My review of PlayStation TV

[martok2112]

My review of PlayStation TV:

Ok, so I bought the PlayStation TV, eagerly anticipating the ability to play my PS4 (which is in the living room) remotely in my bedroom. This is especially useful if my roommate and some friends want to watch Netflix in the living room.

It is a console that is not exactly a console. It is a small box with several connections (power, USB port, Vita Memory chip port, HDMI out port, and Ethernet port all on the back. On the side is a cover for a port to put in PS Vita game cartridges.) It is compatible with PlayStation Dual Shock 3 and Dual Shock 4 controllers, and a limited array of bluetooth headsets and keyboards.

The box is even smaller than a PS4 or PS3 controller. Rather than go into numbers, I'll just describe it thus: Width and length wise, it's not much bigger than a credit card. Depth wise, it's just deep enough to support the architecture for all the ports and circuitry.

The connection I have set up for my PSTV is thus:

-Ethernet line into a multiport from my bedroom which runs out into the router in the living room.

-Ethernet line from my PS4 in the living room, to the router.

This should suggest that I have a fairly fast connection between my PSTV and my PS4. Well, mostly that is true, but the problem is, sometimes I have to jump through hoops just to make it happen.

The first couple of times I made connection were brief, and riddled with artifact and drop out problems. I had to reset both systems, and then I was able to get a stable connection.

I also had to keep my display settings for the PSTV on Automatic, which by default is 720p. (When I had set it to 1080i, the maximum resolution the PSTV can natively deliver, it seemed to create bandwidth problems, even with my direct connection to the router, so I put it back on Automatic.)

The game I used to test the connection was Alien Isolation.

The game looked gorgeous over the Remote Link on PSTV, even in 720p.

At first, the control seemed a little spongy. In other words, sometimes it would seem like if I turned Ripley, or had her look in a direction, it would seem like she would continue her turn or look just a split second after I released the right stick to stop her turn/look. After a short moment, that seemed to rectify itself. It felt like I was playing the PS4 in my room, even though the unit itself was out in the living room.

I was going to try and see how Destiny played over the PSTV, but unfortunately, Bungie was having problems with PSN (which seems to be happening all too frequently) so I could not get an idea of how an online game would play on it.

I also have yet to see how its PS Vita functionality works. Right now, I have several Vita games, but none of them seem to be on the compatibility list for PSTV. (The list of games compatible with PSTV right now seems woefully short. Hopefully with firmware updates, more Vita games will be compatible. As I mentioned earlier, there is a cartidge port on the side of the PSTV that runs Vita cartridges.

I also have yet to see how PS Now (the game streaming service for PlayStation 4 and 3) works.

Overall, I'll give the system a 6/10 rating. It has potential, but right now it's off to a shallow start. I am still glad to be able to play my PS4 games in the privacy of my own room when the need arises. (I keep my PS4 in my living room in case my roommate wants to try some of the games I have for it.) This probably would've actually gotten a 5/10 rating by me, but the 100 dollar price tag is not bad, so I gave it the extra point....it just needs to deliver a bit more bang for the buck. Again, hopefully with future firmware upgrades, that'll happen.

 

[SPCTRE]

I defintely want them to improve on all aspects of remote play functionality, it frees up a lot of real estate around the house in an ideal scenario. I won't be in the market for it unless it works flawlessly under my specific conditions, though.

PS Vita functionality is irrelevant to me as I'm not interested in blowing up smallscreen games because I'm not interested in mobile gaming experiences in general. I prefer to read when I'm on the shitter, is what I'm saying.

 

[martok2112]

I can tell you, DB, that KillZone Mercenary, which is a PS Vita game, looks surprisingly good on a 40" HDTV. it takes up the entire screen, and graphical fidelity is pretty good, considering that the resolution of the Vita itself is roughly the same as Xbone titles....around 900p.

Controls are not too bad. Takes some getting used to with the "melee" aspect, but other than that, it is not too bad at all.

 

[Yoda]

I can tell you, DB, that KillZone Mercenary, which is a PS Vita game, looks surprisingly good on a 40" HDTV. it takes up the entire screen, and graphical fidelity is pretty good, considering that the resolution of the Vita itself is roughly the same as Xbone titles....around 900p.

"900p" is 1600x900. Vita resolution is 960x544. That's way more in line with sub-HD games on 360/PS3 like the COD games.

PS TV is neat in concept, I just don't have much use for it. I'd notice the input lag, (at least I most certainly do when using remote play over Vita). I'm not touching PS Now until after they crack that pesky 'speed of light' problem.

 

[martok2112]

That is true, Master Yoda. There are some issues, but I hope they get resolved soon.

The prime reason I got PSTV was for the ability to play my PS4 remotely in my own room whenever my roommate wanted to watch Netflix, or play PS3 or 360 games in the living room. Thus far, it has worked fairly well.

Sony clearly has a history of having products with the right ideas, but those ideas are slow to take off. I think their only true failure was the PSP (PlayStation Portable). And at that, it still lasted fairly long. The PS Vita is a much more viable product. The PS2 started off slow, and became much more capable, as did the PS3 and I think as we are starting to see with the PS4. If PSTV can show the same improvements, Sony is going to have a near stranglehold on the video game market the likes of which they'd not seen since their original PlayStation days. Personal opinion, only.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

To me the selling point of PS TV is to be able to play handheld games on a large screen. Playing on tiny screens is uncomfortable to me, having to crane your neck slightly down and hold it up to your face. So the big issue would be whether the compatibility list is to short. But the games I'm most interested in are ports of old Japanese games previously unreleased in America like Tales of Hearts and Trails in the Sky SC, and those are more likely to be compatible because they don't have touch screen components.

 

[martok2112]

Makes sense, Jirin, as PSTV was released in Japan first....so a lot of their Vita games, you would figure, would be compatible with PSTV.

I do hope they expand their compatibility list soon, and frequently. It was pretty cool playing KillZone Mercenary on my 40" Samsung.

 

[SPCTRE]

Actually, the compatibility list isn't great so far.

Also, the way they handled communicating the "list" is kinda stupefying:

PlayStation TV Compatibility Quiz

Borderlands 2 looks downright awful.

 

[martok2112]

Actually, the compatibility list isn't great so far.

Also, the way they handled communicating the "list" is kinda stupefying:

PlayStation TV Compatibility Quiz

Borderlands 2 looks downright awful.

I'd imagine BL2 probably doesn't look good. I have it for Vita, but have not tried it on PSTV. It was a game that was made for consoles, and then shrunk to play on the Vita (where it looks surprisingly good, btw), so I imagine "reblowing it up for bigger screens" might be quite...er...interesting at best.

I'll letcha know my impressions when I get around to that one.

But KillZone Mercenary looks rather good when blown up on my 40" Samsung.