PSP 3000 selling well despite screen issues

The PSP 3000 has taken Japan by storm even as owners report some glaring hardware issues regarding the portable's bright new screen.

PSP 3000 enjoys brisk sales amidst hardware issues

Bright screen. Maybe TOO bright... (click for features)

The major selling point behind the new PSP 3000 is its sharp, incredibly bright new screen. The update has given Sony's portable the unofficial nickname of "PSP Brite," but reports today indicate this welcome new feature could be as much of a blessing as it is a curse.

The problem, as identified by consumers on the official Sony PlayStation forums, is the new tech present in the screen is creating visible, horizontal scan lines.

"Yes the color gamut is wider, yes the black levels are lower, but this screen now has what looks like scan lines that were not visible on PSPs before," said one PSP 3000 owners."I am not happy about my 'upgrade'."

Unfortunately, the news gets worse from here. On Tuesday, Sony said the problem is hardware-related, and there is nothing that can be done to fix the problem (e.g. firmware updates).

"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," said Sony in a statement on the matter.

The statement continues: "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."

But the news is not all doom and gloom for the PSP Brite. Reports out of Japan this week revealed the portable was selling at a brisk clip, to the tune of 141,270 units sold in the first week. By our estimates, that could mean the Sony Japan forums could see a deluge of 141,270 complaints in the coming days.

Comments [21]

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eday_2010

People who are unhappy should just return the unit and move on. It's just a toy, after all.

StormKing

They could return it, but odds are that they traded in there older PSP to get it....and there's no chance of getting it back without buying it, or a new PSP 2000.

deadmanwalking

could this week get any worse for sony?---Socom stinks--LBP is tainted----and the new an improved psp is garbage---

on the bright side--Fable 2 is a monster of a game and you also get a really well made earpiece with Socom

indyman777

vongaurd wrote:

Few have the patience anymore to wait for such things to be fixed.

Read the article, Sony is saying it CAN'T be fixed! Patience? I wish people had that attitude with 360 when it had problems. Then they could have had it fixed FOR FREE! Thats the time to have patience when a company actually wants to make things right without charging you. Even paying for postage both ways. And extending the warranty to all TWICE. Talking about Microsoft obviously.

vongaurd

indyman777 wrote:

vongaurd wrote:

Few have the patience anymore to wait for such things to be fixed.

Read the article, Sony is saying it CAN'T be fixed! Patience? I wish people had that attitude with 360 when it had problems. Then they could have had it fixed FOR FREE! Thats the time to have patience when a company actually wants to make things right without charging you. Even paying for postage both ways. And extending the warranty to all TWICE. Talking about Microsoft obviously.

I've had no problem waiting for the 360 consoles to become more reliable. Besides, most things can be fixed if they're willing to do it. If this little problem continues to escalate for Sony, they may have to issue a recall of this PSP model.
siavm

That sounds real bad. Screw everyone that buys it and tell them that there is no fix. That is awful.

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