Here’s some more on the scaling issue from someone connected with PS3…
“Look here…
It explains the difference between 720p & 1080i, and where moving images are concerned (hello PS3), it’s widely accepted by ABC & ESPN in the US (just two small networks then!?), that 720p is the better format, because it gives a much smoother picture…
In short, we could be drawn into a huge debate about all of this, which is pointless… the main thing is they’ve said they’ll be addressing the whole upscaling / 720p compatability issue, in a future firmware upgrade… and certainly for the UK, this won’t be an issue!”
For MOST people this isn’t an issue. Just remember the Wii is only 480i as standard and only supports 480p if you have component cables that are impossible to get hold of. Affects almost ALL Wii users.
XBOX360 only supports the 1080p FULLY through VGA and there are very few TVs that accept 1080p through VGA.
PS3 supports ALL these resolutions through a choice of composite, component, HDMI and more in the future. Remeber how accomodating that is!
Not only that, the very very small issue only affects certain TVs that would have been bought by early adopters for HDTV, these people are therefore enthusiasts and probably planning on upgrading soon anyway!
Comment by Ben Furneaux — Nov 29, 2006 @ 4:17 pm
So will this bug be patched by the time the PS3 is launched in the UK?
Comment by Alfred — Nov 29, 2006 @ 4:17 pm
People keep saying that Sony admitted to the press that the problem may not be possible to fix with firmware.
I’m not sure if that’s true but I see no reason why Sony can’t get the PS3 to upscale resolutions via CELL/RSX/software/PS2 hardware instead of needing an analog up-scaler built into the PS3 physically.
Comment by OrganicShadow — Nov 29, 2006 @ 5:14 pm
If Microsoft can make it’s console 1080p with a firmware update Sony can and WILL do this.
Comment by Ben Furneaux — Nov 29, 2006 @ 6:23 pm
Does anyone happen to know of the percentage of HDTV’s that support 1080i, but not 720p? I’m pretty sure the percentage of consumers that have a HDTV in the US is less than 15%. I would imagine only a fraction of those have such a TV. I wonder if many of the people making such a big deal about this actually have a HDTV that is only capable of 1080i, but not 720p.
By the way, 1080i looks like crap on my buddy’s Xbox 360 on a 60 inch Sony LCD rear projection TV. 720p looks much better. First time I saw a game on there, I asked him what the heck was the matter with his TV because the game seemed all wobbly when it was moving and generally looked like crap. Itold him to switch it to 720p. He did and it was a night and day difference to us both. Regardless, when I’m actually able to find a PS3 in stores in the US, I’ll be hooking it up to a Sony 1080p HDTV anyway so it’s a moot point for me.
Comment by Andy — Nov 29, 2006 @ 6:48 pm
Trying to shift the debate doesn’t change the reality of the Official Sony press release you posted previously. Sony stated plainly: “720p is a higher resolution than 1080i” and that is a blatant lie which insults the intelligence of the consumer and is highly disingenuous.
An argument can be made that 720p looks marginally better for games than 1080i (really only for TVs 50″ or larger though), but the fact remains it is a lower resolution.
Sony and ThreeSpeech should issue an apology and retract their earlier claim.
Comment by Grognard — Nov 29, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
Grognard said: “Trying to shift the debate doesn’t change the reality of the Official Sony press release you posted previously. ”
Thank you! I read this new “update” and felt ill. Personally, I prefer 1080i content. It just looks “sharper” to me. But, regardless of what I, ESPN, or ABC “prefer”, the statement that 720 is higher resolution is pure fiction.
It’s distressiong to see the followup comments where people are attempting to justify the statement, including using flawed math.
I spend enough time pulling my hair out over the inane generalizations and “fluff” over on majornelson.com. I was hoping it would be different on this side.
Comment by BLite — Nov 29, 2006 @ 8:28 pm
Does anybody else think that it is a great shame that we have to fuss over different HD resolutions?
Your average Joe is gonna buy a 720p set as this is the ONLY HDTV the regular stores (comet, currys) sell.
The HD geek is gonna spend an INCREDIBLE amount of money on a 1080p set in a Sony Store (this is the only place i have found, apart from the rather snooty and overpriced John Lewis).
It’s a shame that this level of choice is left to the consumer. Much like the Blueray Vs. HD-DVD problem.
Comment by James Banks — Nov 30, 2006 @ 12:37 am
Ah so the OFFICIAL line is now that YOU ARE going to fix this? As Karakker backed away from that the other day.
Arguing about resolution is as you say pointless (even though it’s not quite as simple as you saying 720p is “better”). The fact is, a small amount of customers have this issue, but they are no less important, particularly as they have likely sat outside a Best Buy for the best part of 3 days to get hold of a PS3.
Hence all you really needed to say was “There is an issue for some people, we’ll do our best to sort it”. Simple as that.
Comment by deftangel — Nov 30, 2006 @ 10:41 am
Jesus fing Christopher guys…. it’s been TWO WEEKS SINCE LAUNCH…. give it a break already…
So it’s okay to complain about being an early adopter and all the risks involved, but it’s NOT okay for Sony to not provide full support for the early adopters of HDTV that can’t do 720p, and probably have the money to upgrade since they got HDTV in it’s infancy in the first place?
I know these people bought their PS3 to take advantage of their HDTV set but as I said before, ITS ONLY TWO WEEKS SINCE LAUNCH. Sony has already responded to the issue, so be glad they even did that. They could no comment us to death or they could say “hey were gonna figure something out” which they did.
So if you want this to get fixed then quit whining, untie your panties out of the knot and stop being negative nancies you negative nancies!
Comment by OrganicShadow — Nov 30, 2006 @ 2:38 pm
Since when do Sony’s promises mean anything?
Comment by norad — Dec 2, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
Any advantage gained with the increase of lines drawn by 1080i is lost if motion should occur between frames. Motion artifacts are more perceivable to the human eye than are the missing lines of resolution. Interlacing is an archaic method of delivering video, 1080i should not be the “preferred” scan rate of a device that’s responsible for bringing HD to a wider audience. It will only confuse the issue further.
Comment by Mervin — Dec 6, 2006 @ 11:41 pm
I think that some of you are way off on this issue. First several of you claim that a small number of people have tvs capable of only 480p/1080i but this isn’t the case. While someone who owns an LCD or Plasma probably can display 720p, anyone who purchased a CRT HDTV knows that very few ever offered 720p. While the number of customers with a CRT HDTV and one of the 189,000 launch units might be small, the danger is that until the problem is fixed no one with a CRT HDTV will buy the PS3. I include myself in this group, I own a 27 inch Zenith CRT HDTV. It has component and vga and was bought specifically for the XBOX360 and the PS3. I’ve owned a PSX, a PS2 and I want a PS3, and they are starting to show up in stores, but the longer SONY waits to fix this problem the more likely I am to just buy the HDDVD add-on and forget the PS3.
Comment by rockyOnasis — Dec 14, 2006 @ 12:26 pm
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