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PS5 Pro: Visual Quality at the Heart of Technical Choices
Sony’s new console forgoes AI frame generation, instead focusing on advanced upscaling technologies and machine learning to improve the graphical experience
Isabella V1 October 2024

 

The PlayStation 5 Pro, coming November 7, will not include AI frame generation, a choice dictated by various technical and temporal factors, which nevertheless lays the foundation for future technological advancement of the console.

Key points:

  • Development timeline: The PS5 Pro chip was designed before the introduction of advanced AI technologies like NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation.
  • Image priority: The focus was on upscaling to improve visual quality rather than frame generation performance.
  • Machine learning: Machine learning alone doesn’t guarantee great results, but it’s just one of the key aspects of generating quality frames.
  • Future technologies: AMD FSR 3 and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution could fill any gaps and improve future performance.

The lack of AI frame generation technology in the PlayStation 5 Pro is due to several reasons, most notably the development time of the chip that powers the system. During the design phase, in fact, advanced solutions such as NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation were not yet present on the market, which led Sony to not include this technology in the new console. However, this does not mean that AI and machine learning do not have a role in the future of the PlayStation 5 Pro. The presence of machine learning hardware in the console represents an initial step, although this component alone is not enough to guarantee advanced performance such as that of NVIDIA’s frame generation technology. The latter, in fact, is a combination of different factors, of which machine learning is only one part. Sony, therefore, preferred to focus more on other technologies, believing that image quality was a more important priority than pure performance. The PlayStation 5 Pro will focus primarily on advanced upscaling systems to ensure an improved visual experience, rather than on increasing frames through AI. For example, the AMD FSR 3 frame generation system is expected to work in conjunction with PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), a proprietary Sony technology that uses machine learning to optimize resolution. This focus on visual quality over performance has led Sony to develop more advanced upscaling solutions, which will be especially important for future games. Titles built with the goal of taking full advantage of PSSR’s AI will benefit significantly over current titles. Ultimately, while the PS5 Pro doesn’t implement AI frame generation like some NVIDIA technologies, the inclusion of machine learning hardware shows that Sony is laying the groundwork for further advances in this area, improving on what it has already done with technologies like the PlayStation 4 Pro’s checkerboard rendering. This promises to be a future in which AI will play an increasingly important role in Sony’s graphics processing systems.

The PS5 Pro represents an interesting technical evolution that, while it doesn’t include all the most advanced AI technologies, is still set to offer an improved visual experience thanks to new upscaling and machine learning solutions.

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