Yeah if it had a direct connection similar to a wiiU it might be worth picking up. It's hard to want this device when you can get a steam deck now for around a 100 bucks more(the base one).
Yeah especially when a lot of people will just be using the device as a second screen with the PS5 in the same room. It should have been an option that then hands off to remote play once you get out of range.
I think the Wii U had dedicated hardware for that, or some kind of custom software thing in collaboration with Broadcom. I'm not sure it would be that easy to pull off. What I don't get though, is no support for cloud streaming. That seemed like a no brainer for sure. If this thing had wireless Wii U streaming AND cloud streaming, I'd give it a must buy.
@@istealpopularnamesforlikes3340The Wii U connection was not very good. It had limited range and was capable of no more than 480p. This is a 1080p remote play device, which works fantastic with any 5 GHz router, with much better range than the Wii U ever had.
The portal works great as long as you have good connection, dont listen to this as law. I stream from home to work and its absolutely mint. If it was trash I would say so.
@@Fourier9042 To be fair, the Vita only had 2.4GHz WiFi, so the fact that it had the same latency as a device with 5GHz WiFi is not a great look for the Portal.
Many of us thought the newly introduced PS Link Technology was made for the portal to be connected to PS5 console for remote play. But it turns out to be only the barrier for asking you paying more for wireless audio.
Sony's obsession with "exclusivity" is almost astonishing, it seeps into everything, sometimes resulting in disappointments or big question marks. Proprietary mem cards for Vita, DS4 receiver for PC, then this device that can only do exactly one thing and one thing only.
It's not bluetooth, it's low latency audio through radio signal as I understand it. Low latency is great for gaming but also this technology has potential for better audio quality at low latency that bluetooth has. The reason why we don't have this tech in our regular AirPods and such is that it's way more prone to interference. and therefore it's best suited in your home. So the reason for the dongle is that it's an after though, the PS4 and PS5 does not have a build in transmitter for these headsets so it's impossible to connect without a dongle.
You may already know of this, but if you overlay the screen recording of the native image and then the screen recording of the decoded image using a "difference" blend mode, you will see the pixel-for-pixel comparison between the two images. This would help demonstrate to viewers how different the visual experience is after compression, frame drops, etc.
The microstutters you mentioned are because remote play outputs a 59.94hz connection, and the screen on the portal is 60hz. I’ve seen them on all devices i’ve used remote play on, they’re most noticeable when the camera pans or in side-scrolling games. I think this is an issue that can only be fixed Sonys end though with an update to the PS5.
Given the ridiculous limitations of this device I don't get why they didn't just make this a Dualsense based mobile controller for phones/tablets similar to the Backbone or the Razer Kishi. That way they'd have far and away the best mobile controller, anyone who owns an entry level phone or tablet released in the last couple of years already has a much better display for it, they could keep the price more reasonable and it would be a hell of a lot more portable to boot.
@@gameskyjumper1721 Yes considering you can get a refurbished Steam Deck for 300 or an Ayn Odin for 200 and one can do full PC gaming and the other can do everything a phone can including emulation and PlayStation cloud streaming, PlayStation remote play, Xbox game pass and Steam remote play where the hell can a device that only streams games fit into that equation?
@@gameskyjumper1721it is If you're using your phone which you already use for everything else, and all you have to buy is a split or backbone controller.
@@gameskyjumper1721 Given the compromises and artificial limitations with this device, I'd argue yes. At the very least this should be able to be used as a regular controller.
I love the PS Portal BUT I acknowledge that I am the very niche group that purchased it to use it in the exact way that it performs optimally. I usually use my Switch to play games in handheld mode while hanging out with my family, in the living room, in front of the TV (which just happens to be about 4 feet from our router). I had already hard wired the PS5 to the router while using the Backbone, and this was essential for me to get solid streaming. The Backbone was ok, but wanted a larger screen and more comfortable grip while also being able to not dedicate my phone to being the screen. I will say that the screen doesn't hold a candle to the Switch OLED. All in all, though, I knew what I was getting for $199 so I am ok with acknowledging it for what it is.
One of the most egregious things to me is the fact that there's no Bluetooth. I have a pair of Sony (not PlayStation) WF-1000XM5 earbuds and they WILL NOT WORK with this device.
It makes sense when you consider the video and audio is technically not coming from the device itself, it’s coming from the PlayStation. So not only is Bluetooth a bad idea for gaming, but blue tooth + streaming remote play + wifi variability = very bad experience. if you could connect Bluetooth headphones to it, it would absolutely have lag and get out of sync quickly.
There's a reason why the ps5 doesn't support Bluetooth for audio. The latency is TERRIBLE when compared to a 2.4g dongle connection. And no, anyone can notice it. It's not just weirdo audiophiles playing competitive e-sports games.
I really thought about this for awhile, but ended up just saving the money towards a Steam Deck OLED. I even got Chiaki set up on my Deck so it’s a win-win in my book.
@ShadesAway It's been a fun experience so far. I've mostly just fiddled with emulators so far as I don't have a huge Steam library currently, but playing stuff like KH2 and Wind Waker HD on it has been awesome. And I played some LAD Gaiden through Chiaki for a couple hours and had a decent experience.
@ShadesAwayDeck emulates Switch, plays 99% of games you can get on PS5/XSX, and has a wealth of PC exclusives. Steam Deck just does more, has OLED, and frankly, Valve deserves the support over SOYny.
@@JohnSmith-ff2pbDeck oled is also 560 euros, it has a 800p screen, way worse battery live, lacks haptics and adaptive triggers to play PS5 remote, is heavier, has a way worse ergonomics : buttons are small, d-pad is excentred and not good etc. I ended up stopping using chiaki on my deck for ps remote, and just started using a dual sense and the ps remote app on my laptop. Don't get me wrong, I have the steam deck lcd, and I love it. I just wanna point out how these compairisons are stupid. It's two totally different devices, with different purposes and different price tags. Steam decks is way more versatile yes. But it's also way more expensive and way worse at doing what the PS portail does. One is an accessory, the other is a console.
Man, the missed potential with this one is crazy. If they went for a slightly more powerful SoC they could run PS1, PS2 and PS Vita games, not to mention Android games locally. Playing games from 4 previous Sony Consoles would have been a great value add.
680 is really weak. Gonna need something 3-4x powerful to get atleast 90% ps2 games fullspeed. Vita emulator still a work in progress. Unless you mean sony develop their own.
"They could run ps1, ps2 and ps vita games" Lol, no, they couldn't. You mean you could potentially hack it and run emulators. Sony wouldn't be interested in that though.
Yeah, an official "portable PS2" would've sold me on it a great deal more.. unfortunately, they opted for a "streaming screen" (I won't even justify calling it a tablet)
Snapdragon 680 should be as fast as Sd820 or 835 which should be more than enough to emulate stuff. Some 3 years ago I discovered the whole "telescopic controller" paired with an Android device thing via a channel "ETA Prime". And he really shows that what you want can already be achieved with such a setup. Plus Cloud Play like Game Pass cloud ... The reality is though: $ony has no benefits from adding more features! As it seems now the idea of this is to buy more single accessory for your PS5! The more accessories the better...
The weird thing is that Chiaki on my Steam Deck gives flawless smooth performance and this first party solution just isn't quite as good, so it's clearly possible but for whatever reason they haven't fully optimised it at release. I wonder what the odds are on Sony improving the software for the Portal, because in every other way it's a fantastic device. Great video, very accurate and detailed as ever.
After extensive testing in my experience the portal has improved performance over the official remote play app or over Chiaki. So if Chiaki works well for you on a steam deck, the portal will work even better in the same environment. There isn't much a 3rd party app can do, you can see it in the source code for Chiaki. All they can do is stream a video and send button presses back. There is no magic secret tech that one app can do to make it better than another on the same network. At least the OEM app on iphone and the PSportal can do trigger and haptic feedback.
@@joemamr710how did you know the performance was better? I also have steam deck and steam deck performance was better every single time minus worse controller experience. Did you test is with older firmware and newer firmware or something?
Playstation Remote Play in itself is a great feature, if your internet connection is up to the task. On my road trip to north cape i used remote play on the hotel wifi while my PS5 was thousands of kilometers away in Germany it was a good experience most of the time. As for latency, with thousand of kilometers between my remote play laptop and the PS5 shooters are out of the question, but Persona 5 was perfectly fine.
Depends on what kind of gamer you are. For me, any latency over 100ms is unacceptable and even that's pushing it. Even more modern 4K HDR 120Hz TVs can be problematic, and output with more latency than older, smaller feature set 1080p panels from years ago. It's probably because I'm old and remember clearly the immediacy of playing cartridge based games on CRT TVs as a kid. Basically no latency and definitely no install times, updates, season passes, horse armour...
@@JimBul-j6v That feeling, when thinking about pressing a button in Super Smash Bros. Melee and it happened immediately. You still can get the feeling, VR games must be developed in this way, and there they use high refresh rates and forward rendering. Going back to a triple-buffered 30 fps game on a flatscreen is a pain in comparison.
I played Like a Dragon from start to finish exclusively on my phone. I did it through GamePass but there is something to be said for being able to play turn based RPGs on your phone with all those juicy graphics and 60fps.
@@enriquepinero707 That's right and remote play is an "it depends" feature. It depends completely on circumstances you often can't control. In my case it luckily works great, but I can imagine that it'll be a terrible experience for others with overcrowded wifi or bad internet connections.
Decent hardware for 2023: No oled screen, no bluetooth, no native or local gaming, no cloud streaming, low-end 2019 soc, no wifi 6...??? To be honest, the screen is not bad and the controls/ergonomics seems very good, as a ps5 controller should be, but there's no excuses for that much lacking stuff over a new 2023 hardware for the asking price (specially considering that it is an accessory for a already high priced product). And if you want wireless audio it's even more expensive. Why, Sony???
You can tell this was a quickly-thought-up product that Sony just decided to drop out of nowhere to milk their consumers. No way in hell was this thing planned prior to the PS5's launch. This would be a much better sell if the PS5 had dedicated hardware in it meant to stream to this thing if you were within a few hundred feet, and would have next to no latency. You know, like how the Wii U pulled off flawlessly when it launched 11 years ago. The Wii U had less range than I just described, but certainly a solution to that could be thought up 11 years later, right?
Thank you DF for actually reviewing this device. Other channels praised the IQ and responsiveness, when it was easily apparent (even over YT) that colour banding and dropped frames were a problem. Now we know that lag is about 5 frames - which is pretty awful to be honest. I was expecting 2-3, something comparable to double buffer. Additional 80ms (on top of system latency) is really not good.
Well DF are technology professionals while other RUclipsrs aren’t, they are giving their honest opinions based on their ability to understand the portal. For most it was good because they don’t care about 60 fps or 1080 p only that they can play.
Very few youtubers have the knowledge or tools to make these objetive and detailed technical analysis, it's the kind of content that I don't ever bother to watch if it's not made by DF.
@@offspringfan89 While normally I'd agree, how hard is it to take a picture of the Portal and the TV to compare the difference? It's not like you need an LDAT or a high speed camera. Even in the IGN review, dropped frames and hitching are all over the place - all the while the presenter states how smooth the gameplay is.
I was surprised they didn't have an option to connect it directly to the console, especially if you're in the same room. It would have made it a lot better, with the remote play when away from the console as an added bonus. I wouldn't be surprised if this is just testing grounds from a new handheld in the future, or something similar to the steam deck with local installs but also being able to stream.
Could have had an option to stream from the console directly AND an option over WiFi. Could have had an OLED screen. Could have had Bluetooth and generally be usable as a controller when not streaming. Could have came with a dock that isn’t required to charge it, just an option. All this would have been enough for me to forgive it for not being a stand alone cloud streaming device, as being that on top of it all would have taken the cake, and given Sony a real edge over its competitors. None of that. In 2023. Wild.
It's a half-baked product without a unique selling point. Add to that any number of devices that can already do Remote Play, cost less and have been available for years. You could get a seperate older smartphone and spare DualSense just for Remote Play for example, and it'd still be cheaper.
@@oo--7714 A lot of people will probably already own a smartphone with a OLED display, these days. Also not true, OLED phones like the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, Galaxy A32, Poco F3, Honor X40, TCL 20 Pro or Motorola Moto G52 can all be picked up brand new for under $200, now. Hell, if you go second-hand then you can easily snatch up fairly decent but older mid-range OLED phone from 2020-2021, for well under $200. Admittedly, it would be pushing it with a DualSense controller also bundled in, but then again you should already have one anyway.
@chirpywiggins5796 it's still a crap shoot of a device. No gaming peripheral should come out of the gate like "it may or may not absolutely suck, depending on multiple factors surrounding your home network". The wii u and smartphones do it better.
@@chirpywiggins5796Internet connection doesn't improve the display or change the fact that you can only stream from your ps5 instead of directly to it with ps cloud streaming or add bluetooth.
The difference with the Wii U game pad is the console sends the data right to the game pad not through your wifi. This is why I think Sony need to update the Portal so it can also connect directly to the console and not use your wifi. That would probably improve quality of the picture and latency.
The portal already uses fully local communication when at home, so there is no point for an “at home” or “on the go” option. It switches automatically if it can’t find the PS5 on the same network/LAN.
This device should have been WiFi 6e with AV1 Encode and Decode. Those 2 things would have really, really made the experience a lot less vulnerable to issues.
- No direct connection to the PS5 - No Bluetooth support - Isn't better than the free Remote play latency (which is still inconsistent no matter how fast your internet is) - Weak battery life (even though it only does streaming)
They will. They didn't change the Remote Play protocol for the device, they're not going to have magically put hall effect sticks in, but what they will do is charge an exorbitant amount of money to repair them when they break.
@@JimBul-j6v Why would they use Hall effect sensors? Basically no console uses them except the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast, and those also have issues when the magnetic field sensor shifts over time.
@@joemamr710I think he was talking about hall effect sensors as a solution to stick drift, not expecting someone to say "yes but eventually they'll have faults too, probably! Nyah! " like it's a point of pride to out-nerd someone (good nerds realise it's not a competition 😂) Anyway it's not entirely relevant - the sticks have been shown by iFixit to be changeable without major issue, and in an easier way than regular DualSense controllers.
Hoping PS5 pro in the future could add a dedicated WiFi chip to connect directly to the portal, ensuring a better lag performance just like what WiiU did. WiiU has two WiFi chips, one 2.4 GHz for internet connection and one 5GHz specifically for gamepad video streaming.
If a "PS5 pro" becomes a real product, I'll be amazed at the sheer greed of Sony. Any time people suggest it's possible existence I shudder at the price paired with the absolutely diminished returns it would offer.
It's not nessesary this time. Games were being downgraded just to work at all on ps4 as early as 2014! Whereas the bottleneck this generation is the lazy developers more than anything else. And trust me, nobody wants a mid gen refresh
It should definitely have cloud streaming. The fact that you need your ps5 running in the background (standby mode) just isn't good enough. Those who know how much the electric bills can be will not be happy . Wish the screen was Oled too.
@@infinitysynthesis The console still has to run the game the exact same way as when you're playing on the PS5 directly, so yeah, it does have to run in full power mode. It'd be a miracle of technology if it could do it in standby, lol.
The chip is strong enough to run PSP games and maybe even Vita. It would be amazing if they re-opened the PSP online store! Great hardware, that doesn't realize its potential.
I could see Sony being Sony and releasing a peripheral for this that connect via the USB-C port that adds a small SSD and some added functionality of some sort for $39.99. Play PSP, PSV, PS1 games natively on the go.
Nah, the chip is to weak, nothing higher than SNES can run, not only that but Sony wanted to close the psp/PS3 store, they don't want to support another one or suppor it for much longer
Would it be possible to have a supporting chip in the add-on hardware to run the games? I don't know much all about hardware stuff, like if the USB-C would have enough viable bandwidth to move data back and forth to run the emulation + system. It sounds hamfisted enough to be right up Sony's alley though hehe
I know they're not exactly competing devices but the contrast to how much effort Valve put into Steam Deck OLED and how little effort Sony put into this is stark.
I am extremely happy with my Portal. I play almost exclusively single player games, my PS5 is hardwired to my router and sits right next to it. Every room in my house the experience is the same. I don't get a lot of time with my tv set up because I have small kids and this device allows me to put a dent in my backlog. I have played exclusively on the portal since launch day. I even beat Spider-man 2 on it. I am very happy with it.
I’m enjoying mine, but it’s very niche. I’ve been using it in the living room, mainly for PS4 era games and indie titles. Perfect for those, which tend to look a bit soft and blown out on my big 4K, they look crisp on the small screen. So it’s like a great backlog gaming peripheral. Performance for cutting edge PS5 titles leaves something to be desired for me though.
I’ve been using my Rog Ally to occasionally stream my PS5, and I’ve really enjoyed the experience. I get that it’s quite the price difference but I find it interesting they couldn’t add anything to the kit that separates it from using other devices you might already own. As it stands, I see no reason to spend the money to get one. But, if I didn’t have my Ally, maybe I would feel differently. I at least appreciate they are trying something here, perhaps gauging interest in the concept. If it does well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the PS6 come out with dedicated features for this type of device.
That's the thing, many people are now adopting the portable PCs like your Ally, the Steam Deck, Legion Go, Ayaneo and others. And they vary in price. Valve's Steam Deck entry price is around $150-200 more than the Sony Portal, but you get a full fledge PC capable of playing its own games as well as streaming.
@@lazarushernandez5827that’s what confused me about the price point. It’s an inferior setup for what people can do with a mediocre tablet. That it requires you to connect to Wi-Fi, but doesn’t access anything outside of your system is so weird. Like, have it come with video streaming at the very least, something.
@@SadSackGaming Yah you should be able to at least use this thing to watch Netflix n stuff for that price like you can get a frickin used Ayn Odin for 200 and that thing does everything from Netflix to game streaming to remote play to emulation Sony cheaped out and and wanted the same non existent market of gamers as the Logitech g cloud which did MORE than this thing!
They are either testing the waters, or purposefully making a bad handheld so they can say people don't want handheld when we want another PSP. It's the only explanations I can think of. Either way, not a great product.
@@theninjamaster67 Nobody wants to watch Netflix on a portable gaming device with a built in controller. They will always just use the phone they already have in their pocket 24/7.
It’s been incredibly useful for me. I’ve played my PS5 in the last week using the portal far more than I have in the last year. It’s a great piece of kit that has been pretty flawless for me.
Richard, I still don't understand why the PS5 and Portal can't do exactly what the Wii U did already, right now. The PS5's Wifi 6 chip could be switched into a hotspot so long as the system is wired and not using the existing wifi antennae. Once the Portal is connected to the router, the PS5 could activate its Wifi card and put out a call to the Portal to check its signal strength to the PS5. If it is strong, then it could auto switch the Portal to the PS5's wifi chip for a direct connection. Then it could use its own bespoke transfer protocol sent with a future firmware update. The Wifi 6 card in the PS5 should easily be able to handle over 400Mbps to the Portal. Sony manufacturers the J20H100 wireless card in the PS5. Unless it's firmware is burned in they have to be able to send it new drivers and expand its feature set.
I feel like I also am one of the very few who fall into the niche this product was designed for. I have multiple PS5 consoles hard wired at home and I frequently do not sleep at my own home due to traveling. This device is not only comfortable, but given I am almost always somewhere with decent WiFi, it really does fit my particular needs quite well.
What could Sony add to PSP now: - browser; - cloud gaming; - Bluetooth for third party devices. What could Sony also add to PSP 2: - direct wired and/or wireless connection to PS6; - emulator for classic games; - OLED.
I don't think they want that competition with Nintendo and waste more money on dedicated games for a handheld device can't beat Nintendo in terms of hand held
Sony copying Nintendo's homework once again, but unlike the PS Move (Wiimotes), the PS5 Portal is a worse version of the WiiU's tablet and way more expensive.
The lack of direct connect is dizzyingly stupid. The Ps3/PSP could direct connect, and so could the PS4/Vita. Also +1 for british pronunciation of rooter.
If this device had a direct connection like the Wii U Gamepad along with an OLED display it would be good. Hell if it was $350 and could work as an independent device with Android it would be great.
It really wouldn't. That is the problem with this device. It's an Uber expensive device that Sony wasn't confident in the product so they didn't commit to contracts to get that price down. PSPortal has to compete with Nintendo Switch and it is already doing a bad job of it being the price of a Switch Lite. It is a gimmick that Sony is selling for $200 because they know that people will just buy it without asking questions and then get offended they got scammed.
Wifi is difficult to explain to people because of how many factors that affect it. Sony could have mitigated some of it by having a 802.11ax chipset. Wifi 6's traffic cop can be helpful for latency
(Edit: love the Portal fyi! Life changing!) Thank you for officially confirming the frame drops in ideal conditions. It appears the threshold of auto selection of bitrate by the ps5 is not adjusted properly, it constantly flip-flops between two 1080p bitrates.
Gotta say I really appreciate this review. Thank you for taking the time to understand and explain the PP (lol), as well as give advice on how to maximize its performance (lol)
Thanks for the deep dive on the Portal, Rich. I have been playing it over the Thanksgiving holiday and enjoying it a lot. As you say, it works great as long as the internet connection is strong. When it isnt... its unplayable, literally. Over several days, my connection dropped twice to the point where it disconnected from the console. I am in the same room as my PS5 which is hardwired. Overall, I really like the Portal since the TV is usually in use by my family. However, it is incredibly frustrating to lose connection and therefore the ability to even use the Portal. I will be testing it this weekend at my mother in laws house, some 350 miles away so I hope it performs well on the road. Its a great device but with not so great choices. I give it 7/10.
Dude. Why didn't you just buy another tv? They literally had 55 inch tvs at Walmart for 150. You could have saved 50 bucks and added something more practical to your home
Huge missed opportunity for Sony to release a PROPER handheld. Once further down the line when the PS5 servers get shut down, this thing will be useless.
Future eWaste? Agreed. Lot of products out there that are cloud and/or phone app based will go this way. I trust the homebrew scene will eventually crack the PS5 and Portal wide open across all firmwares, so as it starts to age out you'll be able to do anything you want with those two products. Imagine being able to emulate all manner of non Sony consoles and stream it to the Portal with lower latency and better picture quality than it does with the current Sony proprietary lock-in.
The hardware on this should still be much more powerful than the PS Vita. Theoretically, it could have dedicated games. PSP and PS1 emulation should be easy, PSV emulation too if Sony really wanted to. Put an OLED screen on this thing and make it connect directly to the PS5 for low latency game streaming and you get a worthwhile device. As it stands this thing just screams no effort cashgrab.
To me, the visuals on remote play with the steam deck seem a lot better. On my portal, I get a lot more frame drops. I still prefer the portal's formfactor and all, but I would have expected it to work as well/better than my steam deck.
Just a point to make about wifi - it's not just the router's signal strength that matters, it's also the device's ability to send data to the router that affects signal quality. You can have the best router available but if the device's transmit power is weak, you'll have issues.
For balance - I have had zero issues with mine, sure there is latency - but only if you look for it ( ie have the PS5 TV output visible at the same time - else you really don't notice it on the Portal ). As they say in the video though - the most important thing about a good experience with this is the quality and setup of your home network. I can use it fine in every room in my house, no need to stay in the same room as the router or PS5 ). I can even play it fine from other peoples houses , even tried it over 5G phone hotspot and it was totally playable. For some reason most reviewers seem to be upset that this isnt a Sony Steamdeck or a PSP - it's as they say in the video , it's a streaming device, a PS5 accesory. The upset is laughable to me - they are upset that Sony has produced a device that isn't a completely different device that they had in their head. Like convincing yourself that a Ford Fiesta should fly, buying one and finding it doesn't - then acting upset. Fully understand what its for and enjoy it for what it is.
There definitely was a loss of image quality on the WiiU gamepad. First of all, it only streams the video at 480p, which is extremely low resolution. Like dreamcast level resolution literally. Second, you can see compression artifacts on the WiiU gamepad. Third, you can ONLY use the WiiU gamepad in the exact same room as the WiiU, within 8 or so feet of it, and not anywhere else at all.
1:05 it’s not a “streaming device” in its entirety sense, rather more limited “remote play” streaming. I feel like in the era of cloud gaming we gotta specify the main function rather the overarching category.
My first week was a little iffy. Stuttering etc. I did some tweaking and now have flawless experience with it. Basically, it’s a handheld PS5. One of the best gadgets I’ve ever bought.
@@AndreaFromTokyo it definitely is, if you want it to be. It’s flawless and I’m playing PS5 games in 1080p, 60fps. All of them. That’s as good as it gets.
The has to be the most useless accessory ever released : no native gaming, no cloud gaming, no support for any apps - it's only for WiFi gaming at a higher latency & lower quality than with the free remote app for mobile devices.
@@Michael-jr3gz bro GOTY nomination means nothing. Not defending starfield at all, but shit at least it's a new IP 🤷🏽♂️ I like spiderman more but he at least they tried "something new"
Are you certain the reported results aren't specific to your setup (or a small percentage of the population)? The unit is selling out, and consumers are singing it's praises.
I just tested Moonlight to my phone using this same technique and latency at 60fps (same as PS Portal) was 40-50ms. Not much better, but 1-2 frames is measurably faster. What's more is that I can switch to 120fps and get the latency down even further. Oh, and all it costed me was $15 for a phone clip, and I can actually use bluetooth. 🤦♂🤦♂
Fanboys will still buy it because they eat whatever Sony dishes out, even if it's useless junk. The fact that it's using an outdated Snapdragon SOC from 2019 says it all.
I'd pick 40fps 800p Medium/Low Steam Deck over 1080p60 with artefacts, massive jump in input lag, possible disconnections and more any day of the week. Oh, and did I mention the constant internet requirement and basically unusability on public internet that requires web log in or even 5G. Yeah, this is definitely not the way and now I'm just waiting for the statement from Sony how portable consoles is a dead sector. PD: Just imagine a PSP2 with the power of a PS4 running all that back catalogue of our already bought games.
That's too good an idea for Sony to go for. The R&D cost is too high, they want maximum profit for minimum effort. The Portal is the epitome of this philosophy.
Portable consoles dead sector? LOL, Every mobile is an actual portable console! You can play retro games with a proper emulator (RetroArch) anywhere in the world. Complete missed opportunity from Sony to make an actual and proper portable gaming device that could potentially play PS4, PS3 and their older games while still being capable of streaming / cloud gaming of the latest console!
The guy above summs it well. Maximum profit for minimum effort. This device is a clear example of that. I really think we'll never see a PSP sucessor with these guys.@@XPuntar
Testing moonlight on many devices I’ve noticed that Qualcomm decoders take significantly more time than AMD and Intels. 20ms vs 4ms. The difference resulting in being unable to play FPS games with mouse and keyboard without feeling the lag. The PC decoder is likely performing much faster than the portal in your testing
It doesn't have to be in the same room if you have a proper home network setup with multiple APs providing good Wifi coverage everywhere. But many homes don't have that.
The LCD on the PS Portal is incredible that I forget that its LCD not OLED. For $200 you can't go wrong with the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Cloud Streaming is coming. You can use Bluetooth on the PS portal at home with your PS5 connect your PS Pulse headset or Bluetooth Gaming headset connect your bluetooth dongle to the Playstation and you can hear it from the Playstation 5.
@user-pc9mw3lr9e Absolutely not. This Portal has the biggest screen out of any portable. Especially when it comes to the tiny text some of these games use, bigger is always better. It's a much better experience than a phone/touchscreen/backbone. It's the best Remote Play experience you can get.
This was always going to happen. It's exactly like what I expected. There's really no need to have a device like this for most people. Even for those who use game streaming a lot, you can do this with another device. Got an iPad with a PS5 controller? Good to go. Got a phone? Good to go. This is $200 down the drain for most people since most of us can already experience this with hardware we already own.
This thing even uses Android under the hood. If Sony made you able to actually use the full Android OS (to install apps, and stream whatever), then at $200 or even $250 it would have been a much better buy. Even if the chipset wouldn't allow you to play demanding games well or emulate PS2 and GC/Wii, it would still be a nice deal. Even more so if they had bluetooth and microSD support.
Agreed. I have literally bought TVs and gaming monitors for less than the Portal - less than half in fact - and with a HDMI splitter and long enough cable or whatever, you can second screen your PS5 with very little drama. Mine is hooked up to the living room TV, the gaming room TV and a gaming monitor on my desk. The latency is lower than Remote Play too.
It's been sold out since launch. People want it. Trust me. I've used one for an hour. And it's awesome. Problem is, not everyone has robust enough connections for it
@@pennywisethedancingclown7139 I think using it for one hour doesn't really give you a very objective opinion on it and gives you bias confirmation anyway. Just because a product sells out short term and is hard to find, doesn't mean it'll become a memorable classic. Just means it's hot now and might be forgotten later, like so many products over the years.
I hear the portal has gotten stability updates. I've had mine for 2 weeks and it's been practically flawless. I think you should do a follow-up video Rich... 🤔👍
The issue explained at the beginning about everyone not getting the same experience is exactly why this had a limited release. The amount of users that actually understand Remote Play, how it works, and how to use it well is incredibly small. Social media is proving that in droves.
Finally, someone talking sense about the realities of WiFi and rhetoric fact PS Portal is no different to running the PS Remote app on a mobile device.
@@NoobMaster-ty7jxI have used Remote Play on Steam Deck (Chiaki), iPhone, and Android (PS Play) - the Portal is better than all of these because it has a larger screen, more comfortable controls that mirror the dualsense, and, most of all, it’s so convenient to use compared to these other devices. Wake the Portal, press the PS button, and I’m connected to the PS5. For that reason alone I’m using it way more than the other devices I have. I’ve been playing PS5 more often too since I picked it up. I have a decent mesh system at home so it works well anywhere in my home.
So you're basically paying the price of a fully functional console like the Xbox Series S for a device whose only redeeming quality over any other streaming device, including your phone, is that it's got a Dualsense attatched to it. A Dualsense you can't even use with your console! 😂 Yeah, not buying that ripoff.
This should be the de facto review for the PlayStation PORTAL! Thank you so much, Richard and the DF team for your comprehensive analysis of the experience that the Portal offers. Many reviewers skimmed on the surface, and failed to demonstrate how the Portal works under different conditions, which does not help us as consumers at all. You've done an amazing job (EVEN BETTER THAN SONY) detailing not just how it works, but how to optimise its performance as well if you do end up deciding to purchase one!
Remote Play is nearly perfect on my phone, only occasionally hiccuping if multiple TVs are streaming 4K. Been logging hours of Skyrim and played half of SM2 with it. If scalpers weren’t destroying the market for these, I’d love to try one myself. My only complaint about remote play on my phone is the screen is too small.
Do you use any nifty controller/phone holder or only screen touch? I have never tried remoteplay actually. My iphone SE 2nd Gen with 4.7” screen is perhaps too small?
My experience had been very good. Yes, frame drops are there, but not too distracting. Image quality is good, and mine works well pretty much anywhere in the house… which is exactly how I’m using it, to play backlog games when the lounge tv is in use, or in bed. For reference, I’m using Ethernet wired to PS5, and Wi-Fi set to 2.4ghz.
I’ve tried virtually my whole library (which is extensive, I buy a lot of games). That’s why I bought one over a steam deck, I already have a lot of PS4/PS5 games, and can do without another platform/store to spend further money on! lol. It’s hard not to want to see how a game will perform. But almost everything works fine, the only slight exception so far being GTA5, and that’s only because the image looks a bit blown out/over bright because the display isn’t HDR, and frame skips are more noticeable on hard camera swings (you turn a lot of corners when driving). It’s perfectly playable, just the only one I felt I’d avoid. Weirdly the definitive edition of San Andreas works fantastically, maybe because of the simpler image?
I just got one. The only complaint is has no bluetooth connectivity and you can't change bit rate. For something that isn't for everyone this is a anti consumer (apple decision).
Remember the NVIDIA Shield tablet? It was built for streaming GeForceNow but also ran android games natively, and was very good at that. It could stream from your PC as well. Now you have this PS Portal that can’t run games natively and requires a $400-500 PS5 to be useful. It seems like a big step backwards.
The deck is excellent at doing exactly what this does and can play natively, plus it's basically a laptop. I agree with you, as cool as the portal looks I don't really understand the point
@@theclawlivesThe point is the full Dualsense being included. It's also the easiest way to achieve remote play. For most PS5 owners it's arguably the best way to use Remote Play.
@@BigDoniel I suppose. I think it's really cool and the screen looks good, I'm surprised it's not OLED though. As someone who remote streams from my PC almost daily, I definitely get the appeal of RS. it's still just odd not having Bluetooth and some type of web browsing capability (so you can use it on public WiFi at, say, a hotel)
The Steam Deck works great with remote play. Takes some setting up, but worth it if you're into remote play. And you also have a standalone console to use too.
Wierd how the media responded to this device. Praising something that can’t really do anything. This feels like one of the first real honest reviews of this handheld
Well Digital Foundry doesn't have to worry about Sony blackballing them unlike other media outlets. (LINUS MEDIA GROUP). Digital Foundry was cited in a legal document. Sony is afraid of DF and people will wait for a review from them.
Funny thing is that PS4 had direct connection remote play option with the Vita. I cannot think of a reason why PS5 couldn't do the same thing especially if you have the console wired to ethernet. I'm going to assume there is no way to connect the Portal to a USB rj45 that's connected to the router which could be a way to reduce latency albeit sacrifying mobility.
I tried Horizon 2 and Dark Cloud(Chronicle) 2 on my new steamdeck Oled that came Friday, I was quite impressed with remote play. The PS5 is wired to the router like Richard said and my internet is good 650mbps.
When they fail to sell and get discounted so hard that they're barely more expensive than a retail ps5 controller i would be curious enough to pick one up
@@TheOldest PSVR2 has already gone the way of the Vita. It's a dead product early on in its life cycle. Why Sony spent all that money making it and then not supporting it with games, and worse not making it backward compatible with original PSVR baffles me.
@@JimBul-j6v Sony did just about everything they could to make sure PSVR2 failed, which considering many people consider the hardware the best VR headset for the price point astonishing. The easiest thing could've done and still could do is make it compatible with PC ie the biggest ecosystem of VR users. At least it ensure people would buy the product and buy time for them to add first party software to support. It honestly a head scratcher how badly it being managed and it's not even an old product yet.
The lack of a dedicated direct connection to the PS5 apart from WiFi is the biggest joke of this device. Even the Wii U could do it
Exacly.
Agreed but they will keep getting your $ what they would do is the create docks or whatever to do this!!!
Yeah if it had a direct connection similar to a wiiU it might be worth picking up. It's hard to want this device when you can get a steam deck now for around a 100 bucks more(the base one).
Yeah especially when a lot of people will just be using the device as a second screen with the PS5 in the same room. It should have been an option that then hands off to remote play once you get out of range.
I think the Wii U had dedicated hardware for that, or some kind of custom software thing in collaboration with Broadcom. I'm not sure it would be that easy to pull off. What I don't get though, is no support for cloud streaming. That seemed like a no brainer for sure. If this thing had wireless Wii U streaming AND cloud streaming, I'd give it a must buy.
A direct connection (like Wii U) would have made this incredible! Without it, it’s to expensive.
Nintendo is best
I dont remember. What was the direct connection/tech used?
@@istealpopularnamesforlikes3340The Wii U connection was not very good. It had limited range and was capable of no more than 480p. This is a 1080p remote play device, which works fantastic with any 5 GHz router, with much better range than the Wii U ever had.
@@mmsticknone of that matters when there is latency which the Wii u didn't have
@@Seatanicit was literally wifi direct
The Psvita could connect to your ps4 directly, without having to connect to your router and it had practically no latency.
Really wish I had kept my Vita
Nah, the lartency on vita is almost the same with other remote play device, and the image quality varies dramatically.
The portal works great as long as you have good connection, dont listen to this as law. I stream from home to work and its absolutely mint. If it was trash I would say so.
@@Fourier9042 To be fair, the Vita only had 2.4GHz WiFi, so the fact that it had the same latency as a device with 5GHz WiFi is not a great look for the Portal.
@@capcomfan82we all know that it was explained in the video
This is as comprehensive as one could make a review. Thank you, Richard!
Many of us thought the newly introduced PS Link Technology was made for the portal to be connected to PS5 console for remote play. But it turns out to be only the barrier for asking you paying more for wireless audio.
Which sucks because then it could have actually been a replacement for the Wii U idea. That's exactly what I was hoping it would be.
Sony's obsession with "exclusivity" is almost astonishing, it seeps into everything, sometimes resulting in disappointments or big question marks. Proprietary mem cards for Vita, DS4 receiver for PC, then this device that can only do exactly one thing and one thing only.
@@biggusotongus1121 ds4 receiver for PC? Huh? It's just Bluetooth
More like 'proprietary' wireless audio smh
It's not bluetooth, it's low latency audio through radio signal as I understand it. Low latency is great for gaming but also this technology has potential for better audio quality at low latency that bluetooth has.
The reason why we don't have this tech in our regular AirPods and such is that it's way more prone to interference. and therefore it's best suited in your home.
So the reason for the dongle is that it's an after though, the PS4 and PS5 does not have a build in transmitter for these headsets so it's impossible to connect without a dongle.
You may already know of this, but if you overlay the screen recording of the native image and then the screen recording of the decoded image using a "difference" blend mode, you will see the pixel-for-pixel comparison between the two images. This would help demonstrate to viewers how different the visual experience is after compression, frame drops, etc.
You can also use it for objective measurements like RMSE and correlation maximizing to measure latency.
The microstutters you mentioned are because remote play outputs a 59.94hz connection, and the screen on the portal is 60hz. I’ve seen them on all devices i’ve used remote play on, they’re most noticeable when the camera pans or in side-scrolling games. I think this is an issue that can only be fixed Sonys end though with an update to the PS5.
"Rooter" or "Router" and i imagine John with his aproval face 😂
Given the ridiculous limitations of this device I don't get why they didn't just make this a Dualsense based mobile controller for phones/tablets similar to the Backbone or the Razer Kishi. That way they'd have far and away the best mobile controller, anyone who owns an entry level phone or tablet released in the last couple of years already has a much better display for it, they could keep the price more reasonable and it would be a hell of a lot more portable to boot.
is $200 unreasonable?
@@gameskyjumper1721 Yes considering you can get a refurbished Steam Deck for 300 or an Ayn Odin for 200 and one can do full PC gaming and the other can do everything a phone can including emulation and PlayStation cloud streaming, PlayStation remote play, Xbox game pass and Steam remote play where the hell can a device that only streams games fit into that equation?
@@gameskyjumper1721 it is for this junk
@@gameskyjumper1721it is If you're using your phone which you already use for everything else, and all you have to buy is a split or backbone controller.
@@gameskyjumper1721 Given the compromises and artificial limitations with this device, I'd argue yes. At the very least this should be able to be used as a regular controller.
I love the PS Portal BUT I acknowledge that I am the very niche group that purchased it to use it in the exact way that it performs optimally. I usually use my Switch to play games in handheld mode while hanging out with my family, in the living room, in front of the TV (which just happens to be about 4 feet from our router). I had already hard wired the PS5 to the router while using the Backbone, and this was essential for me to get solid streaming. The Backbone was ok, but wanted a larger screen and more comfortable grip while also being able to not dedicate my phone to being the screen. I will say that the screen doesn't hold a candle to the Switch OLED. All in all, though, I knew what I was getting for $199 so I am ok with acknowledging it for what it is.
One of the most egregious things to me is the fact that there's no Bluetooth.
I have a pair of Sony (not PlayStation) WF-1000XM5 earbuds and they WILL NOT WORK with this device.
I'm not defending them, but I personally would never use bluetooth for gaming beacause of the delay. Plus there is also a delay from streaming.
It makes sense when you consider the video and audio is technically not coming from the device itself, it’s coming from the PlayStation. So not only is Bluetooth a bad idea for gaming, but blue tooth + streaming remote play + wifi variability = very bad experience. if you could connect Bluetooth headphones to it, it would absolutely have lag and get out of sync quickly.
@@loadishstone Then feel blessed, I'm really sensitive to any sort of delay. For example I hate 30 fps.
There's a reason why the ps5 doesn't support Bluetooth for audio.
The latency is TERRIBLE when compared to a 2.4g dongle connection.
And no, anyone can notice it. It's not just weirdo audiophiles playing competitive e-sports games.
@@Lego_Fish Bluetooth is always problematic, drawing tablets that use Bluetooth have noticeable delay.
Unless its significantly more stable than remote play on ios/android, its not worth it
I really thought about this for awhile, but ended up just saving the money towards a Steam Deck OLED. I even got Chiaki set up on my Deck so it’s a win-win in my book.
That's definitely the right move. No use wasting money on this thing - save it for a device that can actually play games locally.
Wise choice. More choice of games on Steam Deck, better image quality and ability to play offline as handhelds are meant to do.
@ShadesAway It's been a fun experience so far. I've mostly just fiddled with emulators so far as I don't have a huge Steam library currently, but playing stuff like KH2 and Wind Waker HD on it has been awesome. And I played some LAD Gaiden through Chiaki for a couple hours and had a decent experience.
@ShadesAwayDeck emulates Switch, plays 99% of games you can get on PS5/XSX, and has a wealth of PC exclusives.
Steam Deck just does more, has OLED, and frankly, Valve deserves the support over SOYny.
@@JohnSmith-ff2pbDeck oled is also 560 euros, it has a 800p screen, way worse battery live, lacks haptics and adaptive triggers to play PS5 remote, is heavier, has a way worse ergonomics : buttons are small, d-pad is excentred and not good etc. I ended up stopping using chiaki on my deck for ps remote, and just started using a dual sense and the ps remote app on my laptop.
Don't get me wrong, I have the steam deck lcd, and I love it. I just wanna point out how these compairisons are stupid. It's two totally different devices, with different purposes and different price tags. Steam decks is way more versatile yes. But it's also way more expensive and way worse at doing what the PS portail does.
One is an accessory, the other is a console.
Man, the missed potential with this one is crazy. If they went for a slightly more powerful SoC they could run PS1, PS2 and PS Vita games, not to mention Android games locally. Playing games from 4 previous Sony Consoles would have been a great value add.
680 is really weak. Gonna need something 3-4x powerful to get atleast 90% ps2 games fullspeed. Vita emulator still a work in progress. Unless you mean sony develop their own.
"They could run ps1, ps2 and ps vita games"
Lol, no, they couldn't. You mean you could potentially hack it and run emulators. Sony wouldn't be interested in that though.
Yeah, an official "portable PS2" would've sold me on it a great deal more.. unfortunately, they opted for a "streaming screen" (I won't even justify calling it a tablet)
For $200 that must have been an option without even upping the price point.
Snapdragon 680 should be as fast as Sd820 or 835 which should be more than enough to emulate stuff.
Some 3 years ago I discovered the whole "telescopic controller" paired with an Android device thing via a channel "ETA Prime".
And he really shows that what you want can already be achieved with such a setup. Plus Cloud Play like Game Pass cloud ...
The reality is though: $ony has no benefits from adding more features! As it seems now the idea of this is to buy more single accessory for your PS5! The more accessories the better...
The weird thing is that Chiaki on my Steam Deck gives flawless smooth performance and this first party solution just isn't quite as good, so it's clearly possible but for whatever reason they haven't fully optimised it at release. I wonder what the odds are on Sony improving the software for the Portal, because in every other way it's a fantastic device. Great video, very accurate and detailed as ever.
Moonlight/Sunshine also runs better than Steam Remote Play so it's not odd that first-party solution is worse
After extensive testing in my experience the portal has improved performance over the official remote play app or over Chiaki. So if Chiaki works well for you on a steam deck, the portal will work even better in the same environment.
There isn't much a 3rd party app can do, you can see it in the source code for Chiaki. All they can do is stream a video and send button presses back. There is no magic secret tech that one app can do to make it better than another on the same network. At least the OEM app on iphone and the PSportal can do trigger and haptic feedback.
@@joemamr710how did you know the performance was better? I also have steam deck and steam deck performance was better every single time minus worse controller experience. Did you test is with older firmware and newer firmware or something?
Playstation Remote Play in itself is a great feature, if your internet connection is up to the task. On my road trip to north cape i used remote play on the hotel wifi while my PS5 was thousands of kilometers away in Germany it was a good experience most of the time. As for latency, with thousand of kilometers between my remote play laptop and the PS5 shooters are out of the question, but Persona 5 was perfectly fine.
Depends on what kind of gamer you are. For me, any latency over 100ms is unacceptable and even that's pushing it. Even more modern 4K HDR 120Hz TVs can be problematic, and output with more latency than older, smaller feature set 1080p panels from years ago.
It's probably because I'm old and remember clearly the immediacy of playing cartridge based games on CRT TVs as a kid. Basically no latency and definitely no install times, updates, season passes, horse armour...
Yes. Remote play is a great "feature " but not as a standard alone/core feature of any valued product.
@@JimBul-j6v That feeling, when thinking about pressing a button in Super Smash Bros. Melee and it happened immediately. You still can get the feeling, VR games must be developed in this way, and there they use high refresh rates and forward rendering. Going back to a triple-buffered 30 fps game on a flatscreen is a pain in comparison.
I played Like a Dragon from start to finish exclusively on my phone. I did it through GamePass but there is something to be said for being able to play turn based RPGs on your phone with all those juicy graphics and 60fps.
@@enriquepinero707 That's right and remote play is an "it depends" feature. It depends completely on circumstances you often can't control. In my case it luckily works great, but I can imagine that it'll be a terrible experience for others with overcrowded wifi or bad internet connections.
Decent hardware for 2023: No oled screen, no bluetooth, no native or local gaming, no cloud streaming, low-end 2019 soc, no wifi 6...???
To be honest, the screen is not bad and the controls/ergonomics seems very good, as a ps5 controller should be, but there's no excuses for that much lacking stuff over a new 2023 hardware for the asking price (specially considering that it is an accessory for a already high priced product). And if you want wireless audio it's even more expensive. Why, Sony???
You can tell this was a quickly-thought-up product that Sony just decided to drop out of nowhere to milk their consumers. No way in hell was this thing planned prior to the PS5's launch.
This would be a much better sell if the PS5 had dedicated hardware in it meant to stream to this thing if you were within a few hundred feet, and would have next to no latency. You know, like how the Wii U pulled off flawlessly when it launched 11 years ago. The Wii U had less range than I just described, but certainly a solution to that could be thought up 11 years later, right?
Thank you DF for actually reviewing this device. Other channels praised the IQ and responsiveness, when it was easily apparent (even over YT) that colour banding and dropped frames were a problem.
Now we know that lag is about 5 frames - which is pretty awful to be honest. I was expecting 2-3, something comparable to double buffer. Additional 80ms (on top of system latency) is really not good.
Well DF are technology professionals while other RUclipsrs aren’t, they are giving their honest opinions based on their ability to understand the portal. For most it was good because they don’t care about 60 fps or 1080 p only that they can play.
Very few youtubers have the knowledge or tools to make these objetive and detailed technical analysis, it's the kind of content that I don't ever bother to watch if it's not made by DF.
Anything over 40ms ain’t great. 80 is awful.
@@offspringfan89 While normally I'd agree, how hard is it to take a picture of the Portal and the TV to compare the difference? It's not like you need an LDAT or a high speed camera.
Even in the IGN review, dropped frames and hitching are all over the place - all the while the presenter states how smooth the gameplay is.
In my experience the portal only gets about 40ms lag, so about 3 frames.
I was surprised they didn't have an option to connect it directly to the console, especially if you're in the same room. It would have made it a lot better, with the remote play when away from the console as an added bonus. I wouldn't be surprised if this is just testing grounds from a new handheld in the future, or something similar to the steam deck with local installs but also being able to stream.
Could have had an option to stream from the console directly AND an option over WiFi. Could have had an OLED screen. Could have had Bluetooth and generally be usable as a controller when not streaming. Could have came with a dock that isn’t required to charge it, just an option. All this would have been enough for me to forgive it for not being a stand alone cloud streaming device, as being that on top of it all would have taken the cake, and given Sony a real edge over its competitors.
None of that. In 2023. Wild.
Minimum Effort for Maximum Profits
It's a half-baked product without a unique selling point.
Add to that any number of devices that can already do Remote Play, cost less and have been available for years. You could get a seperate older smartphone and spare DualSense just for Remote Play for example, and it'd still be cheaper.
@@J.A.Z-TheMortal it is 200 dollars, you can’t get oled for that price
The next one... Maybe
@@oo--7714 A lot of people will probably already own a smartphone with a OLED display, these days.
Also not true, OLED phones like the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, Galaxy A32, Poco F3, Honor X40, TCL 20 Pro or Motorola Moto G52 can all be picked up brand new for under $200, now. Hell, if you go second-hand then you can easily snatch up fairly decent but older mid-range OLED phone from 2020-2021, for well under $200.
Admittedly, it would be pushing it with a DualSense controller also bundled in, but then again you should already have one anyway.
I didn't knew that someone can create such a useless device, especially big corpo lol
How is it useless when it works as advertised?
Honestly, I don't know why Sony released this product. It's far below the quality standards Sony usually has.
Not with a decent Internet connection it isn't
@chirpywiggins5796 it's still a crap shoot of a device. No gaming peripheral should come out of the gate like "it may or may not absolutely suck, depending on multiple factors surrounding your home network". The wii u and smartphones do it better.
@@chirpywiggins5796Internet connection doesn't improve the display or change the fact that you can only stream from your ps5 instead of directly to it with ps cloud streaming or add bluetooth.
The difference with the Wii U game pad is the console sends the data right to the game pad not through your wifi. This is why I think Sony need to update the Portal so it can also connect directly to the console and not use your wifi. That would probably improve quality of the picture and latency.
I agree, just add a “home” and “on the go” options.
@@BigMidge86 exactly
knowing sony. 😢 not gonna happen
@@qwerty6789x how do you know
The portal already uses fully local communication when at home, so there is no point for an “at home” or “on the go” option.
It switches automatically if it can’t find the PS5 on the same network/LAN.
This device should have been WiFi 6e with AV1 Encode and Decode. Those 2 things would have really, really made the experience a lot less vulnerable to issues.
does the ps5 even support av1 encoding?
@@legendp2011 Nope. RDNA 2 doesn't support AV1 encoding.
Exactly why I didn’t get one and won’t. Sony really went cheap on the internals and scaled up the price for the tacky ps5 controllers on the sides.
@@ChiBrianXIIIAV1 was finalized after the PS5 start production. 😂
Ummmm. No.
- No direct connection to the PS5
- No Bluetooth support
- Isn't better than the free Remote play latency (which is still inconsistent no matter how fast your internet is)
- Weak battery life (even though it only does streaming)
You can use it as a spare controller, I've been using it today!! 👍
@@WayneCatlin Oh cool! Didnt know that, thanks for letting me know :)
I hope they can make a mode that mimics the Wii U approach via firmware update! 😅
nope
agreed
doubtful, it would probably need a dedicated dongle in the HDMI output
Yeah, you can download some more RAM while your at it.
If those sticks start drifting, it's a £200 paper weight.
They will. They didn't change the Remote Play protocol for the device, they're not going to have magically put hall effect sticks in, but what they will do is charge an exorbitant amount of money to repair them when they break.
@@JimBul-j6v This is the only reason that is stopping me from purchasing this.
@@JimBul-j6v Why would they use Hall effect sensors? Basically no console uses them except the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast, and those also have issues when the magnetic field sensor shifts over time.
@@joemamr710I think he was talking about hall effect sensors as a solution to stick drift, not expecting someone to say "yes but eventually they'll have faults too, probably! Nyah! " like it's a point of pride to out-nerd someone (good nerds realise it's not a competition 😂)
Anyway it's not entirely relevant - the sticks have been shown by iFixit to be changeable without major issue, and in an easier way than regular DualSense controllers.
Hoping PS5 pro in the future could add a dedicated WiFi chip to connect directly to the portal, ensuring a better lag performance just like what WiiU did. WiiU has two WiFi chips, one 2.4 GHz for internet connection and one 5GHz specifically for gamepad video streaming.
If a "PS5 pro" becomes a real product, I'll be amazed at the sheer greed of Sony. Any time people suggest it's possible existence I shudder at the price paired with the absolutely diminished returns it would offer.
There won't be a Pro model this generation.
@@smittyvanjagermanjenson182The sheer greed of having a mid gen refresh that people want? What?
It's not nessesary this time. Games were being downgraded just to work at all on ps4 as early as 2014! Whereas the bottleneck this generation is the lazy developers more than anything else. And trust me, nobody wants a mid gen refresh
@@smittyvanjagermanjenson182i mean if you are not living under a rock the PS5 pro has all been leaked already and 99% happening.
Richard knocked it out of the park with this review. Its just so professional.
It should definitely have cloud streaming. The fact that you need your ps5 running in the background (standby mode) just isn't good enough. Those who know how much the electric bills can be will not be happy . Wish the screen was Oled too.
are you sure that it's only standby mode? i always thought that the ps5 operates normally when using the portal? so ~ 200 W of power consumption?
lol what did you say after the first 2 coherent sentences? Did you get hit in the head or did the drugs kick in after that?
@@williamphillips2671 lol, corrected "have" for "who".
@@wanshurst2416 If that's true then it's even worse. Another reason not to get one i guess.
@@infinitysynthesis The console still has to run the game the exact same way as when you're playing on the PS5 directly, so yeah, it does have to run in full power mode. It'd be a miracle of technology if it could do it in standby, lol.
The chip is strong enough to run PSP games and maybe even Vita. It would be amazing if they re-opened the PSP online store! Great hardware, that doesn't realize its potential.
I could see Sony being Sony and releasing a peripheral for this that connect via the USB-C port that adds a small SSD and some added functionality of some sort for $39.99. Play PSP, PSV, PS1 games natively on the go.
Nah, the chip is to weak, nothing higher than SNES can run, not only that but Sony wanted to close the psp/PS3 store, they don't want to support another one or suppor it for much longer
Would it be possible to have a supporting chip in the add-on hardware to run the games? I don't know much all about hardware stuff, like if the USB-C would have enough viable bandwidth to move data back and forth to run the emulation + system. It sounds hamfisted enough to be right up Sony's alley though hehe
I know they're not exactly competing devices but the contrast to how much effort Valve put into Steam Deck OLED and how little effort Sony put into this is stark.
I am extremely happy with my Portal. I play almost exclusively single player games, my PS5 is hardwired to my router and sits right next to it. Every room in my house the experience is the same. I don't get a lot of time with my tv set up because I have small kids and this device allows me to put a dent in my backlog. I have played exclusively on the portal since launch day. I even beat Spider-man 2 on it. I am very happy with it.
Why a person prefers to play on a small screen (with lag and lower image quality) while having a large TV at hand is beyond me.
I’m enjoying mine, but it’s very niche. I’ve been using it in the living room, mainly for PS4 era games and indie titles. Perfect for those, which tend to look a bit soft and blown out on my big 4K, they look crisp on the small screen. So it’s like a great backlog gaming peripheral. Performance for cutting edge PS5 titles leaves something to be desired for me though.
I’ve been using my Rog Ally to occasionally stream my PS5, and I’ve really enjoyed the experience. I get that it’s quite the price difference but I find it interesting they couldn’t add anything to the kit that separates it from using other devices you might already own. As it stands, I see no reason to spend the money to get one. But, if I didn’t have my Ally, maybe I would feel differently. I at least appreciate they are trying something here, perhaps gauging interest in the concept. If it does well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the PS6 come out with dedicated features for this type of device.
That's the thing, many people are now adopting the portable PCs like your Ally, the Steam Deck, Legion Go, Ayaneo and others. And they vary in price.
Valve's Steam Deck entry price is around $150-200 more than the Sony Portal, but you get a full fledge PC capable of playing its own games as well as streaming.
@@lazarushernandez5827that’s what confused me about the price point. It’s an inferior setup for what people can do with a mediocre tablet. That it requires you to connect to Wi-Fi, but doesn’t access anything outside of your system is so weird. Like, have it come with video streaming at the very least, something.
@@SadSackGaming Yah you should be able to at least use this thing to watch Netflix n stuff for that price like you can get a frickin used Ayn Odin for 200 and that thing does everything from Netflix to game streaming to remote play to emulation Sony cheaped out and and wanted the same non existent market of gamers as the Logitech g cloud which did MORE than this thing!
They are either testing the waters, or purposefully making a bad handheld so they can say people don't want handheld when we want another PSP.
It's the only explanations I can think of. Either way, not a great product.
@@theninjamaster67 Nobody wants to watch Netflix on a portable gaming device with a built in controller. They will always just use the phone they already have in their pocket 24/7.
About as useful as a inflatable dartboard 😂
About as useful as a chocolate teapot
It’s been incredibly useful for me. I’ve played my PS5 in the last week using the portal far more than I have in the last year.
It’s a great piece of kit that has been pretty flawless for me.
@@JimboDuke890 copium.
It’s genuinely a great device. Have you used one?
So its more or less a build-in remote play OS on a tablet with a PS5 controller.
No, tablets are useful
Richard, I still don't understand why the PS5 and Portal can't do exactly what the Wii U did already, right now. The PS5's Wifi 6 chip could be switched into a hotspot so long as the system is wired and not using the existing wifi antennae. Once the Portal is connected to the router, the PS5 could activate its Wifi card and put out a call to the Portal to check its signal strength to the PS5. If it is strong, then it could auto switch the Portal to the PS5's wifi chip for a direct connection. Then it could use its own bespoke transfer protocol sent with a future firmware update. The Wifi 6 card in the PS5 should easily be able to handle over 400Mbps to the Portal. Sony manufacturers the J20H100 wireless card in the PS5. Unless it's firmware is burned in they have to be able to send it new drivers and expand its feature set.
I feel like I also am one of the very few who fall into the niche this product was designed for. I have multiple PS5 consoles hard wired at home and I frequently do not sleep at my own home due to traveling. This device is not only comfortable, but given I am almost always somewhere with decent WiFi, it really does fit my particular needs quite well.
The gold standard of review channels. As always.
Would be nice if the portal screen would be able to be used in normal games as an inventory or map screen. Just like the WiiU
They could've went the route of the old Xbox app on xb1/360 (can't remember) , using your phone for maps and inventory....
The wii u second screen was a gimmick for me. Not really useful. Still to each their own.
What could Sony add to PSP now:
- browser;
- cloud gaming;
- Bluetooth for third party devices.
What could Sony also add to PSP 2:
- direct wired and/or wireless connection to PS6;
- emulator for classic games;
- OLED.
Just make its OS (most likely it’s Android) open to install apps. People will figure out software related limitations
I don't think they want that competition with Nintendo and waste more money on dedicated games for a handheld device can't beat Nintendo in terms of hand held
"PSP"
@@alinepiroutek8932 they don't want that competition with the switch though
@@deflategate1297 I didn't offer them to develop dedicated games for PS Portal.
They should simply improve what they already have.
The ps portal is precisely the reason why psvr2 is NOT wireless. I hope this shuts people up about psvr2 tethering…
My coworker just told me not 5mins ago that he bought one only to immediately go back to playing Mario Golf with me via steam link on our phones
Sony copying Nintendo's homework once again, but unlike the PS Move (Wiimotes), the PS5 Portal is a worse version of the WiiU's tablet and way more expensive.
Sony doing Remote Play ever since the ps3 era
The lack of direct connect is dizzyingly stupid. The Ps3/PSP could direct connect, and so could the PS4/Vita. Also +1 for british pronunciation of rooter.
If this device had a direct connection like the Wii U Gamepad along with an OLED display it would be good. Hell if it was $350 and could work as an independent device with Android it would be great.
It really wouldn't. That is the problem with this device. It's an Uber expensive device that Sony wasn't confident in the product so they didn't commit to contracts to get that price down. PSPortal has to compete with Nintendo Switch and it is already doing a bad job of it being the price of a Switch Lite. It is a gimmick that Sony is selling for $200 because they know that people will just buy it without asking questions and then get offended they got scammed.
Yeah, just like the Vita did amazing at that price point with those features...
Wifi is difficult to explain to people because of how many factors that affect it. Sony could have mitigated some of it by having a 802.11ax chipset. Wifi 6's traffic cop can be helpful for latency
(Edit: love the Portal fyi! Life changing!) Thank you for officially confirming the frame drops in ideal conditions. It appears the threshold of auto selection of bitrate by the ps5 is not adjusted properly, it constantly flip-flops between two 1080p bitrates.
Gotta say I really appreciate this review. Thank you for taking the time to understand and explain the PP (lol), as well as give advice on how to maximize its performance (lol)
Maximum pp performance is very important.
Thanks for the deep dive on the Portal, Rich. I have been playing it over the Thanksgiving holiday and enjoying it a lot. As you say, it works great as long as the internet connection is strong. When it isnt... its unplayable, literally. Over several days, my connection dropped twice to the point where it disconnected from the console. I am in the same room as my PS5 which is hardwired. Overall, I really like the Portal since the TV is usually in use by my family. However, it is incredibly frustrating to lose connection and therefore the ability to even use the Portal. I will be testing it this weekend at my mother in laws house, some 350 miles away so I hope it performs well on the road. Its a great device but with not so great choices. I give it 7/10.
Dude. Why didn't you just buy another tv? They literally had 55 inch tvs at Walmart for 150. You could have saved 50 bucks and added something more practical to your home
@@sleasy01Why should he? 55" TVs for 150 are trash. To get a good TV with this size you have to spend at least 800.
@@Buzz_1991 dude 200$ portal is trash. To get something decent you need about 600 to get a steam deck. 🤨 Same difference.
Better off just using your phone and a backbone controller. Also at least with your phone you have more functionality.
backbone cost $100
@@KevenLC Still cheaper than getting a PlayStation Portal. You can also link your dualsense up to you phone.
@@Donald_Allan everybody knows that…. Remote play has existed for more than 10 years…
@@KevenLC It sounds like you are a bit pissed for no reason 🤣
@@Donald_Allan no it’s just the whole ´but you can use your phone instead’ argument to be pretty stupid.
The reason it is not working (and probably never will work) as a controller is because the bloody thing has no Bluetooth. Absolutely horrible.
That dirt in the left corner of Richard device is killing me WHYYYYYU
Would be amazing with ability to play music, download video apps AND play directly from the Cloud.
Also no Bluetooth 😢
Huge missed opportunity for Sony to release a PROPER handheld. Once further down the line when the PS5 servers get shut down, this thing will be useless.
I think the days of a separate handheld like vita are over.
Future eWaste? Agreed. Lot of products out there that are cloud and/or phone app based will go this way.
I trust the homebrew scene will eventually crack the PS5 and Portal wide open across all firmwares, so as it starts to age out you'll be able to do anything you want with those two products. Imagine being able to emulate all manner of non Sony consoles and stream it to the Portal with lower latency and better picture quality than it does with the current Sony proprietary lock-in.
The hardware on this should still be much more powerful than the PS Vita. Theoretically, it could have dedicated games. PSP and PS1 emulation should be easy, PSV emulation too if Sony really wanted to.
Put an OLED screen on this thing and make it connect directly to the PS5 for low latency game streaming and you get a worthwhile device.
As it stands this thing just screams no effort cashgrab.
To me, the visuals on remote play with the steam deck seem a lot better. On my portal, I get a lot more frame drops. I still prefer the portal's formfactor and all, but I would have expected it to work as well/better than my steam deck.
So it's 20 times worst than using a PC with Moonlight and Sunshine, but you have to pay a lot of money for it. Why is this a thing?
We need a DF foundry test on which of these devices work objectively best for remote playe. Meaning least lag.
Just a point to make about wifi - it's not just the router's signal strength that matters, it's also the device's ability to send data to the router that affects signal quality. You can have the best router available but if the device's transmit power is weak, you'll have issues.
Knowing that it only supports 802.11ac, Sony probably used the cheapest mobile modem they could find.
For balance - I have had zero issues with mine, sure there is latency - but only if you look for it ( ie have the PS5 TV output visible at the same time - else you really don't notice it on the Portal ). As they say in the video though - the most important thing about a good experience with this is the quality and setup of your home network. I can use it fine in every room in my house, no need to stay in the same room as the router or PS5 ). I can even play it fine from other peoples houses , even tried it over 5G phone hotspot and it was totally playable. For some reason most reviewers seem to be upset that this isnt a Sony Steamdeck or a PSP - it's as they say in the video , it's a streaming device, a PS5 accesory. The upset is laughable to me - they are upset that Sony has produced a device that isn't a completely different device that they had in their head. Like convincing yourself that a Ford Fiesta should fly, buying one and finding it doesn't - then acting upset. Fully understand what its for and enjoy it for what it is.
Thank you!
Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep better at night…
Good thing I bought the steam deck oled .
Not being able to use it as a regular controller is a huge face palm
8:57 lol The Wii U was first released in 2012 with a wireless gamepad using that age's Wifi Tech... Zero Lag, and no loss of visual or audio quality.
There definitely was a loss of image quality on the WiiU gamepad.
First of all, it only streams the video at 480p, which is extremely low resolution. Like dreamcast level resolution literally.
Second, you can see compression artifacts on the WiiU gamepad.
Third, you can ONLY use the WiiU gamepad in the exact same room as the WiiU, within 8 or so feet of it, and not anywhere else at all.
1:05 it’s not a “streaming device” in its entirety sense, rather more limited “remote play” streaming. I feel like in the era of cloud gaming we gotta specify the main function rather the overarching category.
My first week was a little iffy. Stuttering etc. I did some tweaking and now have flawless experience with it.
Basically, it’s a handheld PS5. One of the best gadgets I’ve ever bought.
it's definitely not an handheld PS5.
@@AndreaFromTokyo it definitely is, if you want it to be. It’s flawless and I’m playing PS5 games in 1080p, 60fps. All of them.
That’s as good as it gets.
@@MattWiles Copium Maximum.
@@AndreaFromTokyo I guess Matt is in a better position to evaluate his own experience.
Wiseacre maximum.
@@PhilippeCorthout His experience, yes,
Saying that the portal is flawless and it's a portable PS5 no. it's a blatant lie.
The has to be the most useless accessory ever released : no native gaming, no cloud gaming, no support for any apps - it's only for WiFi gaming at a higher latency & lower quality than with the free remote app for mobile devices.
Oh look, it's the salty xbot Xenu who had a massive meltdown when Starflop was denied a GOTY nomination 😂😂😂
@@Michael-jr3gz are u okay? It's 9 am go find some friends or a hobby 🤣🤣🤣
@@jaimegarcia767 Nah I like making this miserable xbox fanboy mad 😅
@@Michael-jr3gz bro GOTY nomination means nothing. Not defending starfield at all, but shit at least it's a new IP 🤷🏽♂️ I like spiderman more but he at least they tried "something new"
@@jaimegarcia767spiderman series ripped off the rocksteady Batman games though
Are you certain the reported results aren't specific to your setup (or a small percentage of the population)? The unit is selling out, and consumers are singing it's praises.
I just tested Moonlight to my phone using this same technique and latency at 60fps (same as PS Portal) was 40-50ms. Not much better, but 1-2 frames is measurably faster. What's more is that I can switch to 120fps and get the latency down even further.
Oh, and all it costed me was $15 for a phone clip, and I can actually use bluetooth. 🤦♂🤦♂
Fanboys will still buy it because they eat whatever Sony dishes out, even if it's useless junk. The fact that it's using an outdated Snapdragon SOC from 2019 says it all.
Someone's salty his mum bought him a trashbox instead of a PS5 😂
@@Michael-jr3gz I have both and take a wild guess which one I play more 😄
It is using a 2021 snapdragon soc m8. It is 6 nanometers, more up to date then the steam deck lcd in that regard.
I'd pick 40fps 800p Medium/Low Steam Deck over 1080p60 with artefacts, massive jump in input lag, possible disconnections and more any day of the week.
Oh, and did I mention the constant internet requirement and basically unusability on public internet that requires web log in or even 5G. Yeah, this is definitely not the way and now I'm just waiting for the statement from Sony how portable consoles is a dead sector.
PD: Just imagine a PSP2 with the power of a PS4 running all that back catalogue of our already bought games.
That's too good an idea for Sony to go for. The R&D cost is too high, they want maximum profit for minimum effort. The Portal is the epitome of this philosophy.
Portable consoles dead sector? LOL, Every mobile is an actual portable console! You can play retro games with a proper emulator (RetroArch) anywhere in the world.
Complete missed opportunity from Sony to make an actual and proper portable gaming device that could potentially play PS4, PS3 and their older games while still being capable of streaming / cloud gaming of the latest console!
The guy above summs it well. Maximum profit for minimum effort. This device is a clear example of that.
I really think we'll never see a PSP sucessor with these guys.@@XPuntar
Testing moonlight on many devices I’ve noticed that Qualcomm decoders take significantly more time than AMD and Intels. 20ms vs 4ms. The difference resulting in being unable to play FPS games with mouse and keyboard without feeling the lag.
The PC decoder is likely performing much faster than the portal in your testing
That's why Steam Deck handles streaming much better than the regular android device
Oddly I found that the M2 Ultra Mac Studio decoder was slower than the M2 iPad
It doesn't have to be in the same room if you have a proper home network setup with multiple APs providing good Wifi coverage everywhere. But many homes don't have that.
The LCD on the PS Portal is incredible that I forget that its LCD not OLED. For $200 you can't go wrong with the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Cloud Streaming is coming. You can use Bluetooth on the PS portal at home with your PS5 connect your PS Pulse headset or Bluetooth Gaming headset connect your bluetooth dongle to the Playstation and you can hear it from the Playstation 5.
This. The “no OLED” complaints from those that don’t own one are truly invalid. I was skeptical as well and the screen is crazy good.
Man Sony fanboys are seriously coping in this comment section the screen is so mid it literally looks like the original switch screen
@@The_MEMEphis you clearly don't have the device if you saying that.
@@SteddiFLo you clearly didn't watch the video
@@The_MEMEphis I understand your jealousy. It’s okay. Stock will replenish soon. Hang in there.
I have really enjoyed this device. It's an RPG lovers' dream.
Your phone wasn't good enough?
@user-pc9mw3lr9e Absolutely not. This Portal has the biggest screen out of any portable. Especially when it comes to the tiny text some of these games use, bigger is always better.
It's a much better experience than a phone/touchscreen/backbone. It's the best Remote Play experience you can get.
This was always going to happen. It's exactly like what I expected. There's really no need to have a device like this for most people. Even for those who use game streaming a lot, you can do this with another device. Got an iPad with a PS5 controller? Good to go. Got a phone? Good to go. This is $200 down the drain for most people since most of us can already experience this with hardware we already own.
This thing even uses Android under the hood. If Sony made you able to actually use the full Android OS (to install apps, and stream whatever), then at $200 or even $250 it would have been a much better buy. Even if the chipset wouldn't allow you to play demanding games well or emulate PS2 and GC/Wii, it would still be a nice deal. Even more so if they had bluetooth and microSD support.
Agreed. I have literally bought TVs and gaming monitors for less than the Portal - less than half in fact - and with a HDMI splitter and long enough cable or whatever, you can second screen your PS5 with very little drama. Mine is hooked up to the living room TV, the gaming room TV and a gaming monitor on my desk. The latency is lower than Remote Play too.
It's been sold out since launch. People want it. Trust me. I've used one for an hour. And it's awesome. Problem is, not everyone has robust enough connections for it
Yet it's sold out everywhere
@@pennywisethedancingclown7139 I think using it for one hour doesn't really give you a very objective opinion on it and gives you bias confirmation anyway. Just because a product sells out short term and is hard to find, doesn't mean it'll become a memorable classic. Just means it's hot now and might be forgotten later, like so many products over the years.
In the nicest possible way, is Richard starting to look more and more, especially in that chair, like Darth Sidious.....
I hear the portal has gotten stability updates. I've had mine for 2 weeks and it's been practically flawless. I think you should do a follow-up video Rich... 🤔👍
The issue explained at the beginning about everyone not getting the same experience is exactly why this had a limited release. The amount of users that actually understand Remote Play, how it works, and how to use it well is incredibly small. Social media is proving that in droves.
Finally, someone talking sense about the realities of WiFi and rhetoric fact PS Portal is no different to running the PS Remote app on a mobile device.
There’s a huge difference between the two lmao
@@Yucare472Mind telling me the difference except the controller?
@@NoobMaster-ty7jxI have used Remote Play on Steam Deck (Chiaki), iPhone, and Android (PS Play) - the Portal is better than all of these because it has a larger screen, more comfortable controls that mirror the dualsense, and, most of all, it’s so convenient to use compared to these other devices. Wake the Portal, press the PS button, and I’m connected to the PS5. For that reason alone I’m using it way more than the other devices I have. I’ve been playing PS5 more often too since I picked it up. I have a decent mesh system at home so it works well anywhere in my home.
So you're basically paying the price of a fully functional console like the Xbox Series S for a device whose only redeeming quality over any other streaming device, including your phone, is that it's got a Dualsense attatched to it. A Dualsense you can't even use with your console! 😂
Yeah, not buying that ripoff.
This should be the de facto review for the PlayStation PORTAL! Thank you so much, Richard and the DF team for your comprehensive analysis of the experience that the Portal offers. Many reviewers skimmed on the surface, and failed to demonstrate how the Portal works under different conditions, which does not help us as consumers at all. You've done an amazing job (EVEN BETTER THAN SONY) detailing not just how it works, but how to optimise its performance as well if you do end up deciding to purchase one!
Rich, remember when you were perplexed that Sony sent you the Portal late? They knew the DF review would tell the truth.
Remote Play is nearly perfect on my phone, only occasionally hiccuping if multiple TVs are streaming 4K. Been logging hours of Skyrim and played half of SM2 with it. If scalpers weren’t destroying the market for these, I’d love to try one myself. My only complaint about remote play on my phone is the screen is too small.
Do you use any nifty controller/phone holder or only screen touch?
I have never tried remoteplay actually. My iphone SE 2nd Gen with 4.7” screen is perhaps too small?
As a dad who has to battle with wife and kid constantly over tv, this is my saviour. Now i can finish my yakuza backlog 😂
My experience had been very good. Yes, frame drops are there, but not too distracting. Image quality is good, and mine works well pretty much anywhere in the house… which is exactly how I’m using it, to play backlog games when the lounge tv is in use, or in bed. For reference, I’m using Ethernet wired to PS5, and Wi-Fi set to 2.4ghz.
What games are you playing, out of curiosity?
I’ve tried virtually my whole library (which is extensive, I buy a lot of games). That’s why I bought one over a steam deck, I already have a lot of PS4/PS5 games, and can do without another platform/store to spend further money on! lol. It’s hard not to want to see how a game will perform.
But almost everything works fine, the only slight exception so far being GTA5, and that’s only because the image looks a bit blown out/over bright because the display isn’t HDR, and frame skips are more noticeable on hard camera swings (you turn a lot of corners when driving). It’s perfectly playable, just the only one I felt I’d avoid. Weirdly the definitive edition of San Andreas works fantastically, maybe because of the simpler image?
I just got one. The only complaint is has no bluetooth connectivity and you can't change bit rate. For something that isn't for everyone this is a anti consumer (apple decision).
Remember the NVIDIA Shield tablet? It was built for streaming GeForceNow but also ran android games natively, and was very good at that. It could stream from your PC as well. Now you have this PS Portal that can’t run games natively and requires a $400-500 PS5 to be useful. It seems like a big step backwards.
Everyone says that you can use it with your phone's hotspot
Let's be honest
That's not gonna work well in 99% of the cases
I would better spend a bit more and get a refurbished or new steam deck
The deck is excellent at doing exactly what this does and can play natively, plus it's basically a laptop. I agree with you, as cool as the portal looks I don't really understand the point
@@theclawlivesThe point is the full Dualsense being included. It's also the easiest way to achieve remote play. For most PS5 owners it's arguably the best way to use Remote Play.
@@BigDoniel I suppose. I think it's really cool and the screen looks good, I'm surprised it's not OLED though. As someone who remote streams from my PC almost daily, I definitely get the appeal of RS. it's still just odd not having Bluetooth and some type of web browsing capability (so you can use it on public WiFi at, say, a hotel)
The Steam Deck works great with remote play. Takes some setting up, but worth it if you're into remote play. And you also have a standalone console to use too.
And with the OLED version coming out, you can score a used Steam Deck for cheaper than the price of the PS Portal. And it does about 10x more stuff...
Wierd how the media responded to this device. Praising something that can’t really do anything. This feels like one of the first real honest reviews of this handheld
Well Digital Foundry doesn't have to worry about Sony blackballing them unlike other media outlets. (LINUS MEDIA GROUP). Digital Foundry was cited in a legal document. Sony is afraid of DF and people will wait for a review from them.
Funny thing is that PS4 had direct connection remote play option with the Vita. I cannot think of a reason why PS5 couldn't do the same thing especially if you have the console wired to ethernet.
I'm going to assume there is no way to connect the Portal to a USB rj45 that's connected to the router which could be a way to reduce latency albeit sacrifying mobility.
I tried Horizon 2 and Dark Cloud(Chronicle) 2 on my new steamdeck Oled that came Friday, I was quite impressed with remote play. The PS5 is wired to the router like Richard said and my internet is good 650mbps.
How did you use remote play. Chiaki??
How did you use remote play. Chiaki??
Your internet has nothing to do with it unless you’re streaming outside of your home.
My ps5 test score is 470 mbps wifi and 820 mbps wired to router .
@@Docan690 Yes I followed a youtube video to set it up.
The jitter kills it for me
The Vita had the chance to do the funniest thing ever and remote play PS5 through remote playing the PS4, but it can’t
When they fail to sell and get discounted so hard that they're barely more expensive than a retail ps5 controller i would be curious enough to pick one up
I had one pre-ordered for my son for Christmas......it arrived and was returned 2 days later having seen reviews.
I think it would be in Sony's best interests to make it easily adaptable to PC use.
If they don't, homebrew modders will. If it's running Android they have several exploit entry points they can use.
Same for PSVR2 but that's not happening either
@@TheOldest PSVR2 has already gone the way of the Vita. It's a dead product early on in its life cycle. Why Sony spent all that money making it and then not supporting it with games, and worse not making it backward compatible with original PSVR baffles me.
@@JimBul-j6v Sony did just about everything they could to make sure PSVR2 failed, which considering many people consider the hardware the best VR headset for the price point astonishing.
The easiest thing could've done and still could do is make it compatible with PC ie the biggest ecosystem of VR users. At least it ensure people would buy the product and buy time for them to add first party software to support.
It honestly a head scratcher how badly it being managed and it's not even an old product yet.
@@TheOldestThe PS VR2 is the best VR headset no doubt