OLED vs IPS LCD Vita

[Ikaruga11]

Which display technology is superior for the PlayStation Vita? An OLED or IPS (LED)?

Here are the factors I'm looking at:

• Color Accuracy
• Color Depth
• Contrast
• Brightness
• Viewing Angles
• Power Consumption
• Response Time (Ghosting/Motion Blur)
• Input lag
• Lifespan (Which screen lasts longer?)

[Xer Xian]

Of course contrast (well, black level/uniformity at least), viewing angles and response time are going to be better on the fat (oled) PSVita. Colors are more vibrant/saturated on the oled as well, but this is not necessarily better. Input lag is tough to say, can you even measure it on a built-in display? Not sure.

I bought a PSVita pretty early in its life cycle so I didn't have a choice.. I still love my fat Vita and never got the itch of up/side/downgrading to the newer version Anyway, you can now find several videos on youtube with A/B comparisons on this.

[ZellSF]

Uh, color accuracy depends on which version the game you're playing was made for. If the game was made to look correct on an OLED Vita, it won't look right on a LCD vita, and if it was made on a LCD Vita it won't look right on a OLED Vita.

Not that I think game developers care that much about color accuracy and none of the screens are calibrated and may vary wildly anyway...

I don't particularly see the reason to care about the power consumption of the OLED panel vs the LCD panel. The unit as a whole sure, but just the panel? I don't think anyone's measured that or ever will. The LCD Vita as a whole supposedly lasts an hour longer though.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I own both the OLED and IPS-based LCD Vitas -- I like the overall presentation of the OLED Vita with it's vibrant colors. Some of the Vita games that look drop-dead gorgeous on an OLED Vita are Jeff Minter's TxK running at a silky-smooth 60fps framerate along with Taito's DariusBurst CS. Even running the PSX games on an OLED Vita are quite something to behold/marvel at -- the classic PSX shmup of Zanac x Zanac looks stunning running at a crisp 60fps framerate on a OLED Vita.

Of course, battery management is better with the LCD based Vita setup with a bigger & higher capacity Li-ion battery installed from the get-go compared to the shorter battery life duration of the OLED Vita setup (to remedy this dreaded shorter 1st-gen Vita battery issue/situation, I use one of those handy USB power bank chargers with at least a 10,000 or 11,000 mAh capacity rating at 5v at 2.4 amps -- works wonders with a OLED Vita any ol' day without draining the internally installed Li-ion battery -- it's a given/must/necessity in this day of age, especially with the power hungry OLED Vita if it's powered on + Wi-fi access is turned on).

Wi-fi access is better with the OLED Vita and Wi-fi range can be a bit spotty with the LCD variant Vita at best.

In terms of overall weight, the OLED Vita is heavier and has that unmistakable heft/feel to it whereas with the LCD Vita is much lighter and easier to hold in your hands for a longer duration (of course, it helps to have a good PS Vita protective shell/case that doubles as a viewing stand if watching Youtube, Netflix, Crunchyroll, etc). The Madcatz PS Vita crystal-clear shell works wonders with the 1st-gen OLED Vita indeed.

It's a given that the OLED Vita uses a special proprietary Sony-branded USB cable to charge it up or data transfers between a PS3/PS4 console (the 3rd-party produced 1st-gen proprietary Vita USB cable will charge the handheld itself but won't do data transfers whatsoever with said PS3/PS4 consoles -- something to take into consideration) whereas with the LCD Vita, you can use any micro-sized USB A/C adapter with a minimum of 1.5 amps rated at 5.0 volts to charge it up properly or use a micro USB cable to do such data swapping between aforementioned PS3/PS4 consoles.

As for the PS Vita memory cards, a 64GB Vita memory card is your best bet in being able to store all your favorite Vita games, apps, mobile games, pics, and downloaded movies in MOV. format. Playing the classic anime film of Redline or even Akira on a OLED Vita is priceless. Heck, watching streaming anime with the Vita app of Crunchyroll has it's benefits of looking quite sexy on a OLED Vita.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BONKERS]

OLED will have better contrast, and better response times. (Though sample and hold blur still exists).

Color is a moot point since no screen is calibrated and therefore no screen will be accurate.

Viewing angles should be similar. Either is a worthwhile choice.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Only if Sony were to release a 128GB or 256GB sized Vita memory card -- I'd be willing to pay good money if they were produced. I've come to the conclusion that even owning two 64GB Vita memory cards have their limitations & realize that it's not enough ample storage space in hindsight (they're both maxed out at capacity with plenty of games, apps, pics and movies filled to the brim -- if said Vita memory is used up to the max, a pop-up screen message will appear saying that "XXXMB amount of memory is necessary to run this Vita application", please delete some memory on the card). It's feasible/doable to have a Vita 64GB memory card with 0kb left of free memory and still run into the aforementioned dreaded "out of memory" issue if attempting to open/run an app or game. Your mileage may vary as the ol' saying goes. Or if you get below 40MB of remaining memory on any sized Vita memory card (whether it be 4GB, 8GB 16 GB, 32GB or 64GB), a pop-up message will you let know of this pressing issue at hand -- there's no way around skirting this low memory issue. Or if you don't have enough memory to download a Vita game to a Vita memory card, it'll say "XXXMB/GB of memory is needed to download it, please delete some memory on the card".

I've heard of horror stories of said formatted 64GB Vita memory cards not being accessable (and everything on it being lost/unrecoverable) on a Vita handheld whereas if you use a 64GB Vita memory card on a PSTV or VitaTV micro-console setup, it's no problem/no worries in going that particular route. Some folks say that it's best to use a smaller sized 32GB Vita memory card on a Vita handheld and not have to worry about if it's going to "go up in smoke" or not. Knock on wood that my 64GB Vita memory cards last a long time before MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) rears it's ugly head -- I haven't faced this particular issue with both 64GB Vita memory cards to this day.

The Vita-2000 series also has an internal 1GB partition of memory for saving games, apps and whatnot (the Vita-1000 series doesn't have this internal storage capability from the get-go whatsoever). Fill it up to the max and you'll find out that the internal 1GB of storage space is not transferable to an external Vita memory card (nor is it possible to transfer the memory contents of said Vita memory card to the internal 1GB block of memory storage of a Vita-2000 handheld). Strange but true.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BazookaBen]

can't you use SD card adapters for non-game stuff like video?

[Lord of Pirates]

can't you use SD card adapters for non-game stuff like video?

Vita memory cards are completely proprietary and aren't in any way compatible with SD as far as I'm aware.


On the topic of OLED/IPS:
I'd take the IPS version for the PS/start/select buttons. Contrast and response times are the only thing you're really losing.

[BazookaBen]

can't you use SD card adapters for non-game stuff like video?

Vita memory cards are completely proprietary and aren't in any way compatible with SD as far as I'm aware.

Yeah I had it mixed up with the PSP I think.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

There is a fella whom is working on a Vita memory card adapter that you'll be able to insert a micro SDHC/SDXC card into and not have to worry about the current Vita 64GB memory card barrier/restriction in effect right now. Then by using micro SDHC or SDXC cards with sizes up to 128GB or even 256GB would be more economical/feasible in the long run with said Vita hardware.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[bobrocks95]

There is a fella whom is working on a Vita memory card adapter that you'll be able to insert a micro SDHC/SDXC card into and not have to worry about the current Vita 64GB memory card barrier/restriction in effect right now. Then by using micro SDHC or SDXC cards with sizes up to 128GB or even 256GB would be more economical/feasible in the long run with said Vita hardware.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

On a modded PSTV you can now use USB drives just so you know. Not helpful if you're a portable guy, but a sign that more storage stuff is being made.

[Lord of Pirates]

https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/comm ... ?context=3

Re-reading that, it seems I was a bit off. It may be compatible with SD in some ways but it's up in the air at the moment.

[citrus3000psi]

https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/comm ... ?context=3

Re-reading that, it seems I was a bit off. It may be compatible with SD in some ways but it's up in the air at the moment.

I think Rich has a hardware solution, I don't think he has a simple adapter that changes some lines around. Pure speculation, but I think he is trying to stuff his hardware inside the Vita. I don't think he has anything like the passive Duo adapter.

[Lord of Pirates]

https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/comm ... ?context=3

Re-reading that, it seems I was a bit off. It may be compatible with SD in some ways but it's up in the air at the moment.

I think Rich has a hardware solution, I don't think he has a simple adapter that changes some lines around. Pure speculation, but I think he is trying to stuff his hardware inside the Vita. I don't think he has anything like the passive Duo adapter.

It would be nice. I figure it'll see a news post on Wololo if something comes of it and I haven't been worrying about it otherwise.

[ZellSF]

I'm guessing you would need to use the game card slot if you want a SD card adapter (there's really no room for a microSD adapter in the memory card slot) and the only way that's happening is if you have a hacked Vita. Personally I'm not expecting it to happen at all.