[not confirmed] PlayStation VR uses external processing unit?!

[zMeul]

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there's nothing concrete what's inside it, but SONY calls it the "Processing Unit"

is it a good thing, or a bad thing? I'd say it's a good thing since it can be "upgraded" (to be read as swapped for a newer one)
could it be used to boost PS4 performance for not VR? quite possibly

[Sidiox]

LOL I wonder how this will work, because as far as I can recall the PS4 doesn't have a high bandwidth connector on it, something that would be needed for extra processing.

[zMeul]

LOL I wonder how this will work, because as far as I can recall the PS4 doesn't have a high bandwidth connector on it, something that would be needed for extra processing.

honestly, I don't know

a combination of the HDMI port, LAN port and all USB ports?!  :lol:

 

unless the PU is it's own thing and only shares data with the PS4 - meaning the game would run on the PU, not on the PS4

[yannickverc]

Only way they could do VR I think. I mean, no PC master race bullshit here but, if a PS4 can't run some games at 60 FPS it sure wont be able to run them in VR..

[ShadowCaptain]

Wouldnt suprise me if it had extra processing power in there

[brownninja97]

thats pretty clever because i was wondering how they were going to power a high refresh rate to get that vr tech to work. 

[Prysin]

@zMeul

yes there is a unit inside. most likely to offload the processing of the motion sensors. As PS uses Bluetooth and if you tried to spam BT with a gazilllion head movements a second, then it would simply clog up the bandwidth of its BT networking.

 

My guess is taht the APU will render the images, then send it to the VR headset. the VR headset features a small frame buffer able to hold a few frames ahead of time (expect a fixed frame buffer for any VR solution to avoid motion sickness).

 

This would allow a low powered ARM processor to be able to "move the picture" around accordingly during gaming as it would only have to deal with XYZ coordinates matching XYZ on the image..

[Sidiox]

honestly, I don't know

a combination of the HDMI port, LAN port and all USB ports?!  :lol:

 

unless the PU is it's own thing and only shares data with the PS4 - meaning the game would run on the PU, not on the PS4

That would be stupidly funny... Although it could tie in with sony thinking about a more powerfull PS4.2, perhaps one capable of interfacing with the PU....

Honestly I think it is a bit off a mess and am curious to see what they end up with. 

[dragosudeki]

I don't think it will allow for swappable hardware, since that is the entire idea of console anyway. The unit would most likely be integrated. I'm still not too keen for Playstation VR, since it sorta sounds like it would only be use on a Playstation console. I don't think it can help the performance for PS4 outside of VR, since the PS4 only has one HDMI out port.

[ionbasa]

PS4 has an extra special connector currently used for the camera. I don't remember if it was based off of USB2.1 or USB 3, but I imagine that it could be repurposed for sending additional signals to a separate processing unit. 

 

Or just use gigabit lan to interface with the unit, since the PS4 does have an gigabit lan port. Would be more than enough bandwidth to push data to an external processing unit.

[bogus]

Wouldnt suprise me if it had extra processing power in there

Well the processing would weight more on the GPU site no?

Imagine an external GPU connected to the PS4, but I don't know if the PS4 has any way to connect to a external GPU with enough bandwidth.

[Tedol]

no date ((((

[ionbasa]

Well the processing would weight more on the GPU site no?

Imagine an external GPU connected to the PS4, but I don't know if the PS4 has any way to connect to a external GPU with enough bandwidth.

Gigabit LAN. There are protocols for encapsulating PCIe data over Ethernet.

 

EDIT: Yes, there'll still be a bottleneck, but if done right, I can see it happening.

[dalekphalm]

PS4 has an extra special connector currently used for the camera. I don't remember if it was based off of USB2.1 or USB 3, but I imagine that it could be repurposed for sending additional signals to a separate processing unit. 

 

Or just use gigabit lan to interface with the unit, since the PS4 does have an gigabit lan port. Would be more than enough bandwidth to push data to an external processing unit.

I'd assume it would be running off of a USB 3.0 bus, if possible. Unless they can somehow jack into the internal PCIe lanes. That would be optimal. LAN, and even maybe USB 3.0, very well might be too slow for a co-processor. Low latency is probably more important then pure bandwidth though, as many of the shared data might actually be fairly small.

 

It's hard to say exactly how it will work, as there are many different ways to do it - some more realistic/effective then others.

[soaringchicken]

wot r u torking aboot, psfor kan run gemez 60fps 8k, it hav no problam runing vr, itz onli a litle scren shoodnt it b ezer 4 de psfor 2 run

[Derranged]

They would need a 980Ti if they intend to run games at 90Hz across two screens, even if they were only 1080p each. Should be interestng to see what they do.

[Dabombinable]

And to think that I've got a laptop (its dead now, but still) that's actually got a fast enough connector due to its docking port (it has to handle gigabit ethernet, 1.92 gigabit in the form of 4x USB 2.0 ports, 400Mb in the form of firewire, then DVI) to actually be able to use an external PU for VR.

 

Edit: Well maybe not fast enough, the connector is PCIe Gen 1 x2

[XTankSlayerX]

Whatever works.

I like the idea of this.

[SubTract]

So I got to use the Playstation VR at a conference I was recently at. I asked about the processing unit (Which looked very finished).

The Sony guy's response was the unit is required for Sony to get low enough latency and high enough frame rate for the experience to be pleasant.

As much as I don't like the idea of having to have an extra box plugged in to use the Playstation VR, I suppose it's nice that they actually are putting the effort in to getting a good user experience. My experience was pretty good, Beside the pretty bad visuals (Which is kind of expected giving the PS4's lacking hardware) It ran very smooth, No apparent screen door effect. (Although this could be more to do with the inherent Blurring effect being used, Presumably to hide any inconsistency, In most games. 

 

I'm not 100% sure what the guy's role was, But he was actually able to answer any technical questions I had.

 

I think that Playstation 4 owners are in for a treat (and a glimpse into what a computer can do) when this launches.