Playstation Portal - anyone getting this?

[Roman]

I am seriously considering this purchase.
Why? - for travelling / lying in bed etc etc and being able to access my games. So for my use case it fits

I'm not interested in the peripherals that exist to allow me to use my phone / ipad etc as my phone screen is too small for my 50yrs old eyes and there isn't really a good option for using an ipad WITH integrated controller (not bluetooth)
I am also OK with being limited to playstation - I don't play PC games anymore (Steam library included) nor do I do much Xboxing.

Any other Gone Golders making the plunge to the PS Portal?

[Skinypupy]

I love the idea of handheld gaming, but my eyes are unfortunately getting so bad that it becomes quite difficult for me to play anything on a small screen.

If I were still traveling regularly and needed something for long flights I might consider it, but I'll probably just pass on this one.

[malchior]

I don't get the product to be honest. It's a $200 remote play monitor/controller combo. Any existing device is a better option for this use case. So I guess if you had nothing, it's better than that. It's so dedicated to one purpose that I have a feeling it is going nowhere.

[Baroquen]

I hadn't even heard of it. But I'm trending in the opposite direction - away from the Playstation toward more exclusively the PC. That - plus reading the comments already in the thread - means I'm almost certainly passing it up.

[disarm]

This devices makes almost zero sense to me especially for the high cost. It is designed purely to stream a game running on your PS5 at home and has no ability to play any software 'on device.' It does not access the PlayStation cloud gaming service. The product website describes it as a device to "play your PS5 console over your home Wi-Fi with console quality controls." It is not intended to allow you to play PS games while you travel. The only way you could use it away from home is if your PS5 is configured for Remote Play and you have a stable enough wifi connection to actually stream from your PS5 at home to wherever you happen to be...and the Remote Play feature is unreliable at best. All it takes is a blip in your PS5 connection to the internet at home, or your console turning itself off while you're away and your Portal is useless. All it's really meant for is to sit somewhere else in your own house and play your PS5 over your own home wifi...and it costs $200.

I occasionally use my cell phone with a Razor Kishi, or a tablet with a bluetooth controller, to play xbox games via Cloud Gaming away from home and it works surprisingly well. I have PS Remote Play on my phone that I've tried to use the same way, but it's completely unreliable because I can't consistently initiate or maintain a connection to my PS5 away from home. If the Portal allowed cloud gaming, it might be different, but as it stands, I think this product is overpriced and is destined to be a total flop.

[Kurth]

I don't get the product to be honest. It's a $200 remote play monitor/controller combo. Any existing device is a better option for this use case. So I guess if you had nothing, it's better than that. It's so dedicated to one purpose that I have a feeling it is going nowhere.

Same. This doesn't make sense to me. And it's so far inferior to what Microsoft and XBOX are doing in terms of cloud gaming. I have become a huge fan of that offering. I'm now taking my XBOX controller with me on business trips. I just got back from one where I spent a couple hours every night before bed playing Starfield on my iPad. Fun!

[Skinypupy]

This devices makes almost zero sense to me especially for the high cost. It is designed purely to stream a game running on your PS5 at home and has no ability to play any software 'on device.' It does not access the PlayStation cloud gaming service. The product website describes it as a device to "play your PS5 console over your home Wi-Fi with console quality controls." It is not intended to allow you to play PS games while you travel. The only way you could use it away from home is if your PS5 is configured for Remote Play and you have a stable enough wifi connection to actually stream from your PS5 at home to wherever you happen to be...and the Remote Play feature is unreliable at best. All it takes is a blip in your PS5 connection to the internet at home, or your console turning itself off while you're away and your Portal is useless. All it's really meant for is to sit somewhere else in your own house and play your PS5 over your own home wifi...and it costs $200.

Huh, shows how much attention I’ve paid to it.

I honestly thought it was Sony’s latest attempt at a handheld system, a la PSP or Vita (both of which I had and enjoyed at the time)

Will definitely be skipping this.

[disarm]

This devices makes almost zero sense to me especially for the high cost. It is designed purely to stream a game running on your PS5 at home and has no ability to play any software 'on device.' It does not access the PlayStation cloud gaming service. The product website describes it as a device to "play your PS5 console over your home Wi-Fi with console quality controls." It is not intended to allow you to play PS games while you travel. The only way you could use it away from home is if your PS5 is configured for Remote Play and you have a stable enough wifi connection to actually stream from your PS5 at home to wherever you happen to be...and the Remote Play feature is unreliable at best. All it takes is a blip in your PS5 connection to the internet at home, or your console turning itself off while you're away and your Portal is useless. All it's really meant for is to sit somewhere else in your own house and play your PS5 over your own home wifi...and it costs $200.

Huh, shows how much attention I’ve paid to it.

I honestly thought it was Sony’s latest attempt at a handheld system, a la PSP or Vita (both of which I had and enjoyed at the time)

Will definitely be skipping this.

Yeah. I'm curious how many people will waste their money on a Portal having no idea how it actually works, then finding out that it's not what they expected...

[Blackhawk]

I hadn't heard about it until I saw this post, at which point I assumed it was either a traditional handheld, or some sort of streaming system connected to Playstation Now. But for what it actually is - just an accessory for a PS5. I can see some uses (like in a family who have to share a TV and don't want to mess with their PC streaming... thing), but it's so niche - I can't see it being all that popular.

[Scraper]

Yeah I really don't understand why they didn't include the ability to stream games from their streaming service. Especially since they just added the ability to stream PS5 demos on a PS5. Maybe they can patch it in later, but that's probably wishful thinking.

[Baroquen]

Well ... Playstation Portal Has Sold Out Two Days After Launch.

The article does mention scalpers buying up stock, and we all know the production/inventory foolishness of the PS5 these last several years. But this has got to be good news for Sony, right? I mean, I'm not going to buy one, but some people are I guess.

[Kurth]

PlayStation patched the Portal in June, allowing it to now connect over public WiFi networks. This means it’s usable outside the home - airports, hotels, etc.

In my new job, I’m traveling a bunch and have been using my iPad and a PS controller to stream games from my PS5. It works, but it’s kind of clunky. Also, to be honest, when I’m lying in bed trying to play, the iPad/controller combo is less than ideal. Just can’t seem to get comfortable with it.

So, despite my criticism upthread, I’m thinking of picking one of these up today.

Anyone have one and have experience using it post-3.0 patch outside the home?

[Kurth]

So, I got my Portal this past weekend. Using it around the house was great. Fun to be able to be untethered from my TV, but the real reason I got it was to play in a hotel or airport when traveling. That's a bit of a mixed bag, but has worked out in the end.

[Edited to add: I had been using the PS Remote app to stream to my iPad before, but the Portal form factor is SO much better. The screen is smaller, but it's meant to be held closer, so it doesn't seem like you're missing anything. Also, the haptics on the controllers are great.]

When I arrived at the Courtyard Marriott where I'm staying, I tried it the first night. What's supposed to happen on public wifi with a log-in page is that you select the public wifi on the Portal, and it triggers a QR code that you scan with your phone. Once you scan the QR code with your phone, it creates a link between the Portal and the phone and you can use the phone to authenticate the public wifi and log in. [This is all necessary because for some stupid reason, the Portal doesn't have an operable web browser.]

But when I selected the Marriott wifi, nothing happened. No QR code. No way to authenticate, making the Portal a brick. I quit and went to bed.

The next night, I did some research and learned that the problem is that the Portal authentication protocol only works on a 2.4 ghz wifi signal. For some reason, it won't work on 5 ghz, which is a disaster given that the majority of wifi routers out in the world are dual band (2.4/5 ghz), and devices -- including the Portal -- default to 5 ghz if that signal is available. [To be clear, the Portal streams just fine over 5 ghz. It just can't do it's hinky public wifi authentication over 5 ghz for some inexplicable reason.]

The fix: Wander around the hotel until you are only in range of the router's 2.4 ghz signal and authenticate the wifi network then. The 5 ghz signal has a much smaller range than the 2.4 ghz signal, so if you find a spot outside of the range of the 5 ghz signal but within the range of the 2.4 ghz signal, you're golden. I tried this in the hotel lobby, and it worked like a charm. And because you only need to authenticate once, I was good to go. Authenticate and get your network connection in the lobby, then head back to your room or wherever you want to actually play games on the Portal.

So, final result: The Portal worked great for playing BG3 in the hotel once I got the authentication thing figured out, but I'm still not sure why Sony would have set it up this way. Maybe they'll fix it in a future patch. If anyone has any ideas about why you might want to limit an authentication procedure like this to 2.4 ghz, I'm all ears.

[gbasden]

The next night, I did some research and learned that the problem is that the Portal authentication protocol only works on a 2.4 ghz wifi signal. For some reason, it won't work on 5 ghz, which is a disaster given that the majority of wifi routers out in the world are dual band (2.4/5 ghz), and devices -- including the Portal -- default to 5 ghz if that signal is available. [To be clear, the Portal streams just fine over 5 ghz. It just can't do it's hinky public wifi authentication over 5 ghz for some inexplicable reason.]

Wow. That is a particularly stupid implementation. I can't understand why working on both bands wouldn't have been a requirement to roll that out.

[Kurth]

The next night, I did some research and learned that the problem is that the Portal authentication protocol only works on a 2.4 ghz wifi signal. For some reason, it won't work on 5 ghz, which is a disaster given that the majority of wifi routers out in the world are dual band (2.4/5 ghz), and devices -- including the Portal -- default to 5 ghz if that signal is available. [To be clear, the Portal streams just fine over 5 ghz. It just can't do it's hinky public wifi authentication over 5 ghz for some inexplicable reason.]

Wow. That is a particularly stupid implementation. I can't understand why working on both bands wouldn't have been a requirement to roll that out.

Yep. Agreed 1000%. And, for what it’s worth, I’m back on the road this week at another Marriott hotel, and the same thing is true: Cannot access the QR code for WiFi authentication in my room. This time, the lobby was a no-go as well. But guess what? When I go outside with the Portal and walk twenty feet away from the hotel, the QR pops up, I authenticate, and I’m good to go from there on out. Makes no sense whatsoever, but it works for me now that I know what’s going on. I just cannot fathom why we would make a device that is this unintuitive or user unfriendly.

[Scraper]

Is there any significant lag when you're gaming remotely or is it pretty smooth?

[Alefroth]

The next night, I did some research and learned that the problem is that the Portal authentication protocol only works on a 2.4 ghz wifi signal. For some reason, it won't work on 5 ghz, which is a disaster given that the majority of wifi routers out in the world are dual band (2.4/5 ghz), and devices -- including the Portal -- default to 5 ghz if that signal is available. [To be clear, the Portal streams just fine over 5 ghz. It just can't do it's hinky public wifi authentication over 5 ghz for some inexplicable reason.]

Wow. That is a particularly stupid implementation. I can't understand why working on both bands wouldn't have been a requirement to roll that out.

Yep. Agreed 1000%. And, for what it’s worth, I’m back on the road this week at another Marriott hotel, and the same thing is true: Cannot access the QR code for WiFi authentication in my room. This time, the lobby was a no-go as well. But guess what? When I go outside with the Portal and walk twenty feet away from the hotel, the QR pops up, I authenticate, and I’m good to go from there on out. Makes no sense whatsoever, but it works for me now that I know what’s going on. I just cannot fathom why we would make a device that is this unintuitive or user unfriendly.

Pretend it's a Pokemon mini game.

[Kurth]

Is there any significant lag when you're gaming remotely or is it pretty smooth?

Totally depends on the WiFi network. At last week’s Marriott, the signal was strong and the Portal streamed BG3 with no issues whatsoever. This week, I’m at a crappier Fairfield Inn and Suites (don’t get me started), and the WiFi is comparatively shitty. The Portal performance is also comparatively shitty. It connects, but the image quality is super pixelated, and it disconnects routinely after 20 or 30 minutes of play time. It’s not unusable, but it’s close.

The Portal is such a strange device. It’s so freaking good in certain contexts and so disappointing in others.

[msteelers]

We’re moving next month and I’m interested in one of these to use around the new house if/when the main tv is in use by other family members.

What kind of WiFi connection is needed? Is there a certain speed you find that makes a difference?

[Kurth]

We’re moving next month and I’m interested in one of these to use around the new house if/when the main tv is in use by other family members.

What kind of WiFi connection is needed? Is there a certain speed you find that makes a difference?

It’s been awesome on a decent WiFi network and even performed well using my phone as a hotspot. Your use case is perfect for it! The better your WiFi speeds, the better the performance, but it works on speeds as low as 5 mbps.

[msteelers]

Nice. I might be picking one of these up soon then.

[Kurth]

It continues to sell well, and SIE is continuing to support it: They just released a patch fixing the wonky dual band 2.4/5ghz issue I described above. Public wifi now authenticates regardless of the speed of the router as long as there's a sufficient signal.

[ChuckB]

Overall, I continue to be rather disappointed by the Portal. I like the device itself, especially the screen (although I used a controller with back buttons on my PS5, so I'm missing those but that's a minor issue).

The issue I have is the noticeable lag when using it. I play a lot of MLB The Show baseball and the Portal is completely unusable for this, I can't hit a single ball and it's not even close. The lag is noticeable in all games to a point where I simply don't like to use it.
I tried different Wifi setups and I now have two Wifi networks, one Eero mesh one (with LOTS of connected devices) and the Comcast Xfinity Wifi router (running 5Ghz network) and the only two devices connected to that are my PS5 and the Portal and while it's better than using the mesh WIfi, it's far from perfect.
The PS5 is about 15 feet away from the router and I'm using the Portal another 10 feet away from the router. Maybe someone has a tip on how to improve this but the only game I successfully used it for was the old PSP game Joanne D'Arc that does not rely on any fast movement, for everything else, I rather walk over and use the PS5. Unfortuntaley, that's my take

[msteelers]

I ended up getting this for my birthday. Setting it up now and hoping to try it out tonight. We’re heading out of town for a week in December so I’ll be able to bring it and put it through its paces then.

[GreenGoo]

I didn't read everything, so apologies if this has already been addressed.

Is it possible to log in using your phone, turning on the phone's hotspot, and connecting the Portal to the hotspot?

[GreenGoo]

The issue I have is the noticeable lag when using it. I play a lot of MLB The Show baseball and the Portal is completely unusable for this, I can't hit a single ball and it's not even close. The lag is noticeable in all games to a point where I simply don't like to use it.
I tried different Wifi setups and I now have two Wifi networks, one Eero mesh one (with LOTS of connected devices) and the Comcast Xfinity Wifi router (running 5Ghz network) and the only two devices connected to that are my PS5 and the Portal and while it's better than using the mesh WIfi, it's far from perfect.
The PS5 is about 15 feet away from the router and I'm using the Portal another 10 feet away from the router. Maybe someone has a tip on how to improve this but the only game I successfully used it for was the old PSP game Joanne D'Arc that does not rely on any fast movement, for everything else, I rather walk over and use the PS5. Unfortuntaley, that's my take

This triggered an anecdote that I thought I'd share. Vaguely related.

I play Dark Souls on PC with a wired Xbox 360 controller. I've played it a LOT. I have the timings down for dodges and parries to something of a science at this point. I can even parry when the camera goes crazy and I can't see a thing on the screen, due to hundreds of hours of experience.

So my kids bought me Dark Souls on the Switch. It's cool, the PC version is the Prepare to Die edition and the Switch version is the Remastered, so I get to see some of the differences between the versions (which isn't much, although the remastered looks slightly better).

My point, which I'm getting to, is that the switch controller is wireless. Even if I sit right next to the Switch, the timing is milliseconds different than on the PC with a wired controller. This has caused me no end of deaths, frustrations and hilarity. It's such a tiny difference, but when you are measuring reaction time in frames per second, a single frame can mean the difference between easy and dying in one hit. Some times I actually think to myself, ok, parry earlier than muscle memory indicates. HURRY! And it works

I can't imagine trying to hit a fast ball that was thrown a thousand miles away and travels down a wire. The variation on timing just due to latency must be insane even without the Portal's issues. Actually, I can imagine, since PVP doesn't work on the PC any longer, but it does on the Switch. I have lost fights where the other player is still out of range, but somehow I get pancaked by his super slow ultra heavy great sword. Unplayable is right.

[Roman]

I ended up getting this for my birthday. Setting it up now and hoping to try it out tonight. We’re heading out of town for a week in December so I’ll be able to bring it and put it through its paces then.

Even while playing at home I've found that I need to disconnect the HDMI cable from the PS5 = doing so avoids lag etc. Weird I know......
but it works.

[Roman]

I didn't read everything, so apologies if this has already been addressed.

Is it possible to log in using your phone, turning on the phone's hotspot, and connecting the Portal to the hotspot?

%110 possible - they also added an option to login to public networks that require login creds (hotels etc)

[Roman]

The issue I have is the noticeable lag when using it. I play a lot of MLB The Show baseball and the Portal is completely unusable for this, I can't hit a single ball and it's not even close. The lag is noticeable in all games to a point where I simply don't like to use it.
I tried different Wifi setups and I now have two Wifi networks, one Eero mesh one (with LOTS of connected devices) and the Comcast Xfinity Wifi router (running 5Ghz network) and the only two devices connected to that are my PS5 and the Portal and while it's better than using the mesh WIfi, it's far from perfect.
The PS5 is about 15 feet away from the router and I'm using the Portal another 10 feet away from the router. Maybe someone has a tip on how to improve this but the only game I successfully used it for was the old PSP game Joanne D'Arc that does not rely on any fast movement, for everything else, I rather walk over and use the PS5. Unfortuntaley, that's my take

This triggered an anecdote that I thought I'd share. Vaguely related.

I play Dark Souls on PC with a wired Xbox 360 controller. I've played it a LOT. I have the timings down for dodges and parries to something of a science at this point. I can even parry when the camera goes crazy and I can't see a thing on the screen, due to hundreds of hours of experience.

So my kids bought me Dark Souls on the Switch. It's cool, the PC version is the Prepare to Die edition and the Switch version is the Remastered, so I get to see some of the differences between the versions (which isn't much, although the remastered looks slightly better).

My point, which I'm getting to, is that the switch controller is wireless. Even if I sit right next to the Switch, the timing is milliseconds different than on the PC with a wired controller. This has caused me no end of deaths, frustrations and hilarity. It's such a tiny difference, but when you are measuring reaction time in frames per second, a single frame can mean the difference between easy and dying in one hit. Some times I actually think to myself, ok, parry earlier than muscle memory indicates. HURRY! And it works

I can't imagine trying to hit a fast ball that was thrown a thousand miles away and travels down a wire. The variation on timing just due to latency must be insane even without the Portal's issues. Actually, I can imagine, since PVP doesn't work on the PC any longer, but it does on the Switch. I have lost fights where the other player is still out of range, but somehow I get pancaked by his super slow ultra heavy great sword. Unplayable is right.

Posting again - when I was suffering from lag I did some googling and forced my Portal to be on the 5ghz SSID when at home and also had to remove the HDMI cable from the PS5. For some reason the PS5 was still trying to send the signal to the TV despite being on remote play and sucking up 'bandwidth' ? Honestly not sure what the scientific reasons are but it just works.

[ChuckB]

The issue I have is the noticeable lag when using it. I play a lot of MLB The Show baseball and the Portal is completely unusable for this, I can't hit a single ball and it's not even close. The lag is noticeable in all games to a point where I simply don't like to use it.
I tried different Wifi setups and I now have two Wifi networks, one Eero mesh one (with LOTS of connected devices) and the Comcast Xfinity Wifi router (running 5Ghz network) and the only two devices connected to that are my PS5 and the Portal and while it's better than using the mesh WIfi, it's far from perfect.
The PS5 is about 15 feet away from the router and I'm using the Portal another 10 feet away from the router. Maybe someone has a tip on how to improve this but the only game I successfully used it for was the old PSP game Joanne D'Arc that does not rely on any fast movement, for everything else, I rather walk over and use the PS5. Unfortuntaley, that's my take

This triggered an anecdote that I thought I'd share. Vaguely related.

I play Dark Souls on PC with a wired Xbox 360 controller. I've played it a LOT. I have the timings down for dodges and parries to something of a science at this point. I can even parry when the camera goes crazy and I can't see a thing on the screen, due to hundreds of hours of experience.

So my kids bought me Dark Souls on the Switch. It's cool, the PC version is the Prepare to Die edition and the Switch version is the Remastered, so I get to see some of the differences between the versions (which isn't much, although the remastered looks slightly better).

My point, which I'm getting to, is that the switch controller is wireless. Even if I sit right next to the Switch, the timing is milliseconds different than on the PC with a wired controller. This has caused me no end of deaths, frustrations and hilarity. It's such a tiny difference, but when you are measuring reaction time in frames per second, a single frame can mean the difference between easy and dying in one hit. Some times I actually think to myself, ok, parry earlier than muscle memory indicates. HURRY! And it works

I can't imagine trying to hit a fast ball that was thrown a thousand miles away and travels down a wire. The variation on timing just due to latency must be insane even without the Portal's issues. Actually, I can imagine, since PVP doesn't work on the PC any longer, but it does on the Switch. I have lost fights where the other player is still out of range, but somehow I get pancaked by his super slow ultra heavy great sword. Unplayable is right.

Posting again - when I was suffering from lag I did some googling and forced my Portal to be on the 5ghz SSID when at home and also had to remove the HDMI cable from the PS5. For some reason the PS5 was still trying to send the signal to the TV despite being on remote play and sucking up 'bandwidth' ? Honestly not sure what the scientific reasons are but it just works.

Thank you! I think I tried this already but I'm not sure. Will give it (another?) try and let you know