I recently bought a PlayStation 3 Slim which is connected to HDMI. It gives me quite strong eye strain within an hour, getting stronger over time. I think even looking at the "XMB" system menu (1080p) causes the eye strain.
My usable monitor (BenQ EW2740L) which the PS3 currently is connected to doesn't have TV inputs but only HDMI and VGA. I consider buying an active AV to HDMI 1080p adapter to try and see if it helps.

But I would like to ask you about your experiences with the PS3. Is it usable for you? I only tried two games yet, Oblivion and Tomb Raider, both which output in 720p.
Somewhere I read PS4 and Xbox One are supposed to be unusable for us, so I thought the previous generation was usable.

My current PS3 firmware is 4.81

I have a Slim too for years now. Older firmware versions were better. I know what you're talking about, there's sort of a subtle visible flicker or beat w/ hdmi on the xmb. I recently tried a hdfury hdmi to vga adapter and I was impressed because it made the beat go away but unfortunately highlights were blown out. No black crush however. Then (to be determined) I burnt out both the cable and the ps3's hdmi port. It still has 1 more port I can use, component. But first I have to test it elsewhere to find out if the system is usable as I only have the 1 display. So word of advice, never unplug and plug hdmi cables on devices that are turned on or you risk port burnout.
That said, you'll probably be better off using the component output w/ adapter to vga or get a display that accepts component which is what I was planning to do anyway. You won't be able to find Sony component cables new now so you will have to go with third party or used.
Alternative is, if you have time and don't mind disassembly of the system you can install a chip and flash an older version of the firmware.

  • KM replied to this.
  • KM likes this.

    I find the PS3 to be eminently usable, I have the... I think it's Slim. It's the "C" rev, I think? Anyway, it's fine. Please note that you can change the color to "deep color" which seems worse to me than the standard color depth...

    • KM replied to this.
      14 days later

      In the meantime I tried a PS2 HDMI adapter (it works on the PS3, too) connected to AV out with both 576p@50Hz and 480p@60Hz. Still impressive eye strain. Maybe it is game-dependent, but it could also be a recent firmware change that made things worse.

      @Gurm Do you know the firmware version of your PS3?

      No, I don't know the firmware version, I think it was probably around the 4.7ish mark, but definitely the last couple.

      I still haven't gotten around to checking mine to see if the hdmi port is burnt out or not.. maybe on Friday.

      Seriously, stop futzing about with HDMI especially if you are not getting a pleasant experience via low-rezzing it to 480. There's a second video output port on it, you can try component you know.. that's the one with the R-G-B cable and the cable is not expensive.

      6 days later

      i can tolerate my slim but it definitely causes more strain than my desktop w nvidia card

      • KM likes this.
      2 months later

      Small update: I've been playing a lot since on this console. It seems most games are pretty usable up to the point where I say "no eye strain". Like recently Red Dead Redemption and currently Alien Isolation, even when I change its gamma settings. But others are worse. The eye strain seems to depend on the game. I was playing the Call of Duty series and noticed that the "Modern Warfare" series was harder to look at than the "Black Ops" one (including World at War), which wasn't perfect to look at either. I researched online and found that they are made by different companies, and they use different game engines.

      • Link replied to this.

        KM interesting. Is black ops the main game you're having strain with? I'm not sure what can be different about black ops from modern warfare as from what I know they run on the same engine but a modified version of it. BTW what kind of display do you play on? Just make sure deep color and super white or whatever that other option is are off. Unless you have a true 10bit display I guess.

          a month later

          Hopefully this doesn't reach you too late KM, but do not update your console. 4.82 firmware just released, and the reason is because in Q1 '18 a software-only downgrade for 4.81 is going to become available. Once that is out, then you will be able to drop down to older versions without requiring a hardware chip as long as they are not lower than what your unit originally shipped with.

          I still haven't tested mine yet to see if it is only the HDMI port I burnt out, or the entire system. I hope it is just the port because the SCART will still work. I'll get around to it sooner or later.

          • KM likes this.

          It's good you mention that. I'm already modded, and earlier when I had a lot of trouble with the PS3, I tried older firmwares down to version 3.55, which didn't help at that time. But overall the PS3 seems to be pretty usable. I just finished XCOM, which took me many weeks and was OK to look at, and am now playing Metal Gear Solid 5, which is also OK. Maybe the HDMI switch I added at some point changed something. I use it to connect multiple devices over a single HDMI port. I can't say that I currently have trouble with the XMB menu either. It's weird it got that much better. I should try Tomb Raider soon again, which was the first game I played and was seriously hurting my eyes repeatedly.

          • JTL replied to this.

            KM I've had cheap HDMI switches cause random white "snow" over the image, not like dithering, but interference so it could be possible.

              2 months later

              During the last days I played Skyrim for some hours each. And I had to stop every single day due to red, burning eyes and feeling exhausted. The oscilloscope didn't reveal any flicker. The game is a mix of first/third person 3D, has frame rate issues, and the camera is moved a lot, causing some motion sickness here and there. The games I had eye strain problems with so far look similar: Oblivion, Skyrim, Tomb Raider, Call of Duty Series (although not that much), Farcry 2 and 3. On the other hand, I could play Alien Isolation, Metal Gear Solid 5, and Red Dead Redemption till the end without such issues.

              4 years later

              Well, the good news is that the Slim I have, it turns out that it was only the HDMI IC that burnt out, not the system itself. Finally got a good quality component cable and took it to a TV with component inputs to determine this. The IC is replaceable but I'm not going to bother right now.

              I don't have a TV at home.. but my monitor does have VGA.. I didn't feel like a component to hdmi converter, so what I have done instead is I've ordered a lagless colourspace transcoder from component to VGA. When it eventually arrives I'll give it a try.. I already have a high quality VGA cable that I was using before. I'm hoping that it should be just fine since I know that the VGA input was ok for me with my PC and the dongle I was using it with. More to come..

              @KM Btw, original firmware 4.80-4.88 is software crackable now through a web browser, so don't be afraid to update yours and/or try out other versions if you want to downgrade.

              I'm not sure if you can mess with Graphic Options in PS3, but see if you can find them ingame to deactivate different visual effects. There are known issues with Film Grain, Motion Blur and Chromatic Aberration causing severe eyestrain and headaches for some people.

              Edit: Sorry i thought this was a recent thread, but maybe this can help anyone struggling with some videogames

              19 days later

              4.88 firmware is fine to use with the component cables and the VGA converter box I am using but the image quality isn't as perfect as HDMI's is. Was strange to play it again last night after all these years.

              FYI: If you have a PS4, know that firmware 9.00 has a jailbreak now. It is patched in 9.03 (the current one). So chances are if you didn't use your PS4 in a while, or buy a sealed one right now, it can be jailbroken to simplify further testing like finding out which games cause eye strain, which not, and trying Linux on the PS4 to see if there's the same eye strain as on a regular Linux PC. The biggest hurdle for console gaming IMO always is not knowing if a new game you'd like to buy will cause eye strain.

              dev