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[Tyaren]

^ Ok that's an eye opening comparison. At the least I wasn't expecting things like texture filtering to be LOWER in the 1080p Performance mode. The super sampled image looks sharper as it is but the better texture quality on it is the icing on the cake.

Really makes me wonder what exactly the Performance mode does. It's not like the 4K mode had performance dips. At most, maybe it drops to 29 FPS at best as per the DF video, but not much else.

I'm hoping they tweak the Performance mode more with future updates. Add an option to unlock frame rate at 1080p so we can see how far the performance can really be pushed.

Since JareBear mentioned NXGamer in the other thread, I went back to his videos on Horizon and it turns out the performance mode has at least slightly better reflections and a cleaner DOF effect than the 4K mode. But that is not necessarily a visual enhancement since these seem to be the same settings the standard PS4 version has. We already learned in this thread that the DOF effect looks cleaner on base PS4 and what reflections are concerned it is also often the case that they remain of higher quality in the standard PS4 versions of games. Final Fantasy XV is another good example for that.

Standard PS4/PS4 Pro performance mode:

PS4 Pro 4K checkerboarding mode:

I'm not a tech expert, so I wonder what is up with the often considerably worse reflections in 4K modes. Is it too costly to also render these reflections in higher resolutions? To the effect that they even have to dial down the resolution?

 

[Ahasverus]

Since JareBear mentioned NXGamer in the other thread, I went back to his videos on Horizon and it turns out the performance mode has at least slightly better reflections and a cleaner DOF effect than the 4K mode. But that is not necessarily a visual enhancement since these seem to be the same settings the standard PS4 version has. We already learned in this thread that the DOF effect looks cleaner on base PS4 and what reflections are concerned it is also often the case that they remain of higher quality in the standard PS4 versions of games. Final Fantasy XV is another good example for that.

I'm not a tech expert, so I wonder what is up with the often considerably worse reflections in 4K modes. Is it too costly to also render these reflections in higher resolutions? To the effect that they even have to dial down the resolution?

Reflections basically are literal mirror renders of the whole thing so yes.

 

[Liabe Brave]

Since JareBear mentioned NXGamer in the other thread, I went back to his videos on Horizon and it turns out the performance mode has at least slightly better reflections and a cleaner DOF effect than the 4K mode. But that is not necessarily a visual enhancement since these seem to be the same settings the standard PS4 version has.

It is enhanced on Pro in performance mode. Here's a shot of Horizon from standard PS4 showing DOF artifacts of an extent you never see on Pro.

In addition, the apparent bad textures/AF in the performance mode versus CBR mode are in fact quite likely to be due solely to the resolution difference. When the rendering size of an image goes down, so does the precision of many effects (AF, AA, AO, motion blur, etc.) Fewer samples are being taken to fill in the data, just as if the actual effect itself had been turned to a lower sampling rate. So "lower anisotropic filtering" may in fact be the exact same AF setting, but using fewer samples due to buffer size.

But it's possible to tell that everything is still being done with more precision than on standard PS4. Here's a sample shot from there, showing the lower AF, AA, and (very slightly) lower texture quality versus Pro.

The added AA in Pro performance mode is pretty hard to detect, because it appears to be 2xMSAA, which is not as good as 2xSSAA (which you get downsampling from 2106c). So overall, IQ isn't as good on Performance mode...but it does more than just render at 1080p like on the standard machine. Here's an animated zoom taken from your screenshots that does show that somewhat.

Note how the very spindly twigs of the bush are rife with high-frequency detail in resolution mode. Just dropping the rendering resolution by 75% mostly introduces blur, which we see. But it would also result in sharp pixelation at the thinnest parts of this tangle, where detail dropped to the subpixel size. However, what we actually see is relatively smooth gradients everywhere, due to applied AA. Compare to the aliased lines on the cauldron door shot, from standard PS4.

So you saw examples of improved reflections and DOF from NXGamer and here, and I've also shown examples of improved AF and AA. In other words, yes Horizon's Performance mode is an improvement over standard PS4 in multiple ways. It's just not a very good tradeoff for CBR, given how little it changes the framerate.

Reflections basically are literal mirror renders of the whole thing so yes.

No, that's not how reflections are usually done these days. Screenspace reflections are a shader effect, repeating pixels over the reflective surface. It's not rendering the scene again. But running the shader isn't free, so there is a performance aspect to how precise you make it.

 

[Tyaren]

It is enhanced on Pro in performance mode. Here's a shot of Horizon from standard PS4 showing DOF artifacts of an extent you never see on Pro.

In addition, the apparent bad textures/AF in the performance mode versus CBR mode are in fact quite likely to be due solely to the resolution difference. When the rendering size of an image goes down, so does the precision of many effects (AF, AA, AO, motion blur, etc.) Fewer samples are being taken to fill in the data, just as if the actual effect itself had been turned to a lower sampling rate. So "lower anisotropic filtering" may in fact be the exact same AF setting, but using fewer samples due to buffer size.

But it's possible to tell that everything is still being done with more precision than on standard PS4. Here's a sample shot from there, showing the lower AF, AA, and (very slightly) lower texture quality versus Pro.

The added AA in Pro performance mode is pretty hard to detect, because it appears to be 2xMSAA, which is not as good as 2xSSAA (which you get downsampling from 2106c). So overall, IQ isn't as good on Performance mode...but it does more than just render at 1080p like on the standard machine. Here's an animated zoom taken from your screenshots that does show that somewhat.

Note how the very spindly twigs of the bush are rife with high-frequency detail in resolution mode. Just dropping the rendering resolution by 75% mostly introduces blur, which we see. But it would also result in sharp pixelation at the thinnest parts of this tangle, where detail dropped to the subpixel size. However, what we actually see is relatively smooth gradients everywhere, due to applied AA. Compare to the aliased lines on the cauldron door shot, from standard PS4.

So you saw examples of improved reflections and DOF from NXGamer and here, and I've also shown examples of improved AF and AA. In other words, yes Horizon's Performance mode is an improvement over standard PS4 in multiple ways. It's just not a very good tradeoff for CBR, given how little it changes the framerate.

Nice post.
So, the DOF effect in cutscenes is improved over standard PS4 and PS4 Pro resolution mode.
There's also better reflections than on PS4 Pro resolution mode. No clue if they are the same or better than on standard PS4.
I am still not convinced regarding the texture and texture filtering enhancements.
Regarding the improved IQ I am also not convinced.
On the front page there's by the way also improved LOD mentioned in performance mode...

The whole point of my answer to Finaka was that the PS4 Pro high resolution version looks clearly better and more refined than performance mode, which it definitely does. Just look at the two comparison pics. Enhancements or not. On top of that resolution mode runs in nearly as stable 30fps. I personally still see no reason to choose performance mode over the high resolution mode if you own a PS4 Pro.

 

[pottuvoi]

Textures are of lower resolution and detail (visible on rocks and snow patches on rocks) in performance mode and there is poorer texture filtering (visible on the dirt road in the medium to far distance).
If the game has actually enhanced textures and texture filtering in performance mode (which are stated as the main visual improvements in this mode), why is there still such a considerable difference? You would think in a 1080p mode with locked 30fps there would actually be some power left to really improve the visuals, even more than it is possible in 4K mode, like a game such as Tomb Raider does. This is clearly not the case here.

Most of the change difference actually seems to come from shaders running in higher resolution. (1 vs 4 shaded subpixels in a pixel.)

Snow shader looks at pixels normal/height/etc information and marks pixel to have snow when pixel points reasonably upward etc.
In some cases 1080p is not high enough resolution to have visible crease in rock and thus doesn't result as a snow in the crease.

If the snow would have been in a texture we would see contribution of snow in lower mipmaps, as it would have some impact on color there even if it would be just a small part of texel in upper mipmaps.

 

[Carn82]

Ok GAF, I'm joining the Pro club. Just ordered one including Horizon, and a Samsung UE43KU6500.

Will keep my OG PS4 as the secondary system for when the SO wants to use the main TV; anyone who did something similar and can tell me how that works? I guess just booting up the Pro and marking it as the primary system?

 

[Toe-Knee]

Ok GAF, I'm joining the Pro club. Just ordered one including Horizon, and a Samsung UE43KU6500.

Will keep my OG PS4 as the secondary system for when the SO wants to use the main TV; anyone who did something similar and can tell me how that works? I guess just booting up the Pro and marking it as the primary system?

Connect both systems via ethernet do the transfer. It will make the pro primary and deactivate the standard ps4 but all of your content will still be on both.

 

[adamsapple]

Ok GAF, I'm joining the Pro club. Just ordered one including Horizon, and a Samsung UE43KU6500.

Will keep my OG PS4 as the secondary system for when the SO wants to use the main TV; anyone who did something similar and can tell me how that works? I guess just booting up the Pro and marking it as the primary system?

I don't juggle 2 PS4's but I have a separate 24'' 1080p LED which I use when the SO absolutely *has* to use the TV for something (she usually doesn't) or when I'm playing a non-pro patched game, I tend to just use the monitor since I'm not getting any advantage on the big TV for that.

 

[Carn82]

Connect both systems via ethernet do the transfer. It will make the pro primary and deactivate the standard ps4 but all of your content will still be on both.

Hmm, what do you mean with 'deactivate', does it make the standard PS4 the secondary system? Do note, I want to keep using both.

Related question: Can you pick & choose what you want to transfer? my PS4 has a 2tb drive so I only want to copy some specific games to the Pro

 

[Toe-Knee]

Hmm, what do you mean with 'deactivate', does it make the standard PS4 the secondary system? Do note, I want to keep using both.

Related question: Can you pick & choose what you want to transfer? my PS4 has a 2tb drive so I only want to copy some specific games to the Pro

Yes it will become the secondary system. You will only be able to use digital content if you are signed into the account it's linked to.

I can't be 100% certain but I think it does give you the option to choose content.

 

[Carn82]

Yes it will become the secondary system. You will only be able to use digital content if you are signed into the account it's linked to.

I can't be 100% certain but I think it does give you the option to choose content.

makes sense! I'll just give it a shot. thanks

 

[philm87]

makes sense! I'll just give it a shot. thanks

It takes you through what to do when you first load up the Pro. Easy as pie.

 

[Liabe Brave]

I am still not convinced regarding the texture and texture filtering enhancements.
Regarding the improved IQ I am also not convinced.
On the front page there's by the way also improved LOD mentioned in performance mode...

I should point out that a couple posts ago, you weren't convinced there were any improvements in performance mode. You were then shown evidence of several. The fact that you're unconvinced by some of that evidence is not very compelling. This is not to say that I and others are faultless authorities; it's good to want corroborative facts. But keep in mind that you were mistaken before.

I personally still see no reason to choose performance mode over the high resolution mode if you own a PS4 Pro.

I agree. The extra graphical effects in performance mode somewhat mitigate the quality loss of lowering resolution so far, but don't make up for it. (Though note that your screenshots are the best-case scenario for that stance; users with 1080p displays will see less difference.)

However, I don't think many people have argued otherwise. They've just disagreed with your prior incorrect statements that performance mode has no benefits over standard PS4.

 

[Tyaren]

I should point out that a couple posts ago, you weren't convinced there were any improvements in performance mode. You were then shown evidence of several. The fact that you're unconvinced by some of that evidence is not very compelling. This is not to say that I and others are faultless authorities; it's good to want corroborative facts. But keep in mind that you were mistaken before.

By me admitting that there are in fact enhancements like better DOF and reflections (which I brought up myself) I also admitted that I was mistaken, yes.
I'm however still not convinced there are enhancements regarding textures and texture filtering. And I don't see how anything was proven otherwise in that regard. Maybe if we had direct comparison screenshots of the standard PS4 and PS4 Pro performance mode?

To be honest, I don't really care. I felt however compelled to reply to JareBear's rude comment here and accusing me of "bold faced lying" regarding this matter in the other thread. That's the reason I posted my comparison screens. To show I am not intentionally lying (what a strange accusation) but basing my statement on my own experiences and that I am willing to put some effort into defending my position.

I agree. The extra graphical effects in performance mode somewhat mitigate the quality loss of lowering resolution so far, but don't make up for it. (Though note that your screenshots are the best-case scenario for that stance; users with 1080p displays will see less difference.)
However, I don't think many people have argued otherwise. They've just disagreed with your prior incorrect statements that performance mode has no benefits over standard PS4.

The very GAFer who I was replying to did exactly that.

Supersampling in almost every Pro game that supports it for 1080p displays is awesome but Horizon is the only game I can think of where the "performance mode" is the definitive 1080p experience for the game, visually.

My comparison screens are in 1080p, taken on a 1080p TV and I think they still clearly show that the resolution mode is visually superior to the performance mode. If you prefer lower texture detail and filtering and worse LOD it isn't. Opinions, I guess... And that's the last thing that I am going to say about that.

 

[ChouGoku]

OH MY FUCKING LORD. Uncharted 4K HDR looks insane!

Sad they couldn't get FPS but fuck, this game looks unbelievable. I can't believe these are real time cut scenes.

 

[SimplexPL]

It's not 4K, it's 1440p (around 70% more pixels than 1080p, 4K is 4 times the pixels):

 

[NinjamicWZ]

OH MY FUCKING LORD. Uncharted 4K HDR looks insane!

Sad they couldn't get FPS but fuck, this game looks unbelievable. I can't believe these are real time cut scenes.

Yeah, they couldn't bump it up all the way to 4K, but depending on your TV and picture settings, the HDR does make Uncharted 4 look pretty damn incredible.

I always feel like the added color richness makes everyone look more three dimensional (I get the same sense of depth and contour from 4K UHD movies). The fiery orange flecks and tracers from bullets, the god ray lighting in the showstopper vista areas feel like a thick atmosphere, the red, earthy soil in certain chapters... and even stuff as subtle as the deep purple, navy blue deliciousness in the ocean water once Nate goes overboard the first time in the opening scene.

If you're fully relaxed and really take it all in, it's like the shrooms just started kicking in imo. It took me a couple weeks to figure out how HDR is supposed to look, but once you see it:

 

[=GabrielKnight=]

Posting again about Dragon Quest Heroes II:

The game actually has PS4 pro support, it even has the "PS4 pro enhanced" logo on the back of the cover.

Nobody cared to write or make a video about the differences, and I can't understand why.

Anyway, the game has an option on the start screen, which lets you choose "standard resolution" or "enhanced resolution".

You can't change it in game, so it's not easy to tell the differences. The only thing I noticed, in enhanced mode, is that the frame rate goes down from a locked 60 to the mid 45 even in less demanding scenes. And I can't say what the graphics differences really are.

In any case, I think it's rushed and one of the worst pro updates around

 

[Liabe Brave]

I'm however still not convinced there are enhancements regarding textures and texture filtering.

If you check the IGN comparison video, especially the segment between 0:47 and 1:04, you can see differences in AA, textures, LOD, and reflections. They're minor (and the video compression doesn't help), but I feel they're all pretty obvious if you look carefully.

I felt however compelled to reply to JareBear's rude comment here and accusing me of "bold faced lying" regarding this matter in the other thread. ...I think they still clearly show that the resolution mode is visually superior to the performance mode.

JareBear was extremely uncivil to you, and I totally agree that his position about performance mode is untenable.

Posting again about Dragon Quest Heroes II:

The game actually has PS4 pro support, it even has the "PS4 pro enhanced" logo on the back of the cover.

...You can't change it in game, so it's not easy to tell the differences. The only thing I noticed, in enhanced mode, is that the frame rate goes down from a locked 60 to the mid 45 even in less demanding scenes. And I can't say what the graphics differences really are.

I did see your previous post, but as you noted I can't track down anyone who's done a comparative analysis. Is there any way you could post some screens and video from the Share function? Here's what would be needed to do an analysis.

1. 4K screenshots of each mode. Paired examples from two or three different areas would be ideal.
2. Short videos of the same area (from the same save, for example) where one runs better than the other. These don't need to be long, even just a minute or less would work.

If you could help out with that, I'd be extremely grateful! Thanks for your input, in any case.

 

[=GabrielKnight=]

1. 4K screenshots of each mode. Paired examples from two or three different areas would be ideal.
2. Short videos of the same area (from the same save, for example) where one runs better than the other. These don't need to be long, even just a minute or less would work.

If you could help out with that, I'd be extremely grateful! Thanks for your input, in any case.

I can do screenshots from the share function, but I doubt a video can be useful because they're recorded at 30 fps, and I don't have other ways to do it... I'll post some screens as soon as I can

 

[Cotrip]

Got my Pro yesterday, I'm very satisfied with it. FFXV looks gorgeous on High mode! Maybe I'm saying rubbish, but I think the PS4 interface looks faster on Pro. Oh, and mine is very quiet, quite a leap from the old PS4 vanilla.

Posting again about Dragon Quest Heroes II:

The game actually has PS4 pro support, it even has the "PS4 pro enhanced" logo on the back of the cover.

Nobody cared to write or make a video about the differences, and I can't understand why.

Anyway, the game has an option on the start screen, which lets you choose "standard resolution" or "enhanced resolution".

You can't change it in game, so it's not easy to tell the differences. The only thing I noticed, in enhanced mode, is that the frame rate goes down from a locked 60 to the mid 45 even in less demanding scenes. And I can't say what the graphics differences really are.

In any case, I think it's rushed and one of the worst pro updates around

According to the patch notes (1.01), The pro mode only offers enhanced resolution. I couldn't see any difference on my 1080p set, so maybe it's perceptible only to 4K TV owners.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Got my Pro yesterday, I'm very satisfied with it. FFXV looks gorgeous on High mode! Maybe I'm saying rubbish, but I think the PS4 interface looks faster on Pro. Oh, and mine is very quiet, quite a leap from the old PS4 vanilla.

Yeah, interface is smoother and faster.

 

[DeaDPo0L84]

My ps4 sound like it swallowed a vacuum so ill be looking to get a pro here in next couple of months. I only game on a 1080p monitor, still worth it?

 

[burgerdog]

First of all, please calm down with the "this is false", " you are wrong" stuff. We are not in kindergarten.
At first I thought I should even completely ignore your post, but it seems you do have a chip on your shoulder considering you attacked me in another thread and outright accused me of boldly lying there.
Let's stick to a more friendly and productive form of discussion here on Neogaf, alright?

Now to Horizon's performance mode:
I am aware that the developer stated there are visual enhancements in performance mode, but I don't think these enhancements are actually proven as stone cold fact yet.
I have been following this game and its Pro modes as one of the first here on Neogaf (luckily got the game very early) and I have also contributed to the discussion in this and various others threads.
I did for example share these direct comparisons of the 4K checkerboarding and performance mode in this very thread before:

PS4 Pro 4K checkerboarding mode:

PS4 Pro performance mode:

(To best compare these two shots open both in their own browser tab and click back and forth.)

Textures are of lower resolution and detail (visible on rocks and snow patches on rocks) in performance mode and there is poorer texture filtering (visible on the dirt road in the medium to far distance).
If the game has actually enhanced textures and texture filtering in performance mode (which are stated as the main visual improvements in this mode), why is there still such a considerable difference? You would think in a 1080p mode with locked 30fps there would actually be some power left to really improve the visuals, even more than it is possible in 4K mode, like a game such as Tomb Raider does. This is clearly not the case here.
Now, I don't have a direct comparison screen of the standard PS4 version, but considering how close and already really pretty the standard version looks compared to the 4K Pro version, I remain unconvinced the Pro performance mode has considerable visual improvements over the standard PS4 version or the same visual improvements as the 4K mode (minus resolution of course).

Since you say I am wrong and calling me a bold faced liar in another thread, it is now your turn to convince me with facts. Just quoting the developer, or anyone else, without any visual proof will not be very convincing though.

Textures are not lower resolution. Same texture resolution, they look sharper because of the higher in game resolution.

 

[Jedi2016]

Textures are not lower resolution. Same texture resolution, they look sharper because of the higher in game resolution.

Indicates textures were used with 4K in mind. Still an improvement.

 

[adamsapple]

Textures are not lower resolution. Same texture resolution, they look sharper because of the higher in game resolution.

Texture filtering is most definitely better in the 4K mode.

I've started 2 Pro enabled games, Homefront: The Revolution and Nier Automata.

Homefront is a surprisingly good looking game. I know the main concern with the OG PS4 and XB1 versions was the performance but the Pro patch seems to have completely ironed it out. Through out my first few hours, the frame rate has held remarkably well and I'm surprised at how well some of the graphical elements of the game look

I would love to find out whether this Pro patch retains all the cut graphical effects that they needed to implement to get performance better on OG PS4 or if it's running all the original effects. I am also keeping the temporal anti aliasing from the in-game options off as to my eyes the SMAA image looks cleaner. I didn't notice any difference in performance either way though.

If anyone's tested more in this game with TAA on or off, please comment.

Some screens:

Second game is Nier: Automata.

Holy shit this game is pretty awesome but also kind of a let down in terms of Pro support. OG game runs at 900p/60 and it's good that the Pro version at least offers a resolution boost at 1080p/60 and better effects, so the image quality front checks out.

However, the game uses pre rendered video files for pretty much all the cut-scenes and those are still in the same 900p/30 FPS even on a Pro so it's jarring to see the game switching from the silky smooth 1080p/60 to 900p/30 for story events.

 

[Peterthumpa]

Is the Nier demo also Pro enabled?

 

[Oneself]

Is the Nier demo also Pro enabled?

Yes.

 

[Backfoggen]

Nier also has no AA on the regular PS4 as far as I know. That makes a huge difference.

 

[adamsapple]

Nier also has no AA on the regular PS4 as far as I know. That makes a huge difference.

Yeah, I looked up the digital foundry video and the stair-stepping and low quality texture filtering is pretty bad on OG PS4. Seems the PC version of the game has it's own share of problems.

This is an absolutely fantastic game, too bad the visual-tech end of it is a bit of a letdown. At leas the game maintains 60 FPS, or sticks very close to it, almost all the way through.

 

[Green Yoshi]

Got a new PS4 Pro for 99 Euro, two used games and my OG PS4. Thanks, Gamestop.

I didn't notice any differences in Horizon, but Resident Evil 7 has far less aliasing in VR.

What about The Last of Us? Did they remove supersampling? There's only the option to lock the framerate at 30 fps.

 

[Dynomutt]

Love my Pro (Because I love Playstation!). You folks think Sony will announce or say anything at E3? I feel like this console is a few software upgrades from it's final form. Admittedly I am happy the Scorpio is releasing because Sony has been quiet a bit.

 

[Tagg9]

Love my Pro (Because I love Playstation!). You folks think Sony will announce or say anything at E3? I feel like this console is a few software upgrades from it's final form. Admittedly I am happy the Scorpio is releasing because Sony has been quiet a bit.

Announce what exactly? I wouldn't expect a PS4 Pro 2 if that's what you're asking about. But I'm sure they'll mention a large number of games supporting the Pro going forward.

 

[Bl@de]

Announce what exactly? I wouldn't expect a PS4 Pro 2 if that's what you're asking about. But I'm sure they'll mention a large number of games supporting the Pro going forward.

System wide downsampling would be something. A lot of titles skip downsampling for 1080p, which is baffling.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Perhaps in a future update instead of having go into the system settings to enable boost mode maybe we'll be able to highlight a game icon in the menu and hit options and have a toggle to enable Boost mode on a game by game basis.

Some games it has an improvement on but others it apparently has some undesirable effects. I think being able to enable it per game via the game options (Where you check for updates and stuff), and have the option to enable / disable it for that specific game would make more sense.

I think this would be more convenient rather than it being a universal on / off toggle.

 

[JigglesBunny]

I've been getting into Black Ops 3 again because of the release of those remastered Zombies maps and this probably has the most uneven presentation I have seen to date on the Pro.

Image quality is spectacular but the original game had awful texture streaming issues and they weren't addressed at all for Pro. It's like looking at an unrendered, textureless 4K image. Super bizzare.

 

[adamsapple]

Some more Homefront shots from my Pro. I've taken the same area with TAA turned on and off. The best place to check which has the best coverage is the little bit that plays where you have to "Press options to start game". The camera overs over a table with some weapons and with TAA turned on, the elements on the table have better AA coverage. My initial thought about SMAA giving better coverage as incorrect it seems.

They both looks very close in-game though. In the screens below, you can see some element like cables in the background and the struts on the bridge a tiny tad bit cleaner with TAA turned on. Since there's no performance hit with it, I'm continuing the game with TAA turned on and TAA sharpness set to 50%.

TAA Off

TAA On

Some other Homefront shots:

 

[Liabe Brave]

BulletStorm: Full Clip(it does appear to be 4k native and 60fps on Pro and let's face it, one of the best, funnest FPS since Duke Nukem 3D imho)

Is there any way you could post some 4K screens so I can check them? I'd love to remove the question mark from Bulletstorm's entry.

I've updated the official lists now, making the promised fixes to Injustice 2 and Uncharted 4's cutscene info. I also added almost a dozen new games. There's a few things to note here. First, the trend continues of very few new Boost Mode entries appearing. This almost certainly does not mean that my list is exhaustive. Rather, it's just difficult for me to find footage of people playing old games with Boost Mode on. Thus, I can't make comparisons--even though there may literally be hundreds more games that benefit from Boost Mode.

Second, Polybius appears on the list for screen gaming, but not for VR. This is because the VR version is already maxed out for the headset on standard PS4 (it's natively 120fps), and can't be improved further.

Third, as always, any help anyone can give by posting info, screens, or videos to the thread is greatly appreciated. New games, games I haven't mentioned, and those that appear in table 3 of the OP are ideal, but I'm willing to revisit other titles if people believe they've found something new. You contributions improve things immensely. Thanks!

 

[paragonpro]

I found that you notice the larges differential
With an hdr enbaled 4k tv. 4k is coming down in price considerably and id definitely suggest anyone with a pro look into it. I didnt really get the most of what the pro could do before i got a 4k tv, id had it for a few months before then, but once youve played horizon or ffxv in 4k (or 1800 p in ffxv's case) the case for the pro and hdr becomes different. I wish more developers would implement hdr, it makes a world of difference

 

[sn0man]

Perhaps in a future update instead of having go into the system settings to enable boost mode maybe we'll be able to highlight a game icon in the menu and hit options and have a toggle to enable Boost mode on a game by game basis.

Some games it has an improvement on but others it apparently has some undesirable effects. I think being able to enable it per game via the game options (Where you check for updates and stuff), and have the option to enable / disable it for that specific game would make more sense.

I think this would be more convenient rather than it being a universal on / off toggle.

It would be great if they had a small team of people that monitored performance of people that stream (or if they have access crash logs) of people playing boost mode games and default flag games that seem to have no problem. Should be small 10–20 megabyte patches every couple weeks so by default Pro owners get benefits on a per game basis with the least likelihood of problems. They could even reset a game flag to default to off when a new patch comes out and then start the process over again until (for example 6 months) some time goes by and no issues are detected or reported.

System wide downsampling would be something. A lot of titles skip downsampling for 1080p, which is baffling.

This is the main feature they need to implement. I’m hopeful that Scorpio pushes them to put in better settings.

 

[dsk1210]

This is not really a pro problem but a PS4 one in general.

I have noticed that the hdr seems to run on different black/gamma levels depending on the game, horizon seems fine on my normal tv settings but last of us and last guardian I need to adjust the black levels.

HDR seems really inconsistent, even on PC I have the same problems.

 

[RoboPlato]

This is not really a pro problem but a PS4 one in general.

I have noticed that the hdr seems to run on different black/gamma levels depending on the game, horizon seems fine on my normal tv settings but last of us and last guardian I need to adjust the black levels.

HDR seems really inconsistent, even on PC I have the same problems.

This is the unfortunate reality of not having dynamic metadata.

 

[WonkyPanda]

Been pretty impressed with ESO's options. 4k looks great, and the 1080p enhanced adds some nice bells and whistles. The HDR is subtle but works great.

 

[Draikin 2]

I noticed there doesn't seem to be additional info on Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X's Pro support. I wrote an article about this some time ago, also taking a look at changes in the VR mode, so it might be useful to add this information here: A Closer Look at the PlayStation 4 Pro Enhancements for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X. The VR mode changes I talked about in the article also apply to Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live.

 

[Liabe Brave]

I noticed there doesn't seem to be additional info on Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X's Pro support. I wrote an article about this some time ago, also taking a look at changes in the VR mode, so it might be useful to add this information here: A Closer Look at the PlayStation 4 Pro Enhancements for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X. The VR mode changes I talked about in the article also apply to Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live.

Thanks for the post. I actually used your article as a resource months ago when compiling this thread. It was very helpful, with detailed observations that are unfortunately still not the norm for Pro reviews. I really appreciate the work! I believe all the notes you made have been present in my lists since last year: improved reflections and character models, no downsampling, and 90fps versus 60fps in VR. Is there something I missed?

 

[philm87]

This is the unfortunate reality of not having dynamic metadata.

Why can't a game have dynamic metadata? It's not pre-rendered. I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely interested to understand why. Could it not be just the way the game developers treat HDR?

 

[Freshmaker]

Why can't a game have dynamic metadata? It's not pre-rendered. I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely interested to understand why. Could it not be just the way the game developers treat HDR?

HDR's still in its wild west phase. Standards and best practices are still being figured out.

 

[Theonik]

Why can't a game have dynamic metadata? It's not pre-rendered. I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely interested to understand why. Could it not be just the way the game developers treat HDR?

Well I don't see any real technical reason why games can't use dynamic metadata but the methods and best practices to do so must be worked out. You could for instance compute the range of brightness for an entire scene and use those for metadata, or you could do it on a per frame basis. It might be performance intensive though.

 

[philm87]

Well I don't see any real technical reason why games can't use dynamic metadata but the methods and best practices to do so must be worked out. You could for instance compute the range of brightness for an entire scene and use those for metadata, or you could do it on a per frame basis. It might be performance intensive though.

My point really is that games don't have the constraints of film/tv when it comes to HDR. Everything is rendered as it appears so I don't see dynamic metadata being applicable. i.e. everything is already dynamic as it's rendered live, lighting levels and everything else can be easily controlled for different areas.

With a movie file it's pre-rendered so they don't have as much flexibility over the HDR. They'll have to produce it to favour the HDR for dark scenes, or light scenes, or balance it in between somewhere. With the dynamic metadata they can adjust the HDR levels for each scene to produce the best image quality.

 

[III-V]

My point really is that games don't have the constraints of film/tv when it comes to HDR. Everything is rendered as it appears so I don't see dynamic metadata being applicable. i.e. everything is already dynamic as it's rendered live, lighting levels and everything else can be easily controlled for different areas.

With a movie file it's pre-rendered so they don't have as much flexibility over the HDR. They'll have to produce it to favour the HDR for dark scenes, or light scenes, or balance it in between somewhere. With the dynamic metadata they can adjust the HDR levels for each scene to produce the best image quality.

Thats the issue, games are under the same HDR constraints as films now, I highlighted the bolded, and when metadata comes down the pipe, they will not have to compromise. HDR in game is not dynamic.