1. It'd be funny to go into a store (online or offline) that sells Sony displays, find one that does not do 1080p, and photograph the "HD Capable!" sticker on it.

If 1080p is the ONLY display resolution that is truly "HD" then why are Sony displays that can't do it being marketed as HD?

Posted at 1:53PM on Dec 14th 2005 by vc

2. I really gotta wonder how many ps3 games will be in 1080p, i am guessing the majority will just be 720p maybe 1080i.

also, i am pissed my sony HDTV is only 1080i therefore it not a true HDTV... liars! :P

Posted at 2:04PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Dan

3. You cited wikipedia for the definition of HDTV? :)

Actually, it's the ATSC that developed the standard for HDTV. Indeed 720p, 1080i and 1080p are all part of the ATSC HDTV standard. But hold on to your hats:

1080p at 60fps is NOT part of the HDTV spec!

Only 1080p at 30fps.



-Pie

Posted at 2:15PM on Dec 14th 2005 by EatingPie

4. There are very few TVs available that can do 1080p, nor will there be by the time the PS3 is released. It will be a very long time before any broadcast programming is transmitted in 1080p as well. All this means that the only motivation for one of the few and expensive 1080p HDTVs would be for the PS3. And given Sony's history of over-hyping (remember those PS2 videos? This time around, think Killzone video), it remains to be seen what will really materialize.

I won't get excited about the PS3 until we have more concrete info.

Posted at 2:33PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Reality Check

5. That's because 1080p at any framerate is a very processor intensive task to display. And it will take up a crap load of bandwith. So no we won't be seeing 1080p content from neither DVD's, next gen DVD's or gaming consoles anytime soon.
No developer wants to be tasked with creating games in 1080p as it just is not practical right now and may not be for this entire next generation of consoles.

Poeple don't have HDTV's yet alone ones that support 1080p. Manufacturers aren't even selling 1080p TV sets yet (there's only like 3 TV's on the market you can buy for 1080p).

What a gimmick!

Posted at 2:34PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Jon

6. This is just market-speak. Sony does it, Microsoft does it, Nintendo does it... Every....company.....does it. There really is no need to counter-point all this junk.

If you buy your products based on what a company's PR department says you're a fool.

Posted at 2:46PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Cooper

7. This is just market-speak. Sony does it, Microsoft does it, Nintendo does it... Every....company.....does it. There really is no need to counter-point all this junk.

If you buy your products based on what a company's PR department says you're a fool.

Posted at 2:47PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Cooper

8. I heard that Phil Harrison's mom isnt high def...........

Posted at 2:59PM on Dec 14th 2005 by pennywise969

9. Its not a gimmick, its desperation, Sony is seeing there fanatic fanboy base dwindle as more and more 360s flow into the US, and their still over a year away from seeing a us launch of THEIR console. When in doubt bash bash bash, but they should have gotta a engineer to bash the 360 not some removed VP who doesn�t know anything about hardware and only know the sony crap he been smelling for the last 10 years. The problem is two fold

1# sony products over the last ten years have taken a downward spiral I mean I used to think that sony ment quality at a price, I have bought many sony products over the years and recently many of them have failed me, because of that I know that the same quality control is going into the ps3, that being said the ps3 on paper just like the 360 is awesome, but whether the developer jump on the bandwagon and if the American consumers are willing to shell out the cash for a new system when it launch remains to be seen. I think the ps3 we do very well in japan, but not so well in the US, and it will be the opposite here, the 360 will over take the ps3 as dominate console, but will remain the red head in Japan.


But I can tell you two things for Sony and two things against them the cell processor is a nice revolution in technology, unfortunately it is difficult to program for and expensive thus limiting those developers that can buy into it. So you�ll see some amazing sony ps3 titles without a doubt, but methinks that they will become more like feature films taking months in between releases because only one or two studios has the resources to push out titles so you have a sick looking game every two months to buy for $75 each, but 360 has the weight of XNA behind it and will allow for more developers to make more games for less money, sony just doesn�t have the ability to develop canned software for its ps3 so it will leave it up to developers to figure out, which is a bad idea. And why ultimatly why it will fail because it all comes down to money.

Money motives the developers which make or break a system, if I was a developer why would I pay 2 million to make a ps3 game which will take long to make and to make money off of when I can pay $500,000 to make a 360 game it just means I have to sell more of them before I turn a profit, mind you sony will probly have to sell 5 million ps3 before it can start turning a profit on the system, after cost of developing the cell chip, blue ray, their drm root kit, it all costs money, Money to produce games money to expand, sony is running out of it and last time I check Microsoft had plenty.

Posted at 3:29PM on Dec 14th 2005 by joe

10. What is sony talking about? I doubt they have many tv's that even support 1080p, those displays arent really developed yet.

Also, when I was hooking my 360 last night, I found that my tv doesnt support 720p, which sucks. It is a Mistubishi (the best in tv's) that was bought a couple years ago but it only supports 1080i.

Posted at 6:56PM on Dec 14th 2005 by S.A.

11. I believe there are 5 elements for the HD era. Like he said, Display, Content, and Hardware. However, I also see Audio and Interactivity as elements. No idea, waht that guy is talking about.

Posted at 7:30PM on Dec 14th 2005 by ThePiemaster

12. You know it's funny how Sony does business... Why in the world would they try to take the PS3 and turn it into a delivery model for technologies that no one can afford? If I am a "movie buff" and want to watch HD movies and don't like video games I will buy an HD DVD player... not a PS3... If you have a 1080p tv now or a year from now you are serious about your tv and movie experience and will most likely have a dedicated component to play DVD's in your rack system... not some funny looking box with a slot load DVD slot.

The biggest mistake they are making with the PS3 is not looking at making it play HD-DVD. Blu-Ray is not going to be the only HD format so most people will have to buy a player that will play both formats... the PS3 doesn't. Microsoft will most likely make an add-on for the XBOX 360 that will allow you to play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disc's...

Regardless of what Sony thinks people will be watching HD movies on the 360 way before the PS3 because in the beginning of next year you will be able to buy an HD-DVD drive for you Media Center PC and steam your HD movies through your 360 onto your HD tv!

Posted at 8:20PM on Dec 14th 2005 by Jason Jaegers

13. This article is just a reminder of how different the markets are between Sony and Microsoft. Sony is very much shooting to be a general home entertainment piece and this will be extremely popular for this reason (I now listen to podcasts and watch more videos on my PSP than playing games). However, Microsoft is playing to the gamer and hoping that they might take advantage of the other multimedia features (hmm... downloadable HDTV Pay-Per-View?)

Am I getting a 360 as soon as I can? You bet! Will I get a PS3 as soon as I can? Only if I have any money left over from the 360 :-)

Posted at 9:12PM on Dec 14th 2005 by DarkStarPDX

14. #12,

One of the biggest attractions of the PS3 is that it will be a $500 Blu-Ray player at worst.

If you're a movie buff, you can get high-def video playback for $500, with the added luxury of being able to play games, or you can spend $1,000+ on a standalone model.

Smart money says to buy the $500 player.

Posted at 12:03AM on Dec 15th 2005 by Blurrz

15. Thanks Pie!

Yeah, if you believe MS, they aren't going for the trojan horse, while Sony is pretty blunt about it. They were blunt about it last time though, and the PS2 has little in the way of any of those features, save for the DVD drive. If Blu-Ray catches on, the PS3 could certainly be an attractive loss-leader for Sony to get the standard embraced by consumers. We'll have to just wait and see...

Posted at 10:09AM on Dec 15th 2005 by C. Grant

16. "(hmm... downloadable HDTV Pay-Per-View?)"

That would rock! Um.... Except that the smallest and worse looking HD movie clocks in at about 10GB. That takes about a day or so to download on broadband. :(

Though certainly highly compressed mpeg4 will help here. I suspect PPV HD d/ls will still look kinda crappy. But damn if that's not a good idea anyway!

"I found that my tv doesnt support 720p, which sucks. It is a Mistubishi (the best in tv's) that was bought a couple years ago but it only supports 1080i."

Don't feel badly about this. Very few TVs support multiple resolution inputs. First, digital TVs convert the input to their native resolution: a DLP, for example, when fed a DVD signal, ALWAYS converts that to 720p (no, not necessarily a good thing), same goes for 1080i (technically a DOWNconvert at this point). A lot of TVs, OTOH, cannot even take non-native resolution as input. You have a 720p TV? You can only send it 720p signals. You have (in this case) a 1080i TV, you can only feed it 1080i.

This is absolutely par-for-the-course in the HD world. And EVERY HD input device available (cable boxes, satellite, D-vHS, XBoxes...) allow you to select their output resolution to match your display input requirement.

-Pie

PS Mitsubishi makes the best CRT-based HDTVs on the market. Just make sure you turn the Contrast way down (3/4 to "off" position in Video settings) to avoid burn-in.

Posted at 1:43PM on Dec 15th 2005 by EatingPie

17. i already have a 1080p display, a 58" HP MD5880n. it also accepts 1080p input sources.

1080i sources look better on this tv because every pixel is resolved, and the display is progressive.

i'm not buying any more DVD's until the PS3 comes out because it will be like hoarding audio cassettes a few months before CD's are introduced.

in terms of gameplay, the xbox 360 looks amazing in HD, and sony really doesn't need to play this card (especially since their own displays do not live up to this standard, the SXRD 1080p displays for example, cannot accept 1080p signals yet). Microsoft made it a requirement for developers to release games with HD capability, and it remains to be seen if Sony will do the same thing and require 1080p specifically. if they do not, then this is a load of hot air.

Posted at 3:09PM on Dec 15th 2005 by pixelate

18. Here is a good resource for understanding HD.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/

and more specifically

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html

-HX

Posted at 10:50AM on Dec 16th 2005 by HX

19. All 360 games support 1080i too.

Posted at 10:44AM on Dec 24th 2005 by Daniel