PS4 Slim Review

[torok]

Pemalite said:

I'm not sure if the Blu-ray drive is that more expensive... On PC here in Australia a 4k capable BD ROM Drive doesn't really carry much of a price premium.
The main cost would likely to do with the chip itself which would require an update to the video block, which was a cost that Microsoft must have thought was worth it.

From a sales perspective though, I don't doubt the PS4 Slim will beat the Xbox One Slim, but I wasn't looking at it from a sales perspective, I never do.

I saw here on VGC a table with the estimated costs of each part. The 4K BR drive was around 40 bucks more, so it is a bit expensive. I guess that the total cost of a 4K + HDR capable PS4 Slim would be 50 to 70 dollar more, so I think it was sensible to cut it so they could even try a 200 dollar price point. I think it wouldn't be sold like this, I wouldn't be surprised if they equaled the 300 dollar price point of the One S and kept a high profit margin. 250 is more likely since it will be profitable and still give them a significant edge.

I understand that you weren't looking at the sales perspective, which is reasonable. However, as we will have the PS4K as an option that will include 4K, HDR plus a better hardware while still being much cheaper than most 4K BR players, I undertand why they didn't want to rise the costs of the PS4 Slim to attend a niche of users since they already have a product for them. While the PS3 was praised by having extensive multimedia capabilities, I guess that if they had used a DVD drive and sold it for 200 dollar less, it would have fared way better last gen. Lesson learned, I hope.

SvennoJ said:

I have a home theater, ditched optical s/pdif a long time ago. It doesn't support lossless audio for over 2 channels. It was useful when I still used my old amp without hdmi in the living room.

I do hope (but won't hold my breath) is that Neo has dual hdmi out ports, one for audio, as I don't want to upgrade my amp yet (no hdmi 2.0 pass through). Going back to lossy audio over optical s/pdif for upscaled 4K visuals is half a step forward, big step back :/

I think that it won't probably include an extra port, but at least it will keep the s/pdif. But maybe I'm wrong, they sell audio and video equipment, why not include the best on the PS4K? The only thing that seems to hold them back is that, unlike Scorpio, PS4K doesn't seem to be an "all-out best there is" console. They seen very keen to make it sell at 400-450 dollars.