The ongoing debacle over Google's streaming service continues, as customers express discontent over the visual fidelity of their streamed games. Prior to the launch of Stadia, VP and general manager of Google, Phil Harrison, had boldly claimed that, "yes, all games at launch support 4K. [...] We want all games to play 4K/60 but sometimes for artistic reasons, a game is 4K/30 so Stadia always streams at 4K/60 via 2x encode". When the service launched, however, many noticed that those claims didn't turn out to be entirely true.

Eurogamer and Digital Foundry discovered that Destiny 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2, both of which are considered as a huge draw to the service, never manage to run at 4K resolution. the latter is rendered at 1440p at maximum, and is then upscaled, while the former is rendered at 1080p, and is upscaled as well.

Red Dead Redemption 2, Stadia's most high-profile port, also doesn't play in true 4K. As Digital Foundry revealed, Red Dead Redemption 2 renders at 1080p or 1440p, depending on what data rate you are using, and is then upscaled to 4K on a Chromecast Ultra. Essentially, Stadia's 4K mode is actually processing fewer pixels than PS4 Pro on its biggest port.

As Digital Foundry puts it: "Perhaps there's something more we're not seeing behind the compression but from a technical perspective, Red Dead 2 on Stadia doesn't seem to be delivering on key marketing promises - certainly not the spirit of them at least. At the reveal, we were told that Stadia's GPU has the power of Xbox One X and PS4 Pro graphics combined, yet RDR2 on Stadia only has 44 per cent of the X's rendering resolution, while even the 4.2TF PS4 Pro GPU is generating a higher pixel-count (even before factoring in its checkerboarding upscale). Stadia's GPU seems to be an offshoot of AMD's RX Vega 56 based on its specs, yet in 1080p mode, performance is more in line with the PC version running on a much less capable RX 570 or RX 580.

In press conferences and during the reveal of Stadia itself, Google had drawn attention to the fact that their service would offer better graphical performance than both the PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One X combined, but when put to the test, either console provides a better picture quality for Red Dead Redemption 2 over Stadia. Google offered a response to the lingering questions as to why the quality isn't exactly as advertised, which can be seen in the following quote.

"Stadia streams at 4K and 60 FPS - and that includes all aspects of our graphics pipeline from game to screen: GPU, encoder and Chromecast Ultra all outputting at 4k to 4k TVs, with the appropriate internet connection. Developers making Stadia games work hard to deliver the best streaming experience for every game. Like you see on all platforms, this includes a variety of techniques to achieve the best overall quality. We give developers the freedom of how to achieve the best image quality and framerate on Stadia and we are impressed with what they have been able to achieve for day one.

"We expect that many developers can, and in most cases will, continue to improve their games on Stadia. And because Stadia lives in our data centers, developers are able to innovate quickly while delivering even better experiences directly to you without the need for game patches or downloads."

In short, Google states that the rendered graphics of its streamed titles will improve with time, and do indeed output at 4K resolution, even if it is upscaled. This creates a large disconnect from the pre-release promotion, which had promised something a little different.

Source

Tags: [PLATFORM=/platform/stadia]Google Stadia[/PLATFORM]

 

[AshuraZro]

Unsurprisingly a pretty nothing statement from them which can go along side all of the other disappointment and poor communication from the run up to aftermath of their service launch. I was genuinely interested to see what Google could do in this space but all they have accomplished so far is making me look at what Microsoft does with xCloud.

 

[CompSciOrBust]

I wish companies would stop saying upscaled 1080P is 4K.

 

[andyhappypants]

I wish companies would stop saying up scaled 1080P is 4K.

Tell me about it, You cant add in pixels/lines that arent there to begin with!!

 

[CompSciOrBust]

Tell me about it, You cant add in pixels/lines that arent there to begin with!!

Exactly. Upscaling is probably worse because you're wasting bandwidth on redundant data which could be generated on the client side.

 

[DANTENDO]

So it seems sony win for using less teraflops

 

[Neo127]

Exactly. Up scaling is probably worse because you're wasting bandwidth on redundant data which could be generated on the client side.

You mean on the burning Chromecast._.

 

[jkjj]

the only thing potentially interesting about anything cloud is in the future if there is a vast VAST environment with tremendous amounts of data that are streamed. i think like the flight sims being talked about, that kind of thing.

they have the resources to make like a star citizen on a truly massive unbelievable scale, and with cloud, storage won't be an issue, hopefully either bandwidth in the near future. compared to local storage scaling they could actually make something completely exclusive and actually a complete evolution game changer. i guess maybe they are dumb though trying to compete with consoles using the current offerings.

this should be their only hope, a remarkable endeavor fully realized, or maybe a true netflix like platform with a lowish monthly fee and access to every single important game.

 

[smf]

Tell me about it, You cant add in pixels/lines that arent there to begin with!!

You can, if stadia output 1080p then your 4k TV would be doing exactly that.

The effect can be pretty good as well.

Exactly. Up scaling is probably worse because you're wasting bandwidth on redundant data which could be generated on the client side.

Well that is true, they may want to make sure the upscaling is the same for everyone. Or maybe it's because they were hoping nobody would notice the game wasn't running at 4k.

I do wonder if they'll achieve a higher resolution moving forward by dropping complexity.

 

[AlexMCS]

Let's hope Stadia keeps bombing.

 

[andyhappypants]

So are we to recieve another update from google regarding the piss poor imput lag??

 

[Deleted User]

So people pay for a wasted bandwith while google simulates flops it doesn't provide. Crooks.

That's sheer robbery.

 

[James_]

And now we wait.

 

[the_randomizer]

Wow, Google being the inept idiots they enjoy being. Not surprising. Maybe they shouldn't have used bullshit marketing, this could have been avoided. I hope the Stadia dies in a dumpster fire.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

Wow, Google being the inept idiots they enjoy being. Not surprising. Maybe they shouldn't have used bullshit marketing, this could have been avoided. I hope the Stadia dies in a dumpster fire.

I mean, that's a little rough you think?

I would love for their product to succeed. But it so far seems this is the product of many failing ones.
I guess the idea of trial and error to perfect it, is very relevant in this market right now.

 

[the_randomizer]

I mean, that's a little rough you think?

I would love for their product to succeed. But it so far seems this is the product of many failing ones.
I guess the idea of trial and error to perfect it, is very relevant in this market right now.

Maybe they should have delivered on their so-called promises instead of releasing it as a glorified beta test? Am I wrong?

- No wireless controller support on PC, what is this, 2006?
- Only Pixel phones supported for mobile gaming, really?
- Old games are 60 dollars, when the same games can be bought, physically mind you, for half the price
- Input lag is anywhere from 500 ms to 1000 ms, that is unacceptable
- 4K is marketed as being a feature, then Google goes back on their word saying "it's up to the developer"
- Bandwidth caps run rampant in the US, most being 1 TB/month, and 1080p 60 takes 15 GB/hour on most tiers
- Chromecasts are overheating and catching fire/shutting down during game play sessions when using Stadia services

I could go on, if they're going to release something, at least do it right and not something done that's half-assed.
Had Google put actual concerted efforts into these issues, not rush or half-ass the features and price games reasonably, I wouldn't be so harsh.
I don't see how anyone can possibly defend the Stadia in its current state, it's broken, half-baked, and very much incomplete.

If this is how cloud gaming is going to be like, I want no part of it, unless other companies can actually release said products in a better state.

If i'm going to pay for a full price game, I should be able to have it tangibly on my hard drive, and not from a server that's going to shut down and force me
to lose access for said game forever. No thanks.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Even for cloud gaming, Stadia is disappointing.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

Maybe they should have delivered on their so-called promises instead of releasing it as a glorified beta test? Am I wrong?

- No wireless controller support on PC, what is this, 2006?
- Only Pixel phones supported for mobile gaming, really?
- Old games are 60 dollars, when the same games can be bought, physically mind you, for half the price
- Input lag is anywhere from 500 ms to 1000 ms, that is unacceptable
- 4K is marketed as being a feature, then Google goes back on their word saying "it's up to the developer"
- Bandwidth caps run rampant in the US, most being 1 TB/month, and 1080p 60 takes 15 GB/hour on most tiers
- Chromecasts are overheating and catching fire/shutting down during game play sessions when using Stadia services

I could go on, if they're going to release something, at least do it right and not something done that's half-assed.
Had Google put actual concerted efforts into these issues, not rush or half-ass the features and price games reasonably, I wouldn't be so harsh.
I don't see how anyone can possibly defend the Stadia in its current state, it's broken, half-baked, and very much incomplete.

If this is how cloud gaming is going to be like, I want no part of it, unless other companies can actually release said products in a better state.

If i'm going to pay for a full price game, I should be able to have it tangibly on my hard drive, and not from a server that's going to shut down and force me
to lose access for said game forever. No thanks.

Yeah, I have a Pixel 2 but I still wouldn't use this service. Although, I must recommend GeForce NOW as it's really good for the price of Free. Tried it on 50MB/s down internet and it worked flawlessly. Not a single frame ever dropped, barely any noticeable latency, and no dropped quality. Only downside is you get about 3-4hrs per session, at least you can just restart the session though.

 

[the_randomizer]

Yeah, I have a Pixel 2 but I still wouldn't use this service. Although, I must recommend GeForce NOW as it's really good for the price of Free. Tried it on 50MB/s down internet and it worked flawlessly. Not a single frame ever dropped, barely any noticeable latency, and no dropped quality. Only downside is you get about 3-4hrs per session, at least you can just restart the session though.

I would rather try the XCloud or GeForce Now, to be honest, as those just seem far more complete. But that's just me

 

[Chrisssj2]

Lmao Google failsorz