After the install orgy there was finally the time to play some games. I started Astro’s Playroom and loved it from the first second. But after the intro and Astro’s first steps something felt wrong… why was the camera stuttering like a 30-fps game while turning it? I tried the PS5 version of Hitman 3 and the stuttering was even worse! I checked the performance mode of the PS4 version on my PS4 Pro… much smoother.
Then I downloaded the PS4 version of Hitman 3 onto my PS5 for comparison. Quality mode and performance mode both stuttered the same. The solution was as simple as stupid: my TV seems to save the last setting for each HDMI port individual and HDMI1 (PS5) wasn’t set to game mode yet.
After switching to game mode Agent 47 suddenly was a “smooth criminal”… except in the still stuttering “PS4 quality mode” (locked 30 fps).
The PS5 launched 9 months ago… why does it still lack HDMI2.1 features like ALLM (auto low latency mode) and adaptive sync (VRR / FreeSync / G-Sync compatible)? Even the old Xbox One S + X are supporting those features! When my TV displays video signals of my XBO X or my PC, it automatically switches to “instant game response” (ALLM).
Well… back to Astro’s Playroom. It was awesome! Probably also very enjoyable for kids / people new in the PlayStation ecosystem… but all those cute homages to important PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games and PS hardware components in every corner of the game (including the detailed “artifacts” worth collecting)! The funny GPU jungle song (with the lyrics hidden in the level)…
After finishing Astro’s Playroom I tested the Blu-ray / UHD feature: the disc drive is very quiet, even quieter than the XBO X drive. The Xbox Series X disc drive was much noisier and the main reason I sent that console back in November.
I personally see no difference between the UHD image quality on my XBO X and on my PS5... but experts say that it’s slightly better on the PS5:
The PS5 GUI looks nice, but what I don’t like about it is the lack of folders for games… they have done it again! Do we really have to go through that process every console generation? At launch you take our folders away and bring them back later.
The game library also has no adjustable tile-size, so you see only 10 game tiles and 5 half game tiles at best. The filter and sorting options are also the bare minimum. You can only filter between PS5 and PS4 games... additional filters would be great, f. e. PS5 enhanced games, PSVR games, genre filters, single/multiplayer filters. Also a sorting option by release date/year instead of install date... am I spoiled from other platforms?
To be continued…
