Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: kings x on January 20, 2006, 05:14:32 AM
Title: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: kings x on January 20, 2006, 05:14:32 AM
Has anyone here bought one, tried one... I was wondering how much better than the regular SP screen image it is. I get very tired eyes, and I've been getting annoyed at the kind of glares across the screen from the side lighting. Any opinions on this new model.
And no, I do not have a DS, probably will get one at some point, but I still want to link the SP to the GC.
Title: RE: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: Pale on January 20, 2006, 05:56:10 AM
I've seen on in a kiosk, most places have them up now. It really is a TON better.
Title: RE: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: Strell on January 20, 2006, 06:37:45 AM
Pros: Much brighter, much better, totally worth it.
Cons: Supposedly some units have Dpad issues, such as pressing right is more like pressing right + down. Also, supposedly the refresh rate on the screen took a hit for the new units.
I don't think my unit suffers from either issue. It rocks.
Title: RE: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: Pale on January 20, 2006, 08:30:40 AM
I haven't heard of the Dpad issues, but the refresh rate thing is true.
Truth be told, most people will never ever notice it.
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: kings x on January 20, 2006, 08:48:59 AM
Refresh rate? meaning slow down?
And do you guys know what the average rate is on trading my super new SP at EB for example?
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: darknight06 on January 20, 2006, 09:31:27 AM
New SP displays are blurrier in motion than the older models and the DS. That's all.
As for trade in value, it's probably around $35 or lower. I don't know that for certain.
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: Strell on January 20, 2006, 09:31:28 AM
Refresh rate is the rate at which a screen refreshes. Every second, the screen refreshes several times in response to animation. Mario moving one block right happens during many refreshes. Even though he might have used 4-5 animation frames, the screen updated many more times. Even when you are standing still and NOTHING is happening on the screen, it is still being updated/refreshed/redrawn several times.
Poor refresh rate causes what is known as "ghosting," in which there is a small delay in a screen update, causing things to blur/ghost images to appear. If you had Mario walking across a completely white screen and the refresh rate isn't up to par, you'd see a ghosting afterimage effect. So when Mario moves one block over, you might see some fuzziness resulting from the previous refresh not happening quickly enough.
If you've played a few Castlevania games (Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, and Harmony of Dissonance all do this) , you'll notice the main character ofter has a trail of himself behind him. While in those games it is a graphic effect, ghosting would be that effect but multipled and spread across the entire screen. So instead of just the character having an image trail, the background objects do as well. In a Mario game, every block, coin, Goomba, and Koopa would all do this as you moved to the right/left/up/down. Ultimately it becomes horribly disorienting and can cause eye strain/stress/nausea, although usually it is just very, very annoying.
It has nothing to do with slowdown, which is a breakdown of the system's processor unable to handle too much on the screen, which can result in everything moving slowly. This usually only occurs when you have a ton of sprites on screen and/or some sort of additional graphic effect is going on (Mode 7, for example).
Offtopic: Square can eat **** for causing FFIV to have tons of slowdown.
Title: RE: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: vudu on January 20, 2006, 09:47:19 AM
Thanks for the great info Strell. Do you by chance know if the GBM has the same problem? I haven't noticed anything yet, but perhaps I'm not very observant.
Title: RE: GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: Strell on January 20, 2006, 10:52:51 AM
I do have three Micros (in one month, went from owning none to owning three, mostly due to very good deals I found via Cheapassgamer.com, but anyway) and have used them all to play a few different games, and I didn't notice any ghosting.
However, if I get a chance tonight/tomorrow, I'll put both my Pearl Blue SP and my Micros through the needed paces. I'll play Gunstar, FFIV, and some Mario advance titles and see what's up. People said it was especially bad with Mario Bros. Classic, so that'll be one test.
But offhand, I don't think the Micro has the same ghosting issues. I'll give more detailed info later.
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: darknight06 on January 20, 2006, 04:59:55 PM
The Micro's screen reaction time is exactly the same as the regular GBA. The GBASP is the only one where it's lower.
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: 31 Flavas on January 20, 2006, 09:56:46 PM
Quote Originally posted by: darknight06 The Micro's screen reaction time is exactly the same as the regular GBA. The GBASP is the only one where it's lower.
Micro's screen is different in at least one aspect (aside from the picture sharpness and clairity, its like the games are displayed in progressive scan on it now or something. I know I can't be the only one seeing this. Original GBA, SP, and espically backlit SP demonstrate it, times where the picture will just break up in to what looks like interlace lines. It was espically prominent at the top of the Mercury Tower in Golden Sun with the blue swirly globe at the top. I just replayed to that point in the story again and looked at it on all 4. It's clearly noticeable on all but the Micro's screen.
edit: Oh, and it is totally noticeable on DS too.
Title: RE:GBA SP Brighter screen model
Post by: kings x on January 21, 2006, 04:12:20 AM
