Xbox Series S/X: Thread 02

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-10-04-shopto-warns-customers-with-xbox-one-x-s-pre-orders-that-they-may-miss-out-on-launch-day-consoles-too

Now Shopto warns Series X/S pre-orders they may not be able to deliver on all of them

[nonny]

I doubt many will have this issue but if you end up having two Xbox consoles in your house and you're worried about ferrying installed games between them just remember you can actually copy across the network.

I'd completely forgotten about this but it's pretty seamless to do.

https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-one-network-transfer

Should help me manage what's installed on the Series S without farting around with usb flash drives

[hudson]

A fan-made hype-inducing Series X trailer. MS should hire this person!

[Team Andromeda]

Can't wait now, also so wonderful to see even OG XBox games playing in HDR on the Series X. Can't wait to play Orta on my Series X (insert next gen game joke here, if one must)

[hudson]

I'm sure the killer apps will come. But for now, as you say and especially for me not having played much of Xbox since 360 and now with the added boost of having a Series S, I should be in for a real treat come release.

[cutmymilk]

Does anyone share Gamepass with a friend? My mate wants me to share his on my console. Any downsides to doing this?

[hudson]

Regarding the Series S and its upscaling to 4K. Does anyone know if this will improve the look of the image? Sorry, not having a 4K display at the moment, I'm not sure what to expect.

[Ouenben]

Does anyone share Gamepass with a friend? My mate wants me to share his on my console. Any downsides to doing this?

If this is done the same way as sharing libraries then he will need to set your console as his home console. Only downside is your mate can't play any of his digital games offline. If you set his Xbox as your home console you will not be able to play your digital games offline but you will be able to play his titles offline.

[MartyG]

Regarding the Series S and its upscaling to 4K. Does anyone know if this will improve the look of the image? Sorry, not having a 4K display at the moment, I'm not sure what to expect.

That's not really straightforward to answer - it depends on a number of different factors. It's not going to improve overall image quality because it's not changing post process effects, but it can improve sharpness. Essentially, upscaling is filling in the additional pixels with its best guess of what the brightness and colour of that extra pixel should be, based on surrounding pixels and they don't always get it right so you can end up with artifacting.

The TLDR is it all depends on the quality of the source and the quality of the upscaler, potentially your TV could do a better upscale job than the console itself.

[hudson]

That's not really straightforward to answer - it depends on a number of different factors. It's not going to improve overall image quality because it's not changing post process effects, but it can improve sharpness. Essentially, upscaling is filling in the additional pixels with its best guess of what the brightness and colour of that extra pixel should be, based on surrounding pixels and they don't always get it right so you can end up with artifacting.

The TLDR is it all depends on the quality of the source and the quality of the upscaler, potentially your TV could do a better upscale job than the console itself.

Ah thanks. That makes sense. When you say "best guess" and "artifacting", I can understand that. Could make for quite strange final image. I'm immediately thinking of that (not to my tastes) smooth filtering you find on retro game emulation. I trust MS will have this licked though.

On the flip of that, will I still see games looking lovely next-gen in 1080p? I do plan on getting a 4K TV at some point, but my mind started wondering about missing out on stuff being currently on a 1080p display and then the Series S when I eventually get a 4K TV.

[dataDave]

YMMV, too. Not many people see the benefits of 4K from further-than-normal viewing distances (me included, and I have good glasses).

Like Marty says, you might not see much of an improvement going from 1440p upscaled to 2160p to native 2160p.

On a 1080p screen the Series S will look no different than a Series X.

[nonny]

I definitely notice a difference at 4K on my TV in the lounge. That's at say 7ft away from a 65" screen.

Plus I can also tell the difference between 1080p and 1440p on my 32" PC monitor sat at the desk but sitting back any further I'd be hard pushed.

I think the key thing here is whether it needs to upscale. I'm feeding my TV downstairs a 4K native image (mostly) from the One X and upstairs I'm either playing 1440p native with the One X or 1080p if I'm playing the odd game on my aging PC...

That said, upscaling has gotten very good in recent years. Go take a look at the Nivdia Shield and it's 4K upscaling.

The One X is no slouch either and most new TVs are pretty good at it now as well.

I'll hopefully have a Series S and X on launch day so I'll be able to compare on both the displays mentioned. Not that it will be amazingly scientific!

[MartyG]

On a 1080p screen the Series S will look no different than a Series X.

That's not strictly true - if the X is rendering at 4K and downscaling to 1080P, there are potentially quality gains there to be had over the S.

[hudson]

I got in touch with Shopto earlier asking when will I see a "confirmed for day one" note next to my Series S preorder and they said that all Series S preorders will be day one

[Neon Ignition]

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Series X gameplay finally coming soon