I hated to have to break this disappointing news to the shivering PS3 fanboys camped out in the cold and wet at my local Best Buy, but somebody had to do it:As it turns out, 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.
The PlayStation 3's competitor, Microsoft's Xbox 360, does upscale 720p games to 1080i if the HD set supports the latter resolution but not the in-between and commonly-employed 720p resolution.
One guy countered (illogically) that he didn't care because 360 controllers are too big for Japanese hands. Apparently he still thinks we're wrasslin' with the Duke, although it might have been the hypothermia talking.
[Thanks Nathan]












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-16-2006 @ 1:37AM
TheDude said...
Have a look at these sweet PS3 Riiiiidge Racer shots....
http://www.gamebrink.com/forums/showthread.php?p=28670#post28670
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11-16-2006 @ 7:34AM
Sagat said...
This is 360 Fanboy.. not PS3 Hater.. you can be a fanboy with out hating.
And, fyi, no other media outlets or individuals have reported the same problems; so, keep your panties on.
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11-16-2006 @ 7:40AM
Always Right said...
And this is important because...
Resolution is a minor, in fact gfx aren't much either, they just make the game look pretty. Since when gfx become evrything and the only thing next gen is about? A lot of the games I've played have fantastic gfx thus far, 10/10 for that, but realism sux, gameplay sux, story sux, layout of the game sux etc etc.
I have Project Gotham, despite how much this game has been hyped, it has rather annoyingly slow loading times (or is it just my 360) and although the gfx are sweet and the garage is even more sweet, the actual gameplay isn't so sweet, crashing at tops speeds gives you hardly visible dents on your car, not realistic, smashing into other cars does not spin you or them out of control or leave thier car wrecked, if you are going to add visible damage to a game, at least do it properly.
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11-16-2006 @ 8:37AM
Netcruzer said...
I have an older TV like this. It's even a Sony. I want to get rid of the big brute soon (51" Rear Projo HDTV). It accepts 720p signals, but downsamples to 480p and looks like poo (the TV does this). The great thing is that the 360 can uprez all the 720p games to 1080i and it looks fantastic on my display. There is a SERIOUS visual difference between 720p upped to 1080i (good) and 720p downed to 480p (bad). Thank you 360, you saved my Sony TV from looking like crap. I know if I had been on the PS3 wagon, I'd be pissed about these news. Not everyone has a brand new LCD HDTV, my HDTV is from 2003 and it would have this issue with a PS3.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:04AM
george said...
Sagat - This is a huge deal and I have heard this reported at other websites also. Maybe you should read more cause it has been reported. I am not going to bash the ps3 as I am a gamer and would buy it if a game truly was worth buying it for. But right now there is nothnig to buy for ps3 that looks as good as gears of war or other titles out now. And now all these stories are being reported of problems arising with the picture quality and all, it just makes sony look even more of liar.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:12AM
george said...
Always Right - oh my god you people are such hypocrits. The whole reason sony hyped the ps3 is because now the true hd era begins......IF you have a brand new tv that is. With this news and the graphic glitches that #1 post made above those who have an older hdtv like i do in my room would be screwed. And I love how people argue that graphics and picture quality isnt important. The whole reason we get new systems every 5 years is for that reason alone and hence the hype for each new system. When someone sees the 360 when i came out the first comment was always "Wow look at those graphics" ... it is the first thing you notice and on a game like resident evil you will be more into the store and more scared when something happens. Same goes for hd dvds and blu ray, they only created those formats for picture quality so yes it is important. Now let me go enjoy my gears of war which just happens to look 2x better than any ps3 game.
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11-16-2006 @ 10:11AM
Tony said...
Um, this is a big deal because Sony trumps HD resolution constantly. So does Microsoft, obviously, but that's kind of a separate point.
I personally have an older HD unit. It doesn't do 720p, which is why it's been so nice that 360 upscales. I probably would have second guessed buying it if I didn't find out about upscaling by asking on a forum.
The resolution makes a massive difference in 360 games, by the way. I'm sure the same will be true of every PS3 game as well.
I love my 360 and all, but I know eventually I'd be buying a PS3 as well for certain titles (particularly since I'm a huge Megaten fan)... but this is a huge disappointment to me. I really hope they change that with a firmware update. After that 360 1080p update, I have to imagine it's possible.
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11-16-2006 @ 10:12AM
Tony said...
Also, I don't know why anyone would be playing PGR-anything for hyper realstic gameplay and such. For that type of game, what's there is totally expected. It's not Forza.
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11-16-2006 @ 10:33AM
Ninegauger said...
I'm still curious what happens with 1080p signals from the PS3... will those be downsampled to 480p too?
I cannot believe Sony managed to screw something so simple up. But what are PS3 games doing running at 720p anyway? I could've sworn that 1080p was "true HD"... I don't know where I heard that...
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11-16-2006 @ 10:35AM
rockstar0815 said...
holy cow! these are some graphic problems!
but on the other hand, since ps2 i can“t recall ANY console launch without problems of some kind...
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11-16-2006 @ 10:36AM
Timothy Melatis said...
The 360 graphics chip does scaling into whatever native resolution you want (or your tv or monitor is compatible with.) This scaling isn't done on the chip's processor but it is done in the frame buffer. ATI included a process/transfer module attached to the frame buffer memory. The Processor transfers the information to the frame memory through this module with some added information called a z-buffer. IF, say you have a 720p source, but a 1080P input, The Processor transfers a 720P image to the frame buffer through the process module with a 1080 z-buffer (distance of each pixel). The process/transfer module upscales the image to 1080P on the fly, which is why it doesn't slow down the processor to meet that resolution. Then it appliex 4xAA (4 x anti aliasing) into the image by using the 1080 z-buffer. Believe it or not, it also means that there is a benefit to having the 360 upscale to 1080P instead of having your tv do it. ATI's chip takes into account the output res when doing anti-aliasing. It does it after it upscales the image. This means that the edges of objects will have less jaggies in 1080P because the jaggies arent being stretched, they are being smoothed out at the higher resolution.
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11-16-2006 @ 10:55AM
KillerGreen said...
I'm thinking about waiting in line tonight for one, if I can find a store without a line. Then it's straight to eBay to help me pay off this speeding ticket...
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11-16-2006 @ 11:23AM
NotOfThisEarth said...
"2. This is 360 Fanboy.. not PS3 Hater.. you can be a fanboy with out hating.
And, fyi, no other media outlets or individuals have reported the same problems; so, keep your panties on.
Posted at 7:33AM on Nov 16th 2006 by Sagat 0 stars"
FYI, take a seat you you arrogant prick. What are you the fanboy police? He posted a link show graphic glitches. Don't like it? Don't comment.
And I've seen this reported at Blue's, Shack, and others so think before you smack down someone here retard
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11-16-2006 @ 12:55PM
truthseeker said...
Well it turns out there is more woes for the ps3 user. I just found out that the PS3 does not smart detect what AV cable is connected like the 360. If one hooks up regular component or composite cables on startup and adds a HDMI cable later, the cable is not detected and no picture can be viewed. The only way around it is a very convoluted process of resetting the machine through the interface and then resetting the ps3 and detaching the hdmi cable fresh after the reset. Sounds customer friendly to me.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:59PM
razman said...
"Don't like it? Don't comment."
LOL, This section is for reader comments...
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11-16-2006 @ 2:17PM
Netcruzer said...
And, fyi, no other media outlets or individuals have reported the same problems; so, keep your panties on.
#13 - you are wrong, Dailytech just picked up on this, it is also on IGN, and Insomniac (developer of Resistance of Man) says it isn't their issue, it is the PS3.
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11-16-2006 @ 2:49PM
DrHockey said...
This is a problem they'll have to address. Netcruzer, I think you and I have the exact same TV. It's a behemoth - great for movies but I'm looking forward to trading it in someday for something a little slimmer.
Sad thing is, I never knew that it downscaled 720P 'til I got my 360. No wonder all those 720P channels looked average *smacks head*. Now I have all my HD components outputting at 1080i.
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11-16-2006 @ 3:38PM
Carnie said...
This article mentions the 360 and yet it is PS3 news....
I love this site...but if I post a blog on my Myspace that mentions that I own a 360 are you gonna give it a headline on here?
Though it compared it to the PS3 this sight has been known for PS3 bashing...and it is up to you what is posted as far as news....but how bout instead you stop being a prick and take the news as what it is....Uh and how long ago was it when the 360 got an update for graphics output? Less then a month....
The PS3 isnt' even out the gate yet here in the U.S. let alone has sony said anything bout this....
Point and case there have been several updates to this blog that just simply bash the PS3 while PS3fanboy.com may mention the 360 but they do not bash...why because they arn't as ingorant as half of the people that read and post on here...
I love my 360 but it's sites like this that give 360fanboys a bad name....
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11-16-2006 @ 4:07PM
Joe S. Lee said...
Sagat:
This is a huge thing plus it is all over other sites. I have one such HDTV that does not support 720p but 1080i.
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11-17-2006 @ 6:00AM
GhostDoggy said...
You failed to mention that there are several million analog HD RPTV's that got sold in the USA and are still in use that predates the consumer electronics world adoption of Component video transport. So, how did they get the video from their ATSC set top boxes to their wonderful new analog HD RPTV monitors? Why, they used VGA for physical transport and RGBHV (aka analog RGB) for the signal.
Of course, no one was broadcasting outside of the industry accepted 720P and 1080i so a lot of those analog HD RPTV were taking in 1080i RGBHV, much like my $5500 Mitsubishi Diamond 65" RPTV does. And the first ATSC STB used RGBHV for HD video transport.
The problem is that Microdumb, who keeps claiming their gaming console is not a computer, only allows 1080P, progressive, on VGA (ahem, RGBHV) and as such cannot be used on a lot of the analog HD RPTV's dating before 2002.
So, what analog televisions or tunerless products from the period took 1080P? None. I do not know when Component video came on to the consumer electronics scene with HD-capable bandwidth, but they weren't first and for many the HD DVD drive option is a 480P solution, or a returned product (in my case).
Maybe I should connect it to a computer monitor since Microdumb decided to support only progressive modes for RGBHV (ahem, VGA).
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