# PSP Screen **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 10, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963 "2010-05-10T21:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963/1 "2010-05-10T21:00:01Z")
Someone was playing with a PSP on the bus today. Anyone know what’s special about the screen Sony is using? It was very paper-like. I didn’t think it was actually a screen at first; there was none of the ‘glow’ that most LCD’s have and the viewing angle was near 180°. Surely it’s not just a matte finish? It seemed much easier on the eyes than most portable electronics I’ve seen… Are the LCD-based ebook readers using similar technology? ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963/2 "2010-05-10T22:01:48Z")
I don’t own one but as far as I am aware, and wikipedia seems to back me up, it’s just a normal backlit lcd screen. Perhaps they just had the light turned down to the lowest setting? I’ve only ever heard complaints about the PSP’s screen. I’m told it has horrible ghosting issues(in other words, slow refresh rate). At least in the earlier versions. The newer ones are supposed to have slightly less horrible ghosting issues. Some LCD eReaders(such as the Jetbook) do use a reflective method of lighting rather than backlight which makes them look basically identical to eink devices. Only without the annoying flicker at page turn and slow refresh rates. I’m not sure why it’s not used more. I suppose it’s possible someone did a screen mod on the PSP you saw and replaced it with a different screen. I doubt it’s likely though. ---
**Author:** ![AmunRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963/3 "2010-05-10T22:10:48Z")
I have a PSP and as far as I can tell it is just a plain old LCD screen. Wikipedia doesn’t have much info on the screen as far as I can tell, but what it does have just indicates that it is a standard LCD panel. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963/4 "2010-05-10T22:30:27Z")
Hm. Well, maybe the sunshine was bright enough to wash out the normal LCD ‘glow.’ ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psp-screen/538963/5 "2010-05-11T02:12:40Z")
He might have had a protective film over it.