Why can't the PS5 do 1440p natively?

[the8thark]

We know Sony have officially said this and Digital Foundry have confirmed it. It's 1080p or 4k.
Who no 1440p natively though? The Series X can do it. Why not the PS5 also? Is this a case of Sony not wanting it done or is there another reason? Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[diamond.g]

Just like with the PS4Pro Sony is choosing not to allow display output of 1440p. As far as anyone can tell there is no technical reason why they choose to ignore that display resolution.

 

[scottcampbell]

1440p completely passed me by—would someone mind explaining its appeal over 4k?

(TVs never maxed out at this resolution, right? They went from 1080 to 4k? Is this mostly a PC monitor thing?)

 

[MVPilot172]

I think most Tv’s only display 1080 or 4K and don’t natively support 1440. I’d assume the vast majority of PlayStation users use TV’s and not monitors, so Sony doesn’t bother supporting it.

 

[Macalicious2011]

1440p completely passed me by—would someone mind explaining its appeal over 4k?

(TVs never maxed out at this resolution, right? They went from 1080 to 4k? Is this mostly a PC monitor thing?)

There is hardly any 120Hz TVs on the market but there are hundreds of 120hz 1440p monitors.

A £200 120Hz 28 inch monitor is much more accessible than a 120hz £1,390 LG CX TV.

If you want to play FPS games cross platforms, you will likely do so using mouse and keyboard on a......1080-1440p monitor.

It's a surprising omission along with VRR and automatic low latency mode signals for TVs/Monitors.

 

[thisismyusername]

1440p completely passed me by—would someone mind explaining its appeal over 4k?

To a lot of gamers, frame rates are much more important than resolution, however, they don't necessarily want to go all the way down to 1080p to get 120fps. 1440p has been the sweet spot for gaming in the PC world for quite a number of years now and it would have been nice for Sony to support that like Microsoft does (along with VRR of course).

Even if you have an HDMI 2.1 capable TV, thus capable of 4k/120, this console generation won't be able to drive that resolution at that frame rate consistently. However, 1440p is very common in monitors, becoming more common in TVs (e.g. a bunch Samsung TVs from the past 2 years support 1440p/120) and much easier for handle. It's really nice to have the option of doing either 4k/60 or 1440p/120.

As for why the PS5 can't do it? It's simple. Sony decided that market isn't large enough to bother with and I can't really blame them. It's mainly enthusiasts who have a PC gaming background that care about 1440p. Most PS5 owners are upgrading from a PS4 or XBox One, will simply plug it into whatever TV is in their living room and love it.

 

[Macalicious2011]

1440p has been the sweet spot for gaming in the PC world

It will be a Sweet spot on the Series X to as it is capable of 1440p/120 which is a nice compromise between resolution and frame rate. 1440p upscaled to 4k looks shaper than 1080p upscaled to 4k.

PS5 gamers will be in a pickle as some games will offer a choice between 4k 30/60fps or 1080 30/60fps. Both of which are at opposite ends with no mid point.

However 120hz is currently irrelevant to anyone with a TV unless they have bought one of the extremely handful and very expensive TVs with true 120hz.

I bought a 120hz gaming monitor two months ago because it's a quicker and cheaper way to 120Hz than replacing my non 120hz 4k TV.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Update:

Sony is listening. Good news for gamers!

The omission of 1440p support is as not supporting cold storage of PS5 games on an external drive.

If Sony had released more technical information months ago like MS, they could have worked in these missing features before launch.

Sony says PS5 currently doesn't support 1440p because it wants to "prioritise support for TVs"

The PlayStation 5 currently does not support 1440p resolution because Sony wants to "prioritise support for TVs".

www.eurogamer.net

 

[diamond.g]

It will be a Sweet spot on the Series X to as it is capable of 1440p/120 which is a nice compromise between resolution and frame rate. 1440p upscaled to 4k looks shaper than 1080p upscaled to 4k.

PS5 gamers will be in a pickle as some games will offer a choice between 4k 30/60fps or 1080 30/60fps. Both of which are at opposite ends with no mid point.

However 120hz is currently irrelevant to anyone with a TV unless they have bought one of the extremely handful and very expensive TVs with true 120hz.

I bought a 120hz gaming monitor two months ago because it's a quicker and cheaper way to 120Hz than replacing my non 120hz 4k TV.

Edit: We all would like Sony to support 1440p, but since that isn't a standard TV resolution and none of the other Sony systems support it either I am willing to give them a mulligan on this.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

This is purely Sony's decision.

The PS5 SoC is quite PC-like and could easily support 1440p like the new Xbox consoles; they both use very similar AMD silicon.

It should be pointed out that the previous Xbox console gained 1440p midway through its lifecycle.

4K is four times the number of pixels on a 1080p screen. 1440p (a.k.a. 2K, QHD) is four times the number of pixels on a 720p screen (a resolution that PS5 supports). Lack of 1440p support on PS5 on launch has zero to do with scaling challenges.

Since both Xbox and cheapass PC graphics cards can easily accomodate 1440p, I give Sony no mulligan. This is simply a poor choice on their part.

 

[the8thark]

There is hardly any 120Hz TVs on the market but there are hundreds of 120hz 1440p monitors.

This is point. For the better than 1080p market, a 1440p monitor is a much more affordable option. Still not in the super cheap market but they are getting much closer. For people paying $500+ (depending no where you live) for a PS5, I feel many would also spring for a 1440p monitor. I did that and I really like the 1440p Dell monitor I have.

This is purely Sony's decision.

I feel you are 100% correct sadly.
Why support 720p but not 1440p as it's a full integer scale of that? 4x. Makes zero sense.

Also a quote from the article shared above.
The PlayStation 5 currently does not support 1440p resolution because Sony wants to "prioritise support for TVs".

To me this is an excuse which in reality means, we mismanaged our design time and thus this feature didn't make the cut time wise
Or more likely its - We hope people also buy a Sony TV to play their PS5 on.
It looks like Sony cut a feature to help boost their own brand on TV sales.

Considering how easy it is to add in 1440p when you already have 720p and 4k is just not on. Can't give Sony a pass on this one. Sony get an F for this.

 

[Macalicious2011]

This is purely Sony's decision.

Sony has a history of periodically making anti consumer decisions. This time, MS is making Sony look really bad.

This is the best example. The PS4 controller cannot be used with PS5. Yet, you can remote play your PS5 through a PS4 using a......PS4 controller.

To top if off, you can even deactivate adaptive triggers and haptic feedback for the PS5 controller for preference or to preserve battery life.🤢🥴

Meanwhile, all Xbox One accessories are compatible with the Series consoles.