Playstation Portal

dodge challenger

Smyth's seem to have had a fairly big restock, if anyone has bought one in the last couple of days can you say what firmware version they have shipped with?

RoryMac

Tempted by this as I work away quite a bit but is it still not possible to sign into public wifi that needs you to accept t&c's through a web browser?

Just about every hotel needs you to open a browser to connect to the wifi

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122198726#Comment_122198726

TBH if you're using it primarily for travel / out-of-home use, you'd be much better off with a dedicated handheld that can play games locally and won't rely on WiFi. Even if you can log on, I'd never be willing to rely on that kind of network for a stable connection able to stream at the level needed for remote play given the vast disparity in WiFi quality in hotels and the like. Would also be a brick on the likes of plane journeys.

While the Portal will theoretically work on external WiFi in ideal circumstances, it is a device primarily built with home WiFi in mind (and very much marketed that way). A Switch or SteamDeck would be much more suitable for travel, if you don't have one already.

Penn

Yeah I've a Steamdeck and Portal and I'd be inclined to spring for the Steamdeck if you can. Apparently it's easy and reliable enough to use the SD as a remote player for your PS5 anyway, and you then have a huge Steam library to play games locally anyway.

Nicetrustedcup

about to buy one of these are they worth while ?

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122198726#Comment_122198726

This week's update supports logging into public wifi now. But in saying that I did try to play while I was at a hotel in Kinsale. I tried both the hotel wifi and hot spotting over 4G and neither was what I'd class as playable.

You could grab the old Steam Deck model, even a refurb, and get the best of both worlds. Can play locally and can play remotely and via the cloud.

Kingp35

I haven't been able to connect mine using mobile hotspot. Is their certain settings that I need to do before it will connect?

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300769#Comment_122300769

Not that I've found, once the PS is on in Rest mode it should connect. Is it not connecting to the hotspot or not connecting to the PS5?

LauraW7746

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300769#Comment_122300769

What I found helped me was changing the bandwidth in the hotspot settings to 5GHz preferred

Just wondering if anyone would have advice on my set up...

My PS5 is in the Attic, I have it wired to a TP Deco E4

I have another TP Deco E4 in the hall downstairs thats acting as the main router I guess

When I am in the attic the connection is flawless and I have no drops however when I try to play downstairs it drops every 5 mins or so...

Should I add another Deco downstairs or something?

Thanks in advance

irish_stevo815

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357723#Comment_122357723

I only just realised my Portal was connected to WiFi on 2.4GHz instead of 5ghz. My Eir F3000 router doesn't have the option by default to pick which frequency to connect to.

Have found a workaround to be able to rename the 2.4 and 5 to different SSIDs so can now select which one to connect to. All seems pretty stable so far on the portal, was playing for over an hour last night with little to no lags, whereas earlier in the day I was getting constant network drops while connected to 2.4GHz.

LauraW7746

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122382603#Comment_122382603

Thanks for the reply the portal was unplayable for me aswell using EIR, thats why I got the deco's, I was able to connect the PS5 via Ethernet and its been way better but not perfect the further I go away from the PS5 so thats why Im wondering if I got another deco downstairs would it improve things 🤷🏻‍♀️

Its great when its working well, getting more gaming in & getting through some of my backlog now aswell 😬

irish_stevo815

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122387921#Comment_122387921

Hardwiring my PS5 is a no go at the moment, without running new cables. I had tried a TP Link powerline adaptor, but looks like the wiring in my house is not suitable so scrapped that idea.

I do love the portal ( aka Dad-Station) when it works and has given me a lot more time to invest in games recently.

LauraW7746

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122388037#Comment_122388037

I dont know if the TP Link Power Line are any good but this is what I went for and works a charm... im not great with tech but the set up was easy enough and you can change easily from 2.4 to 5ghz

The 3 pack is on sale right now, I had bought the 2 pack for that price 😅

https://www.harveynorman.ie/computing/networking-and-connectivity/modems-routers/tp-link-ac1200-whole-home-mesh-wi-fi-system-3-pack.html

irish_stevo815

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Penn

Needed to farm a few blood vials in Bloodborne, so switched from the big screen to the Portal and farmed them on the Portal while watching TV.

I don't use the Portal a lot, but it's so convenient to have, especially like stevo's post where you can have a sports game on in the background while gaming on the Portal.

jones

For folks who have the portal since launch how are you finding it?

Initially i was hyped to get another Sony handheld (i loved the Vita and PSP) but when i found out it was "only" a streaming machine i lost interest. Combined with the lack of 3rd party bluetooth headphone capability it didn't make sense for me anymore. However i've seen some relatively cheap second hand and am wondering if its worth having another look.

I just don't know why Sony did not do a standalone machine ala the Vita i think it would have cleaned up sales wise.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122625144#Comment_122625144

For the most part it's great and works well (I don't have mine since launch but maybe about 6 months or so).

However there can be a good few instances where it's throwing off your inputs (either by delay or thinking you're still pressing a button you've stopped pressing) to the point where I'd rarely use it for something that requires a lot of precision. So for instance of the last two main games I've played; it's great for AstroBot, but I wouldn't use it for Bloodborne (well, I used it for Bloodborne once just because I was farming blood vials and there was very little risk of me dying or anything).

I think the main reason they didn't go full handheld was because then either you have to develop games specifically for it, or they didn't want to make one capable of playing PS5 games on its own simply due to the cost and not being able to guarantee all PS5 games could run natively on it (whereas with SteamDeck the games are more optimised as standard for a wider range of specs, and even then some games can't run properly on SD).

There's definitely a market for a proper PS Steamdeck-esque handheld, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's not something Microsoft are furiously working on too.

RocketRaccoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122625144#Comment_122625144

I still use mine all the time, I have it since day one. Tonight is the perfect reasoning for me to own one, champions league on tv and ill be playing the Plucky Squire.

jones

Thanks folks much appreciated. At the time of launch i had decided to just get a Steamdeck OLED and run the remote play through that but obviously its a lot dearer than the portal and life got in the way of that purchase so i still do not have any handheld device at the moment.

If PS were to release a independent handheld i'd be all over it but if i can get a good condition portal for about 150 i reckon i'll take the plunge.

Grumpypants

I think they were nervous of a dedicated handheld after the vita was so poorly supported by third party publishers.

But since it's selling so well, Sony are considering a more substantial handheld. Prob PS4 level. Which is a bit risky as the number of Devs making PS4 native games is dwindling .

I am hoping they update the portal to support cloud streaming. That would be far better.

But to answer your original question I do still use it and like it a lot. Not a perfect experience but for slower games it's great. I'm playing turn based phoenix point (xcom style) now and it's perfect.

Andrew76

A question folks, on the Cloud Streaming screen - is there a way to search for a game or sort alphabetically even? Seems to be stuck on sorted by Recently added.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122988669#Comment_122988669

Just checked mine and no, can't see a way to change the sorting list.

Also I was wrong in a previous post where I said the Cloud Streaming isn't in Beta; it is. Maybe the search/sorting is something they'll address in an update.

Andrew76

No worries thanks. Not a big deal I guess. At least it pins my last game at the top.

RocketRaccoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122988669#Comment_122988669

That and the fact you can't back out of a game(that I've worked out) are the only downsides I've found so far. Hoping this thread get busier after some deliveries today

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122989214#Comment_122989214

Had to look that up myself. If you swipe left from the top right corner of the screen, it opens the quick menu. You can disconnect from cloud streaming from there and it should bring you back to the main Portal menu.

Grumpypants

Same swipe menu let's you swap from 1080p to 720p if performance isn't great. 720p is still good on that sized screen.

Andrew76

And if you’re playing a cloud streamed game you can use the PS button top left to open that same swipe menu and close out of a game. Anything that reduces fingerprints is a good thing. 🙂

nedd

Got a portal for Christmas. Very happy with the quality of gaming when on good WiFi.

I have to say the UI for cloud streaming needs some work. As stated above its awkward moving from game to game, and no way to sort games.

Every time we swap accounts I have to enable cloud streaming again. ( Myself and my son have separate accounts)

These are minor things and I'm sure Sony will work on them.

Andrew76

Everyone still enjoying their Portal? 😁 Other than trying out some demos I've mostly been playing Black Myth Wukong on it and surprised at how well it runs. This chap arrived in the post this morning, decent hard case and has an opening at the front which lets you feed a cable through to charge the Portal while still in the case. Other than a screen protector it's the only accessory I've got for it.

Grumpypants

I was playing a bunch today as my TV got taken over by the kids. Playing Red dead redemption 2. And it looks and plays so good.

Every time I use it I'm blown away by it.