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HD Era Doesn't Start Till Sony Says So
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Dec 13, 2005 07:37 PM
from the what-do-they-drink-over-there? dept.
from the what-do-they-drink-over-there? dept.
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting on comments from Phil Harrison, who says that consumers looking for an HD experience should wait for the PS3. From the article: "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 ... and PlayStation and Sony is the only organisation that has all three bits of the value chain together."
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Why Sony Needs a 'Major Nelson' 84 comments
Microsoft's 'Major Nelson' and executive Peter Moore have been visible representatives of the 360 console for well over a year now. 'Grandfather of Gaming' Shigeru Miyamoto and asskicking Reggie Fils-Aime have have preached the Wii concept through good writeups and bad name jokes. Sony ... well, Sony has Ken Kutaragi, Phil Harrison, and Kaz Hirai. They say helpful things like 'we don't care', and 'disks won't matter', and (my personal favorite) 'the PS3 is a computer'. RPG Site has a compelling argument stating that Sony needs a Major Nelson to cut through this crazy executive talk, and reconnect the company with real gamers. From the article: "While it's not something that appeals to every group of people that play games - the casual market and kids, for example, the existence of these people allows the part of the market that is most opinionated - the core gamers, those who have a very clear opinion on what they want and what is good and bad - to interact with somebody who can actually bring about change. Hell, on a lesser note, it even gives the fanboys someone to worship."
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HD Chain (Score:3, Informative)
Re:HD Chain (Score:5, Informative)
There seem to be two claims in the article, though they are both kind of vauge.
The first one is that 720p is not true HD. 720p is 1280*720 @ 60Hz, which is roughly 5.3 higher than SD as used in DVDs, i.e. 720*480 @ 60/2 Hz. 1080p is 1920*1080 @ 60 Hz, another 2.2 times more than 720p. So the step between 720p and 1080p is much smaller than the one from 480i to 720p. It should also be noted that 720p and 1080i contain roughly the same amount of information. It is very unclear to what degree Sony will support 1080p. While the PS3 itself will support it, that does not mean all games will. Sony has made no such statements. Sonys consumer level projectors that are sold today use 720p resolution internally. Blu-ray will support both 720p and 1080p. While many movies will probably be released in 1080p, they are originally shot at 24 FPS, which means they will actually contain less information thatn a full 720p signal, i.e. less information than the 'not HD' Xbox 360. I don't know if there are any tv-series shot in higher resolution than 720p, but I'm sure there aren't many. So there will be very little content for Sony to release that can outperform what the Xbox 360 does today.
The second claim is even more vauge. You need three things for HD:
What Sony seems to be implying is that while there are lots and lots of different providers that can give you any one of the above, no single provider is currently providing all three. This is true. Sony is also saying that if you aren't using the same brand on all three parts, you aren't using HD. This is false.
By extension, that would imply that once the PS3 arrives, you won't be doing real HD unless you are playing a Sony game and using a Sony TV-set. So you best forget about playing Resident Evil or buying that Panasonic plasma. Otherwise you won't be doing HD. Says Sony.
Parent
Re:HD Chain (Score:2)
Not exactly. The reason 1080i exists is for sports broadcasts, where smooth motion/higher temporal resolution is more desirable than higher spatial resolution at a lower frame rate (1080p).
While many movies will probably be released in 1080p, they are originally shot at 24 FPS, which means they will actually contain less information thatn a full 720p signal
720p24 and 1080p24 are HD modes specifically for movie
Re:HD Chain (Score:2)
what i got from the article is no where near as sinister. they are saying that the true HD era wont begin until the arrival of the ps3. no big deal; its your common sony boastful commentary. however, in this case, he kinda has a slight point.
microsoft has been pushing this hd era deal for the x360, but so what? they are claiming to have started something that EVERY console was capable of la
Re:HD Chain (Score:2)
Oh, THAT HD. (Score:5, Funny)
Could we maybe not reuse acronyms?
Re:Oh, THAT HD. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Oh, THAT HD. (Score:3, Funny)
I can do better... (Score:5, Funny)
The resolution of reality is amazing. At least 2x better than HD.
No good programs to watch or games to play though, just a bunch of tables and chairs.
Re:I can do better... (Score:2)
Sounds like an E3 tech demo. Is there somebody screaming in your ear about how many polygons it can display?
Re:I can do better... (Score:2)
And just forget about the infinite frame rate
Re:I can do better... (Score:3, Funny)
Haven't you heard of spacetime granularity? The real world only has a framerate of about 18500000000000000000000000000000000000000000Hz. You'll have to buy a newer model universe if you want truly want infinite.
Sony said so- the "Year of High Definition" (Score:3, Informative)
Sony's value chain (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, and the three bits are:
- protecting user from unlawful access to digital content
- improving customers' stored digital media (eg MP3 files on PC hard disk)
- enabling automatic installation of useful software by third parties
This just in, company says their product is better (Score:2)
And I'm pretty sure any company x will say hot buzzword y won't truly be available until x's product z which features y comes out.
Let me try. S-CORE* technology won't reach its peak until the Headcase, um, SilverStar is released. Yeah.
*I made that term up. Please shoot me if it actually exists.
Of course it exists ;) (Score:2)
Goat.cx [salomonscore.com]
The page stinks to high heaven but there's the reference. And HeadCase wasn't a bad choice either, considering we're dealing w/surfers.
ummm? (Score:2, Insightful)
Where have I seen this before? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sony is using classic vapour [wikipedia.org] to promote a product that has "PlayStation" and a number in its name. Where have I seen this before? [wikipedia.org]
Yeah, right. (Score:2)
1) They become much cheaper
2) 60% of TV is HD-ready WITHOUT having to buy an "HD Channel Package"
3) Most of the movies/shows I want come out in an HD format (preferrably not Blu-Ray)
4) They announce the successor to HD
Which law are Sony breaking today? (Score:2, Interesting)
Is Sony DELIBERATELY MIS-SELLING consumers TVs which claim to be HD Ready but can't display a 1080p picture?
Or is Sony DELIBERATELY LYING to consumers when they claim that an output at 720p or 1080i is not HD?
Because I'd quite like to know whether they are breaking consumer law, or merely slandering Microsoft.
Value chain (Score:4, Funny)
Now if only all this Sony crap could be "synergetic" in some way, I'd buy it.
Re:Right... (Score:4, Informative)
NUMA means that memory access times are non-uniform. In other words, longer for some addresses and shorter for others. Unified memory architecure means that all the memory in the system shares a common address space. You can't compare NUMA to UMA because they don't have anything do do with each other. A system can be NUMA and unified at the same time. It can also be non-unified and non-NUMA.
There is no documented evidence that I can find that the PS3 doesn't have a unified memory address space, dispite the NUMAness of it. In fact it looks like it probably *does* have a unified memory architecture. Also, from what I can tell of the architecture diagrams, it's only NUMA due to the necessity of cache coherancy between the cells (all cells talk to one central memory bank through a switch, cells accessing the same memory need to coordinate before accessing thus slowing down access to shared regions while non-shared regions will have one-step access), and a well written application will not experience the NUMA behavior very often.
That has to be one of the most arbitrary and stupid ways to distinguish between future gaming platforms. Pick on the quality and quantity of the games, and not on the specs that you don't understand anyway.
Parent
Re:Right... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Right... (Score:3, Interesting)
most likely it will be a developer choice: design a decent framerate game at 1080p and allow users to downgrade to 720p and watch the framerate skyrocket. or they can design for 720p and rely on the console to upconvert to 1080p where it twitches and dies. also, there are very many developers that believe in providing the very best experience for gamers; team ninja would opt for 1080p if th
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey at least it makes sense, and would be useful. The real problem will be the bundled Stealh BluD and any other real bombs Sony can fit in. I mean there is precedent for them bundling movies, they did it with the PSP. And what a way to pull out ahead in the disc wars, at least in terms of discs "sold". Who cares if they all end up being dumped in haz mat bins.
Really if they knew what was go