Sony Claims M$ X360 not HD Device

[Melbosa]

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=13578

"The HD era really only starts when we are on the market" - Harrison

Illustration

Rob Fahey 14:54 13/12/2005



PlayStation development boss plays down Microsoft's high definition claims



Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison has claimed that Microsoft's Xbox 360 "doesn't have true HD functionality," saying that consumers seeking a HD experience will have to wait for the PS3 to arrive.



Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz this week, in an interview to be published tomorrow, Harrison described the Xbox 360 as "a lot better than their [Microsoft's] first introduction to the console business," but questioned the console's claim to being a High Definition device.



"The true definition of HD is the three elements of the HD value chain - the display, the content and the hardware to play back that content," he explained, "and PlayStation and Sony is the only organisation that has all three bits of the value chain together."



"As you well know," he continued, "the Xbox 360 doesn't play high definition movies and doesn't have true HD functionality - PlayStation 3 is the only format that has 1080-progressive, which is the true definition of HD, so it's really premature to be talking about the HD era."



"The HD era really only starts when we are on the market," he concluded.



Harrison's comments refer to the fact that the PlayStation 3 is the only next-gen console which will support the top end of the HD standard, the 1080p resolution, and also the only device which will be able to play high definition movie content, thanks to its support for Blu-Ray discs.



"High definition as far as the consumer is concerned means high definition movies, which means Blu-Ray disc, and that is the reason that people will buy high definition displays coupled with a player that is capable of playing movies and games - which is obviously PlayStation 3," he claimed.



Also in our exclusive interview, Harrison discussed other aspects of Sony's attitude to the next-generation console from its key rival, Microsoft, along with the company's ongoing plans for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable platforms and his belief that the games retail model is set to undergo a major shift in the coming years.



Check back tomorrow for our full interview with one of the key architects of Sony's console dominance.

[Cova]

Thats one of the dumbest PR releases I've ever read - I guess with all the bad PR from the rootkit and such recently that Sony doesn't feel bad about lying to us anymore.



1080p is not only NOT the "true" definition of HD - it's barely even a supported HD resolution.  There are VERY few displays on the market capable of receiving and displaying such a signal, and they're all out of the price-range of everyone on these forums.  They also don't mention that the PS3 only outputs over HDMI (dual HDMI ports on the console for 2-screen output).  I'd say there's about a 99% chance that those ports are also encrypted with HDCP, which means you can't use a converter/scalar to process that signal for whatever display you have.



720p or higher is the "true" definition of HD - so things like your HD cable/satellite, etc. are included.  I don't think blu-ray will be 1080p either, since the last time I heard anything about it they were still using MPEG2 as their codec for it (which is why they need the space advantage).



And of course there's the whole "value-chain" garbage of his.  I suppose I can understand this from a Sony perspective, where you make proprietary connectors between everything to lock the consumers to your own products - but really this is the reason we have standard HD resolutions/timings/etc.  You can get a HD video source from cable/satellite, xbox, 360, an HTPC, upscaling DVD player, etc.  The HD display could be a CRT, front or rear-projection LCD/DLP/etc., LCD or plasma flat-panel.  And the content could be anything from broadcast HD content, HD movies on disk (blu-ray, HD-DVD, or even WMV-HD), dynamically generated content (games rendered in HD), or SD content thats been scaled (upscaling dvd player, XBMC scaling to HD for avi/divx files, etc.)  Of course, pretty much none of what I just mentioned qualifies as HD according to Sony's press release.



"The HD era really only starts when we are on the market," - Ya, and the party never starts till I get there either.  Why don't you crawl back under your rock till you actually have a product to back up some of these claims.

[Shayne]

Spring isnt very far away, and as yet we havent seen actual gameplay fotage or a working console.  Lots of pre-rendered stuff, but nothing that people can actualy play with.



I cant wait to see it.  With the PS2 they got to the party early and their graphics showed it.  This time their tech is basically the same as that of Microsoft so they should be similar in almost everyway, my real curiosity is in the killer apps.  I want to see GT5 running in 1080p.

[Mr. Analog]

For the record, HD is a fuzzy definition anyway, all it refers to is any signal that is capable of supplying video with a higher resolution than SDTV (Standard-definition television). 720i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p are all considered valid HD "formats" (though 1080p[24|25|30] is not yet widely supported).



I can understand why Microsoft only outputs 720i at this time (hardware limitations), and I can also understand why Sony is pushing the 1080i as being "true" HD as that aligns with their normal, vile, home theatre marketing campaign of "bigger numbers == teh roxor".



Either way it's all bullocks anyway until there is a PS3.

[Cova]

I can understand why Microsoft only outputs 720i at this time (hardware limitations)

Neither xbox supports 720i output - both support 480p, 720p, and 1080i.  The original xbox mandated that all games support at least 480 lines of resolution - some went higher if the video chip could keep up (eg. both xmen legends games did 720p) - so the original xbox did 480i connected over composite/s-video, and at least 480p connected over component.  The 360 mandates all games support at least 720 lines, though again if there's enough video power games can choose to support 1080.  So, over composite/s-video all games run 480i, over component (with the HD switch switched) they run 720p or 1080i.  The 360 dashboard, DVD player, etc. all output at 1080i, or lower if you restrict your settings (as I plan to do when I get it hooked to a 720p native digital projector).



Yes, on paper the PS3 supports higher-def than the 360, with dual 1080p outputs.  But since they have about the same graphical horsepower we'll see how the games do for output resolution - I wouldn't be suprised to see them rendering at a lower resolution and scaling before sending it to the display.  Sony's published the max that the hardware can output at, but they've provided no information at all about what the software will actually make use of - I assume they'll support 1080i, 720p, and 480i at a minimum to be able to output to virtually all displays currently on the market.

[Mr. Analog]

One would hope that the rendered resolution is the same as the signal resolution, seeing big, sharp game pixels would be pointless and probably ugly as well...

[Shayne]

When i thought about it, 720p on a 46" TV would look like ass.  I have a 19" LCD thats 1280x1024 and its sharp, but after seeing 720p in full motion, i gotta say, its a beautiful thing.



For the record, the DVD Playback on the 360 inst that good.  I found my JVC to whip its ass, but a lot of that has to do with the features of a high end DVD player versus that of an "extra feature" on a game console.

[Lazybones]

When i thought about it, 720p on a 46" TV would look like ass.  I have a 19" LCD thats 1280x1024 and its sharp, but after seeing 720p in full motion, i gotta say, its a beautiful thing.



For the record, the DVD Playback on the 360 inst that good.  I found my JVC to whip its ass, but a lot of that has to do with the features of a high end DVD player versus that of an "extra feature" on a game console.

Probably also the difference between software decoding and dedicated hardware.. There tends to be a VAST difference in DVD playback quality between different DVD software on a PC.