Is a PS5 overkill on a 1080p TV?

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biggles

2[H]4U
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We have a 51" Samsung plasma TV, model number pn518500, and base model PS4. It was a great TV back in the day and still works fine. Since PS5, and even PS4 Pro, produce images at higher than 1080p, I was just wondering if this reduces the picture quality. In other words, do you need a 4K TV in order to really see the benefits of the newer and better consoles? Anybody here using either PS4 Pro or PS5 on a 1080p TV? If so, what is your first hand experience?
 
No experience with PS5's supersampling on lower resolutions, but personally, I think the biggest upgrade for the new gen consoles is the SSD - that alone is worth the upgrade.
 
no it is not overkill.. i gamed with my ps5 on a 1440p monitor (meaning my PS5 was running at 1080p since it doesn't support 1440p like Xbox) and i was very pleased with how games looked on it. clearly native 4k would be better, but you could definitely see the improved image quality via super sampling (i.e. the higher res image being downscaled to 1080p). some of the ps5 games (or ps4 games with ps5 updates) have 60 fps modes that run at or around 1440p which means at 1080p you're *still* getting a nice supersampled image running those modes.

and of course the console is ready whenever you do upgrade your display :)
 
People said you needed an HDTV for the Xbox 360 when that came out and I played on the console for 2 years on a tube CRT with the standard NTSC 480 vertical raster scanlines.
 
If the PS5 supported native supersampling like the PS4 Pro did, then I would still recommend it so you could still get a sharper image at 1080p. But as far as I've seen from searching around and not seeing a toggle for Supersampling anywhere in the settings like the PS4 Pro had, the PS5 does not support Supersampling and I don't think there's many games that support supersampling themselves either if they detect they're running at 1080p (but there's definitely a few that will do SSAA at 1080p).

Otherwise, you'll still at least get to benefit from all the standard 60 FPS modes in pretty much every native PS5 title to date. And of course all the other quality of life improvements like faster loading, dual sense features, etc. So I guess it could still be worth getting, but I would definitely pickup a modern OLED to replace that plasma soon and just repurpose the plasma to the bedroom or something if it still works well.
 
T4rd said:
If the PS5 supported native supersampling like the PS4 Pro did, then I would still recommend it so you could still get a sharper image at 1080p. But as far as I've seen from searching around and not seeing a toggle for Supersampling anywhere in the settings like the PS4 Pro had, the PS5 does not support Supersampling and I don't think there's many games that support supersampling themselves either if they detect they're running at 1080p (but there's definitely a few that will do SSAA at 1080p).

Otherwise, you'll still at least get to benefit from all the standard 60 FPS modes in pretty much every native PS5 title to date. And of course all the other quality of life improvements like faster loading, dual sense features, etc. So I guess it could still be worth getting, but I would definitely pickup a modern OLED to replace that plasma soon and just repurpose the plasma to the bedroom or something if it still works well.
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the ps5 supersamples by default if on a 1080p screen because the games are setup to render in a specific resolution that's unrelated to the console's output res. i.e. if a game runs at 1800p reconstructed to 4k, then you will get that reconstructed 4k image downscaled to 1080p. i dunno if technically that's really exactly the same thing as supersampling but it is the same basic idea. this is why "4k" games that are known to hit framerate dips below their target framerate don't run any better when connected to a 1080p screen - because the console is still pushing the exact same amount of pixels.

the supersampling option you're referring to on ps4 pro was there as kind of an early choice between resolution or quality, before games started including those options built-in to the game.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
the ps5 supersamples by default if on a 1080p screen because the games are setup to render in a specific resolution that's unrelated to the console's output res. i.e. if a game runs at 1800p reconstructed to 4k, then you will get that reconstructed 4k image downscaled to 1080p. i dunno if technically that's really exactly the same thing as supersampling but it is the same basic idea. this is why "4k" games that are known to hit framerate dips below their target framerate don't run any better when connected to a 1080p screen - because the console is still pushing the exact same amount of pixels.

the supersampling option you're referring to on ps4 pro was there as kind of an early choice between resolution or quality, before games started including those options built-in to the game.
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I would hope the PS5 would supersample down to 1080p and it would make sense that it does, but from the few threads and articles I could find on it, it didn't seem to do that despite still running the games indeed running internally at the native/upscaled 4k resolution. If you search it, Digital Foundry actually tweeted this out about it (though it was like a year ago now and I haven't seen any updated articles about it otherwise):

As per this thread, we have concluded that the PS5 doesn't force supersampling for these titles (many PS4 Pro titles listed in thread), and there's no option in the OS for the user to force it either. So currently, these Pro titles... the one o know for sure is the recently released disco elysium. insane amount of aliasing on a 1080p screen.
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So it seems that super-sampling and running internally at 4k aren't the same thing here.

Also, the PS4 Pro's SS function didn't have anything to do with the game's internal resolution or performance (assume you meant this over "quality") modes; it simply would force games that would otherwise run in "base PS4" mode at 1080p on a PS4 Pro to run in their enhanced/higher resolution modes on a PS4 Pro even when connected to a 1080p display, and then supersample that down to 1080p. Because many games don't even have a resolution/performance option and would simply detect the output resolution at 1080p and run the game at base PS4 resolution/settings despite running on a PS4 Pro. Some other games were also smart enough to know they're on a PS4 Pro and downscale/supersample to 1080p in this case too without needing to force it with the PS4 Pro's internal Supersampling feature. Since native PS5 games all assume you're on a 4K display for now, there doesn't seem to be any games that intuitively supersample down to 1080p like some of the PS4 Pro games would do before. Thus you could actually be getting a worse image and experience on some PS4 games running BC on a PS5, than you would get running them on a PS4 Pro where you can force supersampling. If you can find evidence to the contrary though, I would be interested to see it as well.
 
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T4rd said:
I would hope the PS5 would supersample down to 1080p and it would make sense that it does, but from the few threads and articles I could find on it, it didn't seem to do that despite still running the games indeed running internally at the native/upscaled 4k resolution. If you search it, Digital Foundry actually tweeted this out about it (though it was like a year ago now and I haven't seen any updated articles about it otherwise):



So it seems that super-sampling and running internally at 4k aren't the same thing here.

Also, the PS4 Pro's SS function didn't have anything to do with the game's internal resolution or performance (assume you meant this over "quality") modes; it simply would force games that would otherwise run in "base PS4" mode at 1080p on a PS4 Pro to run in their enhanced/higher resolution modes on a PS4 Pro even when connected to a 1080p display, and then supersample that down to 1080p. Because many games don't even have a resolution/performance option and would simply detect the output resolution at 1080p and run the game at base PS4 resolution/settings despite running on a PS4 Pro. Some other games were also smart enough to know they're on a PS4 Pro and downscale/supersample to 1080p in this case too without needing to force it with the PS4 Pro's internal Supersampling feature. Since native PS5 games all assume you're on a 4K display for now, there doesn't seem to be any games that intuitively supersample down to 1080p like some of the PS4 Pro games would do before. Thus you could actually be getting a worse image and experience on some PS4 games running BC on a PS5, than you would get running them on a PS4 Pro where you can force supersampling. If you can find evidence to the contrary though, I would be interested to see it as well.
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ok, so there may be a very small number of titles that were coded specifically to use the super sampling option on ps4 pro, but those are going to be a very small minority for sure, especially as going forward if you have a ps5, of course you'll be running the ps5 versions of games. i certainly wouldn't tell someone not to buy a ps5 to use on a 1080p screen because of that handful of titles coded to use the ps4 pro's ss option default to 1080p output.

i had a ps5 and can tell you from personal experience having tried many different games on it with a 1080p display, this is it how it works lol.
 
IMO the single biggest advantage of the PS5 is that it allows you to play at 60fps. A good chunk of those titles aren't running in real 4K anyway. 1080p/60 > 4K30.
 
What Domingo said! 60FPS is so good on the PS5, the eye candy is there with the buttery smooth 60 frames. I always switch to performance, and could never go back.
 
Viper16 said:
What Domingo said! 60FPS is so good on the PS5, the eye candy is there with the buttery smooth 60 frames. I always switch to performance, and could never go back.
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there are a number of titles on ps5 that run in > 1080p (significantly closer to native 4k in some cases) even in their 60 fps mode. just an fyi for those who may not be aware of that, or think that 60 fps on ps5/xsx means dropping to 1080p.
 
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