Xbox One vs One S - 4k / 1080p / >1080p

[Duvi]

I'm getting the One S for sure. I have decided the space that it'll save me is worth it -- 40% smaller is almost half the size w/o the brick. I just have a few questions which won't change whether I get it, but will change whether I trade in my Xbox Elite.

Does it have a hybrid HD (SSHD) like the Elite console?
Can I swap the hard drive easily? On the ps4 I can get a laptop HD and put it in my console for more space.

Will the current games record in 4k or 1080p or will it be whatever Xbox had it? For example, BO3 isn't full 1080p on Xbox... will it now be 1080p with the system? My monitor and tv are already 1080p screens.

 

[ashram]

from what I understand...

the hdd will not be upgradable (bad call on MS
)
Besides media playback, everything is just being upscaled to 4k, not rendered in 4k. you'll need scorpio for that, which would seem pointless to record video at 4k since it's just being scaled up.... not to mention file size issues with 4K video. Unless MS adds HEVC (H.265), but even then, as someone who dabbles in video editing, I'd rather have native capture of video to work with, not something that is already scaled up.

I wish MS would at least give you a secondary drive bay to add another HDD (or even a m.42 for tiny ssds) to make a tidy package.

 

[sinime]

You can always use an external USB 3 drive... That's what I do for more space. The drive I'm using is a 2TB and it doesn't have an external power cord, so I just have it behind the XB1.

 

[Duvi]

How about the HD... is it like the Elite or the original Xbox One? Hybrid?

 

[Duvi]

Either way, it was pre-ordered yesterday at GameStop. They only have the 2TB scheduled to be released for pre-order.

I guess MS wants you to go for the 2TB first. Just wish I knew what this meant in terms of game loading speeds.

 

[chuckdaly]

FYI, 4K upscaling isn't as impressive as it sounds. Every 4K TV automatically upscales all non-4K images to 4K resolution. Unless Microsoft incorporates a dedicated hardware scaler, or use some better than off-the-shelf scaling software, the Xbox One S won't do any better job than what you would get running a standard Xbox One to your 4K TV. The higher end TV models already incorporate very good scalers, but the cheaper models don't always do for cost saving measures.

I use to calibrate HDTVs and back when DVD players with 1080p upscaling was the thing, it was very common for Pioneer or 8000 series Samsung HDTVs to look better running 480i to the TV, then having the DVD player do the upscaling.

 

[onlysublime]

I'm getting the One S for sure. I have decided the space that it'll save me is worth it -- 40% smaller is almost half the size w/o the brick. I just have a few questions which won't change whether I get it, but will change whether I trade in my Xbox Elite.

Does it have a hybrid HD (SSHD) like the Elite console?
Can I swap the hard drive easily? On the ps4 I can get a laptop HD and put it in my console for more space.

Will the current games record in 4k or 1080p or will it be whatever Xbox had it? For example, BO3 isn't full 1080p on Xbox... will it now be 1080p with the system? My monitor and tv are already 1080p screens.

Just get an external hard drive. Much better proposition. My primary Xbox One has 8.5 TB (2 4 TB and the internal 500 GB). And you can move the external drives between Xbox One systems. With the PS4, you have no external option and you have to replace the internal meaning you're not gaining the full amount. So for example, if you replace the 500 GB with a 1 TB, you're only netting 500 GB because you took out the 500 GB. Also, there's a limit to how much storage you can put in since it must be a 2.5 inch internal type (9.5mm or slimmer). You can't get 4 TB 2.5" drives that are 9.5 mm or slimmer.

The Xbox One S will upscale all games to 4K. However, it's up to you to decide whether you like the quality of the Xbox One S scaler or prefer your 4K TV's upscaler. You really have to play with both to see what scaling you prefer. I would assume the AMD scaler would do better and have less latency than your TV scaler. The Xbox One already scales content to 1080P. No one knows if the Xbox One S will have better scaling to 1080P than the original Xbox One.

You really need a HDR TV to fully appreciate. That's the big differentiator for the One S. You're going from 16 million colors for a regular TV/PC monitor to 1 billion colors for an HDR TV. As well as greater contrast. really black blacks and really white whites. so far 3 games will support HDR (Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, and Scalebound). Too bad the Xbox One S doesn't support Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision is 12-bit color so it goes up to 68 billion colors (4096 shades per color) versus HDR10 which is 10-bit color which gets you 1 billion colors (1024 shades per color).

The funny thing is it will be hard for Microsoft to advertise HDR because most people will be viewing movies and screenshots on their PC monitors, tablets, and phones which cannot display HDR. It's like telling people how great color TV is but they're watching the shows on a black and white TV.