PSIO In Depth Review

[@cosmickatamari]

I honestly never knew you had a youtube channel! Subscribed :)

[@Fille-lj1qv]

I own also a psio from the begin the device was released,use it with a 256gb sdcard and i'm happy with it,they keep improving it.

[@hanzobi1926]

I know your not happy now with it. hahahah

[@Fille-lj1qv]

i already own a xstation,no worries

[@K3zster]

Great video, very insightful. Notepad++ is great, I'd recommend using it more often! Any time when you open an ini or whatever style settings file, NP++ is more likely to display and save it correctly. Also, loving your flowchart Ken. ;)

[@RedArremer]

Flowchart Ken? LOL! More like "I haven't played this game in nearly 20 years Ken" ;-)

[@OrangeGeemer]

Thanks for the review, I ordered mine last november and just got the shipping notification. Also, the tip for dual disc was great. Regards.

[@Dopefish]

Thanks for making this, especially going through how the multidisc support was working :)

[@HunterTinsley]

Good video! Glad to hear there's not compatibility issues with the Retrovision HD.

[@cybernitemusic]

That audio problem is noticeable but not nearly as bad as the “scratchy” audio from my unmodded and somewhat dying (the CD drive) PlayStation...

[@PersianImm0rtal]

What time is the bad audio example at? This video is too long to search!

[@alucard971]

@@PersianImm0rtal its something with XA audio. He showcases it in Symphony of the Night around 22:34. You can hear while the vocals start the highs are real roboticish.

[@DrLilo]

That UK PlayStation magazine demo disc music triggered some crazy nostalgia for me...

[@alucard971]

I like 90s style music like that. Don't recall getting music like that in the states.

[@LeftyPem]

Just got an email from them this morning for me to preorder. I did, with the knowledge that estimated shipping will be March 2019. Just in time for my birthday!!

[@gabrieleriva651]

Does the Video Mode option affect only the menu? I hope my fellow PAL pals from Australia made a sweet 576-lines optimised menu.

[@cybernitemusic]

How do you play in 4:3 generic mode on ossc? I’ve been struggling with a lot of black screen flashes during resolution changes.

[@RedArremer]

It's going to happen even in generic 4:3 mode as you can see in my video. There's no easy way around it other than to get an RGB CRT like a PVM, and start playing old-school style. At which point of course, you no longer need an OSSC unless to capture stream/record a 2nd output from say a gscartsw-lite for example. At any rate, whatever line scale you choose, just go to the output options and make sure it is set to Generic 4:3 instead of 320x240 or 256x240 optimal.

[@kjmullinz]

great review. TWO important questions.. 1. when they fix the XA audio issue, that will be via FIRMWARE, correct? ...or do i have to buy another PSIO unit. PS. I just pre ordered mine last week. 2. i read somewhere that when copying the PS ISO files to the SD CARD, the game file names cannot have SPACES in betweeen them (Ex. FINAL FANTASY.iso). is this true, or does it not matter if there are spaces or not?

[@RedArremer]

1. XA audio will be a firmeware fix. 2. Not true. I have spaces in all of mine. :-)

[@kjmullinz]

@@RedArremer AWESOME! Two more important questions... 1. if you had to compare the PSIO to a MODDED PS2 for playing original PlayStation games, which would be the best method for performance and compatibility, and why? 2. Have you experimented using the USB port on the PSIO for playing PS GAMES through a PC yet? ... I heard it's glitchy compared to using SD CARDS, but I personally wanna use the USB port.

[@RedArremer]

A lot of people are going for the PS2 modding method, but I seem to recall some minor graphic issues with games (most famous example would be the moon in the central area of Castlevania SotN). For me though, it's the nostalgia factor of having and original PS. Once I the XA audio and other issues are sorted, it's going to be a great device in my opinion. I personally have not tried the USB port stuff yet myself.

[@kjmullinz]

@@RedArremer I agree. I'm going for NOSTALGIC reasons too. The closest to native play with the best compatability basically is what I want. I use EVERDRIVES too for older systems. So aside of the XA audio issue, what om other issues have you discovered? ... I watched most of your video, but only recall you mentioning the sound issues for the most part.

[@picadk]

@@kjmullinz What mod are we talking about? Is it now possible to play PS1 iso's from usb/hdd on PS2 using actual built-in hardware (not an emulator) ?

[@PersianImm0rtal]

Thanks for the review!

[@Mcbundage]

Will the PSIO allow me to play NTSC roms on a PAL PS1?

[@gabrieleriva651]

Andy AFAIK European PS1 can output NTSC natively, it's just a matter of bios.

[@Random.Walker.]

​@@gabrieleriva651 But PAL games run 1% faster NTSC machine and NTSC games run 1% Slower PAL machine. Not a big deal. It's so small difference you hardly notice but if you want it run right speed you need install dual oscillator. Bios not change frequency right.

[@phonedork]

This is pretty cool! I know I'm late to the party but does the PlayStation require a mod as well for the PSIO to work?

[@RedArremer]

Yes, it requires a controller chip mod on the bottom of the mobo. Not terribly difficult, but not for beginners.

[@steveothehulk]

Can you make a video showing how to set up the files on the sd card I don’t think there is a single vid on KZbin explaining this

[@RedArremer]

Yes I plan on doing a followup video since the new firmware fixes the sound, and setting up the files can be quite a chore for new users.

[@steveothehulk]

FirebrandX thanks man and if you could share a set up sd card minus the roms obviously that would be incredible

[@NewYears1978]

Great video thanks! My PSIO is on it's way (and my mainboard) - are you the same FirebrandX from the Framemeister profiles? I used to have one but sold it in lieu of playing with SCART/RGB on a CRT. Also - what is the reason for no folders??? Silly.

[@RedArremer]

Yeah that's me. I got a PVM, but I also got an OSSC that I now make profiles for on occasion. It's technically superior to the Framemeister, but less compatible with most displays.

[@NewYears1978]

Sweet, maybe some day I will have to check that out. I currently have my NES/SNES with retrogamers.uk SCART cables to a component switcher to my CRT. The issue is my CRT is not calibrated right and sometimes there is rolling and other distortion..and I've never been able to find a person who can calibrate it OR find a better CRT (always has issues) PVM are too expensive and it would require a lot of hoops (and is too small for my old eyes) I have one of the common Sony WEGA (32FS120 or 36FS120 I forget - could never find a KV310 model)

[@cybernitemusic]

You should be able to add your own menu music.

[@kenmys]

Think im apart of the november or december preorders, so I should be seeing mine sometime soon, Going to watch this.

[@AlexMoenR]

This actually looks pretty promising. I had started to worry after the glacial trickle of updates for this thing and some of the naysaying on shumps forum and the like. Seems like it could eventually be updated to the ideal solution over time? My PS1 library is something I really want to have on tap with no moving parts.

[@ElricSowrd]

Right now I'm having trouble in my Castlevania Symphony of the night game on getting the double jump, underwater and mist ability. I know this Resident Evil 2 inside and out. I wish the Remake was more like this. Especially Claire and Sherry's Classic Costumes. 😞 I never watched X-Files.

[@kikujade]

can you share that menu background image? looks really good.

[@RedArremer]

i.imgur.com/rZMMOni.png Although you'll need to re-save it as a bitmap since imgur converts it to png.

[@one100billneoone4]

Will an action replay disc still be compatible with the PSIO? Meaning load up action replay, select game and cheats and then load selected game within PSIO.

[@gabrieleriva651]

one100bill NEOONE you mean, hotplugging it?

[@coderkind]

I wasn’t aware of the audio issues before ordering many, many months ago (and my order is currently on 99%); are they confident in fixing the issue before switching over to the gpio to handle the audio do you know?

[@RedArremer]

You would need to ask Matt about that on the forums over at their web site. I know he had been putting it off because of this massive push to get the new design manufactured and shipped. So now that this is finally happening, I think he can get back to working on that audio issue soon.

[@djc5166]

Probably the LST files need unix line endings, and not specifically np++

[@RedArremer]

I've looked into it further, and it may be possible to get the files to work in regular notepad. But the format must be 'Windows' (line breaks of CR-LF) and 'ANSI' encoding. It was just much easier to force this format with Notepad++, and it's a thing where everyone is like "why aren't you using Notepad++ to begin with? Don't you know everyone uses that now?", and in my case, I did not know this.

[@actionfigurestoysandballoo3831]

I have ordered Psio on August 11, 2018, has to be sent in November. I hope that I will receive in November, 2018!)

[@michaelmclaughlin6141]

I ordered in June 2017, received it last week :)

[@actionfigurestoysandballoo3831]

Michael McLaughlin 14 months of expectation!!! Horror 😦 I see now that on the website Sale of Psio very long time is conducted. I hope that they had more employees and they will keep the promise stated in the letter. 🤔

[@ThePhantomnaut]

Neat. Preordered mine in January iirc so I probably won’t see mine for a couple of months. Still going through the video atm but if I were to load up SOTN on CD, I wouldn’t have to worry about the audio distortion right?

[@RedArremer]

Correct. CD mode plays as if there's nothing added to the Playstation.

[@mariowario5945]

Can I play normal Cds anymore?

[@RedArremer]

Yes you can. That's what the switch board mod is for that comes with the PSIO.

[@XennialGeek]

Everybody on Windows should use Notepad++. It is by far the best freeware general purpose Editor there is. The issue with the 'multidisc.lst' is likely related to either line break format or file encoding and UTF8 BOM header. I had difficulties with similar effects in past.

[@XennialGeek]

Looked it up in the PSIO manual. They specifically mention on page 30 that the line break format must be line feed + carriage return (which is the Windows default) and ANSI instead of Unicode encoding.

[@RedArremer]

See I didn't understand that these options were readily apparent in Notepad++, whereas I couldn't find a way to do this in Notepad. That's when I went back and reviewed the images and realized they were not using Notepad. It's just one of those things where I didn't get the memo that everyone uses Notepad++ now. ;-)

[@nrgdead8746]

Yeah, you see, we're using Notepad++ on all TPS reports now before they go out.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Wish there was a more plug-and-play, modchip-less version.

[@alucard971]

At this point in time, thats going to be real difficult to do until they find vulnerabilities in ports that can give them root level access. This is as about as plug and play you can get unless you want to get a swap disc.

[@davidkenyon5444]

Hmm so if I preorder one now I should get it before 2020? Nice

[@RedArremer]

That 15-month delay was because they stopped production in order to redesign the entire hardware and interface socket. Going forward, the wait times will not be anywhere near that ridiculous. They still have a lot of pre-orders to fill currently, but it's going to speed up as time goes on.

[@davidkenyon5444]

Okay that's good news. Is there a limit to card size that the PSIO can use?

[@RedArremer]

Not that I noticed in the documentation. In this video, I used a 200GB card, and the games I put on it barely made a dent. I expect it can at least handle 256GB cards.

[@cybernitemusic]

Pretty much

[@DJAlexUnderBase]

i'm on the March 2018 batch (8 months already) ... let's see when this batch will be shipped :)

[@user-xi4jn8xh4l]

XA audio bug is now fixed! Update your firmware :)

[@RedArremer]

Yes I know, take a look at the date of the video. :)

[@oroville12345]

just buy a pstv

[@gsak19801]

ITEM SUCKS THEW SOLDIERING IT IS HARD