Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Therad Not entirely true. I don't sit ''close enough'' according to those graphs, but there's a clear visible difference between 1080p and 4K at that distance.

Are you sure it is the added pixels that enhance your experience? Not the bigger screen, HDR or the newer panel with better colors and contrast?

Just bought BOTW and the DLC. It was a sore one to cough up the cash for considering I'm 3/4 of the way through the Wii U version, which I'll now sadly never go back to. I've got a long trip ahead of me on Tuesday and will be staying in a hotel Wednesday night so I'll have plenty time to get stuck into the DLC and possibly restart my adventure all over again.

BOTW is now officially the most expensive game I've ever bought. £60 for the Wii U version digitally and now $80 for the Switch version. At least I've saved some money buying it from the NA Eshop this time. MK8D held the record for 2 weeks.

@Therad If I turn off HDR, and switch between HD and 4K, there's a noticeable difference.

@OorWullie The DLC is integrated into the base game so for awhile you'll be replaying the main game so you can get to the DLC content.

@Grumblevolcano Ah I didn't know that cheers. I'm a bit gutted I'll never get to see the route I took on my first play through. I'll never retrace the footsteps of that epic first adventure.

I'm OK with 4K being achieved as a side effect of home console and PC hardware evolution, but focusing on it to the exclusion of everything else seems silly. Native 4K is still demanding enough for most games that the next gen Sony and Microsoft consoles will likely divert the majority of their system resources to achieving this. And I couldn't find this less interesting if I tried.

@Octane how do you switch between hd and 4k?

Also, I said most people won't notice any real difference. But the vast majority will only get a perceived improvement.

It's not quite as simple as that even if your cynicism was on the money. Because there are advantages in addition to the extra pixel density that are coming along for the ride. HDR you mentioned, definitely a big deal. There's also the higher bitrate of 4K content in general. There's the fact that 480p, 720p and 1080p scale perfectly into 4K while nothing really scales nicely into 1080p except 1080p. Lastly a game rendered at 4K is effectively doing 1080p with Super Sampling without putting that extra texture detail in the bin.

Whether or not it's a waste of time running native 4K content vs native 1080p content is kinda beside the point. There are other benefits to 4K that go beyond whether or not you can actually see the pixels at a comfortable viewing distance.

@skywake I agree. I want a HDR full-hd stream from Netflix at the same bitrate as their current 4k stream. It would give a better picture than their 4k offering, it would basically be Blu-ray as a stream. When it comes to games, in many cases, it would be better to up frame rate or other areas of graphics. Especially when it comes to action oriented games. Frames doesn't translates to good screenshots though.

@Therad YouTube for example, just select a different resolution. I don't disagree with you though, HDR is way more noticeable, but I can see the difference between 1080p and 4K, despite the fact that I'm not sitting at the right viewing distance. All those charts are saying I should sit 3 to 4 feet away from my TV, to see the benefits of 4K, but the viewing distance is definitely more. 5 to 6 feet would be my guess.

I've never understood, what is HDR? Wasn't it something from photography?

I have a 55" 4k TV, and the difference is definitely noticeable. Before I upgraded I told myself it wasn't worth it and that the upgrade wouldn't be noticeable for me, yada yada. Until I got a PS4 Pro and gaming PC and wanted to take full advantage. And let me tell you, even 4k Netflix is a considerable improvement. Every little detail is super crisp, you can see the individual poors and skin textures... it's definitely noticeable. And this is coming from someone who for the longest time believed 4K was not a major improvement. But it is.

That said, it's definitely not the same jump we saw from SD to HD. By no means. But just because the jump isn't that large doesn't mean the jump isn't considerable in its own right. As for HDR... well, I could do without it. I think it's a fad, and works better for photography or film. But video games are animated, and anything that's animated can be animated to show the lighting and colors however you want from the start. HDR for video games is a buzzword at best. Half the time it makes the games look worse, I kid you not. They need to keep HDR for film and movies and TV but for video games... they are already designed to look how the designers want them to look. Anything beyond that is just enhancement and modification

edit
And to clarify, the jump from SD to 1080p was necessary. 400 pound tvs became ultra thin, lightweight, high definition, widescreen devices. That was very necessary. 4k isn't nearly as necessary. The ultra thin and lightweight and wide screen is already there. Even the high definition... is already there. It's simply a progression- a considerably noticeable progression of course, but it's not something I'd deem "necessary". I can play my Switch in 1080p and it's still perfectly fine- and half the games I have on PS4 (no, I'd say the majority of games I have on PS4) are limited to 1080p regardless of running on Pro. And it's perfectly fine. And when a game does offer 4k, usually I opt for the 1080p 60fps option (if available) because it still looks good enough and performance trumps that jump to 4K, imo. Not to mention the TV upscales to 4K so you're getting more bang for your buck that way.

4K is so 2016! I get the actors to come round to my house and perform directly in front of me. The cost is ridiculous but the resolution is amazing. You feel like you could reach out and actually touch them. Apparently though this is not allowed.

@Luna_110 HDR, high dynamic range, refers to a wider array of colours. It just means the TV is capable of producing more colours, the contrast is higher etc. It's different from the HDR function on your camera though, that refers to capturing several photos in a short amount of time and combining them to increase the contrast. For a TV it means for example that a black pixel is really black and not just the colour of your TV when it's turned off (a dark gray).

@JaxonH Just to clarify, SD and HD have nothing to do with the jump from CRT to LCD TVs, that was a coincidence. 480p LED screens are also a thing.

@Octane
It was part of the appeal of upgrading. Coincidence or not, it all factored into the appeal at the time.

I think Switch is capable of doing HDR. It's only a matter of when is Nintendo going to enable it thru system update.

@Azooooz The Switch doesn't support HDMI 2.0 (USB-C is the bottleneck), so HDR isn't possible unfortunately.

@skywake @Therad @Octane

And I gotta be honest, guys, a lot of 4k vs. HD discussions have the odor of "the haves vs. the have-nots," if I'm being totally honest. And you can argue it either way. The "haves" with the 4k say they can definitely see the difference, but the "have-nots" with the standard stuff say we're just seeing things and trying to justify our purchase. There's always a hint of jealousy and stubborness from the "have-nots," and always an air of indignance from the "haves."

It's pretty silly. But I'm with @Octane on this one. There's a difference, guys. A real, perceivable difference in image between an HD and 4k set. If you don't own a 4k and don't want to believe that, then fine. Run through all the numbers and graphs you want to "prove" your point; accuse us of merely wanting to see the difference, etc. if that will help justify your position. But from one dude with a 4k TV to a bunch of other dudes who may or may not have 4k TVs: there's a noticeable, very nice upgrade in the image whether you're watching upscaled cable or bona-fide Ultra Blu-Ray.

We're arguing over pixels on a screen.

Futurama was right. Men want to always be seen as better than the others with TVs.

Ppint is 4k is coming and will one day be the future standard. Right now it is a side thing while adoption increases and 4k media becomes more common and frequent which will happen as prices for consumers decrease assuming there isnt another recession or the market collapses or something.