This Wednesday I was finally able to order a PS5 without scalper tax. This Friday afternoon the Amazon package arrived.

Taking the console out of the huge box: Oh, it’s smaller than expected after reading so many complaints about it.

Holding the DualSense controller the first time: Wow, it fits perfectly in my hands… ergonomic heaven! I also love my Xbox controllers and Switch Pro controller and the PS4 controllers are okay, but the DualSense tops them all.

Putting it in my TV rack: Okay, it’s HUGE compared to my other consoles… but still smaller than my amplifier. It has enough room to “breathe” in my TV rack, so it’s all good, man.

I still would have preferred a complete black SKU, but it is okay. In a few days I’ll get used to it.

Attaching the stand for horizontal position: Only clipping it in? I doubt it will stay in its place, but so far it holds and fulfils its purpose.

Connecting the cables (USB-C for controller, HDMI2.1, power, ethernet,): took only a minute, everything works okay. To enable 4K 120 Hz HDR Adaptive Sync (for supported games) it is directly connected to my TV, the audio signals are sent via eARC to my amplifier.

All 4 HDMI2.1-ports of my TV are now in use: PS5, XBO X, PC GPU and the amplifier (passthrough for further HDMI devices like Switch dock and PS4 Pro in one direction, eARC audio signals in the other direction).

Turning the PS5 on the first time: no loud noises… I’m glad that I didn’t get a PS5 with the noisy fan.

Connecting external mass storage for (a lot of) PS4 games: after several failures (some USB HDDs weren’t detected, others were denied as incompatible), the 2 TB HDD of my PS4 Pro was accepted.

Damn it, Sony! Why do PlayStations have to be so choosy when it comes to extended storage? My PS4 Pro already denied a 240 GB SSD due to an arbitrary minimum of 250 GB. All these USB devices work fine with my Xboxes, they support even several mass storages at the same time.

Setting up the PS5: Oh, the PS App on my phone helps to setup the PS5… that’s convenient!

Transferring the user data and save games of my PSN accounts: The PS5 automatically detects my PS4 Pro in the same home network and offers to transfer the data… that’s convenient! I don’t want to transfer the game installations in this step, so I deselect them. The transfer starts and the time estimate is 9 hours…

WTF! That can’t be right? Certainly that estimate is for the full transfer including the deselected game installs! – A few minutes later and after a quick research it is certain: the estimate is correct. It would go much faster if I connected both PlayStations directly with an ethernet cable… but it is too late for that. I can’t stop the transfer now without the danger of bricking the PS5, so I can’t proceed and have to wait for the rest of the day.

So my first day as owner of a PS5 ended a bit sad and anticlimactic.   

To be continued…

The fond memories of picking up a ps2, connecting it to the tv, and play less than 60 seconds later :) Modern 'convenience' lol

I did the transfer to ps4 pro, which was really only good for keeping PT, the rest all deleted again later haha.

This Saturday I didn’t have much free time, but I started some game downloads on my PS5… a lot of downloads to be frank:

• all PS5 games / PS5 version which I collected with PS+: A Plague Tale, Bugsnax, Control: Ultim. Ed., Destruction AllStars, Maneater, Maquette, Oddworld: Soulstorm, Operation Tango, Worms Rumble, Wreckfest
• many PS4 games of the “PS+ collection” (20 games) which I could finally claim: Days Gone (PS5 enhanced), God of War (PS5 enhanced), Ratchet & Clank (PS5 enhanced), Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Detroit: Become Human, infamous: Second Son, Mortal Kombat X, FF15 Royal Edition, Monster Hunter World, Resident Evil 7, The Last Guardian, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4, Until Dawn
• my favorite PS4 games… of course including Knack 1 & 2 ?

The PS5 games are automatically installed on the internal SSD, the PS4 games are automatically installed on the external HDD.

Over the day the PS app on my phone played a nice sound each time an installation was finished. PSN got a lot faster in the last years, the PS5 can download almost at maximum speed of my internet connection.

When I arrived at home in the evening, I installed a few of my favorite physical PS4-games, f. e. Persona 5 Royal, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and the PS5-enhanced The Last of Us 2.

Then I move the PS5-enhanced PS4-games to the internal SSD. Why is moving data blocking the whole system, Sony?

While waiting for that task to finish, I connected my white DualShock4 (with black touchpad and buttons) to the PS5, it is color-wise a good fit and provisionally “good enough” for “player two”… unfortunately only for PS4 games. Is this restriction really necessary, Sony?

Although I already have an adapter for the PS4 camera, I decided against connecting my PSVR to the PS5. It would disable HDR and some HDMI2.1-modes. The PS5 games would also have to share the scarce internal SSD space with PSVR games (since loading times feel superlong wearing a VR-headset). 

As far as I know no PSVR game has PS5-enhancements anyways. The only advantage would be loading times, but most of my PSVR games are already on an SSD connected to my PS4 Pro… so that’s a wash.

Now that all is prepared, I’ll play my first PS5 games / PS5-enhanced PS4 games on Sunday, beginning with the pre-installed “Astro’s Playroom”.

To be continued…

Enjoy your new system.

1 second to transfer one PS1 game by hand to the PS2 and 60 seconds later your playing, vs how long between popping in a PS4 disc and playing it on PS5? This has left me pondering if there is any mathematical correlation between the aforementioned time difference and the waiting time to purchase a PS2 v PS5

Back in 80's and 90's, kids getting a new console and some games for Christmas meant unboxing it, plugging it in and playing. Now, unless the parents spend all day setting it all up, then putting it back in the box, the kid sees the new toy... and immediately knows it won't be until midnight before he gets to play anything. lol

I prefer the form factor of the ds4. It' feels easier to reach the l2 r2 buttons. And lighter. does anyone know of a 3rd party controller for the ps5 that feels like a ds4?

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…

Finally was able to procure a PS5 through Sony's invitation. It arrives Friday. Can't wait to experience everything you've covered. Oh and I have to go and buy a 4K tv now.

TL;DR:

If you want to transfer user data from PS4 to PS5: connect them with an ethernet cable directly... it can save you hours.

If you connect it to your new TV: be sure you are in game mode