incentive for you to make the plunge. PSP owners are finally able to watch WHATEVER they want wherever they want and they’ll never be able to go back.

We’ve been toying around with the latest build of the software for the past couple weeks now and couldn’t be more happy with it. X-OOM movies on PSP will be available on store shelves and through the internet this month for about $30 USD. Also included are free updates to the software to keep it up to date with all the latest video/audio codecs. Also, as better algorithms are written to shorten the conversion times, they’ll be at your fingertips as well in these updates.

We’ve got some pretty cool things in store for you with our upcoming review of the X-OOM movies on PSP software. As soon as the final build is available, we’ll convert DVDs at various memory stick sizes and let you compare the quality for yourselves so you can get an idea of what this puppy is packing. In addition, we’ll be taking a look at Sandisk’s upcoming 2GB (yup, you read that right, 2 GB) memory stick. We’ll see what quality gains and higher fidelity are available with conversions on such a high density memory stick. A DVD converted to a 2 GB memory stick will have a higher capacity than the 1.8 GB UMDs current PSP movies are on. What can we expect the movies to look like with so much space? Check out our full review to find out.