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A Review of the PS4, Plus Custom Install Tips

gaming-industry-330Traditionally, people fall into and then stick with a particular console — although some dedicated game fans with the financial wherewithal go for both. And, the type of consumer we’re looking at with a home theater is likely to want two or three consoles (and maybe a PC as well). It’s a pretty safe bet that anyone with a home theater and an interest in gaming is going to grab a PS4 starting on November 15th.

A Bit of History

Sony fans generally appreciate the level of quality the brand gives to its games and media — and charged a premium for its 2006 PS3 over its competitor the Xbox 360. It may partially relate to Sony’s Reality Distortion Field. Sony has made an interesting shift in its strategy this generation with the PS4 to move away from the all-in-one media center model, which is a bit of a bummer for us.

The PS3 was a powerful shot in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD wars (which are almost irrelevant today in our download-centric consumption model). All PS3s came with an embedded Blu-ray player and an interface that runs at 1080p. The quality of Blu-ray playback was so stunning that AV and movie industry veteran / video quality stickler Joe Kane maintains that the PS3 is the highest quality Blu-ray player available. In 2006, every house that bought a PS3 now had a stand in helping to end the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray debate. Microsoft by contrast only supplied an add-on HD-DVD drive to watch disc media in the Xbox. The PS3 also supplied local video playback and streaming through DNLA and free access to services like Netflix and Pandora. This is in addition to digital music and video purchases and rentals from Sony studios (did anyone actually try this?).

ps4-aloneHere and Now

Today, the PS4 offers the same quality Blu-ray playback embedded in the system. But, Sony has repeated in promotional material over and over again that the focus this time is on the games. To that end, they have not included DNLA or local file support. But, given the outcry from fans, this might be solved with an update later this year. There is no immediate plan to support using the PS4 hardware to watch live TV or DVR content. For third-party content like Netflix and Hulu Plus, Sony has chosen not to require the paid PSN network service, unlike Microsoft who locks those features behind its optional Xbox Live subscription service.

Considering the reliability issues with the PS3 and Xbox 360, you may want to consider offering clients your own service contract. By some outside estimates, the early Xbox 360 had almost a 50 percent failure rate over time. Sony is also known for its “Yellow Light of Death.” Both Microsoft and Sony stuck to their guns and fixed the heat issues while honoring warranties. The game companies are usually good at taking bricked consoles and sending replacements. But that’s a long process, and you can include a service contract fee and replace your customer’s consoles fast and eventually get a replacement from Sony or Microsoft. Service FTW!

Here’s a breakdown of a few of the basic specs:

  • 500 GB 5400 RPM hard drive (user upgradeable to a SSD harddrive — which I’ll go into later as a service up-sell you can provide clients)

  • 4K Video playback support (although games will be limited to 1080p due to a lack of horsepower needed to push that many triangles around). This would eliminate the need for one of Sony’s $700 4K media players.

  • 8 GB RAM and a blazing custom AMD graphics card

  • 802.11 b/g/n. No 802.11 ac, which is a shame. But, there is gigabit wired Ethernet — we’re integrators and we can suck it up and handle hard wiring it. And lastly Bluetooth 2.1 which should leave many possibilities for accessories.

Audio note: The PS4 has digital output only. The PS3 allowed for HDMI video and analog audio out. It’s not yet clear if an HDMI HDCP compliant audio extractor would allow around this. There is still a separate audio toslink out, so with most modern audio processors this really shouldn’t be a problem. Just one more nail in the analog-centric home theater coffin. Maybe time to pick up some HDMI troubleshooting gear…

ps4-controlerController: The DualShock 4

The DualShock 4 controller is one of the defining features making people look forward to the PS4. I’m personally excited about the incorporated audio jack. Like the very clever Roku 3, the PS4 provides a standard 3.5 millimeter headphone/mic jack in the bottom of the remote. Less necessary for a dedicated theater, but in an integrated living room, it can help family members live in quiet harmony. Headsets for live chat during games will be cheap and easy. Like the DualShock 3, it has vibration feedback, and includes internal speakers and game-aware lights (if you’re into that). The controller itself has a satisfying weight and good button feel compared to the previous anemic PS3 Dualshock3. One last positive — the controller is still charged by a standard USB port. This is a great opportunity for custom installers to provide a custom improvement in a game/theater room. How impressed would clients be if you incorporated USB charging into the armrests of the ridiculously expensive theater chairs you sell?

Related to the controller, and also very impressive, is the ability to stream and control any PS4 game to the Sony hand-held Vita game system — freeing up the main display to other family members. BYOD just showed up to the Home AV party. The remote also includes a touch pad input — a potential interesting game mechanic, as well as a workable interface for browsing the web on your theater display.

One other interesting input piece of news is that more games will support keyboard and mouse controls, just like on a PC. This will be a welcome addition to War Thunder MMO flight sim fans, and probably some real time strategy (RTS) game fans.

Accessories

Sony is hoping to push more users into a better online multi-player experience with the revamped PSN online paid package. Microsoft has long dominated this area with the easy-to-use Xbox live service. Most PS3 games required each developer to create their own online multi-player and matching implementations. Now, like Microsoft, there will be a single online player and voice chat ecosystem. Personally, while I will play with friends online sometimes, I have no real interest in getting slaughtered by a foul-mouthed 13-year-old in Ohio who has 15 hours a day to practice a game. Maybe I’m just getting old.

One online feature that maybe interesting to a particular gaming subset is the PS4s ability to instantly record and stream your game to a Ustream or Twitch account. Just press the “share” button on the controller and away you go. There are literally thousands of in-game videos on YouTube and these other sites, and people (mostly adolescents) are buying expensive digital and analog video capture boxes to post these videos. Now, it’s a simple native feature for those who want it.

One feature missing from the base PS4 package is the motion control/camera. It’s probably how they got the price $100 lower than the Xbox One. Sony has a history of ignoring its camera in most games, so we’ll see how far this one gets. The camera relies on visible-light cameras instead of IR like the Xbox Kinect. This means you’ll have to leave some light in the room for the camera to register user’s movement. It’s one more area where the Xbox connect tries to be more than just a game console — by providing an interface for navigating the UI and performing every-day tasks like video conferencing seamlessly (with dubious voice recognition abilities). But, with no real camera centric games for the PS4 out yet, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. In a future article, I’ll enjoy writing about integrating these types of sensors in theater room walls.

There are about six games being released on November 15th along with the PS4. Bearing in mind I haven’t played them myself, I’d recommend Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Battlefield 4 and Knack for families and light platforming gameplay. I think there will be more PS4 specific games this generation — the PS3 was notoriously difficult to program for developers so many opted to skip over that console. One sad note on games — PS3 games (both disc and digital) will not be backwards-compatible with the PS4, which is a sad-state-of-affairs. I’m sure it relates to the new system architecture requiring all new code. But, I’m also sure it can’t hurt Sony financially that people will have to purchase new games. It’s possible that in the future popular titles will be ported or emulated in the PS4.

Overall — the PS4 is a solid choice for you and your customers. If you’re perfectly happy with your functioning PS3 (mine is dead from the dreaded Yellow Light of Death), you may want to wait until more dedicated PS4 games are released.

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