Today, Sony released an update for PlayStation, adding, among other things, support for external storage of PS5 games. But how reported per The Verge, Sony quietly slipped in a handful of additional features to the update, including the ability to automatically turn off HDR, as well as a new feature set called “HDMI Link.”
In the most basic sense, HDMI Link combines the power status of your PS5 with the power status of the TV. Light one, the other light, a kind of. HDMI Link is divided into two different functions: Power Off Link (if you turn off the TV, your PS5 will switch to sleep mode) and One-Touch Play (if you turn on the PS5, your TV will turn on and turn on automatically) . input to your PS5).
You’ll find them both by going to your settings, opening the System menu, and navigating to the HDMI submenu.
In particular, the latter option, One-Touch Play, is a gift from God. Think about it: play video games. You probably have multiple machines connected to your TV. Think about all the time you’ve spent exploring the various inputs, looking for the console you want (in this case, your PS5). With One-Touch Play, you don’t need to remember which input is enabled on the console and you’ll get some power-saving benefits for booting.
Too bad it doesn’t seem to always work.
When I tested the HDMI Link feature on my TV this morning, I checked that neither feature works. (I mainly keep my PS5 connected to a 2019 Sharp Roku TV). When I turned off my TV, my PS5 remained completely on, not in sleep mode, and certainly not off. In a second test, when I turned on my PS5, my TV did not turn on and certainly did not switch to the proper input.
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Eh.
I tried it again on a second screen (a Toshiba Amazon Fire TV was picked up last year) and it had identical results. So I did what every bewildered writer should do and annoyed my classmates until they tried me.
KotakuLisa Marie Segarra initially tested these features on a PC monitor. One-Touch Play worked fine, but Power Off Link didn’t. Even after disconnecting the monitor, the PS5 remained on. Still, on a multi-year-old Sony Bravia TV, both functions worked. Meanwhile, per KotakuAsh Parrish – whose PS5 is connected to TCL TV – did not work.
Therefore, it is clear that HDMI Link works in some cases, but it is not clear what prerequisites, if any, are needed in HDMI displays for these two new features to work. (Kotaku contacted Sony for clarification, but did not listen to the time to publish it).
Today’s update also gives PS5 owners the previously non-existent ability to store PS5 games on an external USB device. After the update, in the “Games and Apps” submenu, you should now see a separate column labeled “Move PS5 Games.” Transferring these games to an external device works exactly as with PS4 games: Just tick the ones you want to move and click the “move” button.
The problem is that you can’t play these games while they are stored externally. PS5 games require the system’s built-in solid state drive to operate. If you want to play a PS5 game on a PS5, you will need to move it back to the console’s internal storage. (As the system will tell you in a pop-up notification, scrolling from external to internal storage games is usually faster than downloading them fresh.) For those with fast Internet or stable cabling connections, this feature may work. it doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a real plus for those with questionable connections or data limit.
Oh yeah, and despite the size of today’s update, you still can’t hold down the DualSense PS button to turn off the console. Maybe next time.