Sony's PlayStation Remote Play Feature Expanding to Mac and PC Tomorrow

[aarond12]

For those of you crying "lag, lag, lag", you're doing it wrong. My Vita has NO problems streaming games and content from my PS4 (wirelessly, obviously). My PlayStation TV (it's a tiny set-top box, not a TV set) has NO problems streaming using direct WiFi streaming (PS4 --> PSTV direct) or over Gigabit Ethernet. Sony did an excellent job with those peripherals; I expect the streaming will work equally well on my Mac.

 

[jonnysods]

Hold the phone! This is interesting!

So do you pair the PS4 controller with your Mac?

 

[XTheLancerX]

Well my 4G gets 30mbps+ let alone my home internet, so really in 2016 10mbps should be the minimum.

I get 15/1 speeds with my home internet ($60/mo) and 30/5 speeds with 2-3 bars of LTE. I don't think 15/1 is sufficient for this sadly, and it would gobble up my data allotment on LTE.

US has bad ISP competition. Usually there's only one good option, two at most in an area, unless you're in a major city. So we are kinda at a standstill in terms of internet speed. Most will only get about 15mbps.

Remote play works really well on my 5k iMac using VMware fusion and Windows 10. Runs at 1080p between 12-16Mbps.

Don't need it now though after moving the Xbox one and ps4 into my office/man cave along with a 50" tv

12-16mbps up? Or down? Wouldn't the upload speed matter far more than the download? Because in that case I'm screwed I get 15 down but only 1 up.

For those of you crying "lag, lag, lag", you're doing it wrong. My Vita has NO problems streaming games and content from my PS4 (wirelessly, obviously). My PlayStation TV (it's a tiny set-top box, not a TV set) has NO problems streaming using direct WiFi streaming (PS4 --> PSTV direct) or over Gigabit Ethernet. Sony did an excellent job with those peripherals; I expect the streaming will work equally well on my Mac.

So it works locally and that's it? Doesn't matter how good your internet connection is?

 

[MrJM]

Ive remote played a few thing and was impressed! I was using a Z5 and it was all done through wifi. Picture quality left a little to be desired even at 720p but it was smooth and I was able to play the Witcher 3 no problems! Arkham Knight worked well to! Cant wait to use this on my Macbook!

 

[Dickie]

I'll definitely give this a try, but if it's anything like the Vita's Remote Play software it will be plagued with lag, video glitches and random disconnects. It's a pity Sony didn't bake this capability into the hardware like Nintendo did with the Wii U as that has always worked perfectly (albeit with the range limitation of the GamePad).

I'm with you - hopefully that 'better' hardware will make up for most of the lag. The Vita was always crippled by 2.4Ghz wifi and even hard-wired the PSTV was only 100MB/s.
On the upside, I can now get rid of that HDMI splitter on my 2nd monitor with the PlaystationTV plugged in. Who knows, maybe we'll even PSNow for game streaming on the OSX App store soon..
[doublepost=1459891034][/doublepost]

Hold the phone! This is interesting!

So do you pair the PS4 controller with your Mac?

Reading the article, it looks like you have to connect the DS4 to the Mac/PC via USB (at least for now)

 

[brendu]

I don't think that will really work nicely.
PS 4 streaming over internet..? Wouldn't surprise me that a STABLE 10 mbps is needed for it being "playable" on low-rez.

I understand "in house", i.e. 300 mbps Wifi, etc. now.... (about the b*tchin' wife)

I've done it on my vita. It works pretty well as long as the ps4 is connected to the router by Ethernet and the vita has a good strong wifi connection. I was about 500 miles from my PS4 and played destiny online.

 

[MH01]

See macs can run games

 

[bpeeps]

One reason why I never bought a current-gen console. I cannot stand using a controller.

Console games have used controllers for a long time, not just the current-gen.

 

[Eorlas]

I have very different experience of remote play to a lot of people here. I played a lot of assassins creed 4 on my vita during breaks at work, with no problems. On crappy work wifi and a not that special Home connection miles away.

I really don't understand how it's so variable for different people. I'm really looking forward to this.. The ability to basically idle and casually play Destiny for example while doing more productive stuff on my other screen sounds pretty great.

It can come down to a small thing like the hardware behind what's servicing the connection. The stability of the connection in the area can play into it.

Someone could also have little issue browsing facebook, then get to a game and have a poor experience due to packet loss.

 

[bungiefan89]

Resolution defaults to 540p, but can be changed to 360p or a max of 720p. The default frame rate setting is 30fps, adjustable to 60fps.

As expected ... lemme guess, wi-fi? Yeah, streaming is okay on paper, but bottlenecking it with wi-fi is TERRIBLE for gaming. Every input on the controller has lag, and that leads to a horrible gaming experience ... even after you compensate with reduced resolutions and frame rates!

WHEN will Apple get with the damn times from 10 years ago and start putting HDMI in/out ports on their desktop computers!? Locking an iMac's beautiful 27" display behind some garbage Thunderbolt ports that don't work with anything is positively criminal!

 

[bpeeps]

ROFL you do know you're comparing them to Sony, right? They are literally the worst company ever in this regard. Every new device has some new disk format or connector, is full of bundled Sony-branded services you can't remove. That's when they're not installing rootkits.

In fact, this whole news story is about how Sony have been keeping this to the Vita and their own-brand Android smartphones until now!

Your contrast couldn't be more inappropriate

On an Apple forum no less.

 

[R3k]

Cool. If this would work without lag and at the maximum resolution and frame rate the console is capable of, i would be heading out to pick up a PS4 right now.

Exactly as another user here wrote, id be playing Playstation on the couch while my GF watches TV. Due to various relationship based variables, i do not play Playstation at this point.

Alas, the resolution specs are low and i don't expect the performance to be good enough to make me want to use it. Hope it continues to evolve though and to be flawless one day

 

[576316]

Hopefully the app contains the ability to wake your PS4 from rest mode wherever you are in the world and start playing a game from your Mac, then put your PS4 back to rest mode again. That would be awesome, meaning you technically have your PS4 wherever you have your Mac and an Internet connection. ;-)

 

[s0nicpr0s]

What ps4 games are compatible with remote play? I'd love to play Arkham Knight and Need for Speed Rivals on my MacBook and Mortal Kombat XL too

Pretty sure it's a requirement for basically all games to be Remote Play compatible. I did see someone already call out having done Arkham Knight with RP. I'm sure Need for Speed and Mortal Kombat would work just fine that way as well. Not really perfect for this since I'd say both of those games require some pretty good timing, but should still be doable.

 

[pat500000]

Any mac and any years that has 10.11.4? If so, this is better than any latest news of Apple. As matter of fact, this is lot better than watching keynote.

 

[Twimfy]

This has existed for a while already via a 3rd party app https://tmacdev.com/forum/

I've been using it for a few weeks and while it only supports 720p it works great with little lag and DS4 support. My 2010 i3 copes with it no problem. Heck even my 2010 White C2D Macbook Unibody supports it well.

If this guy can do it on his own I can't wait to see what Sony can do.

 

[agentsmithone]

Can't wait, I've been waiting for this forever!

I imagine how well this works depends largely on how fast/reliable your home upload speed is.

 

[kyliewylie]

Console games have used controllers for a long time, not just the current-gen.

Yes that's true. Last gen consoles were the last straw for me though.

 

[agentsmithone]

Yes that's true. Last gen consoles were the last straw for me though.

I feel pretty much the same, the lack of backwards compatibility and expectation that gamers should just buy these titles over again as "definitive" versions is very off-putting. So, personally, I game on the PC/Mac Steam platform and limit my console games to PS4 exclusives.

 

[Psyfuzz]

Yes that's true. Last gen consoles were the last straw for me though.

Controllers this generation are significantly better than last ten, both in comfort, features and build.

I'd recommend giving them a go if you haven't yet, the Dualshock 4 is unbelievable - melts into the hands.

 

[Jimmy James]

I don't have the time to pay much at all. So neither do I have the inclination to buy a console.

However, if I could buy a controller and a game I'd be happy to play those couple of hours per month on my computer.

Gran Turismo. That's all I need.

 

[341328]

I'll definitely give this a try, but if it's anything like the Vita's Remote Play software it will be plagued with lag, video glitches and random disconnects. It's a pity Sony didn't bake this capability into the hardware like Nintendo did with the Wii U as that has always worked perfectly (albeit with the range limitation of the GamePad).

- Yeah, I really like the wii u gamepad with screen. It's like having a handheld device with decent graphics I often play games not on the TV.

 

[pat500000]

Microsoft, get your **** together. I don't want to buy a Surface to play my Xbox remotely. Mac support!

Good on Sony for developing this.

I rather Xbox focus on backward compatibility.

 

[mazz0]

That's pretty cool - this will allow us to use it on the virtual screen in VR on PC.

 

[XTheLancerX]

One reason why I never bought a current-gen console. I cannot stand using a controller.

I prefer keyboard and mouse but can live with a controller.

And why do you specify "current-gen"? All consoles have had a controller. Do you just mean you bought consoles in the past but stopped because you couldn't get used to the controller stipulation?