So many people want to know what difference in gaming is there between 720p and 1080i. For instance Killzone2 offers natives res at 720p/1080i or GT5: Prologue offers up to 1080p. These 1080i images are technically 1080p since these are still images.

How to proceed :

• All captures where pure digital signal through Playstation 3’s HDMI output.
• As our hardware can only capture 1080i streams, I had to capture steady shots so no interlace fields are visible and ruin the comparison. And this way you get a 1080p “illusion”!
• I recorded a “race” with a stopped car. I saved the replay and then captured 104 pictures at each resolutions, 1080 and 720.
• Original screenshots were grabbed almost uncompressed (YUV 4:2:2 16 bit) and I share them as PNG files to avoid losses on Flickr Photostream and the slideshows below.
• The only thing we’ve added is the watermark. I didn’t de-interlaced them or adjust anything else.

The results :

• Well it depends your perception.
• 1080 offer a sharper image but aliasing will be more perceptible. 720 looks “blurred” but introduce less jaggies. This is due to a different anti-aliasing methods between both resolutions.
• It’s a matter of tastes !
• You have to know that with both resolutions, tearing and slowdowns are seamlessly the same and occur at the same points in replays and in-game.
• You’ll notice that 1080i screens look blurred, this is certainly due to GT5:P 1440×1080 native resolution upscaled to 1980×1080.

Look for yourself!
1080i Screenshots

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 1080i


Ferrari F2007
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
Ferrari 512 BB
Art Morrison Corvette ‘60
Nissan R35 GT-R
Nissan Skyline Coupe Concept
Ferrari F2007 on Daytona
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano on Eiger Nordwand
Ferrari 512 BB on High Speed Ring
Art Morrison Corvette ‘60 on Suzuka
Nissan R35 GT-R on Fuji Speedway
Nissan Skyline Coupe Concept on London




Now 720p Screenshots:


Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 720p



Now the wait for freakin GT5.

 

Wow, there's actually a pretty surprising difference in quality!

Thanks for the comparison!

 

Is this game ever going to be released in the US?

 

GT5 Prologue came out last fall here in the US.

 

I meant the whole GT5

 

By the end of this year but no one is sure if they mean 2009 Calendar year or 2009 Fiscal year.

I'm assuming we'll hear something in the next couple months. There hasn't been any news for awhile!

 

For real I've been waiting forever for this. I'm fully prepared to buy a PS3, race wheel and seat exclusively to play GT5, provided that it's as good as its predecessors. So they need to hurry up!

 

Awesome post. Really puts things in a direct comparison for the first time. You never really know what the quality difference is.

While the 1080i does have more jaggeds... I think it looks better... much more crisp and i'm sure in the gameplay the increase in the jaggediness (new word?) won't be as noticeable.

 

Yeah in motion (1080i->1080p) it becomes less noticeable, however there lies a "problem" in GT5: Prologue. Since each car is something like 200,000 polygons to cast a perfect shadow off of the car's surface would take up too much processing time - sort of like determining more digits of Pi. So when GT5:P first came out the shadow across the rear bumper and sometimes in the cabin had largely noticeable jaggies. It's a lot better now and it never bothered me to begin with considering the insane detail on everything else.

 

I'm in the same position. I almost caved and got one when Metal Gear 4 came out... but this is what I'm waiting for.