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PS Now Success

In September, Sony rolled out the PlayStation At present beta service to the PS3. The public beta has been available on the PS4 for a while now, but this additional release spurred me to accept another look at the service. This fourth dimension, I wanted to examination the latency on both the PS3 and PS4. The former is practically aboriginal engineering science in 2014, and it's WiFi configuration tops out at 802.11g. I was curious if that would make a difference when information technology came down to streaming a game.

Previously, I've written extensively regarding how PS Now feels shockingly responsive. Maybe I had extremely low expectations going in, but I'chiliad consistently surprised at how well streamed games control over Sony'southward service. If I play for more than a few minutes, I eventually forget completely most the crazy technology backside it, and merely savour the game itself. I wanted to know more than, though. The subjective "experience" exam is undoubtedly important, but I wanted to know how well PS Now on PS3 stacked upwardly to the experience on the PS4, so I began testing.

PS Now Store

Methodology

To get an idea of how the PS3 and PS4 stand up against each other, I wanted to perform three tests on each platform. So, I decided to test the latency of a PS Now in-game menu over an ethernet connection, the latency of a PS Now in-game carte over WiFi, and the latency of the local principal carte on each device.

So, how am I estimating latency here? I don't have access to high-end capture equipment, but I exercise take a video camera. I set the shot with both my Idiot box and controller in-frame, and then I hitting "record." From at that place, I pressed the D-pad ten times in a row, and then started the next examination. I then imported the video to my computer, and counted the number of frames between a button press and a visual modify on the screen.

Read: The best complimentary games for the PS4

My camera only shoots at 30 fps, but that's abreast the bespeak. I'm by no means attempting to exercise extremely precise measurements here — all I need are ballpark results. 33 millisecond units of measurement are perfectly fine for this specific exam. After all, I'thousand trying to compare multiple results against each other — not trying to calculate the purest latency data in a vacuum. In any case, the exact amount of latency would differ drastically depending on the quality of your connection, the distance from Sony'southward server farm, and your specific network environment. Diving any deeper on this seems like a huge waste of time since information technology would only utilise to people with my exact setup.

PS Now Chart

Results

Beyond the board, the results were consistent with every test. With my set-upward, it took roughly four frames (~115 milliseconds) for the screen to update on a wired connection on both platforms. Over WiFi, there was a tiny bit more latency at five frames (~150 milliseconds). For the local menu? 1 frame (0-33 milliseconds). The latency seems very consequent in my feel, and ultimately that makes even faster-paced games functional. As long as everything remains consistent, yous can compensate quite effectively.

PS3 ComparisonOf course, these results shouldn't be interpreted as gospel. I accept a fiber internet connection, my router is only a few anxiety abroad from my consoles, I live in a relatively secluded area, and I had exclusive use of my home network during this test. If any function of the chain is sub-optimal for you lot, your gaming experience is jump to change on PS Now.

All of that said, I was very pleased to see the PS3's performance lucifer up with the PS4's. Even with the 802.11g limitation of the PS3, it worked surprisingly well over WiFi. A wired connexion is patently preferable for any kind of streaming, just information technology shouldn't make that much of a divergence every bit long as your signal is strong, and there isn't as well much interference in your area. If you're packed into a crowded apartment building with dozens of WiFi access points, you lot'll want to stick to a wired connection, merely that's a small cost to pay for top-drawer game streaming.

Now read: How to boost your WiFi speed by choosing the right channel