360 and 1080P HDTV

[Blackhearted]

Both PS3 and 360 have a very limited number of native 1080p games. I haven't actually read any details as to why, but I can guarantee it's to use higher quality graphics while keeping the frame rate up. The 360 and PS3 don't have the power to run these games the way they want them at 1080p. Next gen will jump to native 1080p (and possibly support output to 4k, while they probably won't have power to run games at 4k). You have to remember when these systems came out, 1080p screens weren't in every room of every house like they are now.

There's 3 simple reasons there's pretty much no games with modern visuals at 1080p on a console. Memory size(512MB of ram for the whole system is nowhere near enough), Memory bandwidth(22GB/sec of video bandwidth is far too low), and simply raw horsepower.

[Shadrack]

Xbox 360 is already a 7 year old console but I think games look pretty nice still. Wonder how significant the next gen will be...

[Alladaskill17]

Xbox 360 is already a 7 year old console but I think games look pretty nice still. Wonder how significant the next gen will be...

For real. Companies *finally* really showing off what the current generation is/was always capable of. In my mind BF3, Halo 4. Anyways, imagine at the end of next generation (ahem, current/soon PC graphics - saving many of you time on that comment) what games will look like. Sadly we have to start with crap, even from first party, like Perfect Dark Zero and finally be impressed at the end of a cycle... /rant

[theyarecomingforyou]

Xbox 360 is already a 7 year old console but I think games look pretty nice still. Wonder how significant the next gen will be...

It will be noticeably behind what is available with top-end gaming PCs, as all the talk is that Microsoft and Sony will be quite conservative after the massive investments they made this generation. Load times will likely increase, as consoles will be bottlenecked by optical drives and won't haven't the storage to install most games (let alone at SSD performance levels as seen on PC). They'll handle 1080p comfortably and with noticeably improved visual fidelity but PCs have been at that level for years and a lot of gamers have moved on to high resolution displays (2560x1600), multi-monitor setups (5760x1200) or 3D (1920x1080 @120fps). More interestingly, 5760x1200 (7m pixels) isn't that far off 4K (8.3m pixels) so certainly the next generation of PC graphics cards should handle it with ease.

As usual, if you want "next gen" then just buy a PC and hook it up to your TV. The games are also cheaper. You'll miss out on a few exclusives but then the PC gets exclusives of its own.

[LaP]

The 360 does not support native 1080p correct? Only 720p?

I recently went from a 32 inch 720p HDTV to a 40 inch 1080p HDTV. The games look far worse then ever. It seems like the game upscale, and there isnt anything to do to correct it.

Anyone else have this problem? On the back of games, it says 1080p. It supports it, or is it native 1080p?

The console itself can support it.

But most games run in 720p or 540p since the console is not powerful enough for 1080p in those games. Basically for true 1080p a game must have really simple gfx?.

I don't think your TV will do a better upscaling job than the 360 so leave it at 1080p output.

And yeah 360 games don't look that great on a good 1080p TV WHEN you compare them to real 1080p sources (Blu ray, PC output, ...) displayed on it. I play some of my PC games on my TV using a wireless controller and at real 1080p with AA and aniso it's really another league.

Anyone with a good PC and a good 1080p monitor will tell you that those 360 versus PC witcher 2 videos are just silly. It's like if the PC version is run on a 5yo PC at lower resolution with mid quality settings ...

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

One thing I notice with my Xbox 360 is that even in the Dashboard set to 1080p and the TV being definitely @ 1080p the screen doesn't look 'sharp' at all. Looks like it's upscaled while my PS3 looks fantastic.

I always thought the same thing, but when fiddling around with the HDMI settings on my TV I noticed it was upscaling everything (Along with muting the colour and doing edge enhancement). Could your monitor be doing something similar?

Edit: Apparently the guide always renders at 640x480 and is upscaled, regardless of what display setting you use.

[LaP]

I'll have to try it on auto. I know battelfield looks worse then what it did on 720p

It should not. I see no difference between 720p and 1080p on my TV for 360 games.

Unless your TV is REALLY REALLY AWESOME SAUCE at upscalling it will look the same. Maybe if you have a 5 grands TV dunno never tested since my TV is average ...

Well a console that would have cost 800-100 dollars, with DUAL SLI setups and 1000W power consumption and the cooling system from hell wouldn't have been very popular ;)

That's for sure ;)

[HawkMan]

Edit: Apparently the guide always renders at 640x480 and is upscaled, regardless of what display setting you use.

I'm not sure, but it certainly doesn't render at 640x480, but it's claimed that it renders at 720 and is upscaled. can't say I really care. the 640x480 thing does occur, but only in certain games or situations. you will sometimes, if you're in a loaing screen or somethign in a game when you get a friend has logged on, you will get a REALLY blurry notification popup, those I believe are 640x480 upscaled. I don't know when and why they are used, but I suspect it's done when the xbox is under heavy load.

[Dane]

It should not. I see no difference between 720p and 1080p on my TV for 360 games.

Unless your TV is REALLY REALLY AWESOME SAUCE at upscalling it will look the same. Maybe if you have a 5 grands TV dunno never tested since my TV is average ...

That's for sure ;)

How close are you sitting. Sitting at the same distance I can tell the difference. It looks horrible. Need for speed most wanted looks great. Battelfield sucks.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I'm not sure, but it certainly doesn't render at 640x480, but it's claimed that it renders at 720 and is upscaled. can't say I really care. the 640x480 thing does occur, but only in certain games or situations. you will sometimes, if you're in a loaing screen or somethign in a game when you get a friend has logged on, you will get a REALLY blurry notification popup, those I believe are 640x480 upscaled. I don't know when and why they are used, but I suspect it's done when the xbox is under heavy load.

I didn't do a very exhaustive search, but when the first few results I found all claimed it was 640x480 I just assumed it was correct. And thinking about it it'd have to account for the aspect ratio, or they're just centering the result so it isn't stretched out of proportion.

[HawkMan]

well set you XBOX to SD res and then change to 720 and you'll see that the guide is certainly not rendered at 640x480 :)

[neoadorable]

upscaled to 1080p in settings, and as I recalled from last time I did this, no big difference. games looks the same. if anything, they look a little muddier but it's all good. amazing 2004-2005 tech can still run games like these PERIOD.