Sony: PSP Brite's scanlines caused by hardware, no plans to fix [update]

by Ross Miller on Oct 21st 2008 11:00AM

Though SCEA is still "looking into the problem," Sony's Japanese headquarters (SCEI) has released a statement describing the PSP-3000 (a.k.a. PSP Brite) scanline issues as being part and parcel of the new hardware. "PSP-3000 has a new LCD device with vastly improved picture quality, achieving a more natural and vivid picture than older models," said the statement (via Engadget Japan). "By improving LCD response time to reduce ghosting, the horizontal-line phenomenon becomes more visible."

Turns out, phenomenon means "no fix in sight." According to Sony, "Since this phenomenon is caused by hardware characteristics, there is no plan to fix it with system software update." We'll be interested to see if Sony of America (SCEA) has anything different to say.

Update: SCEA has finally received the corporate memo, feeding us the same official statement from SCEI. (Posted in full after the break.)

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Sony says:

"On some occasions, scan lines may appear on scenes where brightness changes drastically, due to the hardware features of the new LCD device on PSP-3000. Installed with this new LCD device, PSP-3000 offers more natural and vibrant colors on its screen, but the scan lines have come out to be more visible as a result of improving response time to alleviate the afterimages on PSP-3000. Since this is due to hardware specification, there are no plans for a system software update concerning this issue."

Source

Tags: breakingnews, interlacing, PSP, psp-3000, psp-brite, scanlines, scea, scei, Sony-Computer-Entertainment-America

Reader Comments (87)

Well that sucks. :(

What sucks, is the number of cretins here that think a still image can portray what a fast moving image looks like.

Are all Americans this stupid?

As Steve Jobs would say it: Boom!

If stupid you mean able to realize the drawbacks of slow refresh rates in gaming and question why Sony would try and pass it off as a "better" screen... Then yes, I guess we are stupid. Or wait, no we aren't. You are for being a fanboy.

There are displays that exhibit this. They do have better characteristics of some sorts (like reduced power usage), but there's just no way to get over the scissor effects during fast movement.

Honestly, Sony should have thought twice before releasing a new model with this problem. This could make the PSP-3000 less desirable than the PSP-2000 and thus crimp sales of the platform through the entire Xmas season.

even though i know this is Sony we are talking about, i still find it absolutely dumbfounding that they wouldn't test for this kind of stuff. i mean i haven't tried one myself, but from what i've read, it seems you can duplicate the problem by simply loading a game or playing a video. not catching this in the prototype phase is completely unacceptable. i could see if it was something like "Game A will freeze on the new console if you give Bob 6 apples instead of 7 in obscure side quest 49." but this is just amazing to me the lack of care you have to display to miss something this huge.

im thinking they noticed it and hoped the general public would be too stupid to notice it as well.

I completely agree ^^^^ Maybe it's just an isolated problem like the dead pixels thing or the UMD popping out thing. And that response sony gave is just some short notice BS until they really find out how this is happening.

Stage 1: Denial

Stage 2: Describing it as a "feature"

Step 3: ??????

Step 4: Profit

Good work gentlemen.

Step 5: Recall

On no you di'int!

It seems that Marty didn't read the article...

Good thing I'd held off on a PSP-3000 purchase. : /

I was about to buy a PSP-3000 next month... I want to play the Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X games.

I guess I will have to wait.

Well... it was a hard decision =p

But the PSP is just for the two Mega Man games and for homebrew. There are no other game on the PSP that looks interesting in my opinion.

I hope that by the time the PSP-3000 screens are fixed, a hacked firmware is available.

I have a feeling you would like Patapon, Fernando. Crisis Core and God of War are also excellent games.

Also, I'm glad I got the 2000. Scanlines bug the hell out of me.

I like to play a lot of RPG's on handhelds. That's the primary use of my DS and GBA.

I know the PSP has some good RPG's, but I'm worried about the loading times. I was Ys the other day in my cousin's PSP, and the loading times are very long.

Well, the game is bad, but still. I'm also interested in Tales of the World... how are the loading times in that game?

Some games on the PSP are pretty bad at loading times, I actually noticed that Ys was one of them. Though if you hack the PSP and have it on the memory stick, the loading times should be improved considerably and no noise from the UMD drive.

Tales of the World I only played a bit but enjoyed and loads up fairly quickly.

Don't forget Brave Story! Great game, especially if you like PS1-era RPGs (and this isn't a bad thing); I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Also, the PSP has a pretty good set of retro collections; Parodius Portable, Gradius Collection, and Sega Genesis Collection are three standouts.

Heck, it even gets the good remakes (Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean, Parappa the Rapper, Gitaroo Man).

I sound like a fanboy now so I'll shut up, but I just wanted to toss out a few of the titles I think you'd like, F.

Same here, I was thinking of finally getting a PSP thanks to the new screen... I've been wanting to play Patapon since I first heard about it :p
Guess I might hold off after all...
This can't be good for Sony!

That's funny, because I also bought my PSP for those two Mega Man games. It's been a great purchase so far, I'm just glad that I got the 2000...

Don't forget that as of the 2000, the load times have been improved. All the games I mentioned have decent load times. I haven't played anything yet that has caused me to complain about them.

Oh, and I also bought the PSP for both of the Megaman games.

Tales of the World's load times are fine. But it is the same missions over and over.

dont forget all the PS1 ISO's you can load up on a mem stick... all those AMAZING PS1 rpgs just waiting to be played on the go...

"achieving a more natural and vivid picture"

1980's TV simulation?

I'm glad I told my dad to avoid the 3000 for christmas and just get me the 2000. Thanks for continually fucking up the 3000 to make me feel better about the descision sony!

I still have the original version of the system. They would need some serious upgrades to make me consider buying the same system again...more than a brighter screen.

So better hardware makes it look worse?

Oh Sony, you do know how to entertain us...

So, what exactly is the point of upgrading to the 3000 now? The microphone? It's amazing how many times Sony can shoot themselves in the foot. It just baffles me how a company can be just so consistantly stupid :(

I lost my PSP at the airport last week, whomever finds it enjoy your crappy scanlines ya bastard!

I won't...

-Sigh-

You should say which airport and terminal... you never know, maybe the person who finds it reads joystiq =)

We have your PSP. If you want to see it again, transfer the money by Friday. You have been warned.

That's what I get for trading in my perfectly good PSP-2000 for credit towards the 3000. Look at that fuckin interlacing... good grief. How in the world did they think that would be ok.

They should rename this one the PSP-Shit.

This reminds me of when the PSP originally came out and people discovered the square face button wasn't always registering due to a design flaw. Whoever was in charge at Sony at the time basically said to the press the equivalent of "our product is awesome, complainers eat shit."

Sometimes I wonder if Sony can stand having a positive image on any of their products. Maybe the next PS3 revision will give people herpies, can't have consumers think it's a solid product for too long.

I agree, I've been quite upset with Sony lately. First with my PS3's Blu-Ray drive failing, my Vaio TZ notebook being under a recall and several people's having theirs fried, mine looks to be a ticking time-bomb. Your new PS3s are gimped compared to the old models, where the old models are more failure prone. And now with this PSP-3000 screen issue, when its improved screen was the selling point of it over the 2000 model?

Not trying to hate or anything, but the Sony brand name hasn't meant "quality" in a long time. People just assume it does, so they figure they can get away with charging more for an inferior product.

The PS3 was probably the first top-quality product they've made in a while. The number of PS3s to have flaws is VERY low.
... 'Course they have to go and mess up it's quality by removing PS2 playback...

When i first got my PSP brand new, it had dead pixels, not 1, not 2 but 8!, yes 8 dead pixies!!! Digusting!...

Me too!, I ended up finding one with 2 dead pixels on launch day so I kept that one. At least it was easy to hack back in the day :P

I was thinking about buy the new PSP but I´m very disappointed reading this new. I will buy only Nintendo DS lite now.. it´s more reasonable.

Scanlines, by their very f***ing definition, have no place on a non-CRT screen. You can't even make a case for them to be a 'similar artifact' on a handheld's screen these days, either-- the screen resolutions and pixel density are so high nowadays that, without a magnifying glass, you shouldn't be able to see the individual pixel outlines anymore (like you used to even up until the GBA SP).

That's what I don't get. Why would an LCD even show a scanline effect? Ghosting I understand, but I don't get what is causing this.

Dude, your avatar is a perfect representation of my face after reading this article.

Stop giving me full screen advertisements please Best Buy... I live in the UK, it would be inconvenient for me to fly to the US to buy my games and electronics.

I'm sure the majority of readers here are from North America, majority rules man! : )

Yeah, Joystiq is primarily a US-based blog (notice how the "games this week" posts only cover North American release dates? Yeah...), so hence why their advertising mostly targets Americans.

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Sony: PSP Brite's scanlines caused by hardware, no plans to fix [update]

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