As we only have one main (large) television I decided to purchase the Sony PlayStation TV as my son could then play on his Sony PlayStation TV 4 remotely while my wife and I could still watch the television in the living room without being relegated to the kitchen. Most annoying!
Sony PlayStation TV Review
Sony PlayStation TV Main Features:
- Hundreds of PlayStation games to choose
- Remote Play
- Easy to Set up and Play: Plug in and play on any HDMI compatible TV in your home
- PlayStationNow READY
- Access to Entertainment: Games, movies, TV shows, and apps on PlayStation Store
The unit itself is tiny, really small, which is great, but once you have your HDMI, power, and Ethernet cable plugged in it’s difficult to get the PSTV to stand straight, but I managed in the end.
I did decide to install the PSTV using a wired connection on our Kitchen TV. Like many others, I used a pair of powerline adapters, D-Link DHP-310AV/E PowerLine Twin Pack Mini Starter Kit me. Once it booted up I had to plug in a PS3 controller (wired), followed a few simple onscreen prompts and the PSTV updated itself. Oh, I also put in the 64GB Vita memory card that I’d bought for his handheld Vita. No MicroSD slot on the PSTV or Vita, naughty Sony.
Once everything had updated the familiar – and slightly childlike – Vita screen pops up. All the lego games that I’d downloaded through his Vita were there but I had to authorize the PSTV before I could test them. They all worked OK. All the Vita functions and games I tried worked perfectly, which was good. One down, one to go; what would the PS4 connection be like?
The PSTV found our PS4 without any problems and connected without any issues. Tried a few games such as FIFA and Resogun and again, there didn’t seem to be any lag or other connectivity issues. The only thing I noticed was the frame-rate was pretty low and the image wasn’t as good as I hoped. But hey, I’ve paid loads for this set-up, so I’m going to be picky, aren’t I? It will be more than good enough for my 8 years old come Christmas, I’m sure. I very much doubt I will be hearing him complain about “frame-rates”.
The PSTV is a breeze to set up and the functions are great for the relatively low cost of the item. £80 gets you a fully functioning console with access to an incredibly large library of games on the PSN store. Not just Vita games either, but PSOne classics and PSP games too. It might be best to think of the PS4 remote play as a bonus, which admittedly is not perfect, but It’s still pretty cool and will work fine if you have a wired connection. The Powerlink adapters are fairly cheap nowadays too.
Whilst I get the point of view of some reviewers that they are disappointed by the performance, particularly when connecting to a PS4, I have to say that personally our setup works a treat and doesn’t have any real complaints. The only slight disappointment is the lack of iPlayer, Netflix, etc but maybe Sony is working on it. Then it really would be a fantastic all-in-one media device.
In conclusion, it seems perfect for our particular setup and I would say if you are thinking about getting one then read the different reviews to help you decide, but remember that everyone’s network is different.
We gave the Sony PlayStation TV
