PSP-3000 interlacing issues are "features", won't be fixed

Posted Oct 21, 2008 at 7:35AM by QJ Staff Listed in: News, PSP Slim & Lite Tags: Japan, PSP-3000, SCEJ, Sony

PSP-3000 vs PSP-2000 - Image 1

Well, I'll be damned... As complaints about the PSP-3000 screen's interlacing issues pile up at the PlayStation US forums, all Sony had to say was that they were "looking into it."

While everyone's waiting for further developments from Sony U.S., the folks at Engadget have gotten word from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. The SCEJ representative that contacted them, in Engadget's words, noted that:

the interlacing-like lines are just "features" of the new LCD, and currently, there are no plans to fix it with a future software update since it is in the hardware.

They're... what? Features? Not a very keen feature, if that's the case. Nevertheless, a serious question is now posed: are you willing to put up with scanlines on your screen for Pandora glory care of DAX and the TA-090? Buying a PSP-3000 now requires serious thinking, it seems.

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Comments

# this could be bad for sony — yoshi314 2008-10-21 03:07

sony should have been fair with their customers from the beginning, instead of saying "we're working on it" once some people have reported the issue.

it's really bad that they didn't admit it from the start.

i see two ways out of this : either a new iteration of psp hardware will replace psp3k and fix the problem (if software fix is impossible), or customers aware of the problem will lose interest in psp-3k and go for older models.

# ... — Matt-N 2008-10-21 03:07

Cue my love for my PSP-1000!

# PSP-3000 interlacing issues is bad — ilovepsp 2008-10-21 03:08

OK Im getting the slim one (2000) today!!!

# AN IDEA... — Matt-N 2008-10-21 03:11

Everyone should just say they're a Muslim and this "Feature" deeply offends them. Sony will do a recall before you know it lol!

# PSP 3000 — ilovepsp 2008-10-21 03:19

Matt-N LOL

# Genius! — DocBrown 2008-10-21 03:36

What an awesome feature, I guess it goes well with the feature of shorter battery life. If we're lucky maybe there will be more features presented soon, like buttons that get stuck or analog sticks that fall off. I still doubt they are going to beat their feature of the PS2 where it stops working after 4 years.

# lmao — ihaveabu 2008-10-21 03:43

sony, you guys are retarded.

they're too lazy to recall everything, so it's a feature

# @Matt-N — Cactuar Knight 2008-10-21 03:44

No need to bring the Muslims into this, ok?

They actually had a valid reason to complain about..

As for Sony and not actually doing anyting about this, well they are going to be looking at a big loss as no one is going to want to buy a PSP 3000, atleast not if the older models are still available.

I dunno who the idiot was who decided that the Scanlines are "features" lol...

# my question is... — 73N5H1 2008-10-21 03:51

how in the hell did this make it through quality control to begin with?

# if demanded — martin447 2008-10-21 03:56

they'll fix it!!

though it doesn't seem like a HUGE problem, it's only heppens when something goes unatrually fast (so to speak), well atleast that's what people are saying!

but again, IF demanded, it'll be "fixed" :)

because if SONY didn't do what their costumers wanted, the customers would "leave" SONY, so they will obey you every wish,.... if you DEMAND that wish that is :)

# lol — isti 2008-10-21 03:59

I want an interlace emulator for my slim2000

tip of the day:

if you want a better psp-3000, open it's umd tray, get a psp phat, drill a hole in it, and pour some quality into the new 3000..

# Okay, here's what to do: — JaXeRiR 2008-10-21 04:17

Get a Slim (2000) and download this (old) plugin by Coolj: http://tinyurl.com/6qutzw

It really boosts the brightness of the Slim.

# ~~ — ~~ 2008-10-21 04:29

It's a feature of the hardware in the PSP,

meaning it isn't because of software that this problem comes about...

Same as a feature for birds is that they have wings and can fly, most of the time anyway...

# Excuses.. — Lucky_Bastard 2008-10-21 04:33

"Features?!" That's a Defect!. Sony has many excuses..

# A class action suit is imminent. — alibasbas 2008-10-21 05:06

Definitely this "feature" is a ground to start a class action suit against Sony. Once this is in play, Sony will definitely settle and have these replaced.

# pspslim brighter screen — ilovepsp 2008-10-21 05:12

WOW thanks for letting us know I did not know about this, im going to try it.

# bah! — StingBlah 2008-10-21 05:18

I'm deeply offended by the interlacing in this psp! I have no choice but to go ji-had on sony...

# aww man... — StingBlah 2008-10-21 05:23

I really wanted to trade up from my 1000 to this...screen looked great in pix.

But what i wonder is...HOW the heck did this problem go unnoticed during testing? What about reviewers? Not a single psp3000 review has spoken of this.

QJ- I've been with this blog for about 3 years now--best place to get news. Why don't you guys do a 3k review? The only OFFICIAL 3k review is cnet's, and i dont trust them. THey didnt mention anything about the screen or games or loading times either. If you decide to do a review, could you guys address this issue (by trying out old and new games)?

THanks!

# i dont think — StingBlah 2008-10-21 05:25

anyone would go through the process of suing a multi-billion dollar company over a bad psp.

# This reminds me of — akadewboy 2008-10-21 05:29

Anyone remember their response when the PSP had a defective square button? It sounds very familiar:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/24/news_6116985.html

"This is the design that we came up with. There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to."

It's funny how Sony continues to think that their consumers are idiots and will blindly accept a defective product. A progressive screen should NEVER be interlaced.

# @ Cactuar Knight — Matt-N 2008-10-21 05:46

Praise Jesus. How did I guess you was gonna pipe up?! You're response offends me Cactuar Knight, so where do we go from here?

Good job Islam has you to rely on, to save them from... err... from what, exactly?!?!?! This is the problem with do-gooders, fanatics and it seems you (not sure what category you fall into), IT WAS A JOKE!

But you're right, there was no need to bring Muslims into it, but it's a 'round-the-houses' related comment, AND I WANTED TO, as I have 'Freedom of Speech'. More can be read about 'Freedom of Speech' here (ironically, by M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. (as Muslim), president of the non-profit American Islamic Forum for Democracy, regarding LBP):

http://www.qj.net/Muslim-Group-Leader-speaks-out-against-LittleBigPlanet-recall/pg/49/aid/125170

I thank you.

# Actually... — kittykat 2008-10-21 05:51

SONY has managed to get away with worse things regarding the PSP than this including...

- Forcing people to update the firmware to play the newer games, irregardless of whether or not the game actually requires anything in the firmware, often times with no added features or benefits (or "security updates", as they are called)

- Deciding that they do not want to allow online stores to import to the UK and shutting down a popular online store in order to make an example (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/24/lik-sang-com-shut-down-by-sony-lawsuits/)

- Advertisements that offend people (http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/05/30/this-is-advertising-top-10-worst-playstation-ads/)

- Reducing the quality of video playback on the memory card in order to try to boost UMD movie sales (a bunch of geeks were able to create programs that play videos at a better quality in their spare time)

After all this the PSP is still doing well in the markets. I doubt that trying to label a bug as a feature will have much of an impact, and people will still happily purchase the PSP 3000 units. Many may even boast about how much better the screen looks with scan lines.

As for me, after trying the Slim for awhile I decided to go back to using a PSP 1000 (Phat), and will continue to do so until given a very good reason to purchase the latest model.

# please correct me if i'm wrong but — pokerpoker 2008-10-21 06:04

i thought interlaced videos was for CRT monitors (and screens) and progressive was for LCD screens.

[check google,wiki for more info]

does psp show interlaced video on a LCD screen?? LOLZ.

# @ Matt-N — Cactuar Knight 2008-10-21 07:57

Wow as always people here on QJ never cease to amaze me..I am not a Muslim, nor a defender.

I just dont like people spreading hate.That's all.

Did it seem like I was trying to be offensive to you in anyway?

If I did, I apologise [See people can be decent on the internet]

I didnt mean to offend anyone, just stating that religion does NOT need to placed into the gaming world.

We all share one common interest and that is the love of videogames.

I just hope one day, people arent hating one another over something as annoying as religion.

# heh — Cactuar Knight 2008-10-21 08:00

lol you thought wrong.

It seems the new PSP's interlacing screen is a "feature".

# Awesome mod! — Acteon 2008-10-21 08:06

Thanks for the heads up - just compared the 2k and 3k with this mod, and the 2k is actually better. Dammit, wasted my money on this 3k system!

# My quasi technical thoughts — FiremanSam 2008-10-21 08:11

In order to get the screen to be brighter and more vibrant but without draining the battery faster the hardware designers switched to an interlaced mode of display for the PSP 3000 instead of the progressive mode for the PSP 1000/2000. This way only half of the LCD is being powered at any time.

The PSP 2000 allowed progressive or interlaced output to TV. Progressive for games and interlaced for videos. Based on this I will assume that games are progressive and videos are interlaced. So does the interlacing happen when playing videos? If not, it may be possible to switch the display from interlaced to progressive via software (anyone up for reverse engineering the video player?)

# hey — anhero 2008-10-21 08:21

I guess the RROD on the 360 is a feature, and a very nice one indeed +)

# .... — Silver-Tiger 2008-10-21 08:58

This damn "feature" is a reason why I won't buy the new PSP.

I actually wanted to upgrade my 1000 to 3000, but Sony can forget that now.

I guess they don't need my money, if they think it was a good choice...

# @cactuar knight — Techni 2008-10-21 10:10

"They actually had a valid reason to complain about.."

He made a joke, and no they didn't have a valid reason to complain. Freedom of speech and all that. A group of muslims actually said they had no right to complain

# @kittykat — Techni 2008-10-21 10:16

Games require firmware updates for API as well. Behind the scenes code. Forcing us to update firmware is not something to complain about. Its not an issue at all. You may think games dont need it, but since you didnt program them you don't know that. There's tons of stuff firmware gets for programmers we dont see at all, thats why its there in the first place

They dedcided against letting UK import stuff cause the stuff had territorial lockout, and wouldn't work with UK games or POWER OUTLETS

The ads weren't offensive at all.

The black/white one people jumped to the conclusion of racism, wasnt racist at all, there was another one with reversed roles.

Memory card performance was not reduced. The code just wasnt robust back then. It actually supports the same stuff off memory stick as UMD.

Not a single one of your complaints were valid. Which is retarded cause there are valid complaints about Sony

# @ Cactuar Knight *sigh* — Matt-N 2008-10-21 11:28

Correction time:

I did not not hint at you being a Muslim, only a 'do-gooder', or a 'fanatic'. If you're not a Muslim, then you're clearly a do-gooder, and the fact that you have posted endless amounts over this situation, leaves me to think that you are also slightly fanatical too.

I'm not spreading hate, I was spreading a smile (how cheesy lol). I have Muslim (Turkish) in my own family (I'm not, I'm a white Brit) and they found it funny. Again, comments like these only offend the do-gooders, rather than the people do-gooders THINK they're protecting.

You didn't really offend me. That's my point, bright spark. You've been the most opinionated person in this LBP debate, yet I bet you my bank account, you didn't care if you offended anyone in the first instance. It's so easy to write something THEN apologise after.

As for your other points, I totally agree with you. Again, I don't blame Muslims for this situation at all, I was aiming more at Sony for their over-the-top reaction, and to who? The do-gooders.

Happy gaming.

# ... — FreePlay 2008-10-21 15:28

"Games require firmware updates for API as well. Behind the scenes code. Forcing us to update firmware is not something to complain about. Its not an issue at all. You may think games dont need it, but since you didnt program them you don't know that."

False.

"They dedcided against letting UK import stuff cause the stuff had territorial lockout, and wouldn't work with UK games or POWER OUTLETS"

A lie from Sony. They work just fine.

"Memory card performance was not reduced. The code just wasnt robust back then. It actually supports the same stuff off memory stick as UMD."

Several people on 5.00m33 disagree.

# 5.01 Firmware just came out — neocec 2008-10-21 15:48

I just downloaded a 5.01 software update. I did it through the network update. Looks like it's an update for the PSN as far as I can tell.

# This ain't a bug people... — masta.g.86 2008-10-21 15:52

Sony and other big companies have pulled stunts like this many times in the past: They tell you the good features to generate hype and pursuade past-time loyal customers to upgrade their older models.

In this case, Sony told us the PSP-3000 will have a new LCD with a faster response time and improved contrast ratio. Of course, they neglected to tell us that to improve the response time while not increasing the overall price tag, they had to use an interlaced screen.

Sony already sells the PS3 at a net loss, so it makes sense that they don't want this for their currently more successful portable system. Still, it pisses me off that they didn't mention this before a bunch of people purchased it.

I still have my TA-79 PSP-1000 and while it still works fine, I really wanted the PSP-3000.

Glad I waited...

# @ Matt-N — Cactuar Knight 2008-10-21 16:09

Have you people even sat down and read a little bit about Islam?

I have friends that are muslim, and they have told me that it is against their religion to use lines from their holy book in Music.

So In that sense I suggested they have a right to be mad - I'm only stating what they have told me.

I'm no fanatic lol I dont believe in any god.

Well actually I only worship the gaming gods Kojima and Miyamoto..lol

Sorry if I have ever sounded like a fanatic or anything else. I dont want to be the source of anger or hate or anything - look at all the rest of my posts, I try to stick up for everyone, not just muslims.

Well ok the only religion I would never stick up for is Hinduism..I mean seriously, any religion that practises literal consumption of cow urine deserves to be frowned upon :(

Matt-N once again Sorry if I offended, and yes I do care enough to apologise up front.

I am not the kind of guy you are making me up to be.

Please look into their religion before saying they dont have the right to complain.

The song in question [which btw is in the 2nd level] clearly uses lyrics that are in their book the Qu'ran [heh heh I have one of the early copies, my friends pointed the song out]

It wasnt Media Molecule or Sony's fault for the song containing the lyrics, but the dudes that made the song.

That's why Sony at the last minute pulled the game from shelves, to try and get rid of that song..

Anyways sorry for the long post QJ

Matt-N and everyone else, Please dont consider me a fanatic or cultist lol

# Was gonna buy one.... — SuperVegeta 2008-10-21 17:20

I had plans to finally upgrade my original PSP that I bought on day 1. the battery life is shot. I planned on buying a 3000 until i saw the scan lines. Until that's fixed, i'm sticking with the old fatty.

# Features? I think not Sony... — Auron21 2008-10-21 19:28

how on earth do sony expect to pass THIS off as a "feature"? its just stupid to try that, i mean how dumb do they think people are?

I'm sticking with my PSP 2000 (slim), well i DID have a PSP 1000 (Phat), but that kinda got slimed in the wrong way... a 60 ton lorry put it on a diet...

the PSP 3000 has a major problem here, and sony really should address it, Microsoft were excellent with the red ring of death, sony could learn a thing a two about about customer service from them.

# what??? — ilovepsp 2008-10-21 20:37

@Cactuar Knight-Man wtf are you on about? the guy made a little joke for F sake, and you go on and on about it. Is this a gaming forum or evil relligious *****'s site? Relligion is the root of all evil, jesus was gay, mahamed was gay so was david! they use to do threesome with each other! now why dont you go back to sleep *****! this is a gaming forum.

# ... — ilovepsp 2008-10-21 21:14

A gaming site what the f uck ever

# @ Cactuar Knight — Matt-N 2008-10-21 23:17

Just two things and we're done:

1. I don't have to look into their religion, as I mentioned above, I have Turkish cousins who are Muslim, so know their way of life first-hand.

2. I HAVE NEVER EVER said they don't have the right to complain. You're getting some one else's post confused with me.

Aaaanyway, all this chat has made the extra wait go quicker, so thank you lol!

# » — DSpider 2008-10-22 08:23

That is such bs. Microsoft ? LMAO !

Maybe you should put your psp in the microwave oven, wrap it in a bunch of towels and let it cool off.

That should give your psp a 3000 lcd plasma feel. Do a youtube search for "towel trick" and you'l see what I'm talking about. Microsoft is crap.

# Oh yeah! — Djhg2000 2008-10-22 11:11

Thought the same thing!

The PSP-1000 is simply brilliant!

Not to mention support for legacy PSP homebrew!

Anyone remember fastloader?

# You got it all wrong... — Djhg2000 2008-10-22 11:15

It's an undocumented hidden feature!

# wow — dbzking 2008-10-22 13:17

thats *****ed up i mean i would by it anyway *****ed up new motherboard and anyway i knew there were going to be issues witht he new one just like always ex. no 1.50 kernel for slim etc and damn 700% boost i dont what know wtf is going on maybe people put ***** in there eyes and cant see the issues

# dude check out fast — dbzking 2008-10-22 13:21

if you want to hack get a used from somewhere or order online cause its not worththe money to buy a psp that is unhackable

# When do the issues take place? — firesign3394 2008-10-22 13:25

Is it just in games or everything?

and if games all of them or a certain kind?

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