Digital Foundry has taken a deep dive into the PlayStation 5 Pro's new PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaler, using The Last of Us Part 1 as a test case and comparing it against AMD FSR 2 and NVIDIA DLSS. The PC version was used for comparison with similar graphics settings and minimal sharpening for FSR 2 and DLSS, as PSSR doesn't seem to use post-process sharpening.
Compared to AMD FSR 2, PSSR delivers a slightly smoother image in motion, with FSR 2 showing more aliasing on foliage and fine details. However, PSSR introduces some image noise that FSR 2 doesn't have. Overall, the two upscalers perform similarly in The Last of Us Part 1, although FSR 2 produces a sharper, more stable image when the camera is static.
As seen in other games, NVIDIA DLSS generally outperforms PSSR, providing excellent image quality and smooth motion, even in Performance mode. PSSR, however, retains slightly more detail in motion than DLSS, hinting at its future potential.
The analysis suggests that while PSSR is a solid upscaling solution, both AMD FSR 2 and NVIDIA DLSS offer advantages in certain scenarios.
