this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 141 points 11 months ago (6 children)

As the message says, the PS5 doesn't support any Bluetooth audio. It doesn't matter if it's made by Sony, you cannot connect audio devices to a PS5 via Bluetooth.

[–] [email protected] 103 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ps4 does, what pepega shit is this

(It is a meme I stole I am not currently attempting to connect a headset, but I am nonetheless bothered by ps5s lack of bluetooth)

[–] [email protected] 72 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Most likely they'd have to pay royalties to use Bluetooth software on their device, and they deemed the cost too high. The same thing is true for HDMI and other things. They're proprietary, so sometimes devices won't support it so they don't have to pay royalties. (Unrelated, but I honestly don't understand how HDMI still exists though with DisplayPort being available without the licensing costs. It just controls so much of the market that it can't die.)

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (2 children)

why do companies want to pay royalties for hdmi when display port is better

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

99% of the people I know have no clue what Display Port is, while even my tech-illiterate grandparents know about HDMI.

The people you're ultimately selling to are more important than almost anything else in the equation.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (2 children)

There was a point where hdmi was new too. DisplayPort is superior, it should be the new standard

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

When HDMI was new, none of is predecessors were even 10% as universally known as HDMI is today.

DVI, VGA, Component, Composite, a few different Coax options... it was all over the place.

It's like trying to overtake Facebook today and arguing that there were social media sites before Facebook. Sure, but they weren't nearly the same Goliath.

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[–] Dups 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I can't find anything about Bluetooth being proprietary and requiring royalty fees.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

You should read the table you linked - none of those fees relate to the cost per unit because there isn’t one. Sony locked out Bluetooth to enforce profitability in their accessory market for PS5 for themselves and their partners.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I can see that being an issue but there’s also the issue with lag/latency. Although, if somebody wants to deal with a slight audio delay I say more power to them.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's fuckin insane. I had no idea it couldn't even do that. The crazier thing is looking it up and seeing all the fanboys defending this as actually a good thing

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[–] FierroGamer 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It's so that they sell more of their first party gracias Headphones

Edit: lmao I meant wireless

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (10 children)

After Apple , Sony is the hardware tech company that I hate the most. They have always had retrograde and protectionist thinking with their products like Nintendo.Betamax x VHS war was a great example

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Happy to see Sony hate. Sony was Apple before Apple.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The vita was amazing, but destroyed by the stupid proprietary memory cards that were obscenely expensive

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Then again, the Xperias are pretty damn good and use stock Android without all the bloat that other manufacturers add.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I got legit angry at it, but it makes sense, there is a very slight but noticeable delay in almost all bluetooth audio. Sony certainly wouldn't want to taint their brand by something that small

[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Boost this one to the top, it's the official reason given by sony. You can disparage it if you want, but it has technical merit. The audio codecs supported by mainstream bluetooth devices are meant for music, where you want the highest possible quality and can tolerate a slight delay between when you press play and when the music actually starts.

In video games this means you get a noticable delay on the audio. With classic video file playback like a movie, this can be compensated for by delaying the visuals so thay match up with the audio, but delaying the visuals in a video game is an even worse experience for the player.

Sony's use of a proprietary audio codec via their wireless controllers is pretty justified. They're able to optimize for latency and it shows (or rather, it doesn't, since you probably would never notice it).

[–] azertyfun 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

That's a very high fucking horse to be standing on top off when their device is specifically made to be plugged into a television. Y'know, the thing that almost never can display an image with less than 100 ms of latency even in "game mode". Any decent bluetooth codec has less latency than a standard TV so that's a bullshit excuse.

Also there are low latency bouetooth codecs like AptX-LL with less than 40ms of E2E delay. Sony could enable bluetooth for those devices if it can negociate a low latency codec. They could show a warning about how they can't guarantee the user experience. But they won't.

The real reason is that they want to lock their users into a walled garden where they have an effective oligopoly. It's a very old and scummy business tactict. It's that simple and there's no need to regurgitate their pathetic excuses.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Thank you, I was almost feeling a tinge of sympathy for Sony then I remembered, these businesses have centuries of practice in deceit and any actual benefit that comes to users is incidental to their only actual goal of maximizing profit.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

It has hypercapitalistic anti consumer merit

It's not okay to make excuses for it

It is purely to make profit of a customer seen as incompetent

Just because it's a valid business case for making money

Even if to prevent bad experiences on their premium product

Nothing other than a failure of the capitalist system

No need to excuse it

[–] starman2112 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You know what's worse than audio with a 0.04 ms delay? No audio. Guarantee anyone who hooks up a pair of $20 Bluetooth headphones instead of their officially licensed $150 PS5 headset isn't gonna notice.

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[–] WindowsEnjoyer 43 points 11 months ago (9 children)

This is why I hate consoles. The only "consoles" I would use are PC-based, such as Steam Deck or self-built desktop PC with SteamOS.

This way I am not locked, games are cheaper and I can move/sync game save.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's weird because there's a 3.5mm port on the controller you can use. Which I usually end up using, or Bluetooth through my TV. But it's really silly that they don't just say "Bluetooth audio sucks, use at your own risk" and let you have it.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Bluetooth does, legitimately, suck, for gaming though.

The only official two-way audio profile (that is, mic and speaker working simultaneously) mandates a low bitrate mono audio.

Stereo audio itself has a slight latency which may be fine for music or even movies (especially with lip sync adjustments), but for gaming it can be a problem when your audio is a big part of your situational awareness.

I don’t mind not supporting Bluetooth for games, at least for multiplayer. 3.5mm to controller and a proprietary protocol for the audio is the perfect compromise. For single player or media, though, I’d agree it’s dumb.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (2 children)

IMO even if it does suck for latency, not everyone is playing competitively and needs perfect latency and bluetooth should be supported for everything. Rhythm games on pc and mobile even have adjustment settings for terrible latency.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (6 children)

I mean honestly:

A) Bluetooth spec is insane

B) Audio requires a driver write

All I'm saying is it's not exactly "easy", like I don't think they're intentionally blocking this for anti competitive reasons, I bet it's more so cost of development, with an added benefit of driving purchases of proprietary accessories. Bluetooth is a terrible stack that's super difficult to implement

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (5 children)

When I first got a PS4 and tried to connect my headset to it I was told of was unsupported. After doing some digging I found that the only supported bluetooth headsets were specifically the ones that were branded as PlayStation. This wasn't the case with the PS3, it was just a decision Sony made in order to sell their overpriced headsets.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have a headset on my PS5 that isn't from Sony. Just get a Bluetooth dongle. Damn, people in this thread are drowning in a glass of water.

[–] Croquette 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The PS5 already have Bluetooth capabilities that are limited artificially by Sony.

The sole reason for that is greed. It is dumb as hell that you need a Bluetooth dongle on a machine that has Bluetooth in order to use a Bluetooth headset of your choice.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

If the nintendo switch can do it, so should a PS5.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

The bluetooth stack for a company of this size is a solved problem.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Pretty sure the controllers connect over bluetooth already

[–] TheRealLinga 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

They already implement a Bluetooth microphone via their controller

[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (4 children)

they want you to buy their specific ps5 earbuds. It is absolutely inane, the tech is all there but not available. Personally my smart tv can connect to my bluetooth earbuds so I just do that

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I thought the same thing when I tried to use my Sony headphones of a model that were made after the PS5 launched. They must be plugged into the controller to work, and when done that way the microphone doesn't work making it worthless as a headset.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

Literally unplayable

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Sony has totally bad vertical integration. It would be so powerful for them because they produce so much stuff.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

First ps5 has no games than this

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

If it's in a meme it must be true!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

To overcome this, I got a cheap low latency USB Bluetooth adapter. BT latency is still too much.

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