Mode 7, Xbox 360 and Ana
January 5th 2007 04:50
What does the rendering technique ‘Mode 7’ on the Super Nintendo and the HD scaling chip on the Xbox 360 dubbed Ana have in common?
They both provide(d) the consoles they were on a distinct technical advantage, there was no ‘Mode 7’ on the Sega Genesis and there is no scaling chip on the Playstation 3.
Despite the Sega Genesis having superior hardware to that of the Super Nintendo the lack of an equivalent to ‘Mode 7’ rendering resulted in many games on the Super Nintendo that were in fact superior graphically to the ones you would see on the Genesis.
It also gave the Super Nintendo advantages in terms of gameplay, games such as ‘Super Mario Kart’ and ‘Pilot Wings’ utilised ‘Mode 7’ rendering and demonstrated the technical advantages it provided on an otherwise inferior machine.
The scaling chip on the Xbox 360, Ana, is an integral part of the Xbox 360’s High Definition capabilities, and more importantly it is one that the Playstation 3 does not possess (i.e. it can’t scale HD graphics).
Ana ‘scales’ the output resolution of games, for instance if you have a TV that supports 1080p HD resolution but the game you’re playing is running at 720p resolution Ana actually up-scales the 720p game to 1080p. While an up-scaled game does not look as good as a game running natively at the higher resolution it still looks better than the un-scaled counter-part.
A more distinct advantage Ana gives to the Xbox 360 and people who own HDTV’s is its ability to not only upscale but also downscale. If there's a game that is running at 1080p on a HDTV that only supports interlacing resolutions (720i, 1080i etc) Ana will downscale to the highest possible resolution that TV supports. For instance on the Playstation 3 a 1080p game running on an only 1080i capable TV will be output at 480p which is not a HD resolution, however on the Xbox 360 the 1080p game will be down-scaled to 1080i. Simple? Yes.
While the Xbox 360 may be the technically inferior system Ana is really helping close the gap, where the Playstation 3 fails, the Xbox 360 succeeds exceedingly well.
Like with the Sega Genesis that later ended up with an add on in the form of the ‘Sega CD’ which added the equivalent of ‘Mode 7’ into the Sega I’m sure Sony will counter with a ‘revised’ Playstation 3 model sometime 2007/2008 that includes a scaler chip. The advantage Microsoft has with Ana cannot, repeat, cannot be underestimated here.
Ana is essentially the key to winning the HD war.
Mode 7 Demonstration in Super Mario Kart
Despite the Sega Genesis having superior hardware to that of the Super Nintendo the lack of an equivalent to ‘Mode 7’ rendering resulted in many games on the Super Nintendo that were in fact superior graphically to the ones you would see on the Genesis.
It also gave the Super Nintendo advantages in terms of gameplay, games such as ‘Super Mario Kart’ and ‘Pilot Wings’ utilised ‘Mode 7’ rendering and demonstrated the technical advantages it provided on an otherwise inferior machine.
There she is, to think she's quite possibly the reason the Xbox 360 will rule supreme in HD
Ana ‘scales’ the output resolution of games, for instance if you have a TV that supports 1080p HD resolution but the game you’re playing is running at 720p resolution Ana actually up-scales the 720p game to 1080p. While an up-scaled game does not look as good as a game running natively at the higher resolution it still looks better than the un-scaled counter-part.
A more distinct advantage Ana gives to the Xbox 360 and people who own HDTV’s is its ability to not only upscale but also downscale. If there's a game that is running at 1080p on a HDTV that only supports interlacing resolutions (720i, 1080i etc) Ana will downscale to the highest possible resolution that TV supports. For instance on the Playstation 3 a 1080p game running on an only 1080i capable TV will be output at 480p which is not a HD resolution, however on the Xbox 360 the 1080p game will be down-scaled to 1080i. Simple? Yes.
While the Xbox 360 may be the technically inferior system Ana is really helping close the gap, where the Playstation 3 fails, the Xbox 360 succeeds exceedingly well.
Like with the Sega Genesis that later ended up with an add on in the form of the ‘Sega CD’ which added the equivalent of ‘Mode 7’ into the Sega I’m sure Sony will counter with a ‘revised’ Playstation 3 model sometime 2007/2008 that includes a scaler chip. The advantage Microsoft has with Ana cannot, repeat, cannot be underestimated here.
Ana is essentially the key to winning the HD war.
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