Composite AV Cable

After receiving complaints from a small number of PSP owners telling us that they couldn't use their new PSP to play games on their televisions, even though they bought the AV cable, I decided to find out what exactly was going on. Why weren't they able to play their games on their televisions, even though they bought the PSP and cables that support video-out?

The answer to that question is quite simple. Not all types of the PSP AV cables support playing games on television. It turns out, the problem that these people were running into was that they bought the PSP Composite AV cable to connect their PSP

Component AV Cable

to their televisions, not the Component AV cable. Only the Component AV cable supports the ability to play PSP games on television, and only on televisions that support progressive scan. If you own a new PSP (one that has the video-out port) be wary. The only way you will be able to play your PSP games on your television is if you are using the Component AV cable and have them connected to a television that supports progressive scan.

Who is to blame for these people finding this out the hard way? Is it Sony? Well, not exactly. I checked with Sony and was told that the company made sure to clearly label both the front and the back of the packaging, for both types of cables, with the

Composite AV Cable Pack

information regarding each cable type's abilities. The Composite AV cable packaging is marked, “Enjoy photos, videos, and music on your TV”, while the Component AV cable packaging reads, “Enjoy photos, videos, music and games on your TV”. Sony also has all of the information regarding the cables easily available on its websites.

Are retailers to blame? Again, not exactly. Not all retail representatives would have known that only one of the cable types supports gameplay, while the other doesn't. They would naturally assume that all types of the PSP AV cables would support everything the PSP is capable of doing. What about consumers? Again, the answer is no. Like the retail representatives I just spoke about,

Component AV Cable Pack

the likelihood is that most consumers would assume that all types of the PSP AV cables would support everything the PSP is capable of doing. In a lot of cases, even if they asked a representative, they might get that same answer because that representative was unaware that there were any differences between the cables aside from picture quality. So there is no single party at fault for this issue.

The important thing is that people know. So if you know someone who has a new PSP and wants to play games on their television, make sure to let them know that they need the Component AV cable and a progressive scan capable television. They'll thank you for saving them a trip back to the store.