[Mark Williams:] PS4 Pro’s Checkerboard 4K Will Never Look As Good As Native 4K, Requires More Work

The PS4 Pro is nearly here but the debate on how beneficial its 4K upscaling can be compared to native 4K rendering is still on-going. Which one is better even if they both have their advantages depending on the hardware?

[ArchangelMike]

It had to be Gamingbolt.... what a way to spin that article into flambait....

[ApocalypseShadow]

Yup. Another Gamebolt article.

Time for another game of wack a mole...
https://m.youtube.com/watch...

Better yet... Two...
https://m.youtube.com/watch...

You really have to beat these ridiculous articles down. But, at least it wasn't another opinion article.

[Utalkin2me]

It's funny. Digital Foundry just did a video of stating how hard it was to tell the difference with only being inches away from the screen. He said there was a difference, but basically said you had to have a keen eye and be merely inches away from the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Rude-ro]

@Utalkin2me
Yeah, but they are intelligent and actually have all the equipment so they do not count. :/

[xDealtwithIt]

So is upscaling okay now? No one seems to mind it anymore and yet for other games on another system it was completely unacceptable.

Where will the goal posts be placed next?

[Utalkin2me]

@dealwithit

Your comparing 2 machines that was out against each other, so yeah we need to compare. So are we going to compare PS4 Pro against the Xbox1 or the S? You can only compare things that are out and in consumers hands.

Maybe you should also educate yourself on the pixel density of 4k and upscaling vs 1080p.

[candystop]

Yeah there seems to be way to much bs from those that once deemed X1 Inferior. Now all of sudden it's ok and doesn't matter to them lol. Anyways not important and the games will speak for themselves.

[Utalkin2me]

@candystop

First it's a known fact that the Xbox1 is inferior. This is not a opinion. Secondly the PS4 pro is the most powerful console on the market, and 2 times more powerful then the next closest console. So why should what it does not be ok?

I honestly dont get at what you guys are trying to get at. I mean if you're that upset that the Xbox1 is only the 3rd strongest console. Thats not my fault. I mean hang tight for another year.

[Muzikguy]

@candystop and dealwithit

Why is it when people state true things that people like you guys complain about goalposts being moved? The X1 is inferior and there are reasons why it upscaled games as opposed to putting them in 1080p naively. Quit playing the victim and "deal with it".

[Kingthrash360]

@ dealwithit
Xbox one at launch 499.99
Ps4 at launch 399.99
Xbox one Call of duty ghosts 720p upscaled to 1080p
Ps4 native 1080p
That was the problem.
And when more and more games had this difference the bigger the issue becomes.
What's crazy is the same may well happen to the scorpio. The ps4p might have more native 4k games at a cheaper price. Simply due to the massive amount of games for it.

[GamingIVfun]

Their are going to be true 4k at 30 FPS games on PS4 pro, even triple AAA games, and the games that use the other techniques to achieve 4K (it's not basic upscaling) look virtually identical to true 4k. it's amazing that PS4 Pro with much less power than what a single PC graphics card has, can do this, I have a GTX 1080, which is a 9 teraflop GPU and it still has a hard time with modern AAA games doing 4k. But people think with Xbox Scorpio having a 6 teraflop GPU, that all the games will be true 4K, it's more than likely that the Xbox scorpio will be doing similar techniques to what PS4 Pro is doing for many of it's games and they will be doing this at a higher price for the console or a loss to the company for each console.

PS4 is taking the better approach to affordable 4k gaming that looks virtually identical to true 4k.

There are many articles and people that are saying the same thing I am saying but they get ignored for this one article that is flame bait.

Note on the update, I think the checker boarding technique used on PS4 is proprietary tech, if it wasn't you would definitely see it done on PC games since the vast majority of PC's do not have the power to do true 4k and the ones that can are much much more expensive than the PS4 Pro. I will also say that at a normal viewing distance you will be hard pressed to see the difference between Sony's checker board technique and true 4k. another thing is HDR, which makes a huge difference also.

[freshslicepizza]

@Kingthrash360
@ dealwithit
Xbox one at launch 499.99
Ps4 at launch 399.99 http://n4g.com/news/1980109...
Xbox one Call of duty ghosts 720p upscaled to 1080p
Ps4 native 1080p
That was the problem. "

the problem was exemplified by kinect which added the real reason it cost more so why not tell the whole story now? some games are 900p on the xbox one now and 1080p on the ps4 and it IS STILL something that gets brought up and rightfully so. now the question is will you guys now try and act like the power gap is not significant? OF COURSE YOU WILL. the conversation will then shift gears to exclusives and the amount of sales and if the prices are different all while trying to smother any advantage scorpio will have over the ps4 pro. then if that doesn't work the ps5 will be brought up. this is what you guys do, you move the goalposts because you have issues with the competition and for some strange reason think that by supporting sony it somehow makes you feel better inside. even though they treat you no differently than those who dont waste their time doing fee promotion.

for the $299 you get an xbox one s which is a bit more powerful than the xbox one and it comes with at least one game which makes it cheaper than the ps4. what that means is now both products are priced appropriately because the ps4 is still a bit more powerful than the xbox one s but they are not as wide as you want to make it appear. plus the xbox one s comes with a ultra 4k bluray player but will you tell anyone the xbox one s is a good buy? . of course not so why even partake in the conversation when you will NEVER give a rational response?

"What's crazy is the same may well happen to the scorpio. The ps4p might have more native 4k games at a cheaper price. Simply due to the massive amount of games for it."

like i said, rational response. nada, not gonna happen. instead you want to imply because the ps4 has more games that suddenly its going to have more native 4k games? how about we talk about games that matter like battlefield and go from there? your whole tactic of trying to downplay scorpio since it was revealed is becoming a joke, even among your own fanbase. people do care about extra power in consoles, if they didn't they wouldn't be lining up trading in their ps4's and driving the used prices down so fast. scorpio will be even more powerful but if it is of no interest then thats fine but dont try and sell us your agenda, its not gonna work. most games sold on the ps4 are games like battlefield, so just enjoy them on your ps4 pro and dont feel so jealous if scorpio plays them better. that's just life, technology improves. but for now the ps4 pro offers great value, is that not enough for you?

[MagUk]

Yes they did indeed but they also said it was on a static image so that makes it really hard to tell the difference.

[NXSwitch]

More work will still result in trash/same gut graphics. This year is the start in gaming history that the Pro is nothing but a fake wanabe 4k player trying to hang out in the wrong hood. Best stay in 3rd place & know whats good for yah!

[Muzikguy]

@moldybread

I feel like all those questions you just asked KingThrash you should be asking yourself instead. It seems to me like you don't believe any of that crap you just said. Why do only certain games like Battlefield matter? Why are YOU downplaying the Pro? I'm seeing so many people excited for the PS4 Pro which is great. Then there are people like you and some others on here constantly defending a system that isn't even out yet. Then talk about goalposts being moved??? You're special.....

I wouldn't talk about X1 being a good buy either if someone were to ask me. That doesn't mean I'm moving goalposts. I just don't believe Microsoft's system is a good buy. It could come with a car, a house, a baby girl, and a stripper and I still wouldn't buy one. If you understood the industry you could see why it is that MS keeps giving things away. Bribes don't make things a "good buy".

[freshslicepizza]

@Muzikguy
"Why do only certain games like Battlefield matter?"

because those are the games people want extra power for, they are not buying the pro for indie games that might get 4k native content. try and stay on topic here. so dont be talking about games like horizon because that wont be 4k. kingthrash said he expect the ps4 pro to have more 4k native games than scorpio.

"Why are YOU downplaying the Pro? I'm seeing so many people excited for the PS4 Pro which is great."

great and i didnt downplay the pro. how do you go from someone who constantly tries to minimize a system not even out yet to me downplaying the pro because i said scorpio will be more powerful? i am simply stating facts. the ps4 pro offers great value, i already said that but king is trying to downplay scorpio as much as possible yet you want to go after me instead? typical.

" Then there are people like you and some others on here constantly defending a system that isn't even out yet. Then talk about goalposts being moved??? You're special..... "

again try and comprehend what has been said and stop playing favorites here because you dont support the xbox brand.

"I wouldn't talk about X1 being a good buy either if someone were to ask me. That doesn't mean I'm moving goalposts. I just don't believe Microsoft's system is a good buy. It could come with a car, a house, a baby girl, and a stripper and I still wouldn't buy one. If you understood the industry you could see why it is that MS keeps giving things away. Bribes don't make things a "good buy"."

bribes? project scorpio is now a bribe? stop bringing your issues with microsoft into this.

[Muzikguy]

moldybread.... You are talking about how X1 S comes with a game and is essentially cheaper than the PS4. That's the "bribes" I'm talking about. They keep adding "value" to their systems by giving things away. Those are called bribes. That's also why I say you need to understand the industry. I don't think you do because your vision is clouded or something. I really don't know.

And don't tell me "stop bringing your issues with Microsoft into this". I'm commenting on the article like anyone else. Get over it. Just because you don't agree 🙄. I'm not here downplaying Scorpio, let it come release that's fine. I do believe though, that the PS4 Pro will have more games in the long run. I also believe that the PS5 will be out shortly after the Scorpio which will make its life short lived. I also believe that when that happens MS will stop supporting the Scorpio and come out with their next console. Just a vicious cycle. This is why I just play games and not worry about the next thing coming along. There's too much to enjoy in life. Those "beliefs" are just guesses and they may not even happen. Whatever unfolds will in due time. I'm not saying that stuff is 100%

[miyamoto]

Xbone S upscaling is a huge blur fest scam
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
look at 0:23 of this video

[freshslicepizza]

@Muzikguy
"moldybread.... You are talking about how X1 S comes with a game and is essentially cheaper than the PS4. That's the "bribes" I'm talking about. They keep adding "value" to their systems by giving things away. Those are called bribes.

http://allforgamenews.com/2...

hey look, more bribes!

[Muzikguy]

I really don't like this site. Gamingbolt is such trash

[Muzikguy]

It's cool if you like the site man, I don't really give a sh!t. Tell you what though, you'd be blind not to notice how bad it is. Unless you work for them or something, in which case you have terrible customer relations. Nobody would like a site if they have people talking like you are to me

[ninjazfistz]

We know they are biased. However, this article I found to be quite acceptable. If they said how PS4 Pro graphical techniques are as good or better would you have liked it?

[Muzikguy]

To be honest ninja, I don't read things from that site. It's not necessarily about being biased, because we all are in one way or another, I have other issues with the site. Constantly they seem to make something out of nothing. Make a huge stink over something so small. Other times it's almost like they try to create a flame war. Then there was a time when anyone they talked to they'd say something like "Sony will win the holiday 'says analyst'". They'd overuse the term analyst to mean pretty much anyone. Clickbait. They do that a lot too (and really almost all websites do this)

[OB1Biker]

Its beyond me that so many people still dont get what that site is about. For years its all been about poking fanboys on both sides for clicks and with their obvious agenda in the background.

[Ju]

Funny. That dud who made that statement was actually referring to Mantis Racer, his own game, which runs native 4K @ 60fps on the Pro and his response was in the sense that for his game, he thinks native was more a requirement than on slower paced games using checkerboard. But, hey, creative headline taking this out of context...Gamingbolt. They don't miss a chance lowballing the Pro at every occasion.

[butchertroll]

For people who doesn't know ( gamingbolt too ), PS4 Pro has native 4K games. Here is the list :

- The Last Of Us Remastered (Native 4K@30FPS with the best shadows)
- Smite (Native 4K@60FPS)
- The Elder Scroll Online (Native 4K@30FPS)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition Edition (Native 4K@30FPS)
- Mantis Burn Racing (Native 4K@60FPS / Native 4K@30FPS for 4 player split-screen)
- Wheels of Aurelia (Native 4K@60FPS)
- Futuridium EP Deluxe (Native 4K@60FPS)
- forma.8 (Native 4K@60FPS + 8xMSAA )
- Rez Infinite (Native 4K@60FPS)
- Hustle Kings (Native 4K)
- Thumper (Native 4K)
- NBA 2K17 (Native 4K@60FPS + HDR)
- Bound (Native 4K@60FPS + MSAA x2 upscaled from MSAAx8 in normal gameplay / in VR mode: rendering to 4K internal screen which is then supersampled to 1080P display in PSVR + new effects like volumetric lights + sharper shadows)
- Viking Squad (Native 4K@60FPS).
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (Native 4K@60FPS)

[DialgaMarine]

Love how you're getting down voted for pointing out a fact. Guess people have to try and silence you when you use facts to kill their BS agenda.

[lastking95]

Not exactly an impressive list. Ppl need to just enjoy the dang games and stop arguing over resolution and sales 24/7

[darthv72]

Checkerboard rendering may not look the same as native 4k but I don't think that really bothers people. The games are still going to look good regardless because they will be upscaling from mostly 1080p+ sources anyways. Some games will get patches to yield higher resolution resources to help make the checkerboard rendering more efficient.

I for one never had a problem with upscaled vs native as my 44 year old eyes aren't what they used to be but damn that HDR sure does look sweet. I might not be able to see resolution differences like younger people but i can sure see the difference HDR makes.

[PlayableGamez-]

You ps dudes weren't saying that about 900p vs 1080p...

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

No. They were saying that about 720p VS 1080p

[sammarshall102]

Yep

[badz149]

900p "upscaled" to 1080p is not the same as 1800p "checkerboard" to 2160p. The former is done by HW upscaler but the later is done through rendering. Closest example we have is QB but it was from 720p to 1080p.

[Aenea]

@badz

Checkerboard rendering is used to reach 1800p, the rest, towards 2160p, is done by old fashioned upscaling. Checkerboard rendering is NOT upscaling, but Xbox fans will keep saying it is so it will make them feel better for the coming year...

[Errorist76]

and you dudes claimed it didn't matter back then...

[xDealtwithIt]

It is strange how a certain fanbase seemed disgusted over the idea of any game being upscaled. Pointing out all the small details of what they saw when comparison videos were released.

But now since Mark Cerny threw a buzzword like checkerboard out there this will now be the defense needed to make upscaling okay by this fanbase.

All it took was Sony to tell them that upscaling is okay, of course only after they sell you another sort of premium console.

[Utalkin2me]

@xDealtwithIt, Errorist76

Cause the PS4 is stronger then Xbox1. The PS4 Pro is twice the power of PS4 and almost 3 times the power of the Xbox1. Who cares if double upscales and upcales the upscales, it's still the strongest console. While there is a noticeable difference between 900p and 1080p. It's visually slightly blurry. Its less of the fact considering the pixel density is way higher in 4k. It's left up to the developers how they see fit to use the power, be it Native 4k or checkerboard rendered or how ever.

But on the flip side. The same thing could be said about "games is the only thing that matters" and blah blah. But you know what who cares, i dont and thats the sole reason i very rarely even go into MS articles. I could care less if the Scorpio is 20 times stronger then PS4.

[Razzer]

Xbox dudes sure were.

[zeuanimals]

@xDealwithit

Spoken like someone who doesn't understand what Checkerboard rendering is.

[TKCMuzzer]

I don't give a crap to be honest but I can tell the difference once it starts going below 720p. You know whats worse, stick a checkerboard 4K and a normal 4K in front of 95% of gamers and they would not be able to tell the difference, it's just dick measuring which is quite apt to sum up a lot of these websites who don't really seem to care about the obvious.....games.
If people want to stick their nose on the screen to see 'small artifacts' then knock your selves out if thats how you justify your purchase.

Plus after a certain resolution your eye struggles to notice the difference, but your eye can notice the difference between 1080p and 720p.

[extermin8or]

You realise that there is a massive difference between standard upscaling and the checkerboard technique in terms of image quality. As digital foundry said the checkerboard is near indifferent from native, you can only tell if you stand inches from the screen and have a sharp eye. Standard upscaling is noticeable at a distance,

[Chevalier]

It's more ironic that after 3 years where graphics differences didn't matter, but, now that Scorpio is on the way graphics all of a sudden matter again. If it mattered before you would have owned a PS4 not an Xbone. It's hilarious to see the flip flop.

[never4get]

Uncharted 4 still looks like a cartoon no matter what resolution it is. Does naughty dog even live in real life?

[Anzil]

Best looking game on console. You mad bro?

[DigitalRaptor]

To all of those trying to equate hardware-intensive checkerboard rendering to 900p upscaling, then please do me a kind favour and leave the conversation because you're utterly disingenuous, you're trying to pull "hypocrisy" from between your buttocks, and you all have no idea what you're talking about.

It's not just "ps dudes" that were being open and honest about 900p not looking as good as 1080p, because not only was 1080p an established standard in 2013, but the Xbox One's built-in upscaler not only crushed blacks and made games look significantly worse than what would be a native 1080p image, but it was done using primitive upscaling methods, that are COMPLETELY incomparable to what checkerboard rendering is and does.

Not only this, but we have multiple sources that describe the Pro's checkerboard rendering as "hard to tell", "indistinguishable", "almost identical", and "98% there":
https://www.engadget.com/20...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.cnet.com/uk/new...

And the thing is, it's the job of gaming media to take information and analyse it fairly and the good thing is, they aren't going to be disingenuous by lying about the reality of the differences that lie between primitive (and sub-par) upscaling from a few years ago, and checkerboard rending (impressive and indistinguishable) right now.

[lastking95]

Lol smh ive never seen so much flip flop in my life. All in 1 gen by the same ppl lol

You're one of those ppl digital. There has been ppl defending 900p upscaled to 1080 and those same Ppl are no doubt hyped 4k but Im seeing them say 4k native or death. Theyre calling out thise that said native or death last year but now saying upscaled (yes even checkerboard does upscaling) is no noticeable difference. You're already a known flipflopper so I wont waste my time any longer.

[DigitalRaptor]

What am I reading here?

Xbox fanboys have been downplaying the established 1080p standard since 2013, and for another year will be absolutely satisfied with how games output on the XB1, and the day (the hour, the minute) the Scorpio comes out..... checkerboard will be a "joke" apparently even though it looks almost as good as native 4K which is already well above 1080p (that was apparently not a big deal with the XB1 not being able to achieve it often enough). That's even worse flip-flop because it will be immediate, more severe and with the sole intention to gloat. & 4K is not an established standard which makes the situation completely different to what you're trying to use it for here.

ALL IN 1 GEN BY THE SAME PPL........ LOL.

And you're STILL trying to equate the outcome of checkerboard rendering as if it's the same as XB1 upscaling, which had problems of its own, whereas checkerboard is a streamlined solution that doesn't damage image quality in the process of upscaling.
-------

@ lastking95

There's no proof you've given to support most of your comment, and you ignored the majority of it because you don't have an answer to give. You're just one of those dudes who throws a blanket claim about people and then not end up justifying it. You know exactly what i said is going to happen, but to you this is all about the Sony boys. You're a known time-waster who PM's me to try and disprove known facts in the name of Xbox defense. I don't think I need to be wasting my time on you any longer either. It's ok, I already destroyed you in the comment below.

[Rimeskeem]

*Sees the title and looks at source*

Of course it's gamingbolt

[DigitalRaptor]

We have multiple source already saying that checkerboard 4K is almost indistinguishable from native 4K....

Where are my sources you ask?

https://www.engadget.com/20...
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
https://www.cnet.com/uk/new...

If anyone cares to read/listen to those sources you'll find the words.... "hard to tell", "indistinguishable", "almost identical", and "98% there". Xbox damage controllers really, really think people will care about the differences in something that looks practically indistinguishable... wow...

Yet we are already getting the most insecure Xboxers spreading nonsense around, and getting bitter about 900p vs. 1080p "hypocrisy" that used generic age-old upscaling and trying to equate it to checkerboard rendering as if it's remotely comparable tech-wise. If folks weren't disingenuous and agenda-driven, they would know that checkerboard rendering is not simple upscaling that crushes blacks and makes games look worse like the XB1 did, that's for sure.
---------

@ lastking95

I'm not quite sure what YOU are reading but all of those are editorials from people who played on PS4 Pro and have opinions way more valid that an avid detractor like yourself. There is ZERO input from developers in those articles that talks about whether or not it looks the same or not. And you'll also notice, if you actually ready my comment that I said "almost indistinguishable", which is a huge feat considering that this is only officially a 4.2TF machine. There's nothing inherently wrong with people noticing a difference. ALL OF THEM said that it was so close that it was almost indistinguishable. Sorry to burst your bubble but please try to read better next time.

The thing is though dude. 900p on Xbone was so easy to spot because Microsoft's in-built upscaler made it look worse when it upscaled the image, and 1080p was a standard before this gen even began, so I'm not sure how you're trying to deflect here.

Checkerboard is NOT (and I repeat NOT) the same as Microsoft's sh***y primitive XB1 upscaler that crushed blacks and made image quality actually worse. Although, you guys are actually trying to make it seem like Cerny's extremely impressive solution is comparable to what was a lazy upscaling implementation on an underpowered console for a generation with 1080p standards. You're actually not surprised because you're an Xboy who's desperate to try and make false equivalencies due to the XB1's struggle this generation. And Scorpio is not even out for another year and nobody actually knows jack about it, which is the only reason Xboys are trying to downplay how amazing checkerboard looks next to native 4K.

[lastking95]

Not the best sources. 1 by ps4pro dev and another by SOMEONE WHO GUESSED THE UPSCALED VERSION.

"It's hard to tell but we were able to guess the upscaled checkerboard version"......kinda like 900p vs 1080p hard to tell but can be guessed. Stop with the goalpost moving. You of all ppl sh***ed on 900p and upscaling but now saying checkerboard is no noticeable difference and okay 😏why am I not surprised?

At the end of the day any tv less the 60" your wasting your time with 4k anyway if you jocking over it. Well 50" may be some slight noticeable improvement (remember to squint lol)

[MasterCornholio]

Eurogamer said the same but they also said that it looks extremely close. With some games they have to be inches away to spot the difference. They explained that this occurs due to the much higher pixel density.

[Mystogan]

I think the kicker here is that it requires more work for devs.

[MasterCornholio]

Not much more though.

[Teflon02]

From what I hear checkerboard is more work than native but the amount of power it saves is work it apparently, which is why the pro can add stuff like better shadows and effects not on the og ps4. The saved power. Digital Foundry said they think this is better than using native 4K for the trade off. The amount of saved power is worth it for Extras. Example, get a game native 4K. Or 1800 and checkerboard it and throw AA and what ever Extras you want. It adds up to be a fair trade off. One thing though is, this clearly means once scorpio releases, they'll have to figure a way to save more energy and do some new tricks because they've given ms a year to take advantage of these techs etc.

[TKCMuzzer]

Not really, it just requires idiots not to sit inches away from their TV, then it takes away all the worry away. It is important for yourself to sit a comfortable distance from the TV, this is how the analysis should be done, because this is how 99.9% of people will view the games.
Create real world viewing situations and feed back, this would then produce useful articles.

[extermin8or]

3 weeks ish to get it running using checkerboard cerny reckoned. I personally think all games should use it going forwards, the difference to native is near unnoticeable, it allows for the saved power to go into better AA, shadows, lighting and/or keeping the frame rate stable or even increasing it. I'd take those things which ultimately are likely to produce a more noticeable increase in image quality of compared to a non-checkerboard image without them.

[jer1122]

I mean they're the only developer to say anything and they like some small Studio so I'm not really going to take their word for it. Every other Studio has said that the checkerboard rendering it's pretty easy and only takes a couple weeks to get done. I think this is more for Triple-A games obviously for any developers it's going to be more of a problem but these guys have the game running natively 4k on the PS4 Pro so I don't even see what they're talking about. To me it seems like they're making a big deal out of this because they wanted to look better because they got their game to run natively 4k on the PS4 Pro instead of checkerboard but it's also a small racing game instead of a big Triple-A game

[medman]

Number one...duh.

Number two...it doesn't have to look as good. It will be close enough to not really matter to most gamers, and will be the best looking and best running versions of any games on console until Scorpio arrives.

[ILostMyMind]

Maybe then also. No one knows how much of Microsoft's promises will come true. Anyway, if the "Scorpio" has superior hardware than Pro we will see improvements only in multi-platform games that will be even better on PCs. PlayStation will continue to have the best exclusives. It is enough to me.

[Mystogan]

"best exclusives" ,In your opinion.

[ILostMyMind]

@Mystogan
In the opinion of approximately 50 million users but OK. Be happy with what you have!

[Lennoxb63]

"In the opinion of approximately 50 million users but OK. Be happy with what you have!"

By that logic, phone/tablet games are better than anything on the X1 and PS4. It doesn't matter how many share the same opinion, its still an opinion.

[ILostMyMind]

@Lennoxb63
There is no logic in your statement. You are so dumb. Sorry!

[cyber_daemonx]

@myst, its not just opinion. At least the Pro will have you know, true exclusives.

[DarXyde]

This is such non-news. No, it won't look as good as native 4K. That's the entire point of having hardware powerful enough to render it natively. If you could get the exact same image quality by upscaling, every hardware manufacturer would be trying to cut costs by including an upscaler instead of actually brute-force rendering.

I think everyone is coming into Pro expecting it won't have the exact same sharpness of native 4K. What people care about, however, is how close the hardware comes.

[extermin8or]

I'd argue even if it could do it natively the power would be being wasted doing so. Far better to use it on frame rate and improving graphical fidelity- which are likely to have a bigger impact on image quality than the native vs checkerboard rendering techniques.

[kevnb]

But 1440p looks good as well.

[Imalwaysright]

True. Resolution isn't the be all and end all of graphical fidelity.

[ILostMyMind]

In fact if you count the pixel you will see that there is 4k. This is what checkerboard does. It is not a simple upscale like XBS.

[Mystogan]

it also requires more work for the devs

[ILostMyMind]

@Mystogan
I don't care, i'm not a dev. Are you or is this the new way to downplay PS games?

[Aenea]

@Mystogan

More work for the dev than what? 1080p? or 2160p? They need to do more work for 2160p as well, besides devs want their games to run well on consoles so they optimise, they can easily handle this, this is nonsensical.

And about what they lied about, they are good in creating clickbait titles, twisting things around, put things in negative light, make mountains out of molehills, etc., etc.

[ILostMyMind]

"The PS4 Pro is Nearly here but the debate on how beneficial is 4K upscaling can be Compared to native 4K rendering is still on-going."

Not really. No one said that.

[Errorist76]

typical Gamingbolt trash.

[saint_seya]

Errorist76 why u said trash twice?

[superchiller]

Surprise surprise, another anti PS4 article from Rashid Sayed/gamingbolt. Trolling for more clicks on their clickbait website. It must really keep Rashid awake at night, knowing that the PS4 is so far ahead of everything else in the current generation.

[StormLegend]

Doesn't have to be Native 4K because it's super close to it and you can barley see the difference.

[Vasto]

Everybody already knows this.

[breakdancefight]

I am with you GTgamer. I have mine paid for and Seagate is introducing a 5tb 2.5 HDD for a whopping $85. I have also been checking out some smaller HDD's with a faster 7200rpm.

[Aenea]

Is that 5TB drive only 9.5mm high? If it's thicker it won't fit....

[breakdancefight]

Good catch,re-read article and they are in fact 15mm do to stacking of the platters.

[Aenea]

Yeah this is the reason I kinda had hoped they would have made the drive bay 15mm high or heck, even make it a 3.5" bay, so more different drives can be placed inside...

Though am thinking of using a SATA to eSATA connector, buy an eSATA enclosure, maybe find a cheap place to 3d print something in black so that it fits nicely, then plop a 3.5" SATA HDD into the enclosure, hook it up, voila!

[breakdancefight]

3D printing an enclosure is some serious dedication........and if I had a 3D printer I would too.

[King_Lothric]

Very ridiculously to see the same people who said there was no difference on Xbox one when scaling 900p to 1080p to now criticize PS4 pro. I has to be gaming bolt of course.

PS4 is doing a great job with many titles already confirmed to run native 4k and those upscaled and from here, is just going to get better.

[XStation4pio_Pro]

first off... gaming bolt is the stupidest site. second off, native will always be better because everything is 1:1. I can clearly see the difference between an upscaled 1080p tv signal vs a native 4k bluray or stream - even tho the 1080p tv signal is being upscaled to 4k. It looks good, but not as good.

anytime you make information bigger, you are making not just the image bigger but the pixels bigger too. you have to use all kinds of tricks to get the upscale as close to 1:1 as possible but the truth is, you have to make new data from the spaces between the old data and all upscaling can do is interpolate the information between the scaled pixels to recreate some of the smoothness... that and some edge sharpening... its all post process tho, and therefore not as good as native.

[northpaws]

Gamingbolt always try so hard, good efforts!!

[Sm00thNinja]

I agree checkerboard and native 4k, it's all the same to me it looks great. But PS4 only fans do you not see the hypocrisy of this being fine and dandy but when Xbone did this it was a blight against humanity?

[Aenea]

Indeed it is, but that hypocrisy goes both ways, the Xbox fans said they couldn't tell the difference and now suddenly it's native or bust.

I never could tell the difference unless I paused the videos and would stare at them for a while, am sure this is the same thing now...

[Sm00thNinja]

Completely agree with you. Both camps are silly smh. Half of them have never seen native 4k anyway

[xDealtwithIt]

Sorry, not true. It was always the sony fans that pushed the idea that upscaling was bad, that they could always see the difference and games must be 1080p/60fps while always celebrating the most powerful console ever.

But since the ps4 release they have been slowly back tracking, dropping some arguements to just plain shifting so called hypocrisy blame on xbox fans.

Every narrative or rule in this so called gaming war is quickly sett up rules by sony fanboys only to backslide on them latet on. Paying to play online, indie games, move motion controls, online passes, missing features, upscaling, 30fps, this list goes on and on with you guys.

We were told for so long that power matters and that native is the only way to play games so it's strange that now we are seeing well known fanboys downplay it.

[TKCMuzzer]

@Dealtwithit
I think you all need to look at yourself to be honest, some of the stuff is nonsense.

[pyroxxx]

They cannot see the difference between 900p and 1080p,.. but damn they notice it from 1800 native checkerboard up-scaled to 4K native (never mind the pixel density makes it exponentially harder to differentiate),..

Xbox people are shameless,..

[DigitalRaptor]

Yes.... I can absolutely see the case for direct comparison here.... NOT.

Please write me a paragraph on how hardware-intensive checkerboard rendering that makes games look almost indistinguishable from native 4k resolution, is comparable to Xbox One's primitive upscaling methods that actually made games look worse because it crushed the blacks and simply stretched the image to fit 1080p.

Professionals are already saying that there's almost no difference, and that the cases are not similar here at all, but the first place the brain goes to is "hypocrisy" rather than trying to actually figure out why there are differences here. 'Cause there are and it seems like you and the Xbox loyal are ignoring them.

[Barricade]

Ofcourse Checkerboard rendering will not look as good as native 4k, but I read somewhere the difference between 1800p checkerboard rendered vs native 4K is less noticable than 900p vs full HD, and even that difference wasn't that big. And I believe some guy from digital foundry actually said that.

[Sm00thNinja]

I Anna read that article care to share the link

[Barricade]

I edited my comment a little because I couldn't find an article on digital foundry, I could however find a comment on neogaf, and it was a guy from digital foundry who said it.

http://m.neogaf.com/showthr...

Here you go. The comment on top of the page.

[Sm00thNinja]

That's extremely deceiving barricade -_- so if I start saying the Xbox Scorpio is gonna be 20 Tera flops instead of 6 you gonna start quoting me smh

[Barricade]

How is it deceiving? I tell you what I did and why. The guy(dark10x) is a writer of Digital Foundry and had hands-on time with the PS4 Pro. He says you'd have to game on a monitor to really see the difference between checkerboard rendering vs native 4K, he's tried it himself.

I have to ask, what do you think about all the articles of Phil Spencer's interviews? Or Andrew House? All they do is "just quote" whatever they say. If a source has proven insider knowledge about what he's talking about I'd put his words over those of an internet warrior anytime.

[Babadook7]

It's the closest thing to 4K in a console available now, and at a very competitive price. Not sure it being slightly less sharp than $2000 pcs is really all that important.

[Jivesh]

Oh gamingbolt...

[Ashunderfire86]

Look at it this way, at least PS4 Pro can go as close as Native 2K-3K 1800p upscale to 4K! That is pretty darn close. All this hate and we are getting a PS4 with upgraded graphics, and stable framerate! None of this happen before for past generations until now. I take 3K gaming with pretty graphics and better framerate anyday. And I don't care what the haters say. The haters can eat dirt for all I care.

[horndog]

Not real 4K?! Yuk!! i didn't buy a 4K oled to play fake 4K. Hahahaha!! Fake 4K . That's what it is

[Errorist76]

Sure you did...we believe you.

[xDealtwithIt]

So you agree you're paying for a premium console that plays fake 4k games?

[Errorist76]

@xfan

No one is paying premium. If anything it's incredibly cheap, especially since the 3 times slower competition costs only 50 dollars less.

[TKCMuzzer]

@Dealwithit
Thanks for proving my point above about your comments and fanboys.
On another note, what did this guy buy a 4K tv for, upscaled 1080p games on his Xbox One s, or more likely, he hasn't bought a 4K tv and would not know the difference between 4K and checkerboard 4K in front of him if someone give him the answer.
I couldn't but I am good with that because I won't lose any sleep worrying about non important issues like 'small artifacts'
Plus as far as I am aware there are native 4K releases coming to the Pro but Imagine they don't count as they don't fit in with fanboy vision.

[InTheZoneAC]

in response to the title...DUH!

[Pantz]

$399

[Starman69]

Well.. Duh!!!! how dumb is that for a headline!?

[Babadook7]

Richard Leadbetter is one of the most knowledgeable journalists in video games. According to him it looks very close to 4K and most won't notice. I never expected PS4 to do 4K so this is a nice surprise in 2016.

[KillZallthebeast]

Hasn't the point of console always been taking advantage of lesser power than a high end pc and refining and fine tuning graphics anyway?

[Aenea]

Yup, making games for the most powerful hardware is always easier than making due with something less...

[trooper_]

This site again?

Seriously?

[DeadSilence]

Gamingbolt is run by low IQ idiots, don´t give them attention, they are the clowns of gaming industry.

[DeadSilence]

It´s time to ban gamingbolt from N4G, i think Neogaf has banned them.

[DialgaMarine]

Of course it won't, but you'll have to literally plant your eyes up to your TV and scan every square millimeter of your screen to find the differences.

Finding it stupid that these clickbait are STILL trying to pretend that PS4 Pro can't do native 4K. Keep up the lies for M$

[SynestheticRoar]

Gamingbolt No Please stop it.

[Lordani66]

OH REALLY? Thank you for enlighting us that a $400 hardware isn't able to render current games in native 4K -.-. Who does he think we are? Braindead zombies?

[Rhythmattic]

There are many more games upscaled (and from lower res compered to PS4) on the Bone.
Yes, PS users push that issue, but so did the MS FB talking about secret sauce, DX12 and the power of the cloud...
There is a difference in IQ when upscaled to 1080p from 720p compared to 900p...
Of course there are Native 1080p games on both , generally 1st party, but the multi platforms do show the difference in power.... The same game, on different consoles, using the same tech shows the PS4's power advantage...
Upscaling? Checkerboard rendering? Who cares..........
Simple Fact... No console at this point can do what the Pro does....
Using the "PS4 users like upscaling all of a sudden" is a total cop out. We've always had it, in many games, just a higher res to start with.... Which translates to a better image..........
Anyway, Next up, Next Gen Scorpio....(wonder if Bone will have VR?) It'll be a rippa....
In a year from now, we will at least know if we need to upgrade our GPU.

[NohansenBoy]

This website is filled with and ran by console fanboys.

[PunisherRevenge]

Lol....and the flip flopping begins. ....lol

[shaenoide]

look ! Captain Obvious wrote an article !

[gamer7804]

i don't see why there are so many articles about this...

4K > checkerboard 1080+ > 1080 > checkerboard 720 > 720. With lower fps games checker boarding is an okay solution to getting a look that appears higher than its reality. If a game is a 60fps game usually they'll stick to native or upscaling instead of checker boarding or similar reconstruction technique due to some softness and blur.

lets move along now and talk about games.