PS3 Downscales 720p on Incapable TVs

[8th lutz]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746282p1.html

 

According to this article, gamers who own older HD sets that feature only 480i, 480p, and 1080i resolution input capabilities will have to settle for the display quality being downsized as the game boots in its 480p mode rather than upscaling the image from its more desirable 720p mode to the TV's 1080i. We tested this development on older HDTV sets with games designed for 720p but not 1080i -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon. Sure enough, the system downshifted all four titles to 480p rather than moving up to 1080i.

 

 

IGN contacted Sony representatives for comment regarding this feature, but SCEA spokespeople have yet to return our phone calls as we went to press (we'll update this story when they do). It is not known yet if this is purely a software issue or a deeper technical problem and whether or not this lack of upscaling might be resolved on launch PS3 systems in future updates of the hardware via downloadable firmware patches.

 

It's good thing that I am not interested in the system, since I recently 32 inch sdtv by sharp. I don't have the pocketbook for a hd tv. This means a lot of gamers will be screwed if there is no firmware patches for this.

Edited November 16, 2006 by 8th lutz

[Hyper_Eye]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746282p1.html

It's good thing that I am not interested in the system, since I recently bought a sharp 32 sdtv. I don't have the pocketbook for a hd tv. This means a lot of gamers will be screwed if there is no firmware patches for this.

 

This wouldn't effect you. Your television is only capable of 480i anyway. This effects people with some models of HDTV CRT sets (a lot of them actually.) Unlike digital displays which only display in progressive scan (converting interlaced signals to progressive scan) and a single resolution (referred to as the native resolution), HDTV CRT's actually display different resolutions in their proper display modes. So, when a digital display with a native resolution of 720p displays a 480i picture that picture is scaled to 1280x720 and converted to progressive scan before being displayed. When a 480i display is displayed on a HDTV CRT that is capable of 720p that television actually displays in 480i. If the content is switched to 720p the television will actually switch to 720p. CRT's do not scale. Because of this some CRT's are sometimes limited in the resolutions they support. In this case they are generally 480i, 480p, and 1080i. This leaves out the popular 720p resolution. This does not apply to all CRT HDTV sets but it applies to many of them.

 

These are the people that are effected by this. With the XBox 360 most games are rendered in 720p. But, someone using one of these CRT's can set their system to 1080i and all games will be scaled to that resolution. The only time the system will leave that resolution is when a DVD is displayed which will cause the system to switch to 480p (the exception being anything connected through the VGA adapter in which the case the 360 will scale to your selected resolution.) What this article is saying is that users with television lacking the 720p option (leaving 480i, 480p, and 1080i) will not be able to play these PS3 games in 1080i which is a high-def resolution. Instead these games will automatically scale down to 480p which is EDTV resolution. This effectively makes all 720p games non-hd for anyone using one of these sets.

Edited November 16, 2006 by Hyper_Eye

[spacecadet]

CRT's do not scale.

 

100% untrue. Not all CRT's do, but almost all recent ones do. Doesn't even have to be an expensive one.

 

Because of this some CRT's are sometimes limited in the resolutions they support. In this case they are generally 480i, 480p, and 1080i. This leaves out the popular 720p resolution.

 

Again, not true. *Almost* all CRT HDTV sets will scale 720p to 1080i. I researched this pretty extensively before buying my CRT HDTV a couple years ago - I could probably count on one hand the number of CRT HDTV's produced in the last 5 years that didn't scale 720p. They exist, but they're rare. (Let me put it this way: you couldn't even watch ABC or Fox in HD on such a set. Who's going to make a TV like that? So the only "HDTV's" that don't support 720p are monitors with no tuner, and even most of them do just on the off-chance that your off-board tuner won't scale.)

 

Which means this "problem" with the PS3 is basically a non-issue. If you're one of the unlucky few who bought a 1080i-*only* CRT over the past few years, then yeah, you're gonna be SOL on 720p games. That's a really ridiculously small number of TV owners running a ridiculously small number of PS3 games - I don't even know what PS3 games only support 720p for high-def at this point, and it's definitely not going to be the standard going forward as both Sony and its competitors try to push hard on 1080p TV sets.

 

It seems like people will manufacture almost anything negative about the PS3 that they can these days, no matter how few people it affects. Hey everybody! I heard the PS3 won't letterbox games properly on 25 inch 4:3 Samsung CRT HDTV's when using the DVI input with an HDMI adapter! Oh, the humanity! When will Sony stop screwing their customers??

Edited November 16, 2006 by spacecadet

[+remowilliams]

Hey everybody! I heard the PS3 won't letterbox games properly on 25 inch 4:3 Samsung CRT HDTV's when using the DVI input with an HDMI adapter! Oh, the humanity! When will Sony stop screwing their customers??

Damn them - I knew that would happen!!

[CPUWIZ]

Actually, this has nothing to do with the PS3, it has to do with the way the game is written.

[Hyper_Eye]

CRT's do not scale.

 

100% untrue. Not all CRT's do, but almost all recent ones do. Doesn't even have to be an expensive one.

 

Because of this some CRT's are sometimes limited in the resolutions they support. In this case they are generally 480i, 480p, and 1080i. This leaves out the popular 720p resolution.

 

Again, not true. *Almost* all CRT HDTV sets will scale 720p to 1080i. I researched this pretty extensively before buying my CRT HDTV a couple years ago - I could probably count on one hand the number of CRT HDTV's produced in the last 5 years that didn't scale 720p. They exist, but they're rare. (Let me put it this way: you couldn't even watch ABC or Fox in HD on such a set. Who's going to make a TV like that? So the only "HDTV's" that don't support 720p are monitors with no tuner, and even most of them do just on the off-chance that your off-board tuner won't scale.)

 

Which means this "problem" with the PS3 is basically a non-issue. If you're one of the unlucky few who bought a 1080i-*only* CRT over the past few years, then yeah, you're gonna be SOL on 720p games. That's a really ridiculously small number of TV owners running a ridiculously small number of PS3 games - I don't even know what PS3 games only support 720p for high-def at this point, and it's definitely not going to be the standard going forward as both Sony and its competitors try to push hard on 1080p TV sets.

 

It seems like people will manufacture almost anything negative about the PS3 that they can these days, no matter how few people it affects. Hey everybody! I heard the PS3 won't letterbox games properly on 25 inch 4:3 Samsung CRT HDTV's when using the DVI input with an HDMI adapter! Oh, the humanity! When will Sony stop screwing their customers??

 

 

Samsung is not the only one that produced sets without 720p support. Sony, Panasonic, and many other major brand makers produced televisions without 720p support. A lot of these televisions were purchased. Before writing a post that claims I am blowing something out of proportion why don't you find the part of my post where I made a big deal out of the issue? I was simply informing the OP as to why his television is not affected by the problem. In truth there will be very few people with this problem as anyone who still uses one of these sets isn't likely to be interested in PS3 or care about the resolution differences. That dosn't mean nobody will be effected.

 

The only reason why I think anything is even being mentioned about this is the fact that they are not upscaling to 1080i when there would seem to be no good reason not to. The XBox 360 does it with all titles. Were there performance issues when scaling to 1080i? That is what I want to know.

 

Actually, this has nothing to do with the PS3, it has to do with the way the game is written.

 

That is why I said "these games" specifically meaning the games that exhibit the problem discussed in the article.