Hey! Here's a question I have been meaning to ask.
Why is it the screenshots on Lik-Sang show the menu as being blue rather than green?
Is there a way to change it? The PSP has the coolest, nicest, smoothest looking splash screen to menu transition I've ever seen, I'd love to be able to customize the color though. Green's nice, blue's also, but I'd love to be able to pick a color. Like red or orange.
I assume alot of people have seen my rant about having to return my PSP three times. Today, just as I said I would, I went to get another one for the third time. I looked at 5 different PSP's and they all had minor defects. Either screen blemishes or dead pixels. I finally settled on keeping my two-dead pixel unit, and raising a big commotion at Sony.
So here I sit with a unit I am unhappy with. I mean the store really tried to help me they broke open 5, count em five, PSP's for me to look at. They even took one out of a different box of 20 units(I think it was 20) hoping that it would have less defects. No chance.
Concluding, having seen at least 6 units, including the original one that had dust all up in it (I should have just kept that one and blown it out the dust if that was even possible), I am so over launch days for new systems.
The only thing keeping me civil right now is two beers and tiredness.
Laters :/
From my own experience -- and while this is only my observation, I see TONS of LCD monitors at work and will only say this based on those numbers (probably 250 within the last year) -- I would say that the amount that have dead pixels are currently around 10%.Originally Posted by zmweasel
What's the current failure rate (and by failure, I assume we're talking about one or more dead pixels) of LCD monitors?
Also, as I've stated before, I'm overly sensitive to dead pixels, and I always check them. I know for a fact that most normal users don't even notice them, because of the ones that I have found, I've probably only sent back 1/3rd as the users say they don't see it, so they don't care.
So the actual failure rate is about 10%, but the amount of monitors I've sent back is around 3%.
Just my evidence from my own experiences and speaking with others. When I went searching for my monitor, I was told that Sony was the company to look for (when I bought it, it was one of only a handful of LCD monitors with a DVI in, another thing I was really looking for), but be prepared to return them if dead pixels bothered me. In looking at reviews at the time and more recently to help with some higher-end LCD purchases for work, it seems like Sony monitors have a higher rate of people complaining about their pixels. I've also been told this by people "in the industry" for various things.Is the first thing (heh) statistically bolstered by studies or polls, or monitor-geek anecdotal "evidence"?Sony is well known in the LCD monitor business for two things -- having a high rate of failure and for having some the best looking monitors on the market for the price.
All that I know is that personally, I believe it. For the price, it seems to me like the PSP screen is an excellent screen. But I think that when you pay that little for something with so much quality, you sacrifice a little bit of quality assurance.
Dan Loosen
http://www.goatstore.com/ - http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
** Trying to finish up an overly complete Dreamcast collection... want to help? (Updated 5/3/10!) http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61333
Quoting the PSP manual:
"When the month changes or if you change the month under 'Date & Time Settings,' the background color will change automatically."
-- Z.
yes, i am annoyed, sega stole nintendo's thunder in the early 90's with original games, and sony took over the industry on the back of original titles. im not saying there is no room for sequels, but there has to be a good mix of original material. This is a knock on modern gaming as much as it is a knock on the PSP or the DS.
the biggest upsides to optical media are price and storage. But UMDs are proprietary as any cartridge, meaning that Sony manufactures all the discs and gets a bigger cut of money as opposed to standard CD or DVD roms. first party games are 40 bucks, and third party games are 50. it remains to be seen what the price point will be for greatest hits and budget titles, but my guess would 30. thus the price advantage of optical media this time around is nullIt's not an innovation, but it's the nature of optical media, and the UMD format certainly moves videogame portables forward in terms of storage capacity at affordable prices. A 1.8GB cart certainly wouldn't clock in at $40-$50.
the other upside of higher storage sounds great, but how many games truly take advantage of the extra capacity to enhance gameplay? most of the data on modern games arent polygons and AI, it is FMVs, and music. on a console these features are great (especially on a huge TV with surround sound), but the effect on a handheld (even with a great screen) is greatly diminished. plus, loading and playing FMVs or audio directly from the disc sucks down battery life, but thats another bullet point.
sleep mode is nice, but its an emergency measure that skirts the real issue. what fun is a game system if the battery dies on me, sure i wont lose my progress, but im SOL until i get home.Many of the PSP games thus far are actually very well-suited to brief play sessions. Sony has talked numerous times about making sure its PSP titles can be played in short spurts. Also, basically every PSP game thus far allows you to put the system into sleep mode and resume gameplay from where you left off, or save your game at any time, or both. If the battery runs low, you just sleep/save, recharge, and resume.
the battery itself seems to be fine, reports say that if you are playing mp3 files from a memory stick, you can get 12 hours out of the battery. it goes back to the decision to use optical media. if sony wasnt so dead set on making the PSP a movie player, solid state media couldve been used for games, and the cost of the unit, and its battery life and load times wouldve been much better.
even if you cut the rate in half, you still have a very high number of bad units. in the past, bad consoles were defined by the lack of abuse it could take (NES, Brickboy, original PSX), but with the PS2 and the PSP, machines are broken out of the package at a higher rateLooking at a DP forum poll and thinking it reflects North American PSP defect rates as a whole is a little bit crazy.
there are no hard numbers to quote, and Sony will certainly spin the initial sales report, but i go by a few observationsWhat numbers are you quoting? Where are you finding PSPs sitting on store shelves? Are you citing anecdotal "evidence" or actual sales statistics, which won't be available for a while yet?
- PSPs are still readily available
- news reports on launch day said PSPs would be in short supply and sony expected to sell 1 million units "within a few days"
- retailers had low supply measures in place, such as 1 system per customer rules
- both sony and retailers positioned the PSP in a bundle package, banking on high demand and limited supply. both parties wanted to squeeze extra profit from what was expected to be a slam dunk launch.
Whoa! That's cool! I wonder if it's random or set by month. I gotta go check this out! I didn't read the whole thingQuoting the PSP manual:
"When the month changes or if you change the month under 'Date & Time Settings,' the background color will change automatically."
-- Z., it's so huge. Even just the English section.
I just DLed version 1.1 of PSP Video 9, which has a new "Profile Picker" feature that gives estimated filesizes for video/audio settings. That'll save me some work. :)
-- Z.
on the contrary, "killer apps" that sell systems are almost always original games
VCS - Space Invaders
NES - Super Mario Bros
Game Boy - Tetris
Genesis - Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES - Street Fighter II
i made the point before, solid state media can produce the exact same graphics as UMD discs. music can be compressed, and FMV movies are totally pointless on a handheld. UMD were used so Sony can push yet another proprietary format that few people will use.Welcome to the world of CD Roms, where you can fit bigger games, CD quality music and movies, and an overall cheaper and larger capacity media compared to carts. Without UMD media, PSP wouldn't look HALF as good as it does
4-6 is not 8-10, and with a rechargeable battery, you do not have the option of bringing a couple extra AA batteries for a quick change if you run out of power at an inopportune time. you are stuck until you find an outletyou get 4-6 hours! that is not BRIEF. I wasn't flaming you either, I was making a statement, not directly at you or at anyone.
250 is already a high price for a handheld, there should be a higher standard of quality, than there is for an 80 dollar GBASP. but its not even equal.I've said it once and I'll say it again...a few dead pixels that you cannot even notice unless you have a black screen and are in a dim lighted room is NOT defective. We can have perfect screens.....and we can pay 800.00.
maybe that will be one of the excuses sony will give us with their initial sales report. but i still think price is the number one keep away factor. time will tellActually, the number of PSP's sitting on store shelves would show that IT'S HORRIBLE TO LAUNCH A SYSTEM IN MARCH! People are broke, they spent out at Christmas time, most everyone's already gotten back (and spent) their tax checkes as well. We'll see how things churn out in December though, when you can't find em anywhere....and their hitting 500.00 on eBay.
bah, double post
Fair enough. Unfortunately, game-development costs have reached the point where no one can afford to innovate, but that's a whole 'nuther topic.
Not all third-party games are $50; Lumines, for example, is $40.the biggest upsides to optical media are price and storage. But UMDs are proprietary as any cartridge, meaning that Sony manufactures all the discs and gets a bigger cut of money as opposed to standard CD or DVD roms. first party games are 40 bucks, and third party games are 50. it remains to be seen what the price point will be for greatest hits and budget titles, but my guess would 30. thus the price advantage of optical media this time around is null
This sounds more like another knock on modern gaming as opposed to a PSP-specific complaint. In any case, Lumines is a good example of a game that benefits from the UMD, packed with high-quality tunage that both enhances and is tied into the gameplay.the other upside of higher storage sounds great, but how many games truly take advantage of the extra capacity to enhance gameplay? most of the data on modern games arent polygons and AI, it is FMVs, and music. on a console these features are great (especially on a huge TV with surround sound), but the effect on a handheld (even with a great screen) is greatly diminished. plus, loading and playing FMVs or audio directly from the disc sucks down battery life, but thats another bullet point.
This complaint applies to every handheld system ever, except that the PSP (and DS) offer sleep mode to make the outta-juice experience as painless as possible.sleep mode is nice, but its an emergency measure that skirts the real issue. what fun is a game system if the battery dies on me, sure i wont lose my progress, but im SOL until i get home.
This isn't a complaint about the PSP, but Sony's decision to make the PSP into a multimedia doohickey. And I'm very glad Sony went with the "Walkman of the 21st century" approach; the PSP's movie-playback capability is friggin' fantastic, and I've had almost as much fun goofing around with that aspect as with the games themselves.the battery itself seems to be fine, reports say that if you are playing mp3 files from a memory stick, you can get 12 hours out of the battery. it goes back to the decision to use optical media. if sony wasnt so dead set on making the PSP a movie player, solid state media couldve been used for games, and the cost of the unit, and its battery life and load times wouldve been much better.
DVD playback certainly didn't hurt the PS2 (especially in Japan), and the PSP's non-gaming functions certainly won't hurt it. Even Nintendo has realized this, hence the DS's forthcoming PDA functions.
Also, the PSP *does* support solid-state media in the form of the MS Duo, which geeks are already joyfully exploiting; see the slashdot link earlier in this giga-thread.
I don't disagree with any but your first observation, which I have to assume is referring to online PSPs; I don't know that anyone in any region of the country can easily locate a PSP at a local retailer.there are no hard numbers to quote, and Sony will certainly spin the initial sales report, but i go by a few observations
- PSPs are still readily available
- news reports on launch day said PSPs would be in short supply and sony expected to sell 1 million units "within a few days"
- retailers had low supply measures in place, such as 1 system per customer rules
- both sony and retailers positioned the PSP in a bundle package, banking on high demand and limited supply. both parties wanted to squeeze extra profit from what was expected to be a slam dunk launch.
Did retailers expect too much of an off-season, holiday-weekend launch? Seems like it. And Sony will surely cite sell-in numbers instead of sell-though numbers. But what would you consider a "flop" of a launch? Half a million PSPs sold through in the first week? A quarter-million?
-- Z.
Space Invaders and Street Fighter II were ports of coin-op hits, not original games, and Tetris was already established as a hit on the PC before it appeared as a Game Boy title. Those games don't strengthen your argument.
Have you actually looked at the PSP's screen for any length of time? :) It's pretty much a mini-HDTV. Movies look absolutely incredible on it. Spider-Man 2 is amazing. Even homebrewed PSP Video 9 clips look pretty damn good.i made the point before, solid state media can produce the exact same graphics as UMD discs. music can be compressed, and FMV movies are totally pointless on a handheld. UMD were used so Sony can push yet another proprietary format that few people will use.
I'm okay with Sony leaving out AA battery support in order to keep the PSP's design as sexy and streamlined as possible. And $20 gets you an external AA battery pack or rechargeable battery, which you should buy if you're traveling so much that you're away from a power outlet for 8 to 10 hours at a time.4-6 is not 8-10, and with a rechargeable battery, you do not have the option of bringing a couple extra AA batteries for a quick change if you run out of power at an inopportune time. you are stuck until you find an outlet
As Dan pointed out earlier, all screens of this nature are prone to dead pixels, not just the PSP's.250 is already a high price for a handheld, there should be a higher standard of quality, than there is for an 80 dollar GBASP. but its not even equal.
-- Z.
high quailty tunage can be done on solid state, compressing songs to a format similar to mp3 wouldn't require the space of a UMD
not entirely, a built in rechargeable battery cant be switched on the fly like a set of AAs.This complaint applies to every handheld system ever, except that the PSP (and DS) offer sleep mode to make the outta-juice experience as painless as possible.
the problem with convergence generally is that the extra functions are rarely up to snuff with dedicated devices. in the case of PSP's video playback, if sony had simply had a video out function on the unit, then it would've been in a much stronger position in the portable video player arena.This isn't a complaint about the PSP, but Sony's decision to make the PSP into a multimedia doohickey. And I'm very glad Sony went with the "Walkman of the 21st century" approach; the PSP's movie-playback capability is friggin' fantastic, and I've had almost as much fun goofing around with that aspect as with the games themselves.
DVDs are a standard format, UMDs are bound to be second classDVD playback certainly didn't hurt the PS2 (especially in Japan), and the PSP's non-gaming functions certainly won't hurt it. Even Nintendo has realized this, hence the DS's forthcoming PDA functions.
the hackability of a game machine will always propel sales, once games can be ripped to memory sticks, and we start to see homebrew and emulators running on the PSP, things will get very interesting. though the DS also has its fair share of funtime vulnerabilitiesAlso, the PSP *does* support solid-state media in the form of the MS Duo, which geeks are already joyfully exploiting; see the slashdot link earlier in this giga-thread.
i dont set sony's goals, the PSP isnt going to die in a month, but im bold enough to assume that sony and many retailers did not meet their goals with the launch.I don't disagree with any but your first observation, which I have to assume is referring to online PSPs; I don't know that anyone in any region of the country can easily locate a PSP at a local retailer.
Did retailers expect too much of an off-season, holiday-weekend launch? Seems like it. And Sony will surely cite sell-in numbers instead of sell-though numbers. But what would you consider a "flop" of a launch? Half a million PSPs sold through in the first week? A quarter-million?
The battery compartment on the PSP opens without the use of tools. So yes, it IS as easy as changing AA batteries. Except easier because it's one battery rather than fumbling with 2 or more AA's and trying to get them in right.
The DS of course requires a screw driver.
i dont see too many people buying a second battery for the PSP
I was replying to your
Also, who says people won't buy second batteries? Yeah, yeah. I know, still Someone out there might.
I for one am more interested in that Pelican thingy.
Until someone releases a DS game with as much quality and variety of music as Lumines, I have to disagree with you.
But there's very little difference between carrying around a four-pack of AA batteries and carrying around an external battery pack. Pelican's PSP Power Brick is as tiny and as light as a AA four-pack.not entirely, a built in rechargeable battery cant be switched on the fly like a set of AAs.
I assume you mean a video in function, but that would've added jacks and cost to the PSP, not to mention wounding its sexy profile. And, hey, perhaps Sony will release a PSP cable that allows for video input.the problem with convergence generally is that the extra functions are rarely up to snuff with dedicated devices. in the case of PSP's video playback, if sony had simply had a video out function on th
e unit, then it would've been in a much stronger position in the portable video player arena.
It's hard to tell at this point, although there's no question that Sony's previous proprietary formats have flopped. I've spoken with more people who are impressed with the UMD's size and quality than aren't--mostly casual/non-gamers, exactly the folks Sony is targeting.DVDs are a standard format, UMDs are bound to be second class
I know you didn't set their goals, but what I'm asking is if you consider the PSP launch to be a failure if Sony fell even slightly short of a million units sold in, or sold through, or whatever. What's your personal definition?i dont set sony's goals, the PSP isnt going to die in a month, but im bold enough to assume that sony and many retailers did not meet their goals with the launch.
-- Z.
but a four pack of AA's do not need to be physically attached to a unit. extra cables and wires severely upset the portability of any handheld device
i did mean video out. portable DVD players, camcorders, laptop computers, and other devices can be easily hooked to a standard television for viewing. in the case of DV camcorders, a three-tiered 1/8" jack allows for video out. that would not require any additional portsI assume you mean a video in function, but that would've added jacks and cost to the PSP, not to mention wounding its sexy profile. And, hey, perhaps Sony will release a PSP cable that allows for video input.
a video in function would also be cool, but a PC seems to be better suited for the dirty work of video compression.
if that is going to happen, then UMDs will have to expand beyond the PSP. UMD playback on sony DVD players would be a good start.It's hard to tell at this point, although there's no question that Sony's previous proprietary formats have flopped. I've spoken with more people who are impressed with the UMD's size and quality than aren't--mostly casual/non-gamers, exactly the folks Sony is targeting.
again, im not sony, and we will never know what their goals were, but i have to think that they expected the launch to follow the example of the PS2 and the JPN PSP. if I were running the company, i would be satisfied, but i dont have the global domination mentality of a corporate executive.I know you didn't set their goals, but what I'm asking is if you consider the PSP launch to be a failure if Sony fell even slightly short of a million units sold in, or sold through, or whatever. What's your personal definition?
btw, this has been a very good exchange... if this were say IGN, things wouldve gone to crap by now
The Power Brick actually recharges the PSP's own battery, so you can disconnect the PB after the PSP has been replenished.
As for "upsetting the portability," what exactly do you mean? How does stuffing the Power Brick into a jacket or pants pocket make the PSP any less portable? How does a single thin cable ruin the experience of playing the PSP in a car or on an airplane--especially when it's a backup power source, not a primary one?
I expect that the vast majority of portable gamers don't play for six hours at a stretch, and I assume Sony and Nintendo felt the same way when designing the PSP and DS without AA battery slots. This issue is only going to be a concern for a tiny minority, and that minority can purchase (for the PSP, anyway) a small, affordable external battery pack.
Why would you want to hook up the PSP to an external video source when its own screen is better than most anything you could hook it up to?i did mean video out. portable DVD players, camcorders, laptop computers, and other devices can be easily hooked to a standard television for viewing. in the case of DV camcorders, a three-tiered 1/8" jack allows for video out. that would not require any additional ports
I could see this working as a Super Game Boy-style function, but not for video playback. UMD discs aren't meant to be played back on standard TVs, but on self-contained screen-sporting portable devices such as the PSP. It would be defeating the purpose of the format to play back UMDs on large-screen TVs.
-- Z.
i didnt realize that, i thought that it was only useful if it was attached to the system
that is limiting the function of a UMD and it doesnt address video or photos ripped to memory cards. even the ipod photo has video out for slide shows. there are some portable video players on the market, but none have really broken through as the leader, the PSP could've opened a door for sony
Why would you want to hook up the PSP to an external video source when its own screen is better than most anything you could hook it up to?
I could see this working as a Super Game Boy-style function, but not for video playback. UMD discs aren't meant to be played back on standard TVs, but on self-contained screen-sporting portable devices such as the PSP. It would be defeating the purpose of the format to play back UMDs on large-screen TVs.
I was really hoping we could avoid the "atrocities of the PSP" in this thread, which should be a celebration by the system's owners.
If it MUST continue I'll split the topic and let you guys duke it out.
PS I love this thing.
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