This simple improve made my PS3 really feel model new

This Black Friday, I made a decision to splurge and purchase my very first OLED TV. I had heard nice issues about OLEDs and was debating between a 4K OLED monitor and a 4K OLED TV. In the long run, my associates satisfied me that an OLED TV can be the only option to switch my ageing Samsung monitor, so I went for it.

My foremost motive for upgrading was gaming — enjoying on my Switch 2 and PS5, in addition to connecting my PC to get pleasure from a few of my favourite video games in 4K, like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle. Since establishing the TV earlier this week, I have been blown away by how wonderful video games look on OLED — deep blacks, vibrant colours, and quick response instances are implausible, particularly with the PS5 supporting 120Hz VRR.

Nonetheless, whereas gaming on the PS5, it occurred to me that I ought to check one thing else on my new TV. Earlier this 12 months, I lastly got a PS3 for the first time after skipping it for an Xbox 360 again within the day. I loved it, however I had been enjoying it on a monitor, and whereas it appeared wonderful, the image high quality wasn’t the sharpest. Naturally, I spotted that with my OLED TV, the PS3 would possibly look higher than ever — and that could be an understatement. On this display, it seems like a complete new console.

OLED elevates the PS3 to a brand new stage

It brings outdated PS3 video games again to life with glorious distinction and vibrant colours

Clearly, the PS3’s picture high quality cannot compete with the PS5. However once I hooked it as much as my OLED TV, I virtually forgot I used to be enjoying on a console that is almost 20 years outdated.

The primary sport I attempted was Uncharted 2, and I used to be instantly impressed. OLED screens excel at distinction and deep blacks, which was clear in the course of the sport’s intro sequence, the place you are hanging off a practice on a snowy cliff and in the course of the nighttime museum heist. These scenes normally seem washed-out on older LCD TVs, however on an OLED, the blacks had been really black, not the standard grayish tone I’ve seen earlier than on LCDs.

That alone makes outdated PS3 video games look extra detailed than they did on older TVs. Since OLED panels can totally flip off particular person pixels, shadows and darkish scenes all of a sudden acquire depth and readability that the PS3 has at all times technically been in a position to output, however few TVs might show appropriately till now.

On high of that, colours on the PS3 look much better on an OLED due to the panel’s extra vibrant and correct coloration copy. I examined this with the PS3 model of The Final of Us, and whereas it clearly would not match the remake on PS5, the OLED display made the decade-old sport look surprisingly trendy. The improved coloration accuracy makes the world and characters stand out in a method I would by no means seen earlier than on older TVs with the PS3.

After all, any console, PC, or streaming machine can profit from being related to an OLED TV. However utilizing the PS3 actually highlighted how spectacular it was for its time. Video games like The Final of Us and Uncharted 2 nonetheless look beautiful in 2025, regardless that I am enjoying their unique PS3 variations, and it is sufficient to make the ageing console really feel surprisingly new once more. If you wish to play the most recent and biggest variations of those video games, the PS5 is clearly the best way to go, however on an OLED show, the older variations come again to life in a method I did not count on.

There are some limitations

Decision is what holds it again

The largest limitation of enjoying my PS3 on an OLED TV is, unsurprisingly, the decision. The PS3 wasn’t designed for 4K gaming, so it is laborious to not discover that its picture is not as crisp as what you’d see on a PS5. PS3 video games had been constructed for 720p/1080p HD, not 4K UHD, and that distinction exhibits on trendy screens. Nonetheless, the OLED’s vibrant colours and deep distinction assist compensate for the decrease decision.

One other disadvantage is the shortage of HDR, which merely did not exist in the course of the PS3 period. However even with out HDR, the pure distinction and brightness of an OLED panel nonetheless make the picture pop greater than it ever did on older LCD TVs.

General, when you have an OLED TV or monitor and an outdated gaming console like a PS3 or Xbox 360, I extremely suggest attempting it once more on the newer panel expertise. Whereas older video games clearly will not look nearly as good as trendy ones, viewing them with enhanced colours and distinction on an OLED makes them look far more detailed, and it is a enjoyable journey down reminiscence lane to revisit older video games you have not performed shortly. OLED displays and TVs are additionally turning into extra reasonably priced, so if you wish to swap to OLED with out spending a fortune, there are numerous choices out there, together with budget-friendly choices like a 27-inch monitor, which you can find for below $600.