should devs use the extra power of the neo/Scorpio to try to do 4k, or do 1080p60?

I doubt they're gonna achieve 4k at 30 with graphically intensive games. I'm expecting it to be intended more for Blu-rays. I wish you could choose 2560x1440, but it's never that simple with a console.

I'd rather they used to power for mad mathematics. Although a stable framerate is super nice. Especially if they are heading for VR.

sadly I dont know of any 1440p tvs though.

Since high end PCs have trouble running in proper 4K, I remain skeptical of the abilities of the Neo and Scorpio to output at that resolution natively. 1080/60 is a more reasonable goal, and frankly, it ought to be enough of an improvement to justify the upgrade.

I own, and play a high end pc, and still use a 180p monitor to keep a locked 60fps. I might at some point go 1440p, but I am not going anywhere near 4k for a long long time.

Frame rate and gameplay (like better physics or whatever), or just more complex visuals and better draw distances over resolution.

There has been no recent game I have played where I have thought "This would be so much more fun with better resolution!" 1080p is fine. Meanwhile there are lots of games that would be better with a more consistent frame rate, or better looking with better lighting/physics whatever or higher fidelity visuals.

You need a really big TV for 4k to be truly meaningful, well not REALLY BIG but around 50 if you're about 6 feet from the tv and a bigger one if you're any further. 60fps is more noticeable and benefits more people.

They need the screenshots.

I always thought resolutions looked sharper on a smaller screen but then my eyesight is atrocious.

I doubt we'll see any device coming close to 4k 30fps in the next few years.

4k tv's can do 1440p.

I doubt Neo/Scorpio will render 4k internally. I'm willing to bet they'll render at say 1440/60 and upscale that to 4k. 1440 upscaled would still look super sharp compared to sub 1080 upscaled. And that 60fps is just going to feel better.

Unless those updated consoles come in at $1k, 4k native 60 fps isn't going to happen with modern games.

framerate and then graphical quality while staying in 1080p.

frame rate over res always, the smart thing to do technically with these boxes is target rendering native at 1440p and upscale, I'm going to assume that is what a lot of games will do

Scorpio's specs would make 1440 60 a pretty easy base to hit on most games, Neo's rumored specs are a bit more in question. PC hardware is just now getting to 4k with decent FPS, and I think anyone who expects these consoles to do that are crazy. They will market them both as 4k consoles, and honestly how many people will really care? Most people still can't tell the difference betwee 720 and 1080, or 30fps and 60. Also, I envision a lot of the people buying these boxes still won't even have a 4k TV at the time. Look at how many people played 360 on SD TV's when it lauched, it was over half according to some developers.

A dev should always target a smooth and consitent framerate, that used to be how things went, but the resolution wars that started flaring up around xbox one and ps4 games have ruined that to some extent. Dynamic resolution scaling has also evolved to make things better as well.

It is a complicated issue, and I'm pretty sure both companies will mess it up.

This is the truth, and the reason why I went with a 1080p set for my living room in March before the new round of tvs came out. Got it for a great price.

But will 4K signals be downscaled to 2560x1440? Can I watch a 4K Blu-ray with a 4K BD player on a QHD monitor?

Faster and more solid frame rates would benefit myself and more people in general. 4K feels too far away unless you want to spend crazy amounts of money.

@chaser324 said:

According to Digital Foundry, this is definitely not the case with Neo, and I imagine Microsoft would adopt a similar policy based on what Phil Spencer has said in public. The only notable requirements Sony have in place for Neo games are that the internal framebuffer must be at least 1920x1080 and that the Neo version must not perform worse than the regular version. (I suspect both platform holders will probably also require games to render their UI natively at 2160p when connected to a UHD display, but that's not really a performance consideration for most games.) Beyond that, developers are free to target any resolution they wish between 1920x1080 and 3840x2160; in fact, Sony even recommends certain non-native resolutions like 3200x1800 as being a good compromise:

Sony is advocating a number of conventional upscaling resolution targets and 3200x1800 is the lowest it recommends. This sees frame-rates rise to a 39.1fps average, but our base PS4 comparison point is still 65 per cent faster. However, 1440p gets closer. This is a 2.6x boost to resolution and the average comes in at 57.7fps - around 12 per cent off the pace set by the 900p 'original'.

From the Neo specs, I don't think true 4K is possible at a good frame rate. I have a 4K tv and I would prefer 1080p at 60 fps. Digital foundry has a fascinating piece about it. The card is basically a locked RX480. Cool to see what they come up with.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-we-built-a-pc-with-playstation-neo-gpu-tech

@ezekiel:

You can watch 4k bluray on a 1080p TV if you really want to(I don't know why you would, but you can), all of this stuff simply scales, and pretty much all televisions have some sort of scaling solution, be it a dedicated processor or a more software oriented solution that works with the system the tv is built on. A larger native resolution will always look better than scaling in either direction. The ratio is the vastly important part, things just have to be 16x9 to look 'right' on a television or you end up with a stretched or black bar situation like the transition from SD to HD.

Some console games use some really weird resolutions just in the interest of shaving a few pixels to save resources, this is pretty common with the dynamic resolution scaling tech that has become so popular in recent console games.

@paliv: Agreed. I'll be sticking with 1080p for TV for a while yet (got a new one in January).

Monitors on the other hand...

@ezekiel: the xbox one s can already do 4k blurays, so its absolutely intended for gaming. 4k/ 30 is probably not going to happen without some upscaling and settings being pushed back.

4k at this point doesnt seem worth it when it comes to games

if the Scorpio specs are true, a equivalent to a 1070, it can do 4k30, but I cant see it going for less than $600, and even than I would rather have a 1080p60

I just want a stable framerate, 30 or 60. Just as long as it's consistent.

They should use the extra power to fix all the games that came out that can't even reach 30, what I wouldn't give to play a smooth Bloodborne.