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PSP Home Control 1.0

liquidice recent wrote in describing a pretty crazy PSP hack, reportedly using it as a wireless controller for his entire entertainment system, including his TiVo. Without a PSP and his code, I can't verify that this is real and it's possible it may be a hoax, but I'll reproduce his post in full and let you decide, because it looks like a really cool hack:

I have not seen anyone else do something like this with the PSP, so I am posting it in hopes to inspire others to do something cool with their PSP. The closest thing I have seen is a controller page for XBMC, but it was just some text links, and did not impress me.

I've taken it a step further. I now have the ability to turn my lights on and off. Have full control (Play, Stop, Pause, Menu) of my DVD player, TIVO, and High Def TV, all wirelessly from my PSP. I did this in a few hours using Photoshop to make some graphics. I put an image map on the graphics and created some HTML pages which are hosted on my WACI NX server. The links are crafted so that when the PSP highlights and clicks on a spot on the image map, it instructs the WACI NX server to send an IR signal to my A/V equipment or triggers it's relays to cut power on the lights.

Apologies for the blurry pictures. The PSP is not very photogenic.

My next step is to add some temperature monitors, and more integration with my PC and some AV switching equipment to stream video signals around the house. Hopefully there's a way to embed a little video clip or live stream in the new browser.

I hope that Sony realizes the potential the PSP has. If firmware update on May 1st adds a browser that resides in flash that can be called from the 'start' menu, I will be able to quickly surf to my control page and start controlling things throughout my house. Currently, I just leave Wipeout in browser mode and put my PSP to sleep. Wipeout has so many menus and loading screens to get to the web browser.

Oh and before everyone goes around screaming that this is another hoax like the AIBO PSP controller. I can assure you this is real and it works, and I use it every day. I snagged the WACI NX web server left over from a home theater install job I did last month. It's great because it has an HTTP and FTP server and uses regular HTML to issue the commands making it the perfect match for my PSP, which does not support any fancy Javascripts or DHTML. For more info on the WACI NX you could check out waciworld.com

Also view the original post here:

http://psphacks.blogspot.com/2005/04/psp-home-control-10.html

by Matt Haughey April 16, 2005 in Hacks

Comments

I can confirm it's true, I did something similar with Winamp & the Cygnus plugin - Winamp from your PSP!
Just gotta get his cool icons going....

Posted by: wavesmash at Apr 16, 2005 3:12:44 PM

I can assure you it's not a hoax. The WACI NX has a built in IR learner. I learned all of my remotes and the WACI stores the IR signals in a database. I just have to give it the name of the device and command I want to send, and the WACI will send out the IR pulse to the device, just as if I had pressed the button on the remote.

This is nothing new. The WACI control system has been around controlling using standard web programming languages for over 3 years. It's just cool to be able to serve up the webpage on the PSP browser via Wi-Fi.

Posted by: liquidice at Apr 16, 2005 3:16:03 PM

That is pretty sweet. I have enough X-10 lighting throughout my house that I'd like to hook some of that up through this type of interface. Anybody know of any X-10 type intefaces for this?

Posted by: Stephen at Apr 17, 2005 5:32:11 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference PSP Home Control 1.0:

» Control Your Home With Your PSP from GadgetPimp.com
Apparently no one can guarantee that this is actually true, but some guy has hacked his PSP and turned it into a wireless controller for his entire entertainment system. If this is true, and someone comes up with a way [Read More]

Tracked on Apr 17, 2005 3:46:31 PM

» Control TiVo, Lights With Your PSP from Gizmodo
Myriad hacks are emerging for the PSP as eager tweakers have their way with the black box. Add to the list the ability to control your home automation system (and TiVo) wirelessly. Liquidice explains:I now have the ability to turn... [Read More]

Tracked on Apr 19, 2005 6:30:37 AM