Digital Foundry: Three Hours with the PS4 Pro

[ethomaz]

Too late here to make my own quotes from the article

From GAF.

I went into the PlayStation Meeting today as a sceptic, believing that the hardware may not be up to the task of powering a 4K display. The good news is that several hours later, I emerged from the event impressed with the quality of the experience and respectful of the wizardry utilised to make this GPU punch above its weight.

However, a trio of the Sony first party efforts looked seriously impressive: Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and Infamous First Light. All use the same cutting-edge upscaling technique. Previously we've talked about the 4x4 checkerboard process, where a 2x2 pixel block is extrapolated out into a 4x4 equivalent - next-gen upscaling, if you like. It allows developers to construct a 2160p 4K framebuffer from half the pixels - a much closer fit for the Pro's GPU prowess.

Speaking to developers on site, several aspects of the checkerboard technology came into focus. Up until now, we've seen it as a software post-process upscale, but in actual fact, it's one of a number of new custom features backed into the PS4 Pro's GPU and as such comes with zero cost to game developers. We also understand that while it is a hardware feature, game-makers do seem to have a certain level of control - which may perhaps explain why different games exhibit varying levels of artefacting.

But the key takeaway is this - while the PlayStation 4 Pro GPU lacks the horsepower to render out challenging content at native 4K, the presentation we've seen on a number of titles clearly shows a worthwhile, highly desirable increase in fidelity over 1080p - one that does put a 4K screen to good use. Switching between full HD and checkerboard 4K, the increase in detail is simply stunning.

Digital Foundry: Three hours with PlayStation 4 Pro • Eurogamer.net

[SWORDF1SH]

Nice, I wasn't going to get the Pro but I simply must have it now. Just gotta figure out a way to pay for a 4K TV, PSVR and the Pro.

[DerNebel]

This does a way better job selling the Pro then Sonys own event did.

[Lordfancypants]

Nice, I wasn't going to get the Pro but I simply must have it now. Just gotta figure out a way to pay for a 4K TV, PSVR and the Pro.

That's what unnecessary organs are for.

[ethomaz]

This does a way better job selling the Pro then Sonys own event did.

They is a big issue selling HDR, 4k, etc via low quality live streaming.

BTW HDR you only will see difference if you have a device compatible with HDR (most expensives 4k TVs right now)... the best way to cover that is using in store booths showing HDR on/off.

[ethomaz]

Video...

[Dr. Pezus]

This does a way better job selling the Pro then Sonys own event did.

Which is understandable given the nature of the upgrades. Press was impressed because they saw it with their own eyes

[DerNebel]

Which is understandable given the nature of the upgrades. Press was impressed because they saw it with their own eyes

Yeah, they should have just let the press try this out, put them under embargo and then just unveil the Pro in a blog post with side by side screenshots and videos for comparison the same day the embargo ends.

[darkknightkryta]

I was looking into the TV I have.  It's HDR capable (Though not 100% HDR).  A PS5 will look nice on it  

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

eh.. I need to find a monitor that supports it.

[ethomaz]

Yeah, they should have just let the press try this out, put them under embargo and then just unveil the Pro in a blog post with side by side screenshots and videos for comparison the same day the embargo ends.

You need a HDR display to see the HDR differences to be fair.

4K is more easy because you can show uncompressed video.