Why can't the current consoles output 4K or at least 2K?

[Johnmakuta]

I'm still learning a lot about computers and I have a long way to go but it just seems to me that the current consoles should be able to output 4K or 2K media playback. I absolutely understand that 4K gaming and 2K gaming is still a single Titan X, GTX 1080, or SLI setup only capability but simple media playback doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Considering that they are equipped with BluRay drives, they have Gigabit ethernet, and an HDMI output (I'm not sure which version) it just seems they should be able to do something more than 1080p60 (sometimes). For media playback I feel they should at least be able to do 1440p30 considering that is about the same as 1080p60. I also understand that they are using a custom APU by AMD and considering Skylake was the first CPU with integrated graphics able to output 4K I can see a definite bottleneck there but 2K seems very possible. 

 

Am I crazy? Is there something huge I'm missing? I just feel that the whole 4K(or 2K) could be fixed with a simple software update.

[LambdaCat]

Becaus consoles wernt blessed by the lord gabeN im geussing?

[Manage My Cables]

Cause potato

[Manage My Cables]

Simple. The hardware is capable.

[RZeroX]

They can do 4k30 if they ever decide to support that for media not sure how well the hardware would handle 4k content tho.

[Alexcalibur]

Its because they use cheap parts for them that thermal throttle very easily. If you were to try to run those it would throttle I believ

[Zenedge]

since console people tend to sit around 4-6 feet from their tv, 1080p still looks kinda good

and most tvs that people have are just 1080p

maybe the developers don't see a need for 2k or 4k (yet)

 

[Sakkura]

Yeah console gamers don't tend to demand the best of the best, and most probably don't have 4K TVs anyway, especially not when the consoles launched. So there wasn't much point in adding 4K support.

 

The updated Playstation looks like it'll support 4K media playback though.

[bgibbz]

29 minutes ago, Johnmakuta said:

I'm still learning a lot about computers and I have a long way to go but it just seems to me that the current consoles should be able to output 4K or 2K media playback. I absolutely understand that 4K gaming and 2K gaming is still a single Titan X, GTX 1080, or SLI setup only capability but simple media playback doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Considering that they are equipped with BluRay drives, they have Gigabit ethernet, and an HDMI output (I'm not sure which version) it just seems they should be able to do something more than 1080p60 (sometimes). For media playback I feel they should at least be able to do 1440p30 considering that is about the same as 1080p60. I also understand that they are using a custom APU by AMD and considering Skylake was the first CPU with integrated graphics able to output 4K I can see a definite bottleneck there but 2K seems very possible. 

 

Am I crazy? Is there something huge I'm missing? I just feel that the whole 4K(or 2K) could be fixed with a simple software update.

Many reasons. First of all, hardware restrictions. They don't have enough power to output at 4K, and even if they did, they would never be able to drive a game a that resolution and it would be pointless to have to switch between the two. Second of all, DisplayPort would need to be used, and given that 90% of consumers tvs don't have a DisplayPort in, that wouldn't really be feasible. 3rd of all, display support. Very few tvs support 4K, so it makes no economic sense to add support for 4K when most of the market can't even make use of that feature. 

[Zenedge]

3 minutes ago, bgibbz said:

Many reasons. First of all, hardware restrictions. They don't have enough power to output at 4K, and even if they did, they would never be able to drive a game a that resolution and it would be pointless to have to switch between the two. Second of all, DisplayPort would need to be used, and given that 90% of consumers tvs don't have a DisplayPort in, that wouldn't really be feasible. 3rd of all, display support. Very few tvs support 4K, so it makes no economic sense to add support for 4K when most of the market can't even make use of that feature. 

what? did you read his original post?

he's not talking about gaming, just media playback

iirc the ps4 and xbone use hdmi 1.4, and that supports 4k24

so from a technical standpoint, the current consoles can playback 4k media files

however, the console developers have locked media content to 1080p(i think). so a simple update would seem plausible 

[bgibbz]

1 minute ago, Zenedge said:

what? did you read his original post?

he's not talking about gaming, just media playback

iirc the ps4 and xbone use hdmi 1.4, and that supports 4k24

so from a technical standpoint, the current consoles can playback 4k media files

however, the console developers have locked media content to 1080p(i think). so a simple update would seem plausible 

My bad, I mistakenly thought current gem consoles used hdmi 1.3. I understood that he was referring to media streaming, by hardware restrictions I was referring to the lack of hdmi 1.4. Apparently I am incorrect, thanks for correcting me.