Digital Foundry | PlayStation 5 Backwards Compatibility Tested - And It's Fantastic!

[insane_cobra]

PlayStation consoles are exclusives machines to me, so I’m glad that Sony got their boost mode right (or at least the initial tests seem to suggest so). I would’ve liked to have seen The Last Guardian, because that still had a lot of issues in its 4K mode, although I’m sure that PS5 will just power through it.

I have to say that I was slightly taken aback by the way that some advantages on the Series X|S side were downplayed or glossed over, and I’m not sure what’s so surprising about PS5 having a performance advantage in cases where it has less pixels to render - sometimes significantly so. Maybe the surprise is that the boost mode actually works the way that it’s supposed to? Anyway, MS are known for making performance improvements to some of the struggling BC titles in the past, so I’m sure that we can expect similar long term dedication on Series X|S, these are just the preliminary results.

Another thing that surprised me was hearing Richard say that BC games’ performance can’t be improved past their hardcoded frame rate caps, when some time ago if was precisely DF who broke the news that Microsoft’s BC wizards intend to accomplish precisely that for select titles.

But those niggles aside, it was another good video, and with BC support being important to me, I’m looking forward to more coverage.

[LucasTaves]

@BRiT

Did they not cover VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), where running games at the 4K/60fps with some dips below should be a better experience over 1440p/60fps. Isn’t that the entire point of having VRR?

As long as the games don’t drop below 40 Hz, the LG CX OLED should do a solid job with VRR enabled.

That too was ignored. SX nearly locking the games at 4k60 is a very good thing

[Staffy]

@LucasTaves

He said that on twitter. His post was that Ps5 was fantastic and in many ways better than what SX was doing

Maybe it’s not up to them to cover the (bad) news, but things like no VRR, can’t move games to external, no 1440p and so on are all valid complaints and just real bad moves by Sony.

[KageMaru]

@BRiT

Did they not cover VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), where running games at the 4K/60fps with some dips below should be a better experience over 1440p/60fps. Isn’t that the entire point of having VRR?

As long as the games don’t drop below 40 Hz, the LG CX OLED should do a solid job with VRR enabled.

I’m sure that will be covered in the actual console review. With this being focused on BC, I can see why they stuck to just performance.

@LucasTaves

He said that on twitter. His post was that Ps5 was fantastic and in many ways better than what SX was doing

That makes it worse. We don’t condone bringing drama from other areas to these forums. You have an issue what he says on Twitter, address it with him there (hopefully in a respectful manner). This thread should have only been about the video posted but went off the rails right from the first post and turned into XboxEra vs John.

[LucasTaves]

@KageMaru

That makes it worse. We don’t condone bringing drama from other areas to these forums. You have an issue what he says on Twitter, address it with him there (hopefully in a respectful manner). This thread should have only been about the video posted but went off the rails right from the first post and turned into XboxEra vs John.

Stop. It.

?

I already had stopped posted on the subject, was just replying to you to explain.

[KageMaru]

@LucasTaves

?

I already had stopped posted on the subject, was just replying to you to explain.

I understand and appreciate that. Sorry, I’ll edit my post.

[BRiT]

@KageMaru

I’m sure that will be covered in the actual console review. With this being focused on BC, I can see why they stuck to just performance.

Actually they won’t because PS5 doesn’t seem to support VRR (variable refresh rate) at launch.

But my statement was more about them comparing LowerRes/60fps PS5 BC to HigherRes/60fps SeriesX BC with some drops. That’s exactly where VRR on Series X would smooth things out.

[KageMaru]

@BRiT

Actually they won’t because PS5 doesn’t seem to support VRR (variable refresh rate) at launch.

But my statement was more about them comparing LowerRes/60fps PS5 BC to HigherRes/60fps SeriesX BC with some drops. That’s exactly where VRR on Series X would smooth things out.

I completely agree. I was just trying to say that I’m sure they’ll cover the lack of VRR in their PS5 review, at least I hope they do.

As for mentioning it here as a solution to the frame rate drops, I believe they did in the Series X BC video. I also think it’s kind of a moot point when there are so few displays out there that support VRR. Sure they are starting to see more support, but the number of owners of VRR displays, especially TVs, will be a drop in the bucket.

[BRiT]

@KageMaru

As for mentioning it here as a solution to the frame rate drops, I believe they did in the Series X BC video. I also think it’s kind of a moot point when there are so few displays out there that support VRR. Sure they are starting to see more support, but the number of owners of VRR displays, especially TVs, will be a drop in the bucket.

Oh, yeah, completely. At the same time if no one talks about it or mentions it, no consumers will be driven to upgrade. They need to become aware of it, and I feel that is the job of the gaming media.

[KageMaru]

@BRiT

Oh, yeah, completely. At the same time if no one talks about it or mentions it, no consumers will be driven to upgrade. They need to become aware of it, and I feel that is the job of the gaming media.

Yeah agree. DF has done a pretty good job mentioning it when appropriate. Hopefully in a few years these 2.1 features will be as common as HDR is now. At least for mid to high end TVs.