Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2013]

What? So Jackfrags does not have the gamma issue plagueing DF? Maybe we should compare with his videos or screens then.

THe way I see it, Xone 's aliasing is more prominent, and that post sharpening is making it worse. PS4's image looks softer in comparison, due to post sharpening on X1, maybe. Hating the gamma on X1, but if Jackfrag did not have that issue, then its DF's problem. I think DICE should remove the post sharpening from X1 and let it be, will look better. But if it is being done via the X1 upscaler, then we don't know.

I think these comparisons also bring forward the point very clearly, : We need native 1080p on next gen to appreciate the quality being thrown out by these engines.

 

Sharpening is a no-no IMO. Being the videophile that I am, I hate it when movie studios use edge-enhancement/artifical sharpening on their Blu-Rays. Some people like it, but it's fake detail and it looks bad to me. It also makes aliasing look worse than it is.

 

Xbox One: Too sharp, PS4: Too soft. PC: the best.

 

PS4's color is pretty close to PC though, if anything the X1 contrast seem off.

 

Thats because it is native 1080. We need that on all games, my point.

EDIT: Was watching the video and that gamma makes the gun parts in shadows pitch black !! WTH. Need to watch jackfrags footage
and anyways these videos are in 720p when the game is running on 900p onthe ps4.....bah

 

Did DF say they were both on devkits?

 

X1 version is too dark? It looks kinda close but PS4 looks better... some parts x1 looks better? weird.

 

DICE should have taken its time and got rid of the aliasing from both the versions. looks very bad.

 

I think they said the were on console debug kits but they made it clear they were not on retail consoles

 

"First up, a few crucial points on our test methodology. It's worth noting that these captures are taken from Xbox One and PS4 development kits, as used by the game-makers themselves to ensure the game runs within the parameters of the retail hardware released this November. "

English isn't my first language so correct me if I'm wrong, but in this case they were both devkits or just the PS4?

 

I don't understand why spend all your time optimize 60fps for a 4hr campaign, not to mention when a huge portion of people simply wont touch it? Would be so much better just stick to 1080p/30fps for the SP and maybe you can crank the PS4 version to Ultra setting even. Sigh..hope they at least get rid off that blur filter in the PS4 version, it's ruining the textures.

 

I think DF messed it up.

http://abload.de/img/bf431qky.gif

Check out the IGN video too. Their X1 version looks a lot closer to the PS4 version color wise.

http://ca.ign.com/videos/2013/10/28/battlefield-4-xbox-oneps4-graphics-comparison

 

http://au.ign.com/videos/2013/10/28/battlefield-4-xbox-oneps4-graphics-comparison

IGN comparison. 2 minutes in is apparently MP comparison.

 

Wow, the difference is pretty apparent here between the PS4 and X1. Certainly MS will continue to extract more resources out of the X1 as things mature and they use the ESRAM more efficiently, but if this is indicative of the performance delta between the two, MS is in for a long generation. We probably won't know the true delta until about 2014 or so but this is currently way too big for MS to be comfortable with.

Not sure what all that softness on the PS4 is about though.

 

Xbox One obviously doesn't just use a dedicated hardware upscaler, but seems to run the the final render output through a full-blown image enhancer chip ... like present in most HDTVs.

It's like switiching on "Auto Contrast" and "Detail Sharpening" in your TV settings.

While it seems kind of beneficial to the overall subjective picture impression when grabbing screenshots right from the source, I really don't think it's a good idea to "distort" the image like that without an option to turn those "enchancements" off.

That kind of image processing really should be done in the visual output device ... not at the source; and it should be defeatable.

Tap water should be pure and clean - if you do like soda, you can still add some sugar AFTER you filled the water in your drinking glass ...

 

EDIT: Polygon have some direct feed screens:

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9195057/3.jpg
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9195071/4.jpg

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9195067/5.jpg
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9195069/6.jpg

IMO, the first is PS4 (less jaggies) and the second is Xbox One version (some aliasing).

Xbox One?



PS4?

 

It's hard to tell of this is an XBOX One output issue or a DF capture issue, but I'm thinking it's the latter since other comparisons are more similar in appearance.

One side effect of DF's capture is that upon first glance it does seen like the XBOX one has a more appealing image until you scrutinize it further at which point you begin to notice something isn't quite right. Over at GAF people have been able to reproduce this effect on the PS4 images, but I'm not sure you'd want to.

Those issues aside, you can really tell on the PS4 side that it is doing more (resolution, AA, ambient occlusion, etc) Heck, some things just seem missing on the XBOX One version:

http://i.minus.com/ib0gOrDzD8ScKG.gif

 

Weird how clouds in a couple of the PS4 images look inverted PC - PS4. And... some of the ground textures look "upside down" PC - PS4 (look at the direction of the normal maps). API- handedness? (Y-axis flipping) Pretty odd since it's ok elsewhere. Strange bug. Maybe they can fix that in a patch?

 

The clouds' there, just different color, which is strange since this is a cut-scene.
The camo is just different, sometimes X1 has the same camo as the PC, sometimes PS4 does.

Though X1 shares the similarity with PC, see http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-10-29-battlefield-4-next-gen-vs-pc-comparison-gallery

Created a GIF to make my point clear, see how the PC scene is very close to the X1:




Jaggies quite apparent due to resolution difference..but frankly I was expecting some sort of geometry difference but I can't spot anything obvious between PS4 / X1.