MAY 13, 2015 • Although Nvidia Corp.’s Shield devices have no problem supporting higher HD resolutions, the company’s Nvidia GRID streaming game service has been limited to 720p since it became more widely available last December. This week Nvidia is rolling out 1080p support at 60 frames per second on GRID. A 30 Mbps broadband connection is required for 1080p resolution, with 50 Mbps recommended if other devices are connected simultaneously. Thirty-five games are currently available on GRID in 1080p. Adding more data centers have been necessary to pushing out 1080p support. Nvidia added two more centers this month, one servicing the Southwestern U.S., and the other in Central Europe. The company now has six data centers servicing 20 countries.

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Impact: In supporting 1080p, GRID is something of an oddity in streaming game services. PlayStation Now only goes as high as 1080i. The difference may seem minimal yet can be important where gaming is concerned. The “i” stands for interlaced, which means odd and even rows of a video frame alternate on the TV screen. The “p” stands for progressive, which means all rows hit the screen at the same time. Fast-moving game action can run into some video glitches with interlaced scanning. While most users will want to play at 1080p, a lot depends on broadband speeds. GRID at 720p resolution can be enjoyed with as little as a 10 Mbps connection. Building out more data centers will help a great deal in making GRID more playable the closer the user is to the center. The problem is streaming services are more attractive to mainstream consumers who may not have the desire to invest in a larger bill for faster broadband. So for many potential subscribers the allure of 1080p gameplay could be fleeting and GRID will downscale to 720p in those cases. Regardless, Nvidia pushing the performance envelope is an important step to help set its upcoming Shield Android TV system apart from other streaming TV boxes. The market for streaming game services may still be minor, but once again Nvidia is challenging video game console makers to keep up or risk losing the future of the game business.