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Latest Nintendo Switch Firmware provides Switch Pro Details

00_Zer0

Member
PC Magazine has an article up that describes the Pro as having an Oled screen, and a Realtek chip embedded in the dock that provides the 4K magic. It looks like it still offers the same 720p display, and the same Mariko chip in the Lite and newest revision of the Switch. Looks like they source VGC and twitter users as discovering this in the Nintendo Switch Firmware.

PC Mag said:
We expect the Swicth Pro to offer 4K visuals, and the firmware also suggests this is true, but not on the Switch handheld itself. SciresM found reference to a Realtek chip in the firmware, which is a "4K UHD multimedia SoC." It's thought that Nintendo intends to add the 4K SoC to the dock of the Switch Pro, allowinbg for 4K output through a compatible TV
Link here.
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
4eovhj8wiq1y.jpg
 

00_Zer0

Member
Speculation, but I may have found the Realtek chip being used:

Realtek 4K Set-top Box SoC RTD1319/RTD1311 to Support Android 10 on Android TV
2020/02/18
HSINCHU, Taiwan – February 18, 2020 – Realtek Semiconductor Corporation (Taiwan Stock Exchange: 2379.TW), one of the world’s leading networking and multimedia IC providers, today announced that its RTD1319/RTD1311, the latest System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for 4K UHD Set-Top Boxes (STBs) supports Android 10 on Android TV, fully complying with Google’s latest Android TV requirements.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i'm not really interested anymore. i'm tempted to get a Switch Lite but holding out and hoping that we get an updated Lite model with improved battery.
 

scydrex

Member
Why the hell would they do that? Why not update the Switch itself? Putting a chip in the dock to upscale 720p games to 4k? Or to support 4k videos? There is no Youtube on Switch or Netflix. "4K UHD multimedia SoC." to play what?
 
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Donnie

Member
So are people saying what they want is a handheld that has a SoC inside capable of 9 times the processing it will ever actually be required to do? (720p in handheld, only ever 4k in the dock anyway).. With all the extra expense and heat issues that's going to bring to them? Why?, so you can feel the powwaaaa!! (that is never being used in your hands anyway).

I think they absolutely should upgrade the hardware of the handheld itself. So that better 720p graphics can be displayed on the handheld. But I totally agree with having the main 4k ability as part of the dock not the handheld itself.
 

prag16

Banned
I mean does the chip actually somehow allow the output to be native 4k, or is it just upscaling? Releasing something like this with a handheld that is 98% identical to the one out there now (from almost 4 years ago) is absurd.
 

Kappa

Member
Lol why do people believe this stuff its Nintendo we are talking about. At most you are getting a extra button or something for a revision
 

AJUMP23

Member
If I can get 4k visuals on my TV for my switch games I would enjoy that upgrade. I do think they need to update the internal chip and not the screen. A prototype may have a reduced chip and the real chip coming in later, much like the series X.
 

Magog.

Banned
Playstation and Xbox make hardware in order to sell software. Nintendo is a toy company that makes software to sell hardware. They would be more than pleased to drip feed improvements to sell the same customers a nearly identical Switch every couple of years. Same game plan as all of their handhelds since the dawn of time.
 

StormCell

Member
This is like only a fragment of the info released by SciresM. Weak OP.

From a 4chan post pulling the info from a certain other shit hole site.

> Nintendo actually is working on a new model with upgraded display stuff and has been for ~1.5-2 years. I personally believe it's 4K given the signs I'm seeing in the firmware, but that's not confirmed yet and could be wrong.

> The new hardware is codenamed Aula, it's using a Mariko SoC. There's a bunch of references to it in code (atmosphere supports the new display already in theory).

> The tablet itself definitely has an upgraded display, I don't know if it's 4K. Aula has firmware support some Realtek chip that advertises itself as a "4K UHD multimedia SoC", too, hence my belief it's 4K. That chip might be inside a new dock and not inside the tablet, though, there's no way to tell from the firmware code yet.


> Aula explicitly supports handheld mode. It is not docked only.

> Mariko has *substantially* better cooling and battery life. It's a bona fide die shrink over the original generation. My best guess (pure speculation, no firmware indication this is the case) is that if they need extra performance, they'll push it to higher clock rates across the board. But yeah, I speculate games will be like "DSi enhanced" games were, or like how some games benefited from PS4 Pro despite working on PS4.

> Checked my previous discussions with hexkyz, the upgraded tablet display is an OLED screen. Probably not higher resolution on tablet itself, so I guess the 4k realtek chip is more likely to be new dock than I thought it was.

It's more than just a screen upgrade and a dock with a 4K upscaler chip. It may not be much more, but it is a new SoC with better cooling and should smooth out rough framerates in the most taxing games. It may not be the real Switch Pro that we would like to see, but it is something worth upgrading for.

Furthermore, those expecting 4K games really need to put their expectations in check. I figure that this new dock with Realtek chip is intended to support 4K streaming. I'm not sure who in 2021 really needs this as I've never seen a 4K TV that wasn't a Smart TV.
 

Bragr

Banned
The Switch Pro was always gonna be a 4K upscaler, whether or not this is real, it's Nintendo, they want to have a console that isn't too expensive and doesn't feel too different from the normal Switch. Don't get hyped for the Pro, it's gonna let you down.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
I am really close to biting on Switch Lite, just because there is no way I can use it on the TV where my Series X is. Plus the 'plastic' feeling many described is actually an advantage if I am meant to give it to my daughter.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
Playstation and Xbox make hardware in order to sell software. Nintendo is a toy company that makes software to sell hardware. They would be more than pleased to drip feed improvements to sell the same customers a nearly identical Switch every couple of years. Same game plan as all of their handhelds since the dawn of time.
Yeah. Fuck Nintendo.
 

TriSuit666

Banned
I think you guys are looking at this wrong. The Switch could never output to TV without the dock. The previous dock was limited to 1080p. The new dock supports 4K output. The new Switch will obviously have internal hardware that can push the image quality of games past 1080p. Possibly using DLSS.

No, you're looking at it wrong. You can use any 4k capable HDMI dock to connect the Switch to a TV, right now. Today.

The Switch Lite currently has no dock capability. This sounds to me like a Mariko model with the restored TV output circuitry.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
I'm ok with that if that's gonna upres some games like Xenoblade and improve performance, the current chip is more than ok, it just needs to run at full clocks
 

ExpandKong

Banned
Playstation and Xbox make hardware in order to sell software. Nintendo is a toy company that makes software to sell hardware. They would be more than pleased to drip feed improvements to sell the same customers a nearly identical Switch every couple of years. Same game plan as all of their handhelds since the dawn of time.
Sony's released marginally improved versions of every piece of gaming hardware they've ever produced, you clod.

Two PS1s, two PS2s, two Vitas, three PS3s, three PS4s, four PSPs.

Microsoft isn't much better, with three 360s and three versions of the XBox One.

Shit, Sony and Microsoft both came out of the gate with two versions of their hardware this gen.

Don't kid yourself. Nobody's any better than anybody else in this industry when it comes to "drip feeding hardware improvements."
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Looking at the Switch Lite the ideal situation would have always been to sell the Lite console (full integration or controllers, resistant, etc.) + the dock upgrading the capabilities and a pad in one 'TV' package, but I guess the margins would not have been as high as on the default Switch.
 

Magog.

Banned
Sony's released marginally improved versions of every piece of gaming hardware they've ever produced, you clod.

Two PS1s, two PS2s, two Vitas, three PS3s, three PS4s, four PSPs.

Microsoft isn't much better, with three 360s and three versions of the XBox One.

Shit, Sony and Microsoft both came out of the gate with two versions of their hardware this gen.

Don't kid yourself. Nobody's any better than anybody else in this industry when it comes to "drip feeding hardware improvements."

Those weren't improvements just cost saving revisions which weren't meant to be sold to existing players they were for new players except for PS4 Pro but that was a huge upgrade over the PS4 bringing a huge boost in power so it made sense.
 

ExpandKong

Banned
Those weren't improvements just cost saving revisions which weren't meant to be sold to existing players they were for new players except for PS4 Pro but that was a huge upgrade over the PS4 bringing a huge boost in power so it made sense.

Every version of the PSP had a slightly smaller form factor and different screen. They added TV output ports starting with the 2000. And the PSPGo is a completely different form factor with different memory card options.

The Vita Slim featured an improved form factor and introduced built-in storage.

The PS One allowed you to attach a screen and play the system semi-portably.

The ever-smaller versions of the PS2 and PS3 were similar in function to the DS Lite and Game Boy Pocket, selling the same hardware with a sleeker look. They also had the nice distinction of lacking the crippling hardware failure rates of the original PS2 and PS3 SKUs. Not insidious at all.

The XBox 360 S featured built-in WiFi, a not insignificant hardware upgrade to its predecessor.

Etc.
 
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