PS2 games do not ever really run above 480p. The hacks force 480p and then trigger a built in upscaler to 720p/1080i etc. GT4 famously just split the image in half, pixel doubled etc for its completely fake 1080i mode.
Do you have a link? I’d like to read now about that
Sorry I haven’t read about it in a while, but google and you’ll find some stuff.
It’s relatively self evident too, of course the PS2, which typically ran games in quite low internal resolutions like 512x448, was not all of a sudden going to be able to push those same games at 1920x1080, almost TEN TIMES the number of pixels.
Yeah, I’ve always called that mode bullshit. Especially considering how graphics taxing GT4 was for the system too.
found it https://assemblergames.com/threads/1080i-mode-in-gran-turismo-4.35511/#post-533546
points to (dead) http://community.us.playstation.com/message/6388872#6388872
Some interesting non-scientific old photos from: https://www.avforums.com/threads/help-how-can-i-get-hd-1080i-with-pal-gt4.358093/
standard
480p
1080i
1 Like
Honestly, the 1080i may not be native, but it’s an impressive improvement over 480p nonetheless based on these photos.
It’s a great effort.
1 Like
The Pirelli logos on the rear bumper are particularly interesting as they have taken on a different colour.
I think after watching this I would take the solidity of progressive @480p over the flicker of interlaced @ 1080i
However I would really need to see them both on a 480p+1080i compatible CRT, if such a beast exists.
Wikipedia used to have a list of games with their various modes, but it got deleted. There’s a backup here: List of PlayStation 2 games with alternative display modes - WikiVisually
1 Like
Yea, those videos which scale the image are always suspect in terms of accuracy. Off screen shots in a native display - espectially involving interlaced resolutions - are the only fair way to compare.
Nevertheless, that video is not nearly as flattering as the shots provided further up.
1 Like
The trouble with most of the 1080i CRTs, is that they upscale automatically to 1080i, so you may not be able to see the true difference between 480p and 1080i.
1 Like
PS2 has only 4MB of VRAM, you can’t fit many any more pixels than SD unless you vastly reduce colour depth. PS2 usually runs sub-SD resolution to maintain colour depth.
I just looked up what I could find, it seems GT4 in 480i/480p modes runs at an internal resolution of 640x448 or 286720 pixels per frame.
From what I can gather, it runs at 576x480 (per frame, letterboxed with black bars in a 540p frame x2 for the interlace) in 1080i mode. So 276480 pixels per frame.
So if all that is true, 1080i ups the static resolution but is overall a reduction in temporal resolution.
3 Likes
It’s most likely due to how it’s recorded. Only a good codec and bitrate will show off video quality and differences better than something like that video when it comes to direct feed capturing.
1 Like
Both the 480p and 1080i modes of GT4 run with a lower color depth and dithering.
I think you’re right that the “540p” mode isn’t really running at a higher res.
Also I believe the 480i mode has some other advantage, as distant detail looks noticably more filled in than at higher res. It’s not anti-aliasing but maybe a flicker filter or some other effect is making this particular screen comparison (from the MLIG PS2 video) look better at 480i, where you can also very clearly see the color depth difference:
2 Likes