Even if a game merely patches in a 4K mode, it will be downsampled to 1080p on a 1080p set which is generally a huge boost to IQ
Some games (such as Rise of the Tomb Raider) are providing a choice over visual modes. The player can choose between a focus on resolution, frame rate, or other graphical enhancements.
Improved Wifi (5ghz) from OG PS4 and same as the Slim.
Better quality video clips through Share button (1080p @ 30fps)
Ability to stream at 1080p with 60fps
Faster SSD / SSHD game loading through new SATA III port
1 GB of new standard RAM is added to the system. The net result is approx. 512 MB of GDDR5 RAM freed up for games. The rest of the added RAM is for other purposes (OS, 4K).
Improved DS4 controller included (Slim too), with a more accessible light bar and lower latency when connected by cable (doesn't force Bluetooth)
What Eurogamer has to say:
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With the emphasis on Pro support going towards high resolution modes, the big worry with PlayStation Pro has been that there's not much here to excite 1080p gamers who are not yet ready to upgrade their displays. It's a fair point because while there are some great, inexpensive 4K screens out there like the Samsung KU6400 we reviewed recently, HDR technology is still in its infancy - so there are some good reasons for sticking with full HD. What does the Pro offer here?
The bottom line is that it's going to vary on a per-game basis. At the most basic level, you should get super-sampling as standard - the process where a higher resolution image is downscaled to 1080p. It may not sound particularly thrilling, and the boost to image quality basically depends on how good anti-aliasing was in the base PS4 title to begin with. Titles like Uncharted 4 are already extremely clean, but the difference in others can be dramatic.
Case Studies
Skyrim
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Skyrim's 1080p mode provides a super-sampled image, where the image is rendered natively at 4K before downsampling to 1080p. Given that Skyrim Special Edition already has very clean image quality when displayed on a stock PS4 the upgrade here isn't as dramatic as we'd see in titles using a less aggressive anti-aliasing solution.
That's not to say there is no benefit. Slight shimmer across sub-pixel details displayed when running on the standard PS4 are eliminated, while the downsampling effect manages to produce a slightly sharper image with subtle improvements in texture clarity across the game. The increased foliage draw distance is also in effect in 1080p mode, which is to be expected.
Features HDR and downsampled 1080p. According to Digital Foundry this is one of the less impressive games to make its way to Pro.
Standard
Pro
Rise of the Tomb Raider
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Rise of the Tomb Raider has real issues coping with sub-pixel detail, resulting in shimmering and pixel-popping that severely detracts from what is otherwise a simply beautiful game. PS4 Pro, running in super-sampling mode, cleans up nearly all of the artefacts and looks simply sensational.
Rise of the Tomb Raider will have three visual modes for the PS4 Pro. The 4K Visuals displays the game at the highest resolution, while limiting frame rate to 30 FPS. High Frame Rate mode supports 60 FPS and 1080p, providing "smoother and more fluid animation while exploring, and tighter controls during combat."
Finally, the Enriched Visuals mode renders at 1080p and 30 FPS, but uses the extra power on "both new and existing rendering features to improve overall image quality."
Then you’re like… this is a beautiful area, I want to take a closer look, you can slide over a notch and now we have enhanced visuals. That’s actually 1080p locked at 30 frames but we throw everything in that we can – lighting, multi-pass rendering, texture shading, reflections, density of pixels, density of particle effects… everything we can turn on. It’s just this beautiful-looking experience at a locked 1080p, 30 frames.
For starters, for players who still possess standard 1080p HDTVs, we’re able to offer far better image quality. We’ve got a number of techniques at our disposal. The most logical one is supersampling. This is a very high-quality anti-aliasing technique, which basically means we internally render at a higher resolution (close to 4K) before shrinking it down to the final 1080p resolution. As our internal calculations are done at a resolution much higher than 1080p, more detail survives before we shrink it down to 1080p, resulting in smoother edges — virtually no jaggies — and a more stable image.
We’re also looking at enhancing the quality of our shadow maps and increasing the quality of our anisotropic filtering. This is a technique which increases the quality of texture sampling, resulting in more detailed environment textures. We still have to tweak these elements of the 1080p output quality for the final game, but we have quite a bit of power yet to play with.
Improved shadow maps, extra detail, and enhanced colors. It'll feature higher quality anisotropic filtering, which means upgraded texture sampling, resulting in more detailed environments. Additionally, supersampling will render Horizon's resolution at a resolution "close to 4K" and then shrink it down to 1080p.
Resolution and frame rate won’t be the only areas of improvement on the PS4 Pro. Titanfall 2 will be a higher-fidelity experience on the system. McCoy said that the console will allow Respawn to include “high-res shadows, and maybe higher particle counts.”
Bonus: PC 1620p max settings TSAA downsampled to 1080p
Zoomed in, look at the detail on the side of the ship. Great improvement for 1080p sets...
Render resolution is a little lower in PS4Pro looking at palm leaves. Shadow resolution for vegetation is very low in comparison
Distant shadows are not rendered. Ambient Occlusion seems missing too.
Lighting doesn't affect some assets a mid distance and vegetation lod is lower too
Little shadows are missing in the Titan too, I guess is because the lower shadow resolution
Battlefield 1
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It's important to point out that PS4 Pro's BF1 enhancements are not simply limited to resolution. Moving through some of the more demanding areas of the campaign, Pro frame-rates are significantly improved over the more variable base PlayStation 4 version, so it's clear that some GPU power has been dedicated to ensuring a smoother experience overall - not just in upping pixel-count.
The Pro version seems to be resolving higher quality textures in addition to the resolution boost. On top of that, the effects pipeline sees tangible upgrades - for example, GPU-accelerated particles are much higher in number than PlayStation 4 equivalents, again occupying a mid-point between the existing consoles and the top-end PC experience.
PS4 Pro users with a 1080p TV will see a big increase in gameplay image quality as well. The technique we’re using to get to those better resolutions is something we’re calling Temporal Injection.
Players without 4K will also benefit from the increased resolution as the image will be downsampled to 1080p to benefit from higher quality shading and less flickering highlights.
If you have a PS4 Pro, and are outputting to a 1080p TV, The Witness will render at 1080p, 60fps, 4x MSAA (which is substantially higher than the base PS4’s 900p, 60fps, 2x MSAA).
ption 1: “Movie Mode”
This mode focuses on resolution over frame rate, offering beautiful high resolution graphics with stable 30fps
Option 2: “Action Mode”
Here the emphasis is on frame rate, providing a stable 60fps
Option 3: “Movie Mode (Variable frame rate)”
Finally, this option provides high resolution graphics with a variable frame rate that may go over 30fps.
These high-res textures will be used whether the player is playing on a 4K TV or a standard 1080p display. In addition to the ultra textures, the extra memory allowed us to increase our dynamic shadow resolution. Killing Floor 2’s custom deferred renderer uses a number of shadowing techniques including dynamic shadows. When these dynamic shadows are used they will be crisper and higher resolution on PS4 Pro then the standard PS4. When playing on a 1080p TV, Killing Floor 2 is effectively super sampled, resulting in much higher quality and smoother anti-aliasing.
Whilst I can't comment on 1080p gameplay since I am playing on an UHDTV, I personally don't think the PS4 Pro is worth the upgrade if you already have a PS4 regardless of if you have an HDTV or UHDTV.
In 4K you can see improvements, but during gameplay you barely have time to notice the fine details and high res textures and lighting. I find myself having to go out of my way to get right up close to walls and various other objects to see the details.
In hindsight I wish I never bothered buying a Pro, it's just not "all that". I wish I could sit here and say that yes, it is simply stunning. But in all honesty I can't. I've tried to tell myself it's amazing but it isn't. Screenshots show of the finer details better than when you're actually playing game.
If you don't have a PS4 or need to replace a PS4 then I would certainly pay the extra to get a Pro over the slim or standard PS4. But I don't feel like the improvements I have seen so far in the games that I have played justify the upgrade, and I'm playing in 4K, so I can't imagine it being a justifiable upgrade for 1080p owners either.
Hopefully with the new crop of games coming up that will have been built with Pro in mind will show off the console more than the current games I have played have.
NOTE: My opinions are based on playing the following games with Pro enabled 4K/HDR patches:
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PS4 Pro - The Benefits for 1080p TV Owners
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