[Technical question] Vsync on consoles

[KeeperFiM]

In most games the frame rate is 30 and when it goes below v sync is dropped.
However Call of Duty which runs at 60 doesn't seem to tear when the FPS drops. Is it just not noticeable or something?

 

[Anteaus]

I'm not sure about CoD, but some console games do use V-Sync. Bioshock is one of them. In fact it has a menu option, at it did on the PS3 version.

V-sync is completely usable on consoles, but with the 360 and PS3 there wasn't enough ram for most games to use it without performance degradation. We should see V-sync far more often with XBOne and PS4 games.

 

[BrightCandle]

Eurogamer does reviews where it compares the PS3 and the xbox360 side by side in game playthroughs and they do note if there is vsync tears or not: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-call-of-duty-black-ops-faceoff

I didn't notice any tears in the xbox360 version and Eurogamer didn't mention any. I did however see them on the PS3. Thus I believe the xbox360 has vsync on all the time, there is no attempt to be adaptive and that is kind of important as the game spends most of its time below 60fps anyway.

 

[futurefields]

It's interesting that many PS3 games are triple buffered VSYNC while there are almost no Xbox 360 games that use triple buffered VSYNC, instead tearing frames.

It's really weird, multi platform games run noticeably better on Xbox 360 with high native resolution, higher framerates, better anti-aliasing solutions, yet they often have triple buffer VSYNC on PS3 while opting to tear frames on the 360.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's interesting that many PS3 games are triple buffered VSYNC while there are almost no Xbox 360 games that use triple buffered VSYNC, instead tearing frames.

It's really weird, multi platform games run noticeably better on Xbox 360 with high native resolution, higher framerates, better anti-aliasing solutions, yet they often have triple buffer VSYNC on PS3 while opting to tear frames on the 360.

Where are you pulling this stuff from? Making it up as you go along?

 

[futurefields]

Where are you pulling this stuff from? Making it up as you go along?

...

What is with your attitude man?

I get most of my information from Digital Foundry articles where they compare the multiplatform games in a technical fashion.

It's common knowledge that there are more triple buffered VSYNC games on PS3 than Xbox 360. You can also read about it here on beyond3d >

http://beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=58922




Why do you keep responding to my posts in such a disrespectful, negative manner?

Almost anytime I post I can count on you to quote me and call me a troll, question my knowledge in very disrespectful manner etc...

What is your problem with me cmdrdredd?

 

[BrightCandle]

I actually suspect the triple buffering difference is actually something else entirely. The PS3 api is largely based around openGL and the xbox360 is based on DirectX. DirectX has less than perfect triple buffering in its implementation, the openGL version has less latency at no other drawback. My guess is the extra latency is very noticeable on the xbox360 and almost everyone realises its a bad idea if they do it. Whereas on the PS3 triple buffering works as its meant to and thus works to smooth out the issue. Could be other reasons of course but that is my off the cuff no proof or investigation theory.

 

[cmdrdredd]

...

What is with your attitude man?

I get most of my information from Digital Foundry articles where they compare the multiplatform games in a technical fashion.

It's common knowledge that there are more triple buffered VSYNC games on PS3 than Xbox 360. You can also read about it here on beyond3d >

http://beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=58922




Why do you keep responding to my posts in such a disrespectful, negative manner?

Almost anytime I post I can count on you to quote me and call me a troll, question my knowledge in very disrespectful manner etc...

What is your problem with me cmdrdredd?

Cause bright candle right above you said the exact opposite. There was no tearing on the 360 cause it was vsync.

 

[BrightCandle]

For Call of Duty vsync is on for the xbox360, but I do not have the experience to say if that is usually the case or if they usually use triple buffering etc. My experience lays in PC games not console ones, I only play a console game if its not available on PC and so pretty casually.

 

[JeffMD]

Uhmm... I don't know of any HDMI TVs that does NOT run at atleast 60hz. And yes 60fps is supported.

24 and 30fps are still the norm for TV and movies because no one wants to take "the hobbit" jump, but 60fps is a supported frame rate in the HDTV spec. If you manage to get an awesome sports channel over satellite or cable, it may support broadcasting of sporting events at 60fps which looks fantastic.

 

[blackened23]

I don't see why consoles need vsync. It isn't like the PC where the framerate is variable - nearly every developer will implement a 30 or 60 fps limit and that will, of course, sync with HDMI.

Framerates aren't a free for all on consoles, so is vsync is really needed when framerate caps are in place already? On the PC it is needed because depending on your configuration, your framerate could be 30, 100 or 250. For high framerates vsync makes sense.

 

[purbeast0]

i just remember uncharted 1 had the worst screen tearing i think i've ever seen in a game. it literally gave me headaches.

 

[smackababy]

i just remember uncharted 1 had the worst screen tearing i think i've ever seen in a game. it literally gave me headaches.

The unpatched Darksiders on the Xbox 360 was awful. They updated it fairly quickly I think, but it was bad. I only know because my friend had a banned modded console and couldn't update it.

I don't see why consoles need vsync. It isn't like the PC where the framerate is variable - nearly every developer will implement a 30 or 60 fps limit and that will, of course, sync with HDMI.

Framerates aren't a free for all on consoles, so is vsync is really needed when framerate caps are in place already? On the PC it is needed because depending on your configuration, your framerate could be 30, 100 or 250. For high framerates vsync makes sense.

This is mostly true, but some games do dip in framerates. UMVC3 on the PS3 and Dark Souls on every system, for example.