Playstation 4: Remote Play to PC Needs Some Work

Jason Stettner of Gamerheadquarters writes "The ability to extend your Playstation 4 to computers was released today to support both PC and Mac operating systems so I decided to give this great capability a try."

[PixelGateUk]

I assumed it would take them a little longer to smooth it all out. Still pretty cool feature though

[ShadowKnight]

It works fine to me. The resolution (720P) is decent enough to enjoy the overall experience. I'm sure they will add 1080p in the future. Keep in mind it all depends on your internet connection too.

[Eonjay]

I'm able to play Black Ops and do just fine. Its more than adequate. Also, did you know that you can use your keyboard instead of the controller? I haven't figured out everything but circle is Esc, Cross is Enter and arrows are arrows.

Does anyone know how to remap the keyboard?

Also, my PC automatically records when I start using PS4 Remote play but the recording was causing my game to lag so I disabled it but may go back and adjust the setting later.

[GhostTurtle]

MLB The Show is absolutely unplayable.

[ShadowKnight]

@GhostTurtle Hmmm are you sure about that? I believe Rookie said he played it using this feature and said it was playable. I'm gonna try out MLB tonight to see if it works

http://n4g.com/news/1888815...

@Eonjay I don't remember how to remap the keyboard but I believe there's a software for that though. I use my PS4/Xbox Elite controller most of the time now.

[GhostTurtle]

@ShadownKnight

If you play on the lowest setting it might be playable. I couldn't get my timing down on RTTS bc the input delay is slightly off. That small delay makes a world of difference.

[fr0sty]

I believe the 720p is a hardware limitation. They included a hardware based video encoder in PS4 to handle the streaming stuff, and that is the same hardware that takes care of remote play. I think that chip is limited to 720p... it originally was limited to 720p30, but they unlocked 60fps later on with a firmware upgrade.

I imagine this is one thing that PS4K would expand upon if there is one. 1080p60 streaming.

[DemonChicken]

I think it's more of a connection issue hence the limitation, i.e. your connection. You can imagine the stream a 1080p would need a more beefy connection - uploading wise.

But I don't see no reason to withhold a 1080p option especially when some people has the connection to back it up.

[fr0sty]

Over internet, perhaps, but over local connections, which is where most of this is, that is not the case. In either case, streaming has always been limited to 720p. PC's pull off higher res streams, which is why I believe it is hardware related.

[TimeSkipLuffy]

@fr0sty Remote Play how it works always use internet to stream, I believe. There is no local connection. You can use cable connection for internet but the remote play feature would stream via internet and not local network.

[Smitty2020]

Yea it's an amazing feature abit of lag while playing but that might of been my upload speed

[IamTylerDurden1]

Works awesome on VITA.

[PhoenixUp]

"This is of course the first effort from Playstation to bring the ability to play the games on PC devices"

Actually the first effort from Sony to have Remote Play functionality between a PlayStation console and PC was all the way back in 2010.

http://www.engadget.com/201...

http://www.sonyinsider.com/...

This new update is an evolution of that 6 year old concept.

[skycaptin5]

Indeed, meant that to refer to just the PS4. I'll send an update out.

[FallenAngel1984]

Sony has some incredibly impeccable timing with this update.

Back in April 2010, PS3 received an update that allowed it to have Remote Play functionality with PC.

http://kotaku.com/5524889/p...

Then in April 2016, PS4 receives an update that allows it to have Remote Play functionality with PC exactly 6 years later.

[Agent_hitman]

I personally think it's a pretty cool feature. You can now stream your PS4 games on your PC without hooking/pluging your Ps4 to another monitor just to play games, especially if you're using your PC. And also it would help to conserve electricity because you could leave your TV off.

[nitus10]

You are quite right remote streaming is a cool feature, however since my monitor has two HDMI ports. With the touch of a button it takes seconds to switch between the PS4 and the PC.

As for saving on power usage, my PC when idle or just doing some minor jobs such as web surfing or using an Office suite consumes about 40W. My monitor consumes about 20W and when I am running my PS4 (CUH 1202A) consumes about 64W when idle and 100W when playing a game (Bloodborne).

I just verified the above power values with my what-meter which monitors power to all the devices I have mentioned.

For me there is no power saving since I am using a 24" 20W IPS 1080p monitor which is shared between both my Desktop PC and my PS4.

One thing I can't test is how much power the streaming application takes since I don't run a Microsoft Operating system. As an example if I do a download on my Desktop it can add about 10W to my power usage.

If I want to play my PS4 on my 55" HDTV which consumes 167W in operation it takes me about a minute to make the change since the PS4 has a standard power lead and HDMI connection. So by not doing that I can save a significant amount of power.

[Bathyj]

So what is this exactly? Your PS4 plays the game but you stream it to your PC? Why would anyone want to do that and not just play it on their TV other than if that TV is being used. I dont get it.

[Vipre77]

Because with remote play you don't have to only use it on a local LAN or local wifi connection. It certainly works best that way, but you can also access it from anywhere with a good internet connection if you have everything setup correctly. Traveling and have your laptop with you but your PS4 is safe at home? Fire up remote play and get your PS4 game on. Results can vary wildly doing that, but it can work.

[Bathyj]

Well that makes sense I guess. No use for me but thanks for the info.

PS
Funny how I can get 10 disagrees for asking a question. How can you disagree with a question?

[Poroz]

What if the cat turns off your machine when your trying to play it somewhere else (not in the same house) :) or dog, or a power outage,or a blizzard or fucking king Kong comes and eats my ps4..Your screwed, You will then have to listen to your boring family on vacation. My NES,SNES,N64 went with me everywhere, when I was a kid. Hooking that thing up was part of the fun! It always worked and was always dependable. Now PC remote play on any TV. That makes sense. You can lug around a console but a gaming PC tower.. no way.

[nitus10]

You are quite right.

However the PS4 is fairly small and you only need a standard power cord and HDMI cable (a few dollars) plus controller(s) so it is very easy to take your PS4 with you if you are travelling since most hotels or residences you stay at would have a HDTV with at least one HDMI connector.

Of course this depends were in the world you are and what you are doing but if you are taking a laptop and there is internet then there would also be a HDTV unless you are roughing it and if this was the case why would you take a laptop.

[Legion21]

If you share a television

[nitus10]

Having a monitor with twin HDMI connectors allows me to switch between my PS and PS4 in seconds so I don't have to share a TV.

Basically my wife gets to watch what she wants to watch and I can either play the PS4 or use my Desktop.

[Rhythmattic]

PSVR FTW !!

[II__BONE__II]

Ya it doesn't make much sense for me either. My PC is already hooked up to my big screen via HDMI and my PS4 is connected to the same TV so I can't see this feature being any use for me.
On the other hand!!!!!!!.....External HDD support would have been super useful. I have a 2Tb HDD in my PS4 and it's already 85% full.

[Bathyj]

Eventually youre going to have to do a bit of housekeeping.

[II__BONE__II]

Ya I know but it's a major headache. I already had to delete all the Free plus games to my library so now all I have installed are most of my AAA games. Problem is when your HDD gets too full you have to uninstall an older game to play a new game then some rainy day you feel like playing an old game so you have to uninstall one of your newer games. not to mention the time involved in doing all this,a problem solved by Sony supporting external hard drives.

[IanTH]

We have the same setup (PC & PS4 on the same TV), but I'll essentially use it when I want to play a little bit of something while in bed - same way I use my Wii U (well, the few times I use it anyway). I've installed it on my Surface Pro 2 and it works pretty well as a contained way to play PS4 in house, but away from the main TV.

You can also do stuff like remote in and start downloads while at work (which I find works better than using the site to try to get the PS4 to initiate a download). You obviously wouldn't do the majority of your gaming this way, but any way you might use the Vita to remote play you can now do it with a larger screen and a PS4 controller.

Another bonus being basically everything has better WiFi than the Vita - such bad WiFi on the OG Vita that I had a lot of problems with connections even when I was very close to the router. I don't have these issues with other devices running remote play.

[nitus10]

@instantstupor

A reasonably good monitor is not that expensive.

Since you are connecting your PC and PS4 to what I assume is a 1080p TV with at least 1 HDMI port and possibly a PC display port, you obviously need a monitor which will support both PS4 (HDMI) and your PC. The problem you will find is deciding what type, resolution and size monitor to get.

For a 1080p monitor that you wish to share between your PC and PS4 I don't recommend going much bigger than 27" and much smaller then 24". The reason being while a larger screen is great for playing a game on it can be very hard on the eyes if you are working on your PC since you actually can seen the pixels. This is why higher screen resolution are better, however they are also more expensive.

My monitor is 24" and while I would like a larger screen (curved is also preferable) when playing my PS4 that size when using my PC is fairly comfortable for my eyes.

Another thing to be aware off in choosing a monitor is it's refresh frequency in Hertz (Hz).

Most cheaper monitors are about 60Hz which is fine for PS4 games however you can get gaming monitors with refresh rates of 144Hz and higher that are only a few dollars more and these are much better for PC gaming. These "gaming" monitors can make a PS4 game appear to be much crisper especially in fast paced games.

If you are in the market for a monitor that you can connect your PS4 and your PC to, do some research and look at reviews. Also don't discount 4K monitors (especially curved ones) they have dropped enormously in price and most can up-scale although you will have to confirm this.

[cd1]

Bone - i think the point is you can stream your PS4 video to a different device so your TV can be used for other things at the same time. If your wife or GF demands use of the main household TV you don't have to stop playing, just get the laptop out and continue the carnage. Good functionality for most I recon.

[uth11]

When the TV is being used is a big deal. If you share the TV with one or more people it can be hard to get to play the PS4 when you want to

[OB1Biker]

I dont get how people can disagree with you.
Its obviously a very good reason and possibly the main reason to use remote play at home.
For me my kid is playing on the PS3 using the TV screen and remote play allows me to play my PS4 games on my tablet at the same time even if the PS4 is connected to the same TV

[Lng101010]

I have my desktop in the bedroom.

[nitus10]

So do I and my monitor has two HDMI ports, one for my PC and the other for my PS4 (I can even swap in my PS3). With my monitor I can switch between my PC and PS4 in seconds.

[yezz]

@nitus10

So do you just drag a 50 foot hdmi cable from a room to another? What if the bedroom is on the second floor for example. Remote play would be a much easier solution imo..

[oONinjavitiSOo]

In my situation I travel quite often so as long as my ps4 is hooked up to the Internet and is in standby I can play remotely from anywhere worldwide so long as I have a solid Internet connection from where I'm trying to access remotely. It is what the ps vita and xperia have been doing for awhile now. It's a great feature to have. However if you're Internet is not very good, you are going to have problems. But for those that have have solid connections should enjoy it.

[SojournUK]

'PS
Funny how I can get 10 disagrees for asking a question. How can you disagree with a question?'

Dude, welcome to n4g, where people disagree, downvote and report posts for no apparent reason.

Cue me having yet another bubble removed...

[kmeck518]

It's great for me because I can play when I've got down time at work.

[bub16]

Some people have partners/kids who watch tv, it's easier to remote play then kick them off and have them moaning saying their bored

[Christopher]

Not really newsworthy. They already said PC streaming was at 720p only currently. So, just telling us that it's 720p streaming.

[II__BONE__II]

.

[MatrixxGT]

Meh, still no direct connect. I'm not upgrading my crap router anytime soon so here's another useless feature for me. Spent so much resources on this and can't even allow us to use a custom background. Sorry Sony I'm not spending $2 for a rainbow cat shitting a pop tart theme. Basic PS3 stuff...damn.

[IanTH]

The PS4 and Vita can direct connect, and that solved nothing for me. The Vita WiFi is just too weak, but I have basically no issues with other devices running remote play. I have my PS4 hard wired into the router, and my router supports 5GHz. 5GHz def works better than 2.4 in busy signal areas, but everything works better than when using the Vita. So if you haven't tried PC remote play, you should. Also give the custom remote play APK for Android a shot if you have an Android device - it runs great on my Galaxy Pro 8.4. Both of these will probably prove to be a better experience - assuming your previous experience was with Vita.

[MatrixxGT]

Vita works best when I'm direct connected. But only within 20 ft. Any other method just won't work well. Constant disconnects. I never could get the android app to work right. The two devices never would find each other. I even used the manual setup with the input codes. I'd rather use my 2 in 1 laptop which has a better wifi chip than vita and actually connect directly. even Xbox streaming is shitty with my router and the Xbox and PS4 are both hard wired.

[Vipre77]

The bad jaggies seen on that cat game are not because it's in 720p. Geez, reviewer guy. You should know better than that. What you're seeing there is latency and/or dropped frames in the streaming, nothing more. 1080p resolution won't fix that. Probably only make it worse, actually, as it would eat up even more bandwidth.

[skycaptin5]

Don't believe I said it was because it's in 720p, there's something wrong with the way that game is being streamed as Uncharted and Senran Kagura were running fine without those issues. They just didn't look as good as on the PlayStation 4 screen it was mirroring since it was in 720p

[LgbtWarrior]

Use a vita, trust me the pc remote play is really bad. Such a downgrade in color and graphics.

[GNCFLYER]

I've been using my vita for only this for a while and I agree. Probably the OLED screen.

Lol @ the huge difference between 720 and 1080. I mean there actually is just glad to see an admission.

[mixelon]

Wouldn't that be dependant on the pc's screen? On mine it certainly looks nicer than it does on my Vita. :O

[Poroz]

I remember the days where you had to move the console to another room if you wanted to play it. Such hard work it was.

[nitus10]

Yes unplugging your PS4 power cord and HDMI connector then taking the PS4 into the living room where you then plug it into a spare power connector and HDMI port is so much hard work. Oh I almost forgot the controller. 😉

[captainexplosion]

This is a really stupid feature for people to use within their home network (just spend $20 on a PSTV and you could have been streaming to a tv the last two years). But being able to stream ps4 games to your office is pretty cool. I have another PSTV at my office so I won't be using this though. Do you have to download an app for your PC for this to work?

[IanTH]

Yes, you need to download and install a remote play app on your PC/MAC. You can grab that here:

https://remoteplay.dl.plays...

[captainexplosion]

Awesome. Thank you.

[yezz]

PSTV is about $70 here. I'll just rather use this free and "stupid" feature with my laptop mate..

[ShadowKnight]

A few people on here don't like 720P resolution, last time I checked Quantum Break was running in 720P and I don't hear anyone complaining about that lol.

[thisgamer503]

That's because xbox fans don't mind sub-1080p resolution. Sony fans are the ones insisting 1080p or bust. Weird with the streaming it's like both camps are opposite. All the sudden with Sony fans 720p is fine and with xbox fans they insist on 1080p. Weirdness indeed. It's almost as if fanboys will just defend their camps regardless of their past mindsets.

[ShadowKnight]

Lol

[Bogan]

Love this feature and works fine for me too and no more fights with the wife over the big screen tv when she wants it ill just play on the mac.

[nitus10]

I do agree with you.

My monitor allows me to switch between my PC and PS4 in seconds so my wife can watch what she wants to watch and I can use my PC or play my PS4 or if I swap my HTMI connector over, my PS3.

Just because I won't use this streaming feature does not mean others won't, which makes it a great value added feature.

[TwoForce]

I'm sure couple months. Sony will update the software.

[OoglyBoogly]

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia and just played a quick match of Black OPS 3 on my cousins PS4 who lives Tampa, Florida. Not too shabby. Even the input lag wasn't horrible after a couple minutes of adjustment.

Video quality was YouTube level but...playable for sure.

[Enate]

See that's what I'm talking about the true greatness of this shows when you are not at home. Playing from work with a fully functioning DS4 has been great. I could manage on my vita but having a full controller and a 17 inch laptop monitor has been great. Played MadMax for over an hour no sweat.

[Whiskeyjacked87]

Using my MacBook Pro running OS 10.10.5 bought in 2012, I was playing great all afternoon. My PS4 is hooked up in my bed room but I wanted to watch the Jays game in the Living room. Remote play worked great for me.

[Aleithian]

Tried it on my MB Pro last night. Played some Fallout 4 just fine. Virtually no input lag. Really happy with this.

[TomLovesXBOX]

Here's an interesting scenario... Could I possibly set up my PS4 with the camera and remote play while I'm on a trip and go to playroom and watch whats going on at my house like a sort of surveillance system??? That'd be cool lol

[MasterCornholio]

Well I did that with my Vita and PS3 so in pretty sure you can do the same with a PC and PS4.

[Enate]

Yes you could and I do but I also have a wireless camera double surveillance never hurt.

[MRJefferson]

no 1080p? disappointed.

[Rhythmattic]

Working great on my Mac Pro...

I can now hide in the studio and pretend I'm mixing !!!

Oh dear, I can see where this is gonna go............
Must... Get... Back.... to.... Work.........

[neoandrew]

It NEEDS WINDOWS 7 SUPPORT, what were they thinking, most people still using win7?

[Nightmar3Demom]

Crap article. I'm running it on 3 different PC's. One of them is a cheap $300 HP laptop and I'm not having any issues whatsoever.

I'm not a journalist and I tried it on 3 different machines. This guy used one and wrote an article. Poor practice.

[Ratty]

No **** it takes some work. They just released it. What did you expect?

[marioJP87]

I just cant do it. I tried this last night. It did great streaming without lag or input lag but the unsharpened, smudgy 720P ruins it for me on my laptop screen. I'm so adjusted to 1080P and 1440P DSR on my laptop screen that I am easily annoyed but the resolution. I truuuuuly hope 1080P can be added to this. If so, i'll be using te feature again.

[jmtstan]

can't even connect to my ps4 not even the lowest resolution. I thought it was my connection issue, then i decided to try my vita... works perfectly without lag

[iNathan]

Hope they can bump it to 1080p, still works great here for what i´ve tested.

[thisgamer503]

What i'm curious about is why the heck can the xbox stream at 1080p 10-bit hevc while the more powerful PS4 can't do higher than 720p. I realize the ps4 has an onboard encoder that only does 720p, but what about the xbox? Does it have some special hardware that allows it to do 1080p or is it just using less gpu power for the game in order to reach 1080p while streaming? I'm honestly curious and would love a technical explanation as to how the tech is accomplished on each console.

[mozzie]

thats the point, the xbox one uses HEVC while the ps4 does not. the main goal of hevc is to reduce the file size or bitrate up to 50 percent while maintaining the same quality as x264. the xbox one got an update for the hevc stuff last year. the xbox one media player supports playback for hevc mkv from an external disk. my samsung tv does not support that. appearantly apps like netflix on xbox one also use hevc to reduce bandwith.

[thisgamer503]

Yes hevc is great for reduced bandwidth but requires way more power to encode than h264. That is why I'm curious how the xbox pulls it off while the ps4 is stuck with 720p h264 encoding. Bitrate has nothing to do with power. MPEG2 has a huge bitrate but is old and inefficient as a codec.

[mozzie]

yes i just read that too because you got me curious. well in my opinion the xbox one is not as weak as the general public wants it to be or believes it is. the games look fine and there are some games which are 1080p like GTA V and remember the xbox one still is able to run an app like skype while playing a game..
and playing hevc mkv files from the media player works like a charm btw, ive tested it.

[thisgamer503]

I don't really think there is anything extra graphical capability in the x1 otherwise we'd see it in the multiplat titles. The ps4 always has the better performing multiplats so that's why I'm curious how the xbox has better streaming capability. HEVC 10-bit encoding is no light task.

[Rookie_Monster]

Tried it last night and it was actually pretty good on my 14 Inch laptop. Surprises me a bit. The full 60fps is constant like 95% of the time with a few instances where there were blockiness and streaming artifacts rearing it's ugly head, and also a short period of sound crackling but those instances are rare. So I am glad it works out great over my network for a 60fps game. 

I played MLB the show 16 and it sometime looks like a real game. The option to shrink the screen size a bit in that game made the resolution a bit clearer and it is very much playable. 

Here is a screenshot taken directly from my Laptop and streaming it from my PS4 http://i1376.photobucket.co...
Casual fans can be mistaken it for a real baseball live broadcast. The graphics is insane. So all in all, a good first effort from Sony, and hope they will add a 1080p mode with a future update to make it even better.

[1nsomniac]

It's a start but it has got a hell of a long way to go. Compared to my SteamLink running flawlessly at 1080p. The quality of the PS4 stream is pretty awful at the moment. It really struggles to produce what it claims to be "720p" although it's not even close to outputting that. Maybe Valve could help them with some of their streaming & latency correction techniques.

[thisgamer503]

I've been so on the fence of picking up a steam link. I acquired an nvidia shield from a friend of mine and had to put a gtx 760 in my pc in place of my r9 280x just to stream to the nvidia. I wish steam would just release an android steam link app but I guess that would be shooting themselves in the foot sales wise if they have to push the steam link.

[1nsomniac]

The SteamLinks had it's up's & down's. When it first released the controller input was horrible. That got sorted (the controller is still pretty useless for fast paced FPS) & it was pretty good for a while but then updates kind of ruined the streaming quality & latency but then Valve went on a repair mission & it's now flawless. Putting a lot of work into latency correction. You could easily be playing now flawlessly at 1080p & completely forget that you were actually streaming it instead of playing directly. The input lag is completely non-recognisable & I don't get any artifacts or audio stuttering what-so-ever.

I use it completely wirelessly as well across 5ghz wi-fi connection on the highest "Beautiful" setting (recommended for wired users) but it works effortlessly.

There's a lot of updates pushed through especially if signed up for the beta updates. A lot of them can cause as many new problems as they fix but it's always repaired pretty much straight away.

I'm planning on picking up a Shield to. So I can move the SteamLink to the bedroom & have the Shield in the living room to use it as a Kodi media box as well as streaming my PC games.

[mahmoods26]

It doesn't work on Windows 7. How the hell does that happen?

[thisgamer503]

How? You're experiencing how. Always a business decision that decides these things. If you think about it, there is no reason why they couldn't stream ps4 games to the ps3 either but they don't. MS could stream x1 games to the 360 but they don't. They want you to buy one of their newer devices to stream even though older equipment is perfectly capable.

[EazyC]

This is great, props to Sony for introducing this. I'm downloading 3.50 system update now, but let me know, fellow shoestring-internet connection owners: does it run like balls on 5mbps connection? I'm out in the bogland of Ireland so I'm a little sceptical.

[1nsomniac]

It runs like a turd on a shoe on my 5ghz 50mb connection. Pretty much unplayable for me but good luck!

[Kyizen]

Works great for me, smart not to include 1080p cause everyone would just set it for 1080p and we'd have click bait articles talking about lag and dropped frames. I played AC4 and it worked just fine

[Ristul]

720p feels blurry to be honest, now that we are used to 1080p. Still, it's a nice feature.

[Pullmywaffle]

The first sign that it was to be avoided was the astonishingly high system requirements. An i5 for streaming when my $20 PSTV does it well? Yeah, i think not.

[HeyNowChillax]

Shareplay was patched and does output at 1080p, with a solid connection it's fantastic. Played many matches of MK in 1080p via shareplay and it's like sitting next to your friend while playing with perfect quality.

The encoder for broadcasting is limited to 720p on twitch/youtube/ustream/dailymo tion but if shareplay can do 1080, I'm sure they will patch remote play in the near future.

[WilliamSheridan]

I bought a PlayStation Tv for $20 from best buy thinking I'd use the remote feature...
Even on the Sony device it was spotty at best, and honestly not worth the effort. Honestly I don't think Sony or Microsoft need to brag about streaming to PC. I'd really rather they focus on making everything else perfect before cramming in more silly features.

I'm sure I'll get disagrees because someone thinks it's a cool bullet point... But, do you really use it?

[mozzie]

so many comments and yet only one guy is discussing HEVC which the ps4 does not yet support. and the fact that sony releases eemoteplay and does not support hevc makes me believe they wont support it anytime soon.

[tdodge72]

I used it with my Mac last night playing the division. I could hear my buddies but I couldn't chat. Anyone know what settings I have to make. I had the headset plugged into the DS4

[opinionated]

Why would anyone use this? If I'm playing ps4 or watching Netflix I want to be on the couch in front of a giant TV. If I'm playing on PC I want to be at my desk using a mouse a keyboard. Why would I plug my ds4 in my PC and lag play with crappy resolution? How about external hard drive instead of useless features? What am I missing with this being such a big deal? I'm not talking trash to those who use it, I'm honestly curious.

[SuperbVillain]

blops 3 is mad choppy