PlayStation 4 (codename Orbis) technical hardware investigation (news and rumours)
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Only if they are confident it stacks up well to SHAPE. CELL provided excellent audio and im pretty sure vita cannot be touched technically in any regard by other handheld hardware currently available. So its good to talk about that. Talking about something that a direct competitor kicks your arse with probably isn't a wsie thing to do
You probably mean PSP instead of PS3? Because PS3 has just a straight-pipe codec, all audio processing runs on the cell processor.
That's why I mentioned "DSP-like" audio processing. ^_^ The SPUs shoulder these responsibilities like a lone DSP would. It would be a waste if they include a DSP for audio there. In the interview, the Sony dude made a distinction between game audio vs regular audio. The former has more sophisticated requirements and processing needs.
That's true, but they can talk about the overall audio approach. The audio processor in PS4 should be pretty efficient and powerful too. Cerny also mentioned audio raytracing using the GPU. It's all about how you position yourself. e.g., The Vita guy made a case for his Vita stack against the SPUs in the Vita audio interview.
Personally, I am just curious how different pieces fit together.
If this patent is for the PS4 I think we will be hearing about the Audio Processor.
http://www.google.com/patents/US20130041648
Bagel seed
Veteran
Automatic computation streaming partition for voice recognition on multiple processors with limited memory
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...-comp$+and+audio&RS=(AN/sony-comp$+AND+audio)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...-comp$+and+audio&RS=(AN/sony-comp$+AND+audio)
Bagel seed
Veteran
Touch screen-like user interface that does not require actual touching
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...comp$.ASNM.&OS=an/sony-comp$&RS=AN/sony-comp$
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...comp$.ASNM.&OS=an/sony-comp$&RS=AN/sony-comp$
Silent_Buddha
Legend
First, let me start off by saying that I'm not saying any of the following is going to be how things are. People love to jump to conclusions here when defending or attacking the other consoles (like the Durango speculation thread).
Anyway, if we assume that the Chinese guy is a developer and he's correct. Then there is nothing strange or unlikely about it.
KZ:SF used ~3 GB of memory which some think include stuff that won't be included in the game accessible memory on final hardware. Hence, a 5 GB partition for games represents anywhere from a 66% - 100% increase in available memory to games. A still massive increase compared to what they were working with before.
If the 8 GB added was a response to Durango basically being all but confirmed as having 8 GB of memory, then why would it be so strange to think that Sony would also wish to remain competitive when it comes to living room services, apps, OS features, and potential game enhancing features (more robust motion tracking and voice recognition, for example). So, while 3 GB is perhaps a bit excessive considering Sony isn't going to be doing skeletal tracking at the level that Kinect is anytime soon (presumably), it's also not out of the question.
With 4 GB of total memory it makes a lot of sense to use as little as possible for the OS in order to make the games look as good as possible. With 8 GB of total memory, it would make a whole lot more sense to reserve enough for the system and OS to make sure that they are not at a competitive disadvantage versus the competition. Especially when you consider that the vast majority of games developed for your system will be multiplatform and unlikely to make use of more memory than the competition.
Again, not saying the 5 GB partition for games is necessarily true. Just speculating on why it might be done. IMO, a 5/3 or 6/2 split for memory makes the most sense as that allows them to be competitive with Durango on almost all fronts, not only at launch but 2-3 years from now as MS adds more services and if Sony wishes to add more services. Services which could potentially benefit games. Remember, both systems have the ability to overlay a UI display plane over a running game. Whose to say that either Sony, MS, or both won't come up with novel ways for that to include information about the game or that is beneficial to the game or that enhances the game with stuff that is universally accessible to all games.
I'm sure Sony doesn't want to be in another situation like they were with PS3 where they didn't have a key feature such as universal, standardized voice chat due to not being able to reserve enough system resources for it. I'm going to assume PS4 will have that. But, who knows what the next key "universal" feature might be.
Regards,
SB
How a guy(dev maybe) that works for a little studio like could presumably getting more informations on the final specs,or simply such informations about the amount of ram reserved for the OS before any devs that work for any major studio,and being credible, dear Watson?
I really doubt SONY sent any(even early) dev kit to a studio like Ratloop who developed only flashgames and IOS games ,before being sure that EA/Activision/UBIsoft or any other major Editor/dev studio get their own.My guess is that those little studios are the last being served ....
Sorry for being so sceptical about this...
what make you think that ea don't have the dev kit??
I'm not sure how much RAM iOS, Android use without any apps running, but I think it's somewhere in the range of 250 - 750 MB. Not totally sure of that. 512 MB seems really small for a console OS that's supposed to have pervasive services like stream broadcasting, video chat, voice chat, eye-toy voice control etc etc etc. Somewhere in the 1 - 2 GB range sounds more plausible, like what you'd have on a phone or tablet.
It’s probably because he claimed he’s been using the (8GB) devkit for a few months now. But the 8GB news was a surprise to most outside devs until the Feb presentation. The 8GB devkit probably shipped after that.
He hasn’t replied when someone asked him how he got an 8GB devkit.
Free RAM is wasted RAM. Like any modern operating system Android will make use of any spare RAM, but Android 4.x and iOS 6.1 work adequately on platforms with only 256MB of RAM.
rockaman
Regular
GG probably had the inside track on this knowledge. And it's not necessarily they were planning on their engine to take up 5.5 GB of RAM on the PS4 is it? Maybe they were on the trajectory to being under 4 GB before also (until they found out about the change) or that the 5.5 GB is more appropriated to the PC devkits than anything else.
Either way, for most developers the extra 2 or 3 GB of RAM still applies I would guess, and I imagine they are still much happier than having 4 GB for the whole system.
I think they are still thinking they moved from essentially 3.5 GB to essentially 6 or 7 GB.
I'd pin it somewhere around 512MB to 1GB.
They managed to do quite a bit on PS3 and 360 with much, much less. Giving it over 1GB seems like total overkill. However I won't be surprised if they reserve something around 2 GB at the beginning of the life cycle and along the way lower it down to 512MB. Anything over 2GB is, well, bloated in my opinion.
Also points to the relative ineffectiveness of WiiU which, come to think of it again, has 1GB (!) reserved and runs stuff like my mother's 6 year old laptop.
My Iphone 5 uses around 250MB after a reboot without any apps running (about 50 processes active)
Dev kits always had 8GB, the surprise was that the retail unit would have 8GB.
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