The PlayStation 4 5.50 firmware, now undergoing beta testing, is going to introduce, among other things, system level super-sampling. Digital Foundry recently took a good look at the feature, noting how it brings some noticeable improvements for PlayStation 4 Pro users playing at 1080p resolution.
Super-sampling makes the game believe that a 4K screen is connected to the console, downscaling the image to 1080p and producing superior anti-aliasing.
By enabling super-sampling in firmware 5.5, the game believes you have a 4K screen connected and the system takes over from there, downscaling the image and producing beautiful anti-aliasing in the process. The improvement to image quality is clear; jagged edges are smoothed over, more detail can be resolved in some cases, while flickering is also reduced in motion on sub-pixel detail.
Super-sampling, unfortunately, introduces some performance issues for select titles, like for The Last Guardian.
When enabling SSAA on some titles, performance can change - and not for the better. Let's take The Last Guardian for example. It's a game that locks its lower resolution/higher frame-rate option exclusively to the 1080p output, with a less stable, higher resolution mode locked to the 4K mode. So if you use 5.5's super-sampling option in this case, you will get improved image quality, but it comes at the expense of frame-rate - and at its worst, The Last Guardian's frame-rate in 4K mode can drop to 20fps territory. Put simply, given the choice, we'd opt for the 1080p mode.
Digital Foundry also compared the PS4 Pro super-sampling implementation to the Xbox One X's one, and the latter comes out on top for a few reasons. The Xbox One X super-sampling forces developers to offer in-game options for all modes, regardless of the attached display.
After all, the whole concept of having Pro enhancements linked to specific display outputs in the first place is a really bad idea. Microsoft's alternative approach is simple and elegant: the system doesn't tell developers which display is attached to the console. This forces game-makers to offer in-game options for all modes, regardless of whether a 1080p or 4K TV is attached and by extension, 1080p super-sampling is automatically taken care of at the system level. It's the ideal set-up and the one we've advocated since PlayStation 4 Pro launched.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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