I was really looking forward to the Playstation Portal. However, the missing bluetooth functionalty is a dealbraker!

I already have great Sony WF-1000X. why should I buy extra headphones just for the portal? (which I then have to carry around as well…)

Now the real questions:

  1. Playstation Link should be better in terms of lag. Is the difference really this big in comparison to bluetooth?
  2. is it possible that Sony will enable bluetooth-support via a software update (or is the hardware for bluetooth missing?)
  • @spacehedgehogOPEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Thanks a lot for the comprehensive reply.

    I have a follow up question: Why is latency not a problem while watching a video on your Smartphone using a bluetooth headset? If I don’t have any problems wahtching a movie with a bluetooth headset I don’t expect to have any problems while gaming. Whats the difference between watching a movie and gaming?

    • CosmicSploogeDrizzleMEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      There is smart technology on phones that calculates the delay in audio and it delays playback of the video feed to match the audio feed. This is possible because you can buffer a video. With a game you can’t buffer the gameplay as it all happens instantaneously and it needs to constantly watch for your inputs, which likewise can’t be buffered.

      There are some Bluetooth codecs that do support low latency so I don’t want to say this is a universal Bluetooth problem, but it is a pervasive one. Cheaper Bluetooth earbuds and even most mid to high end ones prioritize sound quality over latency and therefore don’t support low latency codecs. Likewise the transmitting device ALSO needs to support the codec, so even if you found earbuds that work, the device isn’t guaranteed to be compatible. For the consumer this is a very confusing process and I personally think Sony just didn’t bother with it to avoid the confusion…and to push their own standard (PS Link) and sell their own headsets because they are a profit oriented business after all.

      If you want, download the remote play app for your phone and test it out yourself to see what I mean.