Deep Color and Console Gaming

[Seraphic]

Hi,

I wanted to get some facts about Deep Color in relation to console game. As many know, the PS3, PS4, Xbox One and XRGB-Mini all have Deep Color options that will change the standard 8-Bit RGB 4:4:4 output to 12-Bit RGB 4:4:4 when enabled. But do games have to be specifically coded to take advantage or will any game see an improvement? I mean in the case of the XRGB-Mini, Retro consoles were never designed with Deep Color in mind, so does the setting actually provide any benefit when you enable Deep Color? And the same goes with PS3, PS4 and Xbox One. Does enabling Deep Color provide any positive gains with games?

Thanks

[Fudoh]

The Marvell QDEO - that's the scaling processor in the XRGB Mini very likely has internal 10-bit processing, do enabling DC on the output can help preserve smoother gradients. But don't think of 240p here, think of hi-res 480i processing.

On the PS3 and PS4 deep color is used for Sony's "superbit" processing (that's basically the same as above, where the scaling engine works at a higher bit level).

Don't know if actual modern games make us of that.

[Thomago]

Wouldn't 10 bit on the Mini's side not help preventing stuff like the dreaded color flickering?

(Just thinking - if it was, I'm sure somebody would have mentioned that in the Framemeister thread.)

[Fudoh]

The flickering is introduced prior to the scaling. And it's a silly problem to have since no other processor has problems like this. I would call it a design flaw....

[Thomago]

Just found something that probably contradicts the "flickering is introduced prior to scaling"-bit:
If I change the output resolution, e.g. from 1920x1080 to 800x600, tones that were perfectly stable (as in: non-flickering) before begin to flicker. Weird.

[Fudoh]

does the same happen if you change from e.g. 800x600 to XGA and compare these two ?

It's possible that the HD SMPTE resolutions are handled differently than the VESA ones.

[Thomago]

Hhmmm, let's see:

1920x1080 @ 50 Hz, DVI-Mode: stable
1280x960 @ 50 Hz, DVI-Mode: flickers
800x600 @ 50 Hz, DVI-Mode: flickers
1920x1080 @ 50 Hz, HDMI-Mode: stable
1280x720 @ 50 Hz, HDMI-Mode: flickers
720x576 @ 50 Hz, HDMI-Mode: flickers

[Fudoh]

If you check the Mini thread and FBX's DVI/HDMI comparison lately (with the green shades on the Mario title screen), you can see that it seems as if some mode/configs introduce a shift in the A/D level. Maybe the same is happening there when you switch through the resolutions.

[Thomago]

Just compared my white level calibration for 1920x1080 and 800x600. The "right" A/D level seems to be the same, but a closer look at some about-to-be-white-crushed structures (in invert color mode) revealed differences that indeed might stem from a slight A/D level shift.