Earlier this week at the PlayStation Meeting, Sony officially pulled the wraps off of the eagerly anticipated and heavily-rumored upgrade to the original PlayStation 4 console, the PS4 Pro. Confirmed outright just days before E3 by Andrew House, the console, then known under the assumed codename ‘NEO’, is the first of its kind: a mid-cycle refresh harnessing more power than the original, and utilizing the capabilities of 4K resolution and HDR imaging.
Not to be confused with a generational leap, the Pro is merely the more advantageous evolution of the original console. Designed to offer a heightened gaming experience, this new addition to the PS4 family is intended to benefit everyone – whether they’re on the bleeding edge of 4K display technology, or still getting the most from an existing HDTV.
As a result, the introduction of the PS4 Pro and subsequently this seemingly controversial approach has left itself open to a number of questions. Realizing this, Sony has set up a “living document” on the PlayStation Blog to address these questions in the lead up to the Pro’s release on November 10th.
As echoed on a number of occasions, it’s important to remember that the PS4 Pro is not a means of rendering the current console obsolete, nor will it divide the player base in any way, shape, or form. It is an addition to the lineup and will make use of the same peripherals, all existing games, and services.
With that in mind, there remains a variety of questions that weren’t clearly answered during the presentation. Chief among them is whether games, save data, captured content, and other currently available features will be compatible with, or transferable to the Pro.
While the resounding answer to many of those questions is “Yes,” for those looking forward to exploiting the additional horsepower of the PS4 Pro for 4K video playback via physical media, such an option won’t be available when released later this year.
“PS4 Pro’s internal Blu-ray drive does not support the new Ultra 4K Blu-ray Disc format. It supports the same Blu-ray Disc specs as the standard PS4. The Blu-ray Disc Player application, however, will support high-quality upscaling of DVD and Blu-ray Disc content.”
Undoubtedly a puzzling decision, native 4K video playback would have offered further incentive to prospective buyers as an affordable entry-point into the market. In much of the same fashion the PlayStation 3 was an affordable Blu-ray player back in 2006 when the technology was just getting a running start, and dedicated players were costly.
While it stands to reason that the inclusion of a capable drive would have affected the price of the PS4 Pro, the platform has been left with a very noticeable weakness.
Another concern is whether or not owners of the PS4 Pro will have an inherit advantage in competitive play scenarios when interacting with owners of the original PS4, and while the answer is no, playtesting and balancing concerns will be left at the discretion of the developer.
On the subject of HDR, or High Dynamic Range, the simple answer is when an HDR-capable television and video content are combined, the result is a noticeably fuller, richer image. This means deeper black levels that retain finer details; brighter highlights; and a wider color range than what’s currently possible on a “standard” HDTV.
Current and prospective owners won’t have to wait until later this year to see the feature in action. HDR support will not be exclusive to the Pro, and will be made available to every PS4, new and old, courtesy of a software update landing next week.
While 4K and HDR are both supported out of the box, neither are required to reap the performance benefits of the more powerful machine. Game titles supporting the hardware will benefit from “higher or more consistent framerates, increased environmental and character model detail, improved overall visual quality, and other related visual enhancements.”
For the entire list of questions and answers featured, be sure to stop by The Ultimate FAQ page here. More details are expected to be added to the page in the time leading up to the Pro’s release, and we’ll keep an eye on things and report on any major reveals.
See more articles on PlayStation 4 Pro and Sony.
Sorry for the late question guys, but after arguing over this with a friend, I wanted to know something for sure, because it sounds like Sony backed out of their original plans on the PS4-Neo-PS4 Pro “upgrade.”
Wasn’t it said, that the new NEO/PS4 Pro would also be a stand alone addition to existing owners of the PS4? Meaning, someone who forked over $400 + didn’t need to sell his older sytem and buy the Pro, and that it would easily be able to be attatched to the PS4?
People are forgetting that the PS4 is not suppose to be next gen but to extend life cycle.Every decision is a good one as the priority is to balance both systems.
PC is again better…
Did you seriously just try to compare a console with a PC?
A bit odd that the 4K Playstation doesn’t support 4K Discs… I intended to buy one based on this alone. :-/
IHS Markit did a teardown and analysis of the Xbox One S. They estimated the difference in cost between UHD BD-ROM and regular Blu-Ray to be just $15.50. What the hell were Sony thinking?!
They were thinking streaming.
Problem is that many people don’t have the recommended 25Mbps for Netflix UHD. I don’t even have the 5Mbps for HD and only 25% of the UK is >15Mbps. Add in data caps and charges and I’d much rather have paid a bit more for a 4K drive. If Microsoft can do it in a box that costs only £249 then why can’t Sony for £349? Stupid, premature move.
Data caps shouldn’t be an issue in the UK – not at the price that BT unlimited is going for. True that streaming might be a problem for many, but really, getting a proper UHD player would make far more sense than running the risk of having the diode crap out on you in a gaming console.
It is a gaming console after all and Andrew House has recently reiterated that this has already been stated ad nauseum that the PS4 is a gaming console.
Well, just sold my PS4 so when Sony get their act together with GT Sport VR and the Pro I will be buying all of it. But until 2018 I’m enjoying my PC!
Why would you do that? Your just waiting money now if you do choose to buy GT Sport.
I dont like this idea. It corrupts the console’s basic thought of ”i can ran anything on it and everybody else will have the same game as me”
Gotta say it again, PC+Nintendo=gud. If you’re willing to spend around 1000 that is xD.
“As echoed on a number of occasions, it’s important to remember that the PS4 Pro is not a means of rendering the current console obsolete, nor will it divide the player base in any way, shape, or form. It is an addition to the lineup and will make use of the same peripherals, all existing games, and services.”
closer to 700 now, this generation was a crazy increase in performance