Support NeoGAF

[soldat7]

Seriously. All the "significant difference/superior version" crap is starting to look like one big FUD campaign.

This whole tizzy was started by some irresponsible 'journalism' methinks.

 

[CowboyAstronaut]

I know it's been said before, but with respect to the sharpness (or lack thereof) of the versions, it looks like it comes down to personal preference.

When I play CoD4, I play on my custom "movie" mode setting on my 1080p Bravia, which lowers the sharpness considerably. I like it because it makes CoD4 look like I'm "playing" a war movie. It's more immersive, in my opinion, because it makes me forget that I'm playing a video game.

I am getting the game for the PS3 this afternoon (couldn't do the midnight launch at the last minute) and I am itching to see how it will look on my custom movie mode setting. Given that the PS3 version already appears to have a lower contrast, I fear that the my custom movie setting might make the game appear TOO soft. We'll see.

On the flipside, I would be interested to see if people with the 360 version can achieve the look of the PS3 version by adjusting their TV settings.

One thing I have definitively noticed this generation is that as TVs and games advance in technology, the look of games has become MUCH more dependent on your TV settings.

I've already done just that successfully with a small bit of toying around with the tint, advanced picture setting's color temperature option and a slight adjustment to the backlight on my HDTV, but I put it back to my original settings because I figure rockstar had it like that for a reason so I'll check it out.

Going a bit further, I wouldn't even need to touch any other setting other than my color temperature setting on my HDTV to come damn near identical to the ps3's colors and in an instant back to the 360's colors.

Originally Posted by PhatSaqs:
Seriously. All the "significant difference/superior version" crap is starting to look like one big FUD campaign.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[65536]

.

 

[duk]

This whole tizzy was started by some irresponsible 'journalism' methinks.

Yeah I think so too, reviewers should state how they reviewed the game, such as pre-release versions, devkit machine, etc.

For two systems that are so different in architecture and for the game to be THIS close in performance? A big thumbs up to Rock*!

 

[dallow_bg]

Yeah, I noticed that in the PS3 version too. It's the first time I've seen the option in a console game.

I've seen it in a couple others.


So I'm guessing no lossless PCM audio on the PS3 version?

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Gamevideo's X360 vs PS3 comparison video is up!

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

 

[j-wood]

does it look like the dithering in the uncompressed 360 shot that dot50cal posted a link to earlier?

Yeah it kinda does actually. But it happens alot. Especially during cutscenes when it is beting cast on the characters. Is this my TV or what?

 

[Evlar]

I've seen it in a couple others.


So I'm guessing no lossless PCM audio on the PS3 version?

I saw no option to adjust the audio quality on the PS3 version. My receiver reported DD5.1 when the two surround sound options were selected, Pro Logic II when stereo and headphone options were selected (my receiver defaults to PL2 for analog stereo sources). This is via optical audio.

EDIT: I guess I should say those are the audio output options I have selected in the XMB, so other formats may be hidden from me and automatically available to people with PCM lossless compliant hardware.

 

[cgcg]

The color doesn't necessarily mean there is more lighting going on. They are just employing slightly different color palettes that has nothing to do with the lighting.

Umm no amount of color correction is going to give you that shine on his face. It's not a color palattes issue. Even if you make them both black and white the shine will still be there in the PS3 version.

 

[chris0701]

Gamevideo's X360 vs PS3 comparison video is up!

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

Seems no generally different lighting scheme outside.

 

[plagiarize]

Yeah it kinda does actually. But it happens alot. Especially during cutscenes when it is beting cast on the characters. Is this my TV or what?

i'm guessing no... i'm guessing it's the same thing you see on the 360 screens. any chance you can take an offscreen shot showing it?

 

[j-wood]

i'm guessing no... i'm guessing it's the same thing you see on the 360 screens. any chance you can take an offscreen shot showing it?

I can try. I also have alot of jaggies...it's pretty noticable

It's really noticable on things like Little Jacobs car...on the trim.

I don't understand...why don't all PS3 versions look the same?

 

[duk]

Gamevideo's X360 vs PS3 comparison video is up!

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

can't tell anything from the small vid... will wait for GT's hi-def comparo

 

[dallow_bg]

I saw no option to adjust the audio quality on the PS3 version. My receiver reported DD5.1 when the two surround sound options were selected, Pro Logic II when stereo and headphone options were selected (my receiver defaults to PL2 for analog stereo sources). This is via optical audio.

EDIT: I guess I should say those are the audio output options I have selected in the XMB, so other formats may be hidden from me and automatically available to people with PCM lossless compliant hardware.

I think the only game that has ever stated "LPCM" as a choice was Uncharted.

Resistance outputs lossless if you support it, and DD5.1 as default if not.
Wondering if GTAIV did that as well. (well, as pretty much every other game with PCM and DD5.1)

 

[SRG01]

Gamevideo's X360 vs PS3 comparison video is up!

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

There's like no difference between the two versions aside from the slightly different colors. Impressive. No frame hiccups either.

 

[jaaz]

That's really irrelevant to this discussion. The sharpness control on your television adds artificial sharpening to the image, which generally exaggerates aliasing or other artefacts. You cannot get back the sharpness that is lost by having the PS3 version rendered at a lower resolution without anti-aliasing. You can, however, blur the 360 version – that's easy enough to do on many displays. (Panasonic lets you go into negative sharpness, Pioneer has Enhancer Mode 3, you can use worse video cables etc)

Irrelevant? Re-read my post. It's almost like your automatically assuming the PS3 version is inferior and needs to be "fixed". As I said, I'm not trying to sharpen the PS3 image. Obviously, I can't "add" AA filtering to the PS3 with my TV settings, nor would I want to. As I said, I prefer the soft, movie like setting, as do many others.

I was talking about softening the 360 image using my TV seetings to look like the PS3 image, which I prefer, in case I like the DLC that's coming and I want to pick up the 360 version.

And Cowboy has confirmed that he can come damn close to getting the look of the PS3 version on his TV by toying with the TV settings.

 

[plagiarize]

There's like no difference between the two versions aside from the slightly different colors. Impressive. No frame hiccups either.

i can still see the soft look of the ps3 version. but i'm happy to say that whether that's a good or a bad thing is a matter of preference.

tint aside i can't see any lighting differences. the only things i can see differences on are like railings and beams which look a bit more flickery on the ps3, and a reflection on the sand which you only see on the ps3 in the rotation on the beach.

 

[Gary Whitta]

I thought the graphical comparison of two versions of a game which are in every meaningful way identical would not be able to support a thread this long. But then I remembered what forum this was. I think this is my favorite shot so far:

LOL, just about says it all.

 

[65536]

.

 

[Lord Error]

I thought the graphical comparison of two versions of a game which are in every meaningful way identical would not be able to support a thread this long. But then I remembered what forum this was.

You should have known better after yesterdays 100 page thread! I was resisting that thread for the longest time, posted maybe 6-10 times in it tops, but it's stronger than me! (๏̯͡&#3663

But you're not softening the image – you can't do that with the BRAVIAs, you can only disable sharpening. The PS3 image is softer than you can get with your TV even at its lowest sharpness setting.

I don't know how it's on his, but movie mode on most TVs does make everything look more soft and muted, even does some things you can't seem to normally accomplish with controls in regular modes. I think his point was just that he prefers softer looking image for some games, regardless of how it's accomplished maybe.

 

[jaaz]

But you're not softening the image – you can't do that with the BRAVIAs, you can only disable sharpening. The PS3 image is softer than you can get with your TV even at its lowest sharpness setting.

I'm not sure what you mean. I can certainly alter the sharpness on my 40" LCD 1080p Bravia via the picture settings. Lowering the sharpness setting (-20, for example) gives the picture a much softer look. It's not an "on-off" thing. I calibrate it all the time using Video Essentials.

You may be right about the PS3 image being too soft that no decrease in sharpness will be necessary. In that case though, I can just leave it at neutral (0) sharpness setting. I think I will need another custom picture setting just for GTA IV...

 

[plagiarize]

I'm not sure what you mean. I can certainly alter the sharpness on my 40" LCD 1080p Bravia via the picture settings. It's not an "on-off" thing. I calibrate it all the time using Video Essentials.

You may be right about the PS3 image being too soft that no decrease in sharpness will be necessary. In that case though, I can just leave it at neutral (0) sharpness setting. I think I need another custom setting just for GTA IV...

0 sharpness gives you an unprocessed image. anything higher artificially manipulates the image to make it appear sharper. it isn't, you're losing detail if you set that higher than 0. setting it to 0 does not make the image coming in any different.

your tv can either display it as it is, or artificially sharpen it... it can't soften it.

 

[Lord Error]

your tv can either display it as it is, or artificially sharpen it... it can't soften it.

I'm pretty sure some TVs can in fact soften the image. Why couldn't they? It's just an extra processing algorithm in their image processor, just like sharpening.

 

[jaaz]

0 sharpness gives you an unprocessed image. anything higher artificially manipulates the image to make it appear sharper. it isn't, you're losing detail if you set that higher than 0. setting it to 0 does not make the image coming in any different.

your tv can either display it as it is, or artificially sharpen it... it can't soften it.

Well, if I remember my sharpness settings correctly, I can certainly go into negatives from 0 and soften the image. I could be wrong though (I'm at work), but that's what I recall.

By the way, my TV is a Sony KLD-40V2500.

 

[urk]

I don't see a thing in any of these shots or videos that shows me anything other than excellent work by Rockstar to get both platform releases up to speed. What else is there to say? Buy the game for whichever platform you wish.

 

[commariodore64]

The color doesn't necessarily mean there is more lighting going on. They are just employing slightly different color palettes that has nothing to do with the lighting.

Both games have a practically similar style of lighting. I assume you have a copy of the game currently? If you do, you'll notice that as this game is being viewed on an HDTV whether that be the 360 or PS3 version of the game, there is just no way to really argue that one is employing more lighting than the other because both look really good. They just have different ways of going about it.

dammit if that if that is the case then it is only assumed by fans thus far because Rockstar has only ever confirmed definitively 360 DLC and have not, to my knowledge, said there would be any DLC for the PS3 version of the game.

If you take into account the 360 exclusive DLC's separate release cycles (one this year and the next sometime next year) then it should be pretty obvious that if the PS3 version is going to get DLC then it wont be for quite awhile after the 360 DLC and then there is the possibility that the money Microsoft has paid for the DLC means it stays exclusive to the 360.

Agreed - unless you are speaking of the Laundromat guy in the lower right of this screen...
http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtavs8.jpg

 

[plagiarize]

Well, if I remember my sharpness settings correctly, I can certainly go into negatives from 0 and soften the image. I could be wrong though (I'm at work), but that's what I recall.

if you can go into negatives, then yes, you can soften the image. i thought Andrew knew his stuff about Bravias not offering that though... so forgive me for taking that at face value. i was just trying to explain what a 0 setting on sharpening does.

 

[plagiarize]

Agreed - unless you are speaking of the Laundromat guy in the lower right of this screen...
http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gtavs8.jpg

the one wearing two completely different outfits?
360 version is BETTER BECAUSE HE HAS BROWN TROUSERS AND BLACK JACKET INSTEAD OF INFERIOR PS3 BLUE TROUSERS AND GREEN JACKET?

 

[captive]

I thought the graphical comparison of two versions of a game which are in every meaningful way identical would not be able to support a thread this long. But then I remembered what forum this was. I think this is my favorite shot so far:

LOL, just about says it all.

Yet, you're not only reading the thread, you're posting in it bitching about the people making comparisons. At least they are doing something that the thread was intended for.



I like the thread, i find it interesting, even though i couldnt care less which version looks slightly better.

 

[commariodore64]

the one wearing two completely different outfits?
360 version is BETTER BECAUSE HE HAS BROWN TROUSERS AND BLACK JACKET INSTEAD OF INFERIOR PS3 BLUE TROUSERS AND GREEN JACKET.

One with self shadows one without....?

 

[Gary Whitta]

Yet, you're not only reading the thread, you're posting in it bitching about the people making comparisons. At least they are doing something that the thread was intended for.

I think if someone started a thread for people to post comparison photos of their left and right elbows and to discuss which one was better and it ran for multiple pages, I'd probably post in it saying that was stupid too.

 

[plagiarize]

One with self shadows one without....?

you're talking about the guy stood in the doorway of the vinewood laundromat. the tiny little smudge of a guy in two seperate off camera shots. the tiny little smudge of a guy dressed completely differently in both shots. you can see self shadowing on that tiny little smudge of a guy in either shot?

 

[jaaz]

if you can go into negatives, then yes, you can soften the image. i thought Andrew knew his stuff about Bravias not offering that though... so forgive me for taking that at face value. i was just trying to explain what a 0 setting on sharpening does.

Not a problem man, again that's what I recall.

I should say that not all games look good with decreased sharpness as is found in the "movie settings". CoD4 looked great, Uncharted for some reason did not. We'll see about GTA IV, but it seems like image is already on "movie mode".

 

[No Means Nomad]

can't tell anything from the small vid... will wait for GT's hi-def comparo

Click "download" on the right hand side and you'll get some real HD instead of GameTrailers "kind of HD".

 

[Diablos]

Ok, so I picked up both versions despite my better judgment. I've taken video of the intro as well as street level but the only area to properly compare them is when both versions show the absolute same image with no deviations. So this rules out gameplay (I'll post impressions for both later).

PS3 has warmer colors, which might be the source of the "clinical vs warmer" quote from SAm Houser. Its also softer (thanks to the upscale from it not rendering in full 720p).

360 has a sharper look, as we know its running native 720p. Its got a more "game" look to it thanks to the 360's output.

I'll have a nice new comparison vid for gamersyde whenever Blim wakes up and can post it, the new format will be pretty nice I think, Heres a preview:

http://dot50cal.the-horror.com/gta4/example.jpg

So anyone with a monitor thats not 1080p might want to get a low res stream.

PLEASE DONT SHIT THIS THREAD UP WITH "ZOMG AM SUPERIOR" You can do that at Gamefaqs, and I don't want this thread shut down because of fanboy nonsense. This is for the multi-console owners who can't decide which version to get.

Pics:

As of right now, I can't tell which version I prefer. Framerate seems the same on both, but I'll have to play a bit more to confirm that.

Aw hell, I don't know which version to get.

360 looks sharper, PS3 looks more vibrant.

 

[Doc Evils]

So the PS3 version is 640p?

 

[duk]

reminds me of the recent NBA TV ads for some reason :lol

 

[Diablos]

So the PS3 version is 640p?

AFAIK, yes, it's 640p.

 

[plagiarize]

look at the self shadowing of the 360 version!

wait... which was the 360 version again...

seriously. i hope that laundromat guy stuff was a joke.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Gamevideo's X360 vs PS3 comparison video is up!

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18625

can't tell anything from the small vid... will wait for GT's hi-def comparo

You know.. you can enlarge the video to full screen.

 

[commariodore64]

you're talking about the guy stood in the doorway of the vinewood laundromat. the tiny little smudge of a guy in two seperate off camera shots. the tiny little smudge of a guy dressed completely differently in both shots. you can see self shadowing on that tiny little smudge of a guy in either shot?

You argued his outfit - I was making a joke :lol

 

[plagiarize]

You argued his outfit - I was making a joke :lol

thank god.

 

[commariodore64]

look at the self shadowing of the 360 version!

wait... which was the 360 version again...

seriously. i hope that laundromat guy stuff was a joke.

Read my original post a few pages back about this shot - it was a joke - trust me

 

[Doc Evils]

AFAIK, yes, it's 640p.

ok cool. it also uses post processing yes?

 

[Tiduz]

wait what......

the box states it can output at 1080P, i have a 1080P tv and have it enabled, but its just 720P ingame

Dirty LIES!

Spoiler

no im not disabling 720P

.

 

[Dot50Cal]

You know.. you can enlarge the video to full screen.

Not like its worth while. The entire city is dynamic, so even if they did drive down the road at the same exact time (lighting) and weather conditions, all the vehicles and peds would spawn in differently, with various hits on the framerate.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Not like its worth while. The entire city is dynamic, so even if they did drive down the road at the same exact time (lighting) and weather conditions, all the vehicles and peds would spawn in differently, with various hits on the framerate.

You mean just like your fud .gifs?

 

[plagiarize]

Not like its worth while. The entire city is dynamic, so even if they did drive down the road at the same exact time (lighting) and weather conditions, all the vehicles and peds would spawn in differently, with various hits on the framerate.

frame rate was fine in both videos... but they weren't doing anything that would put a strain on it.

just driving straight down a road not crashing into anything, or just rotating the camera around Niko on the beach. no gun fights. no crashes. no explosions.

 

[duk]

You know.. you can enlarge the video to full screen.

yeah enlarging it only makes it worse... super pixelated.

 

[plagiarize]

yeah enlarging it only makes it worse... super pixelated.

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/watch?video=18625&largeFormat=wmv