• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PlayStation’s first Remote Play dedicated device, PlayStation Portal remote player, to launch later this year at $199.99

Aces High

Member
I think the success of the Portal depends on the latency.

If it only works properly in perfect setups where you sit right next to your console then it's pretty much DOA. But if it can deliver low-latency remote play in any average home situation with walls between console, router and Portal then I can see the concept behind this device becoming a success.

The $199 price tag is at the highest end of what I am willing to pay for a a device like this. The fact that they decided against OLED is a real disappointment and makes the Portal look like a half-assed effort. It's a bad decision and conflicts with my perception of what the Sony and PlayStation brands are about.

Since it only works with the new PlayStation Link™ headphones, the Portal's real price tag is $350 or $400. This is too high. For this price I can just buy a second PS5 for my bedroom instead and play without any latency whatsoever.
 
Last edited:
I think the success of the Portal depends on the latency.

If it only works properly in perfect setups where you sit right next to your console then it's pretty much DOA. But if it can deliver low-latency remote play in any average home situation with walls between console, router and Portal then I can see the concept behind this device becoming a success.

The $199 price tag is at the highest end of what I am willing to pay for a a device like this. The fact that they decided against OLED is a real disappointment and makes the Portal look like a half-assed effort. It's a bad decision and conflicts with my perception of what the Sony and PlayStation brands are about.

Since it only works with the new PlayStation Link™ headphones, the Portal's real price tag is $350 or $400. This is too high. For this price I can just buy a second PS5 for my bedroom instead and play without any latency whatsoever.
if you get another PS5 for the bedroom, doesnt it technically cost you the PS5 + $1000 for that OLED you so crave? Unless you already have a second OLED in your room, but that still doesn’t help you in your kitchen, in your office, in the bathroom, etc.

I think it’s a little bit disingenuous to say the real price is 350-400 because you have to have the headphones, but you might have a point. You're buying the portal because you want the best possible remote play experience and it appears the only way to further maximise that experience wirelessly is through the use of PS Link-supported headphones. Didnt they say though that they’ll be licensing the PS-link protocol to third parties though? Far cheaper options are sure to become available, and hey, in the meantime, you could even just use wired headphones
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
If you want a cellular version, its better to get the Razer Edge 5G.
Or even better, get a real handheld like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. Both can provide you 3 to 8 hours of gaming easily without the need to fuss about internet connectivity or leaving your console on at home when you go out.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I think the travel aspect of the switch and other handhelds is overrated. I always take my switch with me on plane rides and i honestly cant last more than 10 minutes playing it on the plane. The experience even with fancy noise cancelling headphones is trash with just how uncomfortable you are on planes. I can see kids being annoyed that you cant play this during long car rides but adults are typically the ones driving.

i have stayed in airbnbs and have always regretted not bringing my PS5. This thing would probably not work on hotel wifis but going to your relatives over thanksgiving, christmas and other extended holidays, this thing will come in real handy.

Besides, if sony went the vita route no one would support it. no one other than nintendo supports the switch. whats the point of a ps portable when you cant play FF16, star wars, diablo, street fighter, and spiderman on it? Sony would need a $800-1000 machine that runs the PS5 games natively whenever the 3nm chips come out reducing the thermal costs of a 10 tflops gpu, and none of us are paying for that. This is a perfect compromise.

P.S My guess is that this is made for the Japanese market. they have fast internet everywhere. Even on trains.
The truth is just handhelds are used at home anyway. So playing ps5 grades on it? Better than 720p low.
 

vivftp

Member
I think the success of the Portal depends on the latency.

If it only works properly in perfect setups where you sit right next to your console then it's pretty much DOA. But if it can deliver low-latency remote play in any average home situation with walls between console, router and Portal then I can see the concept behind this device becoming a success.

The $199 price tag is at the highest end of what I am willing to pay for a a device like this. The fact that they decided against OLED is a real disappointment and makes the Portal look like a half-assed effort. It's a bad decision and conflicts with my perception of what the Sony and PlayStation brands are about.

Since it only works with the new PlayStation Link™ headphones, the Portal's real price tag is $350 or $400. This is too high. For this price I can just buy a second PS5 for my bedroom instead and play without any latency whatsoever.

The Portal uses remote play and remote play can be used from completely separate countries so long as a decent internet connection is present. Here's a video of someone in Spain streaming from their PS5 in the UK



Regarding the price and OLED, no doubt the decision to go with LCD over OLED is the primary reason they were able to come in at the $199 price point which is the line for many people, as you indicated for yourself. Opting to go with OLED would have just made the device more expensive. Yes, Sony could have taken a smaller profit margin on the device, but that's not likely at all as accessories all rely on their high profit margin. Plus, and I'm being frank here, if the device does become a huge success then that leaves open the door to a future revision that does have an OLED display.

As for the headphone situation, it works with the new PS Link headphones/earbuds, and it also works with any wired headphones. Sony is also letting other headphone manufacturers use the PS Link protocol in their units, so we'll see a wider selection of units on the market soon enough.
 

Aces High

Member
I have Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro and Sony MDR-7506 headphones at home. Both are wired and probably much better than the PS Link headphones, anyway. But they take up a lot of space and they're not aesthetically pleasing. I can already see my GF complaining when I leave them everywhere. I also expect the battery of the Portal to drain faster with wired headphones.

Here in Europe we can always return stuff that we bought on the internet within 2 weeks time. I'm probably gonna check out the Portal just because I'm curious how advanced the remote play technology is. But Sony really sucks for not using OLED. That's cheap.
 
I haven't seen officially either way
If you're using it in the home, does it even use your home WiFI or is it some other direct interface with PS5?

I truly believe that if the Portal had a direct connection with the PS5 (similar to the Wii U Gamepad), Sony would have heavily advertised that during the announcement of the Portal. It's WiFi only as pointed out by all the early, hands on preview people Sony invited weeks earlier. And according to them, the WiFi connection is quite robust, with very little, imperceptible lag (while sitting a few yards away from the PS5, in a "very controlled" environment).
 

yurinka

Member
I believe it was IGN that said it in their hands-on with the device at the Playstation HQ in the US, and it required the special Playstation headsets. Seeing how I can't connect my Sony XM5 BT headset to the PS5, this does not surprise me.
As far as I know you can use it like any other BT headset on PS5 or Switch using a USB adapter/receiver like Creative BT-W3. I have a Pulse 3D and comes with a USB adapter.
 
Last edited:
switch-lite-2.jpg

Not even less expensive.

You can't "transfer" your PS5 library to a Switch Lite...

You have to buy games specifically for it....
 
Last edited:

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
There are ways to connect Bluetooth headphones to PS5.
Yea but they're either wired or use extra hw. We already know one option exists on Portal, and it's possible (some?) dongles will work too.

A big reason Sony is doing Link is to make compatibility seamless and straight forward. People think all Bluetooth is equal and will blame them when their headset lags or sounds bad. Look at all the comments complaining about Bluetooth.
True, BT audio has plenty of issues to begin with, will be interesting to see how Link actually compares in more in-dept tests.

I truly believe that if the Portal had a direct connection with the PS5 (similar to the Wii U Gamepad), Sony would have heavily advertised that
Since introduction of RP - every PS console (PS3,PS4,PS5) supported direct connection to their handhelds (PSP or Vita) - it's not exactly something new to advertise.
It doesn't guarantee Portal will work the same - but precedent suggests so at least.
The latency of RP on the Portal is another matter - and I'm still - vary on how that actually performs - the previews have been extremely vague on it so far.

I also expect the battery of the Portal to drain faster with wired headphones.
Is this... actually a thing on anything? I've yet to use a device that doesn't last longer using wired headset, compared to wireless or its built-in speaker...
 
Yea but they're either wired or use extra hw. We already know one option exists on Portal, and it's possible (some?) dongles will work too.

Just a simple 3.5mm to BT adapter (in TX mode) will do the trick:

 

ReBurn

Gold Member
If you want to use those exact headphones on your PS5 today - you either use them wired, or you don't. Nothing changes.


None of them that I know of - that's the point.
And all PS branded headphones for the past 15 years need a dongle to do wireless on stationary Playstations too.
You're kind of proving my point. PS5 was not designed to allow direct connectivity of wireless headphones. Which is strange, considering the Pulse 3D headset was released two weeks before PS5 and requires a dongle to work with the system. It's pretty silly to point back to the console never having supported wireless headphones as a justification for what's happening with Portal.

This Portal device was designed to support wireless headsets out of the gate. But instead of also including the most popular wireless audio standard that people already use every day they are only allowing their proprietary wireless standard, meaning that if people want wireless audio through this device they have to pay another $150 to $200 for a new set of headphones.

What's even more confounding is that the Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore reportedly will be able to connect to audio sources via Bluetooth. For a relatively expensive limited purpose device like this Sony could have spent a buck for a BLE antenna to be more consumer-friendly.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Which is strange, considering the Pulse 3D headset was released two weeks before PS5 and requires a dongle to work with the system.
It's only strange if you selectively ignore history. Every Pulse(and related branding) series headset used a dongle, for all of the stationary playstations (3,4 and 5). The point is this has been Sony's design precedent with their consoles and branded-headsets for 15 years, it's not coincidental or strange. And anyone that's used wireless headset on a Playstation in recent 2 decades expects to need a dongle or a wire.

It's pretty silly to point back to the console never having supported wireless headphones as a justification for what's happening with Portal.
Portal being a literal second-screen controller for the system, sticking to the system's established principles doesn't seem silly to me.
I appreciate your interpretation can be valid too 'device was designed to do wireless headsets' but at this point it's veering into personal interpretation of design intents. For a brand new user to the ecosystem, this approach to wireless may indeed look strange/surprising - but most of us on the forum here don't fall into that category.
 
Last edited:

Gambit2483

Member
Ok, this is pointless.
Whoever making these decisions at Sony needs to be fired.

They make decent peripheral/companion products but then either overprice them, handicap them, or both...and then completely drop them a year later wasting Everyone's time and money.
 
Last edited:

coffinbirth

Member
If you are considering this ACCESSORY, it means you ALREADY HAVE a PS5. You don't have to buy a second PS5!!!
facepalm.gif


THIS IS WHAT I REPLIED TO:
"At the 7 minute mark of their video they say : "And while it's not quite as portable as a Switch or a Steam Deck, it's less expensive".
THE END.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
This should also help push physical PS5 players to digital too, considering it is useful mostly for digital installed games, and at best can only run the 1 disc game in your disc slot.

you might not be using this in the same room as your physical PS5 library. Your library might be at the far end of your house, or in another country if you bring your PS Portal to oversea. And you're stuck playing whatever is in your disc slot

Essentially you can bring your digital library wherever you go with PS Portal, but you can't do so for physical games.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I think the success of the Portal depends on the latency.

If it only works properly in perfect setups where you sit right next to your console then it's pretty much DOA. But if it can deliver low-latency remote play in any average home situation with walls between console, router and Portal then I can see the concept behind this device becoming a success.

The $199 price tag is at the highest end of what I am willing to pay for a a device like this. The fact that they decided against OLED is a real disappointment and makes the Portal look like a half-assed effort. It's a bad decision and conflicts with my perception of what the Sony and PlayStation brands are about.

Since it only works with the new PlayStation Link™ headphones, the Portal's real price tag is $350 or $400. This is too high. For this price I can just buy a second PS5 for my bedroom instead and play without any latency whatsoever.
Or you can just use wired headphones.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
I agree with people comparing this with the switch lite or even the Switch.

Not sure the value proposition is there for something that you're ultimately not going to have a great experience with. You try to play this on hotel wifi or air plane wifi and it just isn't going to work.

You could play your switch offline in a hotel or a plane.

Like they could have given this a smaller screen, made it compatible with Vita, PSP, PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSN games and I think it would have more viability.

The Vita launched at 249 and had a lot more functionality than just remote play and within a year was 200 dollars... And this was back in 2012 and 2013... So adjusted for inflation, this has significantly less functionality than a Vita at a significantly higher price.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
You're kind of proving my point. PS5 was not designed to allow direct connectivity of wireless headphones. Which is strange, considering the Pulse 3D headset was released two weeks before PS5 and requires a dongle to work with the system. It's pretty silly to point back to the console never having supported wireless headphones as a justification for what's happening with Portal.

This Portal device was designed to support wireless headsets out of the gate. But instead of also including the most popular wireless audio standard that people already use every day they are only allowing their proprietary wireless standard, meaning that if people want wireless audio through this device they have to pay another $150 to $200 for a new set of headphones.

What's even more confounding is that the Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore reportedly will be able to connect to audio sources via Bluetooth. For a relatively expensive limited purpose device like this Sony could have spent a buck for a BLE antenna to be more consumer-friendly.

Going to back you up that that is strange.

Just because there is a precedent doesn't mean it is sensible. Sony should see how well Apple and even to a degree Samsung has integrated their product ecosystem to the point of not needing dongles and adapters.

PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro should have these capabilities built in.

That being said, I understand why bluetooth isn't the best technology for gaming.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
The Vita launched at 249 and had a lot more functionality than just remote play and within a year was 200 dollars... And this was back in 2012 and 2013... So adjusted for inflation, this has significantly less functionality than a Vita at a significantly higher price.

?

$250 in 2012 is $332 today
 

Aenima

Member
This is such overpriced junk at 200 dollars
No Cloud gaming
No Bluetooth
No 3.5mm jack
No oled
No cellular connectivity
Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does
It does have a 3.5mm jack.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TLZ

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I truly believe that if the Portal had a direct connection with the PS5 (similar to the Wii U Gamepad), Sony would have heavily advertised that during the announcement of the Portal. It's WiFi only as pointed out by all the early, hands on preview people Sony invited weeks earlier. And according to them, the WiFi connection is quite robust, with very little, imperceptible lag (while sitting a few yards away from the PS5, in a "very controlled" environment).
If it’s Wi-Fi only through router and outside connection, then it’s not great. Was hoping it would be not going outside. Just using my ps5 or my router.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
This is such overpriced junk at 200 dollars
No Cloud gaming
No Bluetooth
No 3.5mm jack
No oled
No cellular connectivity
Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does

They are probably charging for those uselesss Dualsense haptic gimmicks.

I rather have cloud gaming support tbh. Or at least cellular connection.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
This is such overpriced junk at 200 dollars
No Cloud gaming
No Bluetooth
No 3.5mm jack
No oled
No cellular connectivity
Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does
I also like to duck tape everything together.
 

vivftp

Member
This is such overpriced junk at 200 dollars
No Cloud gaming
No Bluetooth
No 3.5mm jack
No oled
No cellular connectivity
Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does

1. No Cloud gaming - It would indeed be nice to access PS+ cloud streaming. This device runs Android and currently PlayStation doesn't have an Android cloud streaming app. Until the day comes that such an app is created, I wouldn't expect that feature to be added to this device. We will see if that might be part of their upcoming "aggressive cloud initiative" that should be revealed soon.

2. No Bluetooth - Bluetooth for gaming is laggy, low latency horse shit, for the most part. That's what the PS Link protocol is meant to deal with as it's a low latency, lossless format. It'll be available initially on their new headset and earbuds, and they've said that the protocol will be available for other manufacturers to integrate into their products

3. No 3.5mm jack - It does have a 3.5mm jack

4. No oled - SIE are no strangers to putting OLED in their devices, so the fact that they didn't go OLED this time is a strong indicator that LCD was needed to hit the $199 price. OLED would have probably pushed it beyond that $199 sweet spot

5. No cellular connectivity - Use your phone as a hot spot then.

6. Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does
- A handheld remote play device with the splendid ergonomics of the DualSense, the haptics/adaptive triggers of the DualSense and a screen far larger than any phone would offer. You don't have to fiddle with any app as the device powering on automatically connects to your PS5. You don't have to drain your phones battery or have pop-up notifications distract you on your phone while trying to enjoy your gaming session. It should offer an even lower overall latency experience than a phone with an attachment via remote play since there would be additional latency between the attachment and the phone for controller communication, whereas the Portal has the controller built in so there's no additional controller latency added to the mix.


Here's a fan-made FAQ I had created to help explain some common points I kept seeing brought up on this device.


 
  • Like
Reactions: TLZ
1. No Cloud gaming - It would indeed be nice to access PS+ cloud streaming. This device runs Android and currently PlayStation doesn't have an Android cloud streaming app. Until the day comes that such an app is created, I wouldn't expect that feature to be added to this device. We will see if that might be part of their upcoming "aggressive cloud initiative" that should be revealed soon.

2. No Bluetooth - Bluetooth for gaming is laggy, low latency horse shit, for the most part. That's what the PS Link protocol is meant to deal with as it's a low latency, lossless format. It'll be available initially on their new headset and earbuds, and they've said that the protocol will be available for other manufacturers to integrate into their products

3. No 3.5mm jack - It does have a 3.5mm jack

4. No oled - SIE are no strangers to putting OLED in their devices, so the fact that they didn't go OLED this time is a strong indicator that LCD was needed to hit the $199 price. OLED would have probably pushed it beyond that $199 sweet spot

5. No cellular connectivity - Use your phone as a hot spot then.

6. Da fuck are you paying 200 for ?
U can easily add those side mount controls to Ur phone and do exactly what this overpriced peice of junk does
- A handheld remote play device with the splendid ergonomics of the DualSense, the haptics/adaptive triggers of the DualSense and a screen far larger than any phone would offer. You don't have to fiddle with any app as the device powering on automatically connects to your PS5. You don't have to drain your phones battery or have pop-up notifications distract you on your phone while trying to enjoy your gaming session. It should offer an even lower overall latency experience than a phone with an attachment via remote play since there would be additional latency between the attachment and the phone for controller communication, whereas the Portal has the controller built in so there's no additional controller latency added to the mix.


Here's a fan-made FAQ I had created to help explain some common points I kept seeing brought up on this device.


I honestly don't know what people get out of defending big corporations like ms and Sony.
Like they make an absolutely shit product and here u are defending their bullshit like they are paying u .
 

vivftp

Member
I honestly don't know what people get out of defending big corporations like ms and Sony.
Like they make an absolutely shit product and here u are defending their bullshit like they are paying u .

What you think isn't any of my concern. I'm buying this product day one and I'm sharing information to help clarify things. If you don't like that then I don't care. Good day.
 
Last edited:

TLZ

Banned
I agree with people comparing this with the switch lite or even the Switch

The Vita launched at 249 and had a lot more functionality than just remote play and within a year was 200 dollars... And this was back in 2012 and 2013... So adjusted for inflation, this has significantly less functionality than a Vita at a significantly higher price.
Sigh. For the love of God this isn't a console. You can't compare a controller with a screen accessory to a full on console.
 

Audiophile

Member
I think it either should have been as it is for $149 or..

..$249-$279 with an OLED display and a really basic SoC capable of emulating PSP, PSVita, PS1 & PS2, with a dedicated storefront for that stuff as well as direct streaming of all PS titles; as well as both local and non-local remote play.

It'd also be nice if you could just use it as like extra general dualsense controller while the game is on your main display, could be handy as a backup or for local split screen.

It's a very nice looking piece of hardware, it'll have a market, the name is cool, but it's kind of a half-arsed middle ground for the wrong price. It'll do fine but it's just a bit...ehh...

Missed opportunity.
 
Last edited:

lachesis

Member
Well - it is an add on. Good or bad, I think of this as optional device. Some will like it and some will find this entirely pointless. 199 at this day and age, don’t seem to be too outrageously expensive (I would have preferred 149 or even 160 or so,) and with preferably an OLED screen and capable of more than 120hz if they were selling it at 199 - but maybe technically difficult to achieve?

Either way, most add ons are just accessories. It is pretty much guaranteed not sell at 1 to 1 ratio to the install base, and one should just acknowledge it as just an optional device.
 
Top Bottom