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PS Now Success

In September, Sony rolled out the PlayStation Now beta service to the PS3. The public beta has been available on the PS4 for a while now, but this boosted release spurred me to take another look at the service. This time, I wanted to test the latency on both the PS3 and PS4. The quondam is practically ancient technology in 2014, and it's WiFi configuration tops out at 802.11g. I was curious if that would make a divergence when it came downwardly to streaming a game.

Previously, I've written extensively regarding how PS Now feels shockingly responsive. Maybe I had extremely depression expectations going in, merely I'thousand consistently surprised at how well streamed games command over Sony's service. If I play for more than than a few minutes, I eventually forget completely most the crazy technology behind information technology, and simply enjoy the game itself. I wanted to know more than, though. The subjective "feel" test is undoubtedly important, merely I wanted to know how well PS Now on PS3 stacked up 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 upwards against each other, I wanted to perform 3 tests on each platform. So, I decided to exam the latency of a PS At present in-game menu over an ethernet connectedness, the latency of a PS Now in-game carte du jour over WiFi, and the latency of the local chief card on each device.

Then, how am I estimating latency here? I don't have access to loftier-terminate capture equipment, just I do have a video camera. I set up the shot with both my TV and controller in-frame, and then I hit "tape." From there, I pressed the D-pad ten times in a row, and so started the next test. I then imported the video to my computer, and counted the number of frames between a button press and a visual change on the screen.

Read: The all-time free games for the PS4

My camera only shoots at thirty fps, but that's beside the bespeak. I'm past no ways attempting to exercise extremely precise measurements here — all I demand are ballpark results. 33 millisecond units of measurement are perfectly fine for this specific test. After all, I'm trying to compare multiple results confronting each other — not trying to calculate the purest latency data in a vacuum. In any case, the exact corporeality of latency would differ drastically depending on the quality of your connection, the altitude from Sony's server farm, and your specific network environment. Diving any deeper on this seems similar a huge waste of time since information technology would only use to people with my exact setup.

PS Now Chart

Results

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

PS3 ComparisonOf class, these results shouldn't exist interpreted as gospel. I have a cobweb internet connection, my router is only a few feet away from my consoles, I live in a relatively secluded area, and I had exclusive use of my home network during this test. If any part of the chain is sub-optimal for you, your gaming experience is spring to change on PS At present.

All of that said, I was very pleased to see the PS3's performance match up with the PS4's. Even with the 802.11g limitation of the PS3, it worked surprisingly well over WiFi. A wired connection is apparently preferable for whatever kind of streaming, but it shouldn't make that much of a departure as long as your signal is potent, and at that place isn't also much interference in your area. If you're packed into a crowded flat building with dozens of WiFi admission points, you lot'll desire to stick to a wired connection, but that's a small price to pay for top-drawer game streaming.

Now read: How to boost your WiFi speed by choosing the correct aqueduct