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If you haven't followed our PlayStation 4 Pro journey, then catch up with the following articles:
- Know before you buy – PlayStation 4 Pro
- Most affordable 4K TVs you can buy in South Africa for your PS4 Pro
- Unboxing the PlayStation 4 Pro before its South African release
- Hands-on with the PS4 Pro's Best Titles
PS4 Pro – Setup and Unboxing
The PS4 Pro comes box standard, with the console, a 4K HDMI cable, the new DualShock 4 with the lightbar on the touchpad, and all the plugs and wires you would need to set it up. There have been a few changes with the ports at the back. The inclusion of an extra USB 3.0 port, will help us with PS VR when it releases here in January 2017, and the power plug is now an old-school PC/kettle plug, instead of the smaller adapter seen on the PS4 Slim. The console is not much bigger than the old PS4 model but is it noticeably longer. Gone are the faceplates and touch buttons, and welcome physical buttons that you need to press in to use. This helps by preventing accidental turning on when cleaning it, or moving it while powered off.
The PS4 Pro is a beautiful machine to look at, and it is extremely quiet. I used to place my old PS4 outside of the TV stand, using a vertical stand, and it was loud. My Pro now sits inside the TV stand on a shelf flat, with less ventilation than the old PS4, and it never made a sound. The console has plenty of vents to keep it cool, and never makes a noise. The lightbar in the front looks cool, and the wafer design adds a nice touch to it.
I, unfortunately, suffered form a black screen when booting up for the first time, I had to enter safe mode and change HDCP from automatic to 1.4 to get a picture. I had to keep doing this every time I moved from my full HD display to my 4K TV, as it seems that the console resets visual settings every time you plug it into a different display TV.
As I had my 1TB PS4 with all my games setup already, I made use of the system transfer ability to clone my old MS4 to my new one. Five hours later, and 800GBs moved across, the console was ready to go. The system transfer was flawless, and I recommend using a direct LAN to LAN connection when using it, as a modem will cap speed.
Everything was there, and I loved the ease of use that came with the transfer.
PS4 Pro UI
The overall system UI of the PS4 Pro has not seen any drastic change. The home screen is now in 4K, with icons and text sharper than before, but it was nothing life changing. The only two new features, which are great by the way, is the ability to record gameplay at 1080p, and a new menu in settings that shows you what TV you have and what output it supports. The 1080p recording is a life saver, especially for me that relies on the console’s recording to get cool videos made. That, in hand with the 60-minute extended record time, results in less hassle with gameplay videos.
The PS4 Pro also takes screenshots at 3840×2160, which is great for those who want to create cool wallpapers from their game’s photo modes. Keep in mind that the PNG format, along with the 4K screenshots, results in a much higher picture, some almost hitting the 15MB mark. This could be an issue if you take many screenshots, and the trophy screenshots might all add up.
It was concerning to see the UI still lag and freeze while navigating through the system. While in game, heading back to the home screen to open trophies or go into downloads, still had a few jitters. The PS4 Pro has 1GB of extra RAM just for these tasks, and I could not see any improvement to the UI at all while in heavy gaming. It is not a deal breaker, but it was something that I hoped would have been ironed out with the boost in performance.
Will you be getting a PlayStation 4 Pro when it releases in South Africa? If you're still on the fence, then check out the video below, and keep an eye on GameZone for our PS4 Pro review later this month. If you're ready to pre-order the Pro, then follow this link to Raru where you can grab it currently for R6999. Yes, we definitely give the PS4 pro our stamp of approval!
Video by madeyoulook.
Marco Cocomello: Twitter / MWEB GameZone: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
