PS Vita black blotches/streaking?

[3460169]

This is my first OLED device (as far as I know! lol) and in doing a little homework I've seen the phrase "mura effect" tossed around -- seems this boils down to a common issue among OLED screens.

Last nigh I was playing the Vita in my "man cave" which is rather devoid of light. Playing Uncharted for the first time, and during load screens which are rather dark I noticed tons of black blotches and streaks on the screen. It was late, thought my eyes were playing tricks but sadly they were not.

To test all you need to do is be in a very dark room and look at a very dark background on the Vita. Ideally you want to look at a part of the screen where nothing or very little is actually rendered -- like a Uncharted's loading screens, or the "black bands" on the left and right sides in the camera app (when not in fullscreen mode). I tried to take a pic of this effect but it's pretty tough to do.

Googling around yields some interesting threads. And here's a pic. This isn't mine, and this pic has been enhanced to show what the spotting looks like:

(edit: forgot to post the source of the pic!)

Overall I'm loving this device, and this "issue" is really minor IMO.

 

[MRU]

Could it be similar issue to the yellow iPad screens which were the coating or some such which eventually cleared up after a while? Either way not good.

 

[3460169]

Could it be similar issue to the yellow iPad screens which were the coating or some such which eventually cleared up after a while? Either way not good.

I'm hoping so but only time will tell. If not, the workaround is to simply play in the light! (but sheesh, who does that?!?!)

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Could it be similar issue to the yellow iPad screens which were the coating or some such which eventually cleared up after a while? Either way not good.

FWIW this guy has the same idea...

 

[0098386]

I noticed that last night whilst one of my games was loading. I've only noticed it on this system so I don't know how widespread the problem is.

 

[MRU]

I haven't noticed it on mine as yet. But have had other issues.

 

[3460169]

I took the liberty of making an uncompressed TIFF image at the appropriate resolution and PPI that may or may not help with detecting this anomaly. Haven't tried it myself yet cuz my vita is out of juice currently but I suspect if you open this up in the image viewer while in a sufficiently dark room you'll see some streak age.

EDIT: I wasn't able to load up the TIFF image in the (horribly terribad) browser. I then tried a BMP, and that choked as well. I guess the images are just too large for the limited onboard memory of the Vita, but this test requires an uncompressed image (free of compression artifacts). For shizz and giggles I tried a PNG version as well; that loaded up in the browser, but then errored out when I tried to save it.

So, use your computer or PS3 to transfer the image to the Vita.

 

[0098386]

If it's black wouldn't a regular old fashioned JPEG work?

 

[3460169]

Ah I suppose it would. Figured there would be compression artifacts but, if the pic is one color..... there shouldn't be. Doh

 

[btbrossard]

It's a problem with OLED displays.

My OLED phone does the same thing.

I wouldn't consider it a defect with your Vita itself, more like a defect for all OLED displays.

If you want to search the web you can check out the term OLED Mura.

EDIT To add: My vita looks almost the same in a dark room with a black screen. Loading screens are the only place I've seemed to see it, but I guess it would suck for Netflix and dark movies (in a dark room, of course).

 

[bjmach]

I saw this on mine as well but was thinking that it was mainly due to oils from my fingers being left on the screen. I was thinking that if I wiped the screen clean it wouldn't be there but never got around to trying it because it does seem like the blotches are not always in the same spot.

 

[3460169]

It's a problem with OLED displays.

My OLED phone does the same thing.

I wouldn't consider it a defect with your Vita itself, more like a defect for all OLED displays.

If you want to search the web you can check out the term OLED Mura.
...

Yep -- this was mentioned in the OP. It is a general OLED characteristic & it's a minor issue at best.

 

[MRU]

Ok yep mine has it too.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Transistor current leakage and/or varying sensitivity across parts of the OLED array.

Unlike a standard LCD, an OLED is both the imaging plane and back light source in one. Downside: Current leakage causes variances in low-intensity and dark scenes.

Upside? As the OLEDs age, they tend to get dimmer, and require more current to respond - so it becomes less noticeable after a while.

Downside to the upside? As transistors age (which drive the OLEDs), they tend to leak more current, which may counter the degradation in the OLEDs themselves.

Possible way around this (not sure if you can with the Vita) - adjust the display intensity to make it brighter, it will still have the current leakage, but it may blend in with the background on higher intensities.

I want a Vita for just one game, and one game only - (WO2048), but I held off, because I honestly don't have much faith in Sony this round. The portable boat came and went, along with the target demographic. ... Still want one, but not sure I'm going to follow through. How you guys liking yours so far?

 

[0098386]

How you guys liking yours so far?

One of the best gaming devices I've ever used. Not without faults, but there's so much potential that I can't wait to see what we have in a years time.

 

[btbrossard]

How you guys liking yours so far?

I really like it.

I like the touchscreen aspect for parts of games that need it, yet having physical controls for parts of the games that really need a joystick or buttons.

Entering text on the PSP could really be a drag.

I stopped at some stores on Saturday night when I was out for dinner with my wife and most were pretty picked over both in consoles and games. Target and Best Buy were both out of systems and Target only had two games (which makes the buy 2 get 1 sale kind of hard).

 

[akuma13]

Yep the same effect happened on my Galaxy Nexus at the time. Adjusting the brightness helps but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm loving the Vita I've been sucked in by the beautiful Rayman. Haven't opened Lumines yet.

I can easily see myself playing the Vita more than my PS3.

 

[MRU]

Yep the same effect happened on my Galaxy Nexus at the time. Adjusting the brightness helps but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm loving the Vita I've been sucked in by the beautiful Rayman. Haven't opened Lumines yet.

I can easily see myself playing the Vita more than my PS3.

Rayman is great on it, there are a few small differences between it and it's bigger sibling, enemy placement etc, but I actually think it plays better in the vita because of the readjustment than on the ps3 and god damn it looks pretty

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Transistor current leakage and/or varying sensitivity across parts of the OLED array.

Unlike a standard LCD, an OLED is both the imaging plane and back light source in one. Downside: Current leakage causes variances in low-intensity and dark scenes.

Upside? As the OLEDs age, they tend to get dimmer, and require more current to respond - so it becomes less noticeable after a while.

Downside to the upside? As transistors age (which drive the OLEDs), they tend to leak more current, which may counter the degradation in the OLEDs themselves.

Possible way around this (not sure if you can with the Vita) - adjust the display intensity to make it brighter, it will still have the current leakage, but it may blend in with the background on higher intensities.

I want a Vita for just one game, and one game only - (WO2048), but I held off, because I honestly don't have much faith in Sony this round. The portable boat came and went, along with the target demographic. ... Still want one, but not sure I'm going to follow through. How you guys liking yours so far?

Actually now I come to think of it, only noticed it on mine when I reduced the brightness, so your post makes great sense. Thanks for sharing the info

 

[3460169]

...

I'm loving the Vita I've been sucked in by the beautiful Rayman. Haven't opened Lumines yet.

I can easily see myself playing the Vita more than my PS3.

+1 for this. I'm hooked on the Vita. I don't own a PS3 but if I did it'd be sitting idle and begging for love like my Xboxes currently are.

Rayman is absolutely gorgeous. Downloaded the PSN version last night, first time I ever played any Rayman & it felt like an acid trip. Been thoroughly enjoying Super Stardust Delta as well. Of the two other games I have -- Uncharted and Lumines -- I've yet to play Lumines at all and Uncharted is kind of "meh" at best.

 

[akuma13]

Yeah once exclusive JRPG's come out. It'll be my exclusive machine.

Unless Sony is smart enough to have cross play type function where i can continue my battles on the go.

 

[peskaa]

+1 for this. I'm hooked on the Vita. I don't own a PS3 but if I did it'd be sitting idle and begging for love like my Xboxes currently are.

Rayman is absolutely gorgeous. Downloaded the PSN version last night, first time I ever played any Rayman & it felt like an acid trip. Been thoroughly enjoying Super Stardust Delta as well. Of the two other games I have -- Uncharted and Lumines -- I've yet to play Lumines at all and Uncharted is kind of "meh" at best.

Lumines is basically the video game form of crack. I played for five hours once before I realised the time...

 

[BubbaMc]

Transistor current leakage and/or varying sensitivity across parts of the OLED array.

Unlike a standard LCD, an OLED is both the imaging plane and back light source in one. Downside: Current leakage causes variances in low-intensity and dark scenes.

Upside? As the OLEDs age, they tend to get dimmer, and require more current to respond - so it becomes less noticeable after a while.

Downside to the upside? As transistors age (which drive the OLEDs), they tend to leak more current, which may counter the degradation in the OLEDs themselves.

Possible way around this (not sure if you can with the Vita) - adjust the display intensity to make it brighter, it will still have the current leakage, but it may blend in with the background on higher intensities.

I want a Vita for just one game, and one game only - (WO2048), but I held off, because I honestly don't have much faith in Sony this round. The portable boat came and went, along with the target demographic. ... Still want one, but not sure I'm going to follow through. How you guys liking yours so far?

2048 is even more fun than HD/Fury if that's possible.

Do it, Psygnosis have really outdone themselves this time