PSP to HDMI upscaler Video Review - Lenkeng LKV8000

[Satoshi_Matrix]

For those curious, I've put together a video review of the Lenkeng LKV8000 HD upscaler for PSP 2000/3000.

Thing is absolutely wonderful and makes playing PSP games on a HDTV significantly better than through official component cables.

Let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1yPpNjs0Ek

[kupomogli]

Nice review. You did suck at Mega Man and Castlevania but I'll brush that off as not doing as good because you were doing a review and not really trying. I was actually always wondering how well it worked and from your review it upscales without introducing any extra lag other than tv lag so that's cool. If you owned one of those HD PVRs you could go from PSP to LKV8000 to the the HD PVR, to the TV and retain 1080p and also record to your PC. A capture card is way better though. My capture card has 100 times better quality of the HD PVR which I bought only because my graphics card is too big and goes over both PCI-e slots.

[Flashback2012]

Nice video. I have a pretty extensive PSP library so I may have to invest in one of those.

[Retromangia]

Thanks for the review Satoshi!

I was wondering which online store did you buy yours from? And also, does the image get zoomed in at all, or is it actually properly up scaling it?

I'd also love to see a side-by-side comparison of the Lenkeng vs the component cables.

thanks again,

Retromangia

[Tupin]

Well, it looks like I have a reason to upgrade from my old 1000 now.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Nice review. You did suck at Mega Man and Castlevania but I'll brush that off as not doing as good because you were doing a review and not really trying. I was actually always wondering how well it worked and from your review it upscales without introducing any extra lag other than tv lag so that's cool. If you owned one of those HD PVRs you could go from PSP to LKV8000 to the the HD PVR, to the TV and retain 1080p and also record to your PC. A capture card is way better though. My capture card has 100 times better quality of the HD PVR which I bought only because my graphics card is too big and goes over both PCI-e slots.

I'd love to get a capture card, but I have a imac, not a pc. I need a mac based recording solution. Do you have any suggestions?

Nice video. I have a pretty extensive PSP library so I may have to invest in one of those.

That's my main reason. There are great games that beg for the TV experience on the PSP and with the upscaler the PSP versions often look better than their PS2 cousins.

I was wondering which online store did you buy yours from? And also, does the image get zoomed in at all, or is it actually properly up scaling it?

It's roughly $65 shipped from any number of Hong Kong vendors. Check out ebay or other such online retailers. Be careful though - the Hong Kong market is incetious with unbranded clones, so you should ask the sellers if the device is a genuine Lenkeng LKV8000 before buying.

The zoom button zooms to the aspect ratio of the PSP games and then upconverts that. It doesn't look distorted or weird at all.

Well, it looks like I have a reason to upgrade from my old 1000 now.

Actually there are many reasons to upgrade. For one thing, the PSP 2000/3000 have much better screens and color depths and such, and more importantly, have much improved dpads. They're also significantly lighter to hold in your hands. Even though the battery is lower capacity, the entire device is more efficient, so the battery life goes up a little bit. And if you use a 1000's battery, you get even more juice (though it will bulge as the 1000 battery too is physically larger)

[kupomogli]

I'd love to get a capture card, but I have a imac, not a pc. I need a mac based recording solution. Do you have any suggestions?

Unfortunately I don't. I looked at the HD PVR manual and the drivers for that are only for Windows so that won't work either. You could always record through emulation. Virtualdub is a good capture software for capture cards, not sure if you can use it for capturing off PC. You could use something like Hypercam 2, which allows you to drag a square around what you want to record, then Virtualdub for compression.

[Tron 2.0]

So tempted to buy one.

[Jorpho]

I was just wondering about this, if I may: I've heard that some TVs have a built-in zoom setting specifically designed to accommodate the PSP and other devices that have similar output.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=412825

The obvious example is Sony's official Playstation 3D display, but those are only 24 inches.
http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3D.../dp/B0050SZ49Y

Is this feature becoming increasingly common?

[Letiumtide]

I have one myself and have had it for a few years now, I absolutely love it and almost never play PSP games without it now.

My word: Get it.

[BlastProcessing402]

Looks nice, but is it really worth paying approx. 10x what PSP component cables go for these days?

If it did other systems as well, that would be a good price, but just for one system, it seems pretty high.

[xelement5x]

Looks nice, but is it really worth paying approx. 10x what PSP component cables go for these days?

If it did other systems as well, that would be a good price, but just for one system, it seems pretty high.

I don't think you understand, even with component cables the output from the PSP does not fill the screen, so if you'd like something to take full advantage of your screen without boxing around the side you need a device like this.

If you're not really playing PSP games I can see your indifference, but if you want to play some of the really nice exclusives on a large screen this really is the way to go to get a solid experience.

[BlastProcessing402]

I don't think you understand, even with component cables the output from the PSP does not fill the screen, so if you'd like something to take full advantage of your screen without boxing around the side you need a device like this.

If you're not really playing PSP games I can see your indifference, but if you want to play some of the really nice exclusives on a large screen this really is the way to go to get a solid experience.

Don't tell me what I don't understand. I merely question if paying ~$60 to get full screen and upscaling is worth it compared to ~$6 to get black borders (which may or may not be able to be zoomed away depending on the TV).

[xelement5x]

Don't tell me what I don't understand. I merely question if paying ~$60 to get full screen and upscaling is worth it compared to ~$6 to get black borders (which may or may not be able to be zoomed away depending on the TV).

It's a Granny Smith to Honey Crisp comparison; it all depends on your preference.

Maybe you have a really nice TV already that supports basic zooming.
Maybe you have bad eyesight and can't tell the difference upscaling makes.
Maybe you don't mind having black borders.


Or maybe you'd prefer to play your games in the best possible experience you can. Reviews have shown there is a difference between the straight component and the output from the upscalers. For me, a little extra cash to get a better experience (espcially for the length of a PSP RPG) is a no brainer.

[kupomogli]

For those of you who want a free alternative, here. PSP emulator that scales to 1080p.

http://www.ppsspp.org/downloads.html

Here's a video of it running Tekken 6. I wanted to post a video so you could see how framerate ran and saw a Tekken 6 combo test. Probably the best test someone can give is probably the most difficult fighter and then pull off full combos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYa742UAfsY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3219...etailpage&t=19

[Zthun]

For those of you who want a free alternative, here. PSP emulator that scales to 1080p.

http://www.ppsspp.org/downloads.html

Here's a video of it running Tekken 6. I wanted to post a video so you could see how framerate ran and saw a Tekken 6 combo test. Probably the best test someone can give is probably the most difficult fighter and then pull off full combos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYa742UAfsY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3219...etailpage&t=19

Went and tried this out with various options. Multiple graphical glitches plagued the two games I tried. Tactics ogre didn't render the maps properly. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles did a mirror render of the background. I wasn't impressed.

[Jorpho]

I keep an active search result for the lkv8000 in the hopes of snagging one on the cheap, but generally nothing has ever come up. It occurred to me today to actually try Googling for it and it turns out it has been discontinued completely.
http://www.lenkeng.net/Index/detail/id/86

I suppose no worthy successor has emerged?

[kupomogli]

Went and tried this out with various options. Multiple graphical glitches plagued the two games I tried. Tactics ogre didn't render the maps properly. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles did a mirror render of the background. I wasn't impressed.

Well, three years later maybe it's working perfect now?

There's also the PSTV which has been natively hacked, but PSP isos don't work on the native hack, they'll only work on the eCFW though(you should be able to find this on wololo.net on how to and what digital game you need.) PSTV upscales to 720p and it can use a PS3 or PS4 controller to play the games instead of having to use the PSP. What you need though is a new PSTV that hasn't been updated yet and then download the game on your PC, and use a download blocker to allow you to transfer to your PSTV from your PC without updating your Vita. You might be wondering, but how do I get my account onto my PSTV if I've never connected it to PSN? If you load the game from your PSTV or Vita, it'll automatically add that system to your account on Sony's end. Here's Wololo.net for reference. http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=40302

[Satoshi_Matrix]

You won't ever find one "cheap". Just bite the bullet and buy one while you still can even find one. Stocks won't last forever. The Vita TV has been hacked yes, but PSP isos isn't a thing you can do and even when/if it is, it'll be a cumbersome process. This allows you to run games on your TV using the native hardware, no emulation nonsense and the original UMD format.

[kupomogli]

You won't ever find one "cheap". Just bite the bullet and buy one while you still can even find one. Stocks won't last forever. The Vita TV has been hacked yes, but PSP isos isn't a thing you can do and even when/if it is, it'll be a cumbersome process. This allows you to run games on your TV using the native hardware, no emulation nonsense and the original UMD format.

Native hack can't run PSP isos, eCFW can, and it's not that cumbersome of a process once you get it working in the first place. Everyone collects here, so it's not like the users here are going to just pirate the software, and even if they did, playing the game on the original PSP through the LKV8000 doesn't stop them from pirating either, it just upscales what's on the Vita.

The difference between the native hack is you can use homebrew/emulators made for the Vita which have much better performance, while the eCFW will let you play PSP ISOs and PSP homebrew/emulators(with SNES performance being good but has its issues.) If a PSP kernel exploit is released, then PSP games will be available on the native hack.

http://wololo.net/vita-cfw4dummies/