Product: Sony PS4 Pro

Co Product: Sony Virtual Reality Gaming Gear

Review by dcmallory

I just want to say for the record that I love the Sony PSx line of gaming systems. I’ve had all of them at one time or another, and in the case of the PS3 more than one. I’ve never had an issue with them working, either as standalone units, or with various gaming accessories. That is, I’ve never had an issue until this weekend.

I already had a PS4, which I had bought on launch day. The, when the VR unit came out I purchased that as well. And everything worked great together. But then I decided that since I had a 4k TV, I should probably add the PS4 Pro to the mix, using it to replace the PS4. Bad idea; this is when everything turned to shit.

I removed the PS4, and spent a good amount of time connecting up the PS4 Pro in its place. Of course I had upgraded the hard drive to 2TB, and upon booting the unit came on, and loaded the OS update from a usb stick. So far, so good. The system rebooted once the load was complete, and then BAM! – a black TV screen. Oh, shit! A black screen of death. Fuck me! I could hear the PS4 music playing through the speakers so I knew the system was up, but I was not greeted with any sort of login screen. Nothing but black. Fuck!

So I remove the HDMI cable from the VR processing unit and plug it directly into the TV. There’s the picture! Plug it back into the VRPU; no picture, just black. Reboot, Nope still just a black screen.

Let’s see what Sony has to say about this. Hmmm, plug the unit directly into the TV; if you want to use the VR unit then switch the cable from the Pro to the VRPU (VR processing Unit). The VR unit is only 1080p. Wait! the VRPU is supposed to pass the video signal through if the VR unit is off. Yes? No? Shit! Wait a minute! What do you mean this is not your problem; you built the damned thing! What was that? Oh, I guess it is my problem; I’m the douche bag who bought it. Well, the good new is I can pack it up and return it to Best Buy. I won’t even have to pay a restocking fee because the unit is broken. So there, Sony; it’s not my problem anymore, is it?

Anyway, back to the real world. You can get a video splitter with enough throughput to pass a 4k signal, and use this unit to send the HDMI signal to either the VRPU or the PS4 Pro to TV, depending on which is selected. Of course, this could result in issues in the PS4 reading what kind of TV you have, and what its capabilities are, resulting in degraded performance. Or you could swap cables every time you use the unit, depending on what you want to play. Or you could have both units in place, the PS4 and the PS4 Pro, and do it that way.

Or you could call Sony and ask them why their shit doesn’t work together as it should. If enough people call and start bitching, or sign petitions stating that there are issues, Sony might get off their ass and fix the problem. Of course, if it turns out a software fix can’t solve the issue, which I don’t think it can, then Sony will probably expect us to shell out more money to buy the hardware to fix their issue.

Either way we’re fucked if we plan to use the PS4 Pro with the PSVR Gaming System. Welcome to the real world.