Can someone explain why Black Ops outputs at 1080P?, it isn't even a 720p game

I am here wondering why BlacK Ops outputs automatically at 1080p, the game isn't even 720P, which means the game looks fuzzy. So I was wondering why COD4/MW2 both outputed at 720P on PS3 yet Treyarch's COD games output at 1080p?, wouldn't it make more sense to output at 720P as that would be closest resolution to games like call of duty which are like 600p or less.

I was wondering the same as well. It clearly isn't 1080p in the least. MW2 looks 200% better than Black Ops which looks almost 480p. I'm fairly sure it's a tradeoff to capturing video because there is no reason to have such a crappy resolution other than that. They really really hurt the quality of this release.

MW1 and 2 ran at 1040x600 2x MSAA.

Now to get this out of the way, running a game with any number of MSAA will ALWAYS look better on the x360. The hardware built in the x360 can render with MSAA a lot better than the ps3, it is just a fact.

Black Ops runs lower on the ps3, 960x544 2x MSAA (x360 is at 1040x608 with 2x MSAA). However since the consoles can upscale (how black ops on 360 plays at 720p) the ps3 can upscale the 544 easily to 1080p rather than to 720p (544x2=1088). Same way mgs4 ran in 540p was an easy up to 1080p. Just know that the engine on MW is not the same on Black Ops. Thats why there is some graphical differences between the two games.


This is a good read:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-not-so-high-definition-article?page=2



Know this, 1080p doesnt mean better graphics. Engine, lighting, textures, frame rate, and more all play a role in presenting the game. Our eyes also plays tricks too. Example a blu ray movie playing at 1080p on a 36 inch tv compared to a blu-ray @ 720p on a 42 inch tv will look the same. The 36 inch tv is too small to see the difference. Of course bump the 1080p to the 42inch and above, the difference will be clear.

As of right now, the ps3 is a technical monster with an ever glowing weak point. The connection from the GPU to the rest of the hardware is a tiny minuscule pipe and traffic to and from is ever slow. That is what multi-platformer companies are having trouble with.

@j-cart. Gotta give you props man. That was a very clear and concise explanation of some things I understood but was not very clear on.

Whatever wasn't clear, post up your question I might be able to give you an answer.

Forgot to define a few things:

MSAA= Multisample anti-aliasing which is used to enhance computer graphics

1080p= 1920×1080 Progressive Scan. This means that for every frame the image is presented in full. Interlace (like 1080i) only give half the image per frame (which is why if you have a 1080i tv you run it in 720p, so you get no slow down).

Now anti-aliasing mends with progressive very well, gives us that motion blur (which is a trick done purposely, Capcom abuses this in their games).


Fun Fact:
-CRT tvs (those box looking ones) produce a much better color than HDtvs.
-HDtv is actually backwards technology, but the slim and high resolution is why we use it.
-CRT tvs can't be made slim, need that space for that tube tech.
-No matter what you spend on your tv, getting an equally as awesome sound system will cost more, sometimes even double your tv.

[quote name='j-cart']Black Ops runs lower on the ps3, 960x544 2x MSAA (x360 is at 1040x608 with 2x MSAA). However since the consoles can upscale (how black ops on 360 plays at 720p) the ps3 can upscale the 544 easily to 1080p rather than to 720p (544x2=1088). Same way mgs4 ran in 540p was an easy up to 1080p. Just know that the engine on MW is not the same on Black Ops. Thats why there is some graphical differences between the two games.

Know this, 1080p doesnt mean better graphics. Engine, lighting, textures, frame rate, and more all play a role in presenting the game. Our eyes also plays tricks too. Example a blu ray movie playing at 1080p on a 36 inch tv compared to a blu-ray @ 720p on a 42 inch tv will look the same. The 36 inch tv is too small to see the difference. Of course bump the 1080p to the 42inch and above, the difference will be clear.[/QUOTE]
People that want to believe that eye trickery and 32-36" is too small to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p are kinda on crack. Some of it is eye trickery, a lot of it is most people don't really have great eyesight. On cheap TV sets, you can't tell the difference one bit but a TV that upscales really well you'll see the difference. It won't be as bad as noticing the PSN notification box stretch twice it's size like you do on a 42" 1080p set but things are tons sharper.

It is good to know that Black Ops is legitimately running at a lesser resolution and my PS3 is upscaling too high, I'll have to give it a run in 720p though it's kinda stupid to dumb down my HDMI to play Black Ops properly on a big screen. Hopefully it makes multiplayer more enjoyable.

[quote name='Mad39er']People that want to believe that eye trickery and 32-36" is too small to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p are kinda on crack. Some of it is eye trickery, a lot of it is most people don't really have great eyesight. On cheap TV sets, you can't tell the difference one bit but a TV that upscales really well you'll see the difference. It won't be as bad as noticing the PSN notification box stretch twice it's size like you do on a 42" 1080p set but things are tons sharper.

It is good to know that Black Ops is legitimately running at a lesser resolution and my PS3 is upscaling too high, I'll have to give it a run in 720p though it's kinda stupid to dumb down my HDMI to play Black Ops properly on a big screen. Hopefully it makes multiplayer more enjoyable.[/QUOTE]


No need to lower your resolution for Black Ops (unless your tv has only a 60hz refresh, any higher you are fine at 1080p).

The big tv small tv example is that if you looked at the two side by side, non trained human eyes wouldn't be able to tell which one is 720p and which is 1080p. Now since most of us that own a HDtv, we know what is Hd and what is SD. After time, you will notice minor things to that help knowing what kind of HD signal is being presented. Very similar to how audiophiles are able to tell the difference between cd quality and lossless audio.

[quote name='j-cart']No need to lower your resolution for Black Ops (unless your tv has only a 60hz refresh, any higher you are fine at 1080p).

The big tv small tv example is that if you looked at the two side by side, non trained human eyes wouldn't be able to tell which one is 720p and which is 1080p. Now since most of us that own a HDtv, we know what is Hd and what is SD. After time, you will notice minor things to that help knowing what kind of HD signal is being presented. Very similar to how audiophiles are able to tell the difference between cd quality and lossless audio.[/QUOTE]
I lowered the output from the PS3, it made Black Ops more playable for me and at 720p it looked more like a current gen game than it does at 1080p(on 42"). In theory it should make no difference going from the PS3 outputting Black Ops in 1080p to 720p but it resolved more of my issues with graphics and how it is viewable compared to MW2. Black Ops is the first game that I've ever had to dumb down my TV for, which is beyond insane.

Things like details just look too tiny at 1080p and there is more stretching of textures which lead to my initial "this game looks like garbage" rants. I'm fairly sure it's solely in relation to screen size at this point. The bigger you go, the more Black Ops flaws are noticeable unless you lower the resolution.