Topic: Speculation on 8k Support (PS5)

From my understanding it's been noted that the console will support 8k, but has been unclear whether this will be available on launch, or whether this will be added at a later point in the cycle.

I'm considering purchasing an upgrade to 8K for the full PS5 experience, but only if it's supported from the get go, otherwise I will likely hold back and wait, certainly since it will likely give more opportunity for better 8K hardware to come along.

I don't think anyone has any definitive answers on this, but would be interested to know what peoples thoughts are.

@Grindagger I think 8k is meant to be possible for PS5 and Xbox SX. How it actually shapes up in practice is another matter.

I think it will likely be a similar situation to the 4k abilities of the Pro and OneX. Possible for some titles but with trade offs in other areas.

I doubt it'll be a huge priority for either PS or MS other than for tech showcasing. Plenty of the consumer base doesn't even have 4k displays yet.

@KALofKRYPTON Yep. This is precisely what my thought was.

It's basically the "PS4 Pro" 1080p > 4k process, except 4k >8k.

The article from Guerilla regarding how Horizon Zero dawn worked in regards to 4k on the PS4 Pro was quite interesting. Ultimately, they said that the game does not display in native 4k, but rather it's optimized for 4k viewing, but with adjustments enough that it's almost indistinguishable for the naked eye to notice the difference between native view and this upscaled, polished 4k magic that the company implemented on the title.

To be fair, if they're going to follow suit for 8k, I'd be happy with that kind of wizardry. It really depends on how many developers intend to get on board with 8k, which remains to be seen.

@Grindagger It will have to be worth the effort for developers, which I suspect other than the first-party studios that will no-doubt have incentives from Sony - it probably won't be, at least initially. The install base for 8k content is barely there, but as you say - the potential improvements to overall fidelity on less than 8k displays will probably be tempting to cater for.

@KALofKRYPTON It will be nice that a lot of the games will be default 4k for fresh PS5 releases. I'm sure there will be an occasional 1080p release, but with the power that PS5 will put out 4k @ 60FPS seems reasonable for most developers to deliver on.

@Grindagger It won't be natively supported at launch, unless the consoles are gonna cost in the thousands of pounds. It will some kind of checkerboarding and other wizardry stuff which the pro uses to do a 'fake' 4k.

8k is still a few years away to be supported, I reckon it won't be until towards the end of next gen at least till it is popular enough. At the moment sets are too expensive and the attach rate for 4k worldwide has only just reached 50%.

@JohnnyShoulder https://www.t3.com/news/xbox-series-x-boss-says-ps5-beating-c...
8K target for some games is pretty likely.

@KALofKRYPTON The information on there is a bit ropey.

No mention of native 8k. Supporting 8k resolution is different from supporting native 8k without any upscaling or wizardry.

I kind of agree with JohnnyShoulder, i think both consoles will be doing a certain amount of wizardry. Maybe at the "Nextgen.5" (I.E the equivalent of the PS4 Pro section), we might have native 8k support.

I'm a bit doubtful that the initial hardware would be up to the capbilities. I wouldn't completely rule it out, but it would seem doubtful, unless they're going to charge a fortune for a super elite version on launch.

Guess time will tell.

@Grindagger If it happens, it'll be a target for something pretty limited.

For PS5, perhaps an 8k re-release of WipEout Omega Collection or something that can do native 4k/60 - not changing the assets but bumping up the resolution?

With 8k TV's available now and a bigger range coming in the next year, It makes sense that the next gen consoles will offer 8k content. Its clear that both next gen consoles will be HDMI 2.1 which has nearly 3x the bandwidth of 2.0 and will allow for 4k/120 and 8k/60.

The most likely is from Streaming apps and youtube is almost certainly going to be an option there. Obviously, you won't be getting 8k Bluray capability so as far as TV/Movie's, you will have to rely on streaming. Amazon and Netflix may well offer 8k in the future but I expect the bulk of content on these will still be up to 4k for quite some time.

As far as new AAA games are concerned, I would be surprised if we see any native 8k content but with techniques like chequerboard rendering, variable rate shading (VRS) etc, its possible we will see options in the menus like we see on the Pro/X for some games - a Native 4k or an 8k option. Its possible too that games could drop the frame rate down as well to help and with variable refresh rates (VRR), even a 45-60fps would appear smooth with no tearing or judder.

Some new AAA games may well be able to deliver native 8k too - Fifa 17 was able to deliver a stable 4k/60 on a PS4 Pro and whilst 8k is 4x the resolution, with the improved efficiency and much higher computational power of the PS5, it maybe possible to offer a Native 8k/60 Fifa.

There are other games that could offer 8k - remaster/ports of older games and those that are not visually as taxing. I don't want to say graphically inferior but ones that have far less polygon's, minimal draw distances etc etc could be able to hit native 8k.

Even if the games are not 'Native' 8k, the PS5 could upscale native resolutions like 2880p or 3600p (much like the Pro does with 1440 - 1800p games) all of which are higher than the 2160p of 4k. Its not the game engine that upscales games, its the video out part of the console. If you set your Pro to 2160p, it doesn't matter if the game is running at 720p, the TV receives a 2160p image because the console upscales it. Its the same with the XB1s which outputs at 2160p - its the console that upscales. If you set your console to output at 1080p into a 4k TV, its the TV that will upscale the image so it fills the screen - otherwise you would end up with a small image in the middle of the screen and big black bars all around it. With AI upscaling being offered on 8k TV's that promise to be better than Native 4k on a 4k screen (for example), you may want to leave the console in 4k output and let the TV upscale to get over 60fps gaming and a better than 4k PQ...

I bet it will also upscale 4k games too - just like the Pro does with 1080p games if it set to output at 8k. If set to 8k, the TV will receive an 8k image regardless of the resolution of the content. I can see though that gamers may have to go into their console settings and switch between 8k and 4k output - depending on whether they want resolution or frame rate. 8k only allows up to 60fps but 4k will allow up to 120fps with HDMI 2.1. I am not saying that ALL new AAA games will run (or target) 120fps at 4k BUT some could run at over 60fps. Again, take Fifa that runs at a native 4k/60 on PS4, it could run at 4k/120 on PS5. More the double the GPU power to render 4k images in half the time, much much faster CPU too. Also with VRR, it won't matter if a game runs at 80fps, 98fps, 109fps etc. If the console is set to output at 8k though and upscales, you would only get 60fps images - but could still get the feeling of playing at higher frame rates - the lower latency - because the game would still be running at 4k/120.

I expect that the next generation games would give gamers choice - even if its not as many choices as PC gamers. Options to pick between resolution and performance depending on the TV its connected to. Super-sampling down for those with lower resolution displays, upscaling and/or higher resolution options for higher res displays. At release, many will have HD TV's, some with 4k HDR TV's but only up to 4k/60 (HDMI 2.0), some with VRR enabled TV's and a select few with HDMI 2.1 enabled TV's (4k and 8k) so they have to work across the board. I would think that games that can run at more than 60fps would still run at the higher frame rates but if the TV is limited to 60fps, then you only get a 60fps video display - some frames are not displayed at all.

Anyway, as far as 8k gaming is concerned, there are numerous ways of offering 8k but whether its 'native' (which really depends on the game and its visuals), utilising numerous rendering techniques and/or upscaling (GTSport uses CB rendering to get to 1800p and then is upscaled to 2160p for example on Pro) or even reducing the frame rate (like we get 4k/30 or HD/60 options), it will really depend on the developer, the game, the console settings (output resolution) and possible choices they offer...