I'm inclined to believe the PS3 does have a hardware scaler. As mentioned a Microsoft employee is not the most credible person because a) they're direct competition and b) he's not programming for the PS3.

Enough articles lend themselves to the fact that pre-release developers were able to use scaling features. Likely this is a software issue that will be resolved.

When Sony makes comments on 360 hardware--the Sony Fanboys read it like the Pope reads his Bible! But for some reason, they can't see how a MS rep could have ANY knowledge of Sony's hardware.

If a Ford certified mechanic told you that your Toyota Civic doesn't have a V8 engine--I guess he doesn't have a clue...???

And BTW--DJ: I don't need HDMI to d/l HD movies or stream them from a PC. HDMI is not a standard but rather an ATTEMPT to standardize how physical HD media is viewed. KNOWtheLEDGE--KNOWtheDIFFERENC E.

Do you have a 1080p TV. You throw around 1080p @ 60 fps alot. I was just wondering. I like samsung's 1080p DLP model. I will take 1080p through HDMI, VGA, and COMPONENT.

Last time DJ spoke, he still didn't even have a PS3 yet.. I think it was too expensive and waiting for more $$$.

having a scaler chip built in like the 360 is similar to having optical zoom on your digital camera, as opposed to the PS3 scaling solution which is like having digital zoom. I can't see where this is an acceptable solution. Games blown up to 1080 resolutions are going to have horrible pixelation which defeats the purpose of displaying them on a 1080 TV in the first place.

I don't think so. Stop with your BS. HDMI is Sony's way of utilizing DRM on HD media--pure & simple. It holds no other value over DVI, VGA or component.
SOME may SLIGHTLY notice the differnce between HDMI/DVI and component. Just as SOME see a rainbow effect on DLP tvs. Just as SOME may see a difference between 720p and 1080i. For the most part--it ain't as obvious as you like to lead people to believe.

Here...I'm holding my left-middle finger up at you....now here's my right-middle finger...see the difference??

Yeah on planet earth, we know that VGA can carry up 1080p @ 60fps, people who use both VGA and HDMI say that there is no obvious difference between them. But fanboys from planet Mars, speak of a different technology here, so I understand them.

Who gives a crap anyways when Sony's life saver title Motostorm runs 720p @ 30 fps while developer saying "ohhh split-screen is a performance eater ;-;" and leaving that option out. You guys sometimes talk like PS3 has the potential to run every game at that quality. But then again, it's on planet Mars, not based on this planet right?

Why are we speaking of 60fps, If we are going to beLIEve in Sony anyways? PS3 was supposed to draw graphics @ 200 fps (so those lucky cyborg eyed ones amongst you could enjoy it) and dual-hdmi output. Well sadly enough that project was also in motion on planet Mars again. ^_^

Now, lets head back to earth people. The topic is the "scaler" and our best regards go to those who leaped into "HDMI vs VGA vs DVI vs Component vs RF vs WhateverOutputTechnology" subject.

I'm anxious to hear something official from Sony about how exactly this "scaler" will work, this whole string of scaling chip news articles just seems like more speculation on top of more speculation....Hell if the PS3 has a "scaler chip" then thats great news and Sony should "tell the world" the good news.

BTW, Hollywood wants the HDCP "encryption measure" implemented through HDMI to prevent piracy,(its not a "quality measure")...but this HDCP will cut off alot of early adopters too, even up until late 2005 model HDTV's that don't support this "encryption measure". It's going to piss off alot of people IF and WHEN they start to implement it....that's why it won't be utilized anytime soon....2010 or later from what I have read so its not like HDMI 1.3 will be neccessary anytime soon.....IF they have a 1080p HDTV, besides didn't "Sony" say 720p is the "sweet spot", oh my bad NO M$ said that, Sony said 1080p is only True HD, but games like Motorstorm are only 720p....Is this the next gen that they were talking about? lol just kiddin....that comment from Sony is just too funny, I couldn't resist. Motorstorm looks awesome.

a statement from a very unreliable source! thats all it is

Anyone heard of the 'Super Companion Chip'in PS3,that chip does image processing eg hardware scaling.Among other tasks.

Always mysterious huh? Cant wait till another mysterious unknown super-chip set inside PS3 by Sony is revealed. Will cause supernova or something I guess.

i read a statement in a gaming mag that pondered this question.

was Sony's decision to leave out a hardware scaler done on purpose? and if so, was the intention to force individuals who purchased a ps3 to upgrade and buy a new Sony 1080p TV?

you have to wonder...Sony does have that more aggressive strategy.

why would they put in a scaler and not use it? Doesn't make any sense to me. Seeing as how Sony is trying to force feed bluray, I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to force feed their own 1080p TVs, hence the exclusion of a scaler. Either way, that's subpar stuff from the 'king of consoles.'

If HDMI is not necessary or worthless, why is M$ coming out with a new system that support HDMI hook up?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Sorry but the Contrast Ratio is visually higher with HDMI at the most.

Blogger from Microsoft: "We have confirmed that Sony's Playstation 3 has NO scaler chip whatesoever in its architecture. You can quote me on that!"

Viewer: "Actually, it says right here they do, and have had one since the consoles was produced."

Blogger from Microsoft: "Oh... yeah. What we MEANT to say was that they have a scaler chip but it is not capable of performing vertical upscaling, which is much more difficult than horizontal. Don't quote me on that, though."

Viewer: "Mhmmm... I think we're done here."

So what good is 180p if your console's GPU is too weak to produce that picture?

Sure RR7 did, but that game is far from graphically stunning.

I guess at the last minute when the engineers are slapping together chips, some things get left out...

...like a powerful GPU.

Scaling in not true HD! It allows low resolution to appear as the tv's higher native resolution. A scaled 480p to 1080p game is not going to be as clean as a game written natively for 1080p. Native is always better. There are external stand alone Scalers and even some HDTV's that come with scalers. Just because PS3 doesn't have a scaler doesn't make it bad. Just means that Developers can't cheat by coding at 720p use the hardware's scaler and call it 1080p!

Well at least Sony is going main stream and providing a scaler. This is good for movies as scaling could be more of an issue since a lot of movies are shot at different speed and resolution. If they were not remastered in HD or whatever you would probably get black bars and other issues trying to view the movie at higher resolutions.

Now that Jim Ryan is gone just need to remove Herman Hulst from his position! And maybe give Shuhei the position he deserved.

This gen hasn't been the best for games, last gen consoles are still out there and now there's been talk of the PS6 and Xbox Two for a year or so. Many games this gen will be ported to next gen and the cycle will continue. The re-release of the Neo Geo AES+, games on cartridge for £70 ($95), gaming is going back in time. Gaming has gone pricing mad with the high cost of games, consoles and controllers. The men and women at the top are clueless.

It’s always interesting to hear behind-the-scenes stories like this, especially involving veterans like Shuhei Yoshida and leadership figures like Jim Ryan. That said, there are usually multiple sides to decisions at that level. It could be less about not “listening” and more about differences in long-term vision for PlayStation. Yoshida played a huge role in shaping the brand, so whatever the reason, his impact is undeniable.

If true, and I'm inclined to believe it is, it goes to show that Sony lost their way when they became more western/didn't respect the PlayStation origin story. Andrew House and Jack Tretton did great work, but they also didn't try to fundamentally change the PlayStation DNA. Ryan oversaw the death of Japan Studio and a live service direction.

I already figured this, good lord imagine if Shuhei took over instead, would've been a platinum era 😩

I miss the first three generations of PlayStation. The way they turned PS3 around, we knew they meant business. We were all worried for a bit there around launch. Eventually from 2008 they started shifting slowly. But since Yoshida was fired, it's never been the same. Still enjoy my PS5 daily. I got a backlog dating back to PS2 lol So I'm fine but new games aren't as appealing anymore.

It seems like we were thrown on to the worst timeline possible where everything is too expensive and the wrong people were put in positions that makes the world a shitty place. We could have had Shu as the head of PS but we got the shitty alternative. Same goes for everyone in power around the world. Doesn’t matter the company or country the majority of us got the shitty picks and the world is declining like never before. I do think PS can come out of this because of their studios, talent and IP but they need someone more in touch with gamers leading things like Shu was. They’re still the best place for console gaming imo but it could be much better than it is especially without the massive live service failures. The rest of the world I have a lot less hope for right now. Hopefully the pendulum swings back towards the good ole days but I’m preparing for the worst.

There goes illuminati distraction story

So now there's certifiable proof that Ryan was in fact "fired", as opposed to when it was first announced that he "retired", in order to save face.

There's another guy who recently "retired" as CEO of another large gaming company, after doing a dismantling job as lead for well over a decade.

seems legit, the business man, fires the one who has ideas to move the business forward.

Jim Ryan is the reason why we are entering year 6 since the PS5 launch and many of us don't feel like the PS5 has gotten started as yet.

I hope going forward, we will see a return to form.