SamuelRSmith said:    I'd bet you a dollar to a doughnut that it's a hardware issue, rather than a business decision.

This would be a good time for MikeB to jump in and tell is whether or not the PS3 has a hardware scaler.

 

After a little research, there *does* appear to be two hardware scalers in the Toshiba Super Companion Chip (SCC) inside the PS3. See this link: http://www.hotchips.org/archives/hc17/2_Mon/HC17.S1/HC17.S1T3.pdf.

However, the original SDK didn't use the scalers for games as there wasn't much firmware in the PS3 to support it. The latest firmware is rumored to have better support for the SCC. Only Toshiba and those who have used this chip know what it's exact capabilities are. Also, only Sony knows if the PS3 is using this hardware for other tasks, or if the PS3 is even designed in such a way that the SCC can be used for this purpose.

Yeah... I wasn't aware of this hardware, but the question remains... can this scaling hardware be used in the same manner as Ana in the 360, i.e. - can it provide upscaling to 1080i/p for games?

EDIT: The juicy bits are on page 13 of the pdf.

eh, 720P>1080i anyway (according to my 720P vs. 1080i thread)
at least PS2 games get upscaled to 420P

Hawkeye said: eh, 720P>1080i anyway (according to my 720P vs. 1080i thread) at least PS2 games get upscaled to 420P

 

 It's only better if your tv supports it which Burgrimmar's does not.

Hawkeye said: eh, 720P>1080i anyway (according to my 720P vs. 1080i thread) at least PS2 games get upscaled to 420P

 

this is not a 1080i vs. 720p issue.

this is a 360 being out for a full year before the PS3, YET it can upscale everything to 1080p. this is about the PS3 claiming to be SO POWERFUL yet it might potentially have its biggest game of the year not upscale.

actually i've changed my mind. if LBP (full game) doesn't scale to 1080, i'm buying a 360. (yeah i'm still pissed)

crumas2 said: After a little research, there *does* appear to be two hardware scalers in the Toshiba Super Companion Chip (SCC) inside the PS3. See this link: http://www.hotchips.org/archives/hc17/2_Mon/HC17.S1/HC17.S1T3.pdf. However, the original SDK didn't use the scalers for games as there wasn't much firmware in the PS3 to support it. The latest firmware is rumored to have better support for the SCC. Only Toshiba and those who have used this chip know what it's exact capabilities are. Also, only Sony knows if the PS3 is using this hardware for other tasks, or if the PS3 is even designed in such a way that the SCC can be used for this purpose. Yeah... I wasn't aware of this hardware, but the question remains... can this scaling hardware be used in the same manner as Ana in the 360, i.e. - can it provide upscaling to 1080i/p for games? EDIT: The juicy bits are on page 13 of the pdf.

 

are you sure about this?

Jo21 said: you are a minority, and the ps3 does have scaler, its generally built in feature in the gpu since ancient times. most of HD tvs support 720p 90%+ 1366 X 768p its standard in all HD TV sold here.

 

You don't have Full HD TV:s?

bugrimmar said: crumas2 said: After a little research, there *does* appear to be two hardware scalers in the Toshiba Super Companion Chip (SCC) inside the PS3. See this link: http://www.hotchips.org/archives/hc17/2_Mon/HC17.S1/HC17.S1T3.pdf. However, the original SDK didn't use the scalers for games as there wasn't much firmware in the PS3 to support it. The latest firmware is rumored to have better support for the SCC. Only Toshiba and those who have used this chip know what it's exact capabilities are. Also, only Sony knows if the PS3 is using this hardware for other tasks, or if the PS3 is even designed in such a way that the SCC can be used for this purpose. Yeah... I wasn't aware of this hardware, but the question remains... can this scaling hardware be used in the same manner as Ana in the 360, i.e. - can it provide upscaling to 1080i/p for games? EDIT: The juicy bits are on page 13 of the pdf.   are you sure about this?

No... this is all second hand knowledge, i.e - what I've read online.  The chip does exist, and it does have two hardware scalers and it was designed by Toshiba to complement the Cell processor.  But I've never torn a PS3 apart or programmed the PS3, personally, so I can't say for certain that the SCC is in the PS3, or how it is used in the PS3 assuming it's there.  I'm relying on people like MikeB to come forth and tell us more *if* they really know something about it.

 

 

The hardware chips for scaling exist in the PS3 ,thats pretty clear there are a number of sources for this.

And ,if you read the Eurogamer face offs ,you would see that the scaling to 1080i and 1080p is getting more and more usual in the PS3.

The PS3 scaling chips probably arent as good as Ana in the 360 ,but that doesnt mean it doesnt have them.The sad thing is that Sony didnt give support in the firmware for those chips until the 1.80 firmaware and then only for horizontal scaling (that does half the job but still needs some FW and software support to do a complete 1080p scaling).

It was implied by the following that the PS3 does NOT have the SCC (and hence its scaling hardware). This is implied by the fact that the article is drawing a distinction between the PS3 hardware and a new cell-based, rack-mount server from Sony. In the article it points out that Sony is introducing the SCC in the new server.

This doesn't definitively mean that there is no hardware scaler in the PS3, but it's looking like the only way to do it would be through software, i.e. - the Cell. That is the most likely scenario given that the PS3 simply doesn't scale its games.

EDIT: here is the link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zego