Best PSP screen: 2000, 3000, Go, or Street?

[Logan Jones]

Which model PSP has the best screen for gaming? Is it the 2000's for it's simple brightness, or the 3000 for it's increased pixel response time and vibrancy? What about the PSP GO? is it's screen any better than a 3000's or is it the same? PSP street? Did it have a good screen?

[Lawfer]

PSPgo has the best screen, but it also has a smaller screen than all the other models. The PSPgo screen is closest to how PSP games are supposed to look like, no wached out colors like on the PSP 2000 nor scanlines effects like on the PSP 3000, it's a true progressive screen with the full color gamut.

[Dochartaigh]

Honestly, I find the PSP's screen to be horrible and I've tried all versions of it. They all felt like a really crappy dot matrix-ish type display -
think the screen your old flip phone had like 15 years ago. The Vita's screen is a modern type and is so much better it's not even funny. And you can run the Vita exactly like a PSP if you wanted to (that's how I play all my PS1 games). I know a Vita is a bit more (about $110 shipped on eBay, and there's always Craigslist - check the firmware version on them all so you can jailbreak it), but it's well worth the small extra investment. I haven't been keeping up with their hacks lately but they even hacked the memory card so you can use super cheap SD cards I believe (otherwise official Vita memory is super expensive).

I even find the Vita's controls to be a LOT more comfortable. The PSP (only tried the regular non-go version for an extended period of time) makes my hands cramp up after even a short while. Anyway, I know this doesn't answer your question but this is where I got to after buying a used PSP, hacking on it, playing it a lot, then trying all my friends newer PSP versions (including the go) and quickly sold mine and bought a Vita.

[AndehX]

I prefer the 3000 as the controls are better than the go, and it has the best screen out of all the PSP's

[Lawfer]

The Vita's screen is a modern type and is so much better it's not even funny. And you can run the Vita exactly like a PSP if you wanted to (that's how I play all my PS1 games). I know a Vita is a bit more (about $110 shipped on eBay, and there's always Craigslist - check the firmware version on them all so you can jailbreak it), but it's well worth the small extra investment. I haven't been keeping up with their hacks lately but they even hacked the memory card so you can use super cheap SD cards I believe (otherwise official Vita memory is super expensive).

There's no PSP hardware inside the PS Vita though, it should be noted that all PS1 and PSP games played on the PS Vita are ran through software emulation and PSP games are blurrier than they should be due to the fact that PSP games are 480x272 while the PS Vita screen is 960x544.

[Dochartaigh]

PSP games are 480x272 while the PS Vita screen is 960x544.

480x272 is exactly 1/2 of 960x544 so are these not scaled to exactly 2x or am I missing something? I don't play PSP games on mine (why bother I always think since I can play PS1 originals), and they look great to me (I keep them at the original CRT TV's 4:3 ratio - not stretched, and even have a quasi-scanline-like filter turned on and it looks really good). There's other setting tweaks too: sharp bilinear, smoothing on or off, LCD3x, AA filter, etc. (don't have my Vita in front of me so quickly looked up some of the settings they say it has).

I can't imagine anything looking worse than the PSP's screen does...

[ZellSF]

I only have a 3000 and Go. Well I had a Go, but gave it away. The ergonomics on the thing was terrible and trying to play games that utilized both the analog and dpad was just hopeless. Screen quality was good, but way too small. It might seem like a small screen size difference between the Go and the others, but it really isn't. I would avoid it at all costs (though I heard it's nice if you just want to use the TV out function with a DualShock3).

The 3000 might have scanline artifacts, but the screen is otherwise improved from the other models.

The Vita's screen is a modern type and is so much better it's not even funny. And you can run the Vita exactly like a PSP if you wanted to (that's how I play all my PS1 games). I know a Vita is a bit more (about $110 shipped on eBay, and there's always Craigslist - check the firmware version on them all so you can jailbreak it), but it's well worth the small extra investment. I haven't been keeping up with their hacks lately but they even hacked the memory card so you can use super cheap SD cards I believe (otherwise official Vita memory is super expensive).

There's no PSP hardware inside the PS Vita though, it should be noted that all PS1 and PSP games played on the PS Vita are ran through software emulation and PSP games are blurrier than they should be due to the fact that PSP games are 480x272 while the PS Vita screen is 960x544.

PSP games on Vita are integer scaled. They look perfectly sharp. You can optionally choose bilinear filtering to smooth out the image (PSP games weren't meant for such a large screen).

There's also an option to try to more closely replicate the colors of the PSP. It's not very effective. If you get a Vita you'll not get accurate PSP colors. Then again if you get a PSP it's basically a lottery which screen temperature the screen will be. So maybe not take that all that seriously. Obviously with a OLED Vita you'll get perfect blacks/dark colors, there's no way to imitate the PSP's terrible LCD here.

[NormalFish]

Previous responses reflect my personal experience. The Go has the nicest screen, but the controls are bad for anything with lots of time-sensitive inputs -- great for RPGs or puzzles, though. Given that, the 3000 has the nicest screen and while I suspect there may be some variation between units, I personally have never found the 'interlacing' effect to be particularly noticeable, and running my 3k next to my 2k, the 3k is absolutely an improvement. Full stop.

That said, the Vita's screen is definitely better. If you can find a unit with firmware 3.60 or lower, you can have full PSP functionality within the Vita's PSP emulator, however that comes with an increase in input lag. The Vita (both 1k with the OLED or 2k with the LCD) have screens worlds apart from the PSPs, and I personally find the controls and form factor more comfortable. If you can get a unit with appropriate firmware for homebrew, that's my suggestion.

Alternatively, if you're only wanting to play the games and don't care about portability, you can use component out and a dualshock 3 with a PSP Go, and PPSSPP is a really fantastic emulator with a fairly intuitive user interface.

[Logan Jones]

Are there any screen mods out there?

[AndehX]

for the PSP? Probably not. It doesn't really need any....

[Dochartaigh]

Are there any screen mods out there?

Yes there is, you "mod" a Vita to act like a PSP lol. Done. Better screen

[Triple Lei]

The PSP screens are fine (even the blurry 1000 and 2000 screens were tons better than the original NDS screens), and the Vita controls are most certainly not fine. Vita buttons are uncomfortably small, and I don't know about you guys but I often find myself accidentally hitting the analog sticks (especially the right stick). The Vita d-pad, IMO, is inferior to the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 d-pads. And there's no mod to make the Vita face buttons taller or fatter.

Vita memory cards are still expensive so most of the time you don't even want PSP content taking up space... although, WipEout Pulse in particular plays great on the Vita, running at its full framerate with practically no loading times. Still, nothing you can't get with an unlocked PSP, and you'll have better, more comfortable buttons and even video out if you wanted.

[Hoagtech]

The phat was not a very good screen, Lots of motion trails and they were proned to fading quickly.

If you were after deep blacks, rich colors and high contrast the PSP 3000 would be your best, Just look at those strawberries YUM




I would not buy the 3000 though as it has bad line tremble from interlacing.

A good example is the Squaresoft logo at the start of Crisis Core. It shakes like epilepsy.

I would personally recommend the 2000 as it performs better overall in darker scenes and seems to have more gamma at a loss of deep black. Also it has a progressive screen so no line tremble.

I do most of my PSP gaming on my big screen TV with Component output. The output is a strange one that different TV's seem treat as a case by case.

On my SONY in "portable" mode, It blows up the image perfectly corner to corner. On all other TV's I tried, I would battle either black bars or over zoomed images.

While PSP GO with a dualshock seems nice. It doesn't work for me because I own a lot of UMD's and they are unplayable on the GO.

[Logan Jones]

Okay, here's a question: When connected to a TV, the PSP 3000 and Go can output 480i. However, when in 480i, does the PSP's video output fill to the edges of a CRT TV screen, or is it still windowboxed, (just like 480p mode?).

[NormalFish]

Vita memory cards are still expensive so most of the time you don't even want PSP content taking up space... although, WipEout Pulse in particular plays great on the Vita, running at its full framerate with practically no loading times. Still, nothing you can't get with an unlocked PSP, and you'll have better, more comfortable buttons and even video out if you wanted.

At the risk of going on a tangent, this is a nonissue with homebrew. using an SD2Vita adapter, you can use 256GB microSD cards (or higher, i believe, but it gets a bit costly) to hold vita and psp titles (and ps1, roms, whatever).

[FinalBaton]

Okay, here's a question: When connected to a TV, the PSP 3000 and Go can output 480i. However, when in 480i, does the PSP's video output fill to the edges of a CRT TV screen, or is it still windowboxed, (just like 480p mode?).

still windowboxed.

except ps1 games from the PSN store, which will fill the whole screen on a crt AND display at the correct resolution (240p)! a neat little bonus

On my SONY in "portable" mode, It blows up the image perfectly corner to corner. On all other TV's I tried, I would battle either black bars or over zoomed images.

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

[ZellSF]

At risk of derailing this thread further into Vita stuff:

The PSP screens are fine (even the blurry 1000 and 2000 screens were tons better than the original NDS screens), and the Vita controls are most certainly not fine. Vita buttons are uncomfortably small, and I don't know about you guys but I often find myself accidentally hitting the analog sticks (especially the right stick). The Vita d-pad, IMO, is inferior to the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 d-pads. And there's no mod to make the Vita face buttons taller or fatter.

I agree with that. Vita face buttons are too small and awkward. Triggers are terrible. I play PSP games worse on the Vita than on the PSP, though part of that could also be input lag because of the emulation.

That said, for games that use complex control schemes, the ability to bind the right analog stick to something more than makes up for those deficiencies. And obviously for games where responsive controls aren't all that important (RPGs, strategy games, visual novels) then the screen makes up for them.

Vita memory cards are still expensive so most of the time you don't even want PSP content taking up space... although, WipEout Pulse in particular plays great on the Vita, running at its full framerate with practically no loading times. Still, nothing you can't get with an unlocked PSP, and you'll have better, more comfortable buttons and even video out if you wanted.

At the risk of going on a tangent, this is a nonissue with homebrew. using an SD2Vita adapter, you can use 256GB microSD cards (or higher, i believe, but it gets a bit costly) to hold vita and psp titles (and ps1, roms, whatever).

I think it should be mentioned that if you install homebrew on a Vita (which you need to access the entire PSP library) then you'll lose access to all Vita titles requiring newer Vita firmware versions than 3.60. 3.61 was released August 2016, so any title after that there's a huge chance it's unplayable on a CFW Vita.

[speedlolita]

I was a non believer with the 3000 for many years, given that it does have that interlace issue.

However, I recently pickup one up cheaply and while it does have that issue I feel as if it is the device that feels the most contemporary.

I thought the E1000 PSP had an okay screen but later learned it was as good as the one in the 2000.

The other perk of the 3000 (might also be true of the 2000) is the quality of the dpad - can happily play fighting games without issue.

So yeah, if I were you I'd go for a 3000 all things considered.

[Logan Jones]

Alright, then. 3000 for on the go, and Go for... at home. Ironic. I would play the Go at home simply for using a Dualshock 3 controller. (Reminder, in one of my other topics on this forum, I'm discussing how to download ISOs to the PSP.)

[bobrocks95]

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware). You can disable one of the layers of filtering (unlike what ZellSF said, there's always bilinear filtering for PSP titles, but it's probably not noticeable on a handheld) and get a much sharper image than a PSP with component out.

[ZellSF]

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware). You can disable one of the layers of filtering (unlike what ZellSF said, there's always bilinear filtering for PSP titles, but it's probably not noticeable on a handheld) and get a much sharper image than a PSP with component out.

I was (and everyone in the quote chain I was replying to) was talking about the PS Vita. Not the PS TV. The Vita can scale PSP games without bilinear filtering, the PS TV cannot. They have entirely different graphic settings.

[Lawfer]

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware).

??? Modded PS TV? The PS TV can play PSP games without any modding, I already tried it and the resulting picture is completely awful no matter the resolution you choose.

[bobrocks95]

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware). You can disable one of the layers of filtering (unlike what ZellSF said, there's always bilinear filtering for PSP titles, but it's probably not noticeable on a handheld) and get a much sharper image than a PSP with component out.

I was (and everyone in the quote chain I was replying to) was talking about the PS Vita. Not the PS TV. The Vita can scale PSP games without bilinear filtering, the PS TV cannot. They have entirely different graphic settings.

Didn't know that, that's a dumb decision on Sony's part.

man, I really wish I had one of the sony tvs that have this "portable" zoom mode

Is the scaling pretty sharp in that fullscreen psp mode on the Sony?
(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware).

??? Modded PS TV? The PS TV can play PSP games without any modding, I already tried it and the resulting picture is completely awful no matter the resolution you choose.

A modded one allows you to remove the filtering when scaling PSP games.

[Lawfer]

A modded one allows you to remove the filtering when scaling PSP games.

I see, but I don't think it will change much, the PS TV doesn't seem like a platform that is very good at upscaling anything, not even PS Vita games. The original resolution of PSP games is 480x272, the PS Vita only offers 480p at the lowest and 480p on the PS TV is not even at the same aspect ratio as the PSP/Vita as it is 4:3 480p.

[FinalBaton]

Can't take a photo myself, but it's extremely blurry and imo you aren't missing much.

I meant to make a thread about this a long time ago, but I was hoping to get a decent camera to show it off first- a modded PSTV is definitely the best option if you want to play PSP games on your TV (unless you're a real stickler for original hardware). You can disable one of the layers of filtering (unlike what ZellSF said, there's always bilinear filtering for PSP titles, but it's probably not noticeable on a handheld) and get a much sharper image than a PSP with component out.

Nice, thanks for the info. I didn't even know there was filtering for psp games on PS TV. I have a PS TV here and have never tried to put psp games on it, but now I might give it a shot. Any link for how to hack PS TV to remove that filtering over psp games?

[Hoagtech]

edit. Double post

[Dochartaigh]

Any link for how to hack PS TV to remove that filtering over psp games?

My go-to is the Vita (which the PS TV basically is) section of GBATemp forums. Pretty helpful over there and good stickied posts with all the info you will ever need. If you get stuck let me know (I took some notes on what I did on my Vita - and I believe the PS TV follows the same general logic).

https://gbatemp.net/forums/ps-vita-hack ... ebrew.217/

[Hoagtech]

(could you take a picture and post it here, by any chance?)

I tried firing up Vice City. The difference was there but I enjoyed the full screen look.

Non Portable mode



Portable Mode Full Screen


Portable Mode Zoomed in



Next is an example of Metal Slug on the SNK Collection. Note the small size of pixel pefect mode vs Portable Full Screen

Portable Mode


Pixel Perfect Mode


Here is a closeup to see what the image is going through from Native res

Pixel Perfect Mode


Portable Full Screen



Just for fun Here are 2 Games that stretch ALL THE WAY 16:9 (the Switch was much clearer in this aspect)




A note to OSSC users: The OSSC does work in providing scanlines to PSP output, But it broke the "Portable Mode" and wouldn't allow me to select it leaving me with large black borders

Megman powered up OSSC




Megaman Portable Mode Full Screen




Katamari Full Screen Portable Mode




All in all, I prefer playing with smeary Full Screen border-less picture but I would understand someones other people's disapproval.

After this test I played Vice City Stories soundtrack for a couple hours on my Home theater. It sounded fantastic on the Surround

[Logan Jones]

There is the Framemeister, which is by far the best option for home. But since 3000 is the best on-the-go choice, I'm gonna go with that.

[bobrocks95]

A modded one allows you to remove the filtering when scaling PSP games.

I see, but I don't think it will change much, the PS TV doesn't seem like a platform that is very good at upscaling anything, not even PS Vita games. The original resolution of PSP games is 480x272, the PS Vita only offers 480p at the lowest and 480p on the PS TV is not even at the same aspect ratio as the PSP/Vita as it is 4:3 480p.

Looks much better than a PSP with component out on my set, not sure what to say beyond that. I don't believe I have the capability to take pictures that show it well enough, but I'll take a look tomorrow I guess. I use the 720p output from the PSTV, it looks better than its 480p output.

Any link for how to hack PS TV to remove that filtering over psp games?

My go-to is the Vita (which the PS TV basically is) section of GBATemp forums. Pretty helpful over there and good stickied posts with all the info you will ever need. If you get stuck let me know (I took some notes on what I did on my Vita - and I believe the PS TV follows the same general logic).

https://gbatemp.net/forums/ps-vita-hack ... ebrew.217/

GBATemp has a lot of info, I'll also add a link to Hackinformer's guide since it's easy to navigate: https://hackinformer.com/PlayStationGui ... SVITA.html. I think Enso is the newer hack to use as it's permanent CFW, though I'm out of the loop at this point.

"Adrenaline" is the ePSP hack you're looking for, I think the latest version is Adrenaline-6? ARK is an older ePSP hack that you'll also see reference to.