Newer Psp's Get A Dimmer Backlit Screen?


bast525

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Well this is kinda annoying/disturning thing I got to see today. A couple of friends of mine, brothers, have just bought PSP's about a week ago. Today I stopped by to hang out with them for a little bit, to get in my first and last multiplayer game of Ridge Racer before going off to the post office to ship my PSP out to the person I have just sold it to :(

Anyways, long story short, I noticed that the screens on their PSPs, the both of them, are uniformly VERY noticeably dimmer than the screen on my PSP. Mine was one from the first batch, bought just before Xmas, and they just got theirs last week, they were told it was from a batch shipped Jan 20th. Well on first glance theirs seem a little better built than mine did... their UMD trays close fully, and neither had any dead pixels. They did both have R and Circle buttons that would get stuck down though (mine only had the R button problem). But then I was trying to set them all to the same brightness, and noticed that when I set mine to the first (of three) brightness settings (darkest setting), I had to set each of theirs to the second brightness setting to match the brightness of mine. The coversation came up when discussing battery life and I stated that I usually played most games except for the very dark Metal Gear Acid, on the first setting, to get the most out of the battery. And their response was that, to them, the first setting seemed pretty much useless. Indeed, I popped Golf into one of their units (a very bright game) and found that on the first setting it was, as they said, almost useless... very dim... looked like I was playing a round on a rainy day. I've NEVER had problems playing Golf on the first setting on mine even outside in the daytime.


now, I dont know if I was just lucky, or they are just unlucky, but I do remember reading something, on ebay I think when I was just checking the scene, someone mentioned that newer units were coming with an LCD made by a different manufacturer (sound familiar???), and that picture quality would be worse... it was a sales pitch trying to convince prospective buyers why they should purchase an import system as opposed to waiting for a US system, as supposedly the US systems will all have this worse LCD. Well I must say, the picture quality of the three seemed identical, even when in motion, just that their two were so much dimmer than mine.


this... friggin... sux


Now I have to worry that my US one is gonna have this problem?? I HOPE this is just some kinda fluke. *sigh* right about now I'm joining in with the I hate f'ing Sony crowd......
 
Damn not even one reply :p Was hoping someone might actually have some concrete info or even more solid rumors regarding this.
 
I know that the US version of the PSP is meant to have a much dimmer and lower quality (No proof of this, just what people say) screen made by SAMSUNG whereas the initial PSP from Japan had a SHARP screen (the one I'd imagine we have).

I didnt know they were changing them in the Japanese releasea of PSP though. So I dont know.

But the SHARP/SAMSUNG thing would seem to fit the bill of your descrption.
 
I was hanging out with one of the two brothers again today, and was playing his PSP in the car... it's really much much dimmer. It was pretty bright out, was maybe 3pm, but there was no direct sun on me inside the car... the thing was INCREDIBLY hard to see on MGA on the brightest setting, enough that I stopped playing. Golf was visible but when he would turn one way or another and some sunlight would come into the car I had to keep shifting to keep it visible... not that it was glaring directly on the screen, just that the brightness did make even bright, colorful Golf very hard to see.

I still say there wasn't a noticeable difference in quality at all, just dimmer.


we were talking about battery life as well, and it seems he and his brother are getting better battery life than I was, 4 hours + at the brightest setting. Maybe this is a function of the dimmer screen?


Still... I feel incredibly f**ked now that I just had to sell my first batch system :(


EDIT: Does anyone know where the original rumor of the switch in LCD manufacturers started?
 
bast525 posted on Feb 4 2005 at 04:17 AM said:
I was hanging out with one of the two brothers again today, and was playing his PSP in the car... it's really much much dimmer. It was pretty bright out, was maybe 3pm, but there was no direct sun on me inside the car... the thing was INCREDIBLY hard to see on MGA on the brightest setting, enough that I stopped playing. Golf was visible but when he would turn one way or another and some sunlight would come into the car I had to keep shifting to keep it visible... not that it was glaring directly on the screen, just that the brightness did make even bright, colorful Golf very hard to see.

I still say there wasn't a noticeable difference in quality at all, just dimmer.


we were talking about battery life as well, and it seems he and his brother are getting better battery life than I was, 4 hours + at the brightest setting. Maybe this is a function of the dimmer screen?


Still... I feel incredibly f**ked now that I just had to sell my first batch system :(


EDIT: Does anyone know where the original rumor of the switch in LCD manufacturers started?

As far as I know Samsung was contgracted by Sony to make Chips for the PSP to meet the higher demand but nothing is mentioned of the LCD in this article. Check it out.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5535134.html
 
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So how dim is the screen compared to the GP32? Dimmer or brighter?
 
On the brightest setting the PSP is definately much brighter. On the dimmest setting, then it is dimmer than the GP or they are very close.

However, the BLU is much easier to play in bright light or outside in daylight. I've never had problems playing my BLU riding around in my wifes car on a bright sunny day... with the PSP there are some games like Metal Gear Acid, which are very hard to see in these conditions, even on the brightest setting.
 
Sounds like the usual symptoms of a backlit screen, does the DS do this too?
 
Not always... I've had problems playing DS occasionally on sunny days, especially darker games like Asphalt GT on night courses.

But it's not nearly as hard to see as the PSP is on a sunny day.

IMO, the GP and the DS are very similiar here, though the GP's yellow tinted screen cover gives it a bit of a disadvantage, and the DS is a bit brighter.
 
Well... I thought I'd add a little something, now that my PSP is gone, but I've had the opportunity to play with the ones belonging to my friends a bit more.


I just want to say this, to anyone planning on getting one at some point... this screen thing isn't TOO big of a deal. Without having two of them side by side, one of each type... this is really something you wouldn't really notice. Now that the memory of mine is starting to fade :( I can play theirs and really it doesnt' even bother me... so... dont' worry. Just uh... don't ask to compare the screen on yours to anyone elses lest you find a reason to be pissed off that you didn't know you had :D
 
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