The PS4 will actually work with bluetooth headsets that are specifically licensed by Sony, apparently… but only those.
Pretty sure it’s just a money grab by Sony.
And ya, the XBox 360 had the same issue… I suspect the XBone does too.
Really? I’ve never even seen a licensed bluetooth headset that actually uses BT to connect. They just say they’re bluetooth but once you get them they come with a dongle. Even the official Sony gold and platinum headsets have a USB adapter.
Yeah, Mike is right. Everything uses a dongle on the PS4 if it’s wireless to my knowledge. I just researched hard for what to buy for mine so I’m kinda up on that stuff. I went with a SteelSeries Arctis 3.
And the explanation is that bluetooth has latency? Really? I mean, it doesn’t seem to have latency when cranking out sound from my phone.
What kind of latency are we talking about? I can’t imagine it’s more than like, 50ms, is it?
It seems to not be a problem with PS3 where all the controllers are bt, and most any bt headset works out of the box.
Latency is fine when it’s not interactive. As long as the video and audio are in sync, you can go pretty high latency before you start noticing. So watching a movie or listening to music aren’t problematic for Bluetooth, worst thing in an extreme case is a slight delay between when you hit “next track” and when the song changes, or whatever.
But when you’re dealing with a game that’s reacting and changing what’s happening based on split-second input from the user, you can’t tolerate nearly as much lag.
I don’t know how the PS3 worked.
The audio output on the controller works over BT so lag’s not the problem. I suspect there is something about the way PS4 is engineered that uses up all the BT devices possible that would have created weird limitations so they’ve just avoided introducing any support. They do support any standard USB audio device, wireless or otherwise.
What do you mean the audio output over the controller works over Bluetooth?
The controllers connect via Bluetooth. The audio you get by plugging headphones into the controller are coming over that BT connection.
Yep. And if there is lag with that, I haven’t heard it.
Okay let me try to clarify what I’m saying, but first of all, I can’t remember where I heard this and I haven’t had the chance to figure out where to research this. So I don’t have a source to back this up, but there’s a logic to it that makes sense to me, and I did hear this somewhere, I didn’t make this up entirely on my own.
Bluetooth introduces some latency, but it will vary by both devices in any particular pairing. I don’t think this is in dispute. My car’s Bluetooth delay for the audio input is more than a second.
Under good circumstances (good devices), that latency can still be within acceptable tolerances for gaming. So under the hood, I believe it’s not uncommon for systems to use Bluetooth technology for wireless communications in controllers and audio devices.
But they don’t advertise that that’s what’s going on behind the scenes, because they don’t support the Bluetooth spec completely, because they don’t want any off the shelf controller or audio device that supports Bluetooth to be able to pair, because they can’t control the Bluetooth quality on the device side. They don’t want someone to make cheapo Bluetooth controllers or audio devices that introduce noticeable lag.
I believe what you’re saying, and that your read something in-depth about it. I just don’t think Bluetooth itself is the sole cause, like Brad said, the controller is Bluetooth, and the headsets can connect to that and be fine. There must be some other factor at play. I just think that Sony’s gotta protect gamers from buying crap is… well, I just don’t really buy it.
Yeah when I said above that it’s Bluetooth “behind the scenes”, that was still a bad way to say it. The controllers are Bluetooth from their side, you can use them on a PC as Bluetooth controllers.
But on the console side, it’s requiring that Bluetooth devices also be licensed, supported devices, not just any Bluetooth controller or headset.
We agree there, right? The controllers are Bluetooth, the system won’t let just any controller connect.
Bluetooth devices absolutely introduce latency, but there’s a range depending on the quality of the device. A bluetooth controller can be good enough for gaming.
I don’t think anyone is disputing anything I’ve said in this post so far, unless I’m just totally missing what you guys are saying.
So there’s a very valid reason a console manufacturer might not want to support the entire pantheon of bluetooth gadgets. Maybe they truly don’t care and just want those licensing fees, I don’t know. But I see a valid technological reason they would want to restrict things to approved devices, so I assume that’s a factor. Maybe there’s a valid technological reason but they’re also charging too much for licensing fees, I’ve got no idea.
But this started with:
And I’m here to say nah, you wouldn’t want most 3rd party headsets for gaming in the first place. Whether they’re motivated by greed or not, they’re delivering a better product because of it.
See the problem is, there are some very quality devices out there that are not Sony licensed. I should be able to use the same quality headset on my pc, my laptop and my PS4 if wanted to. But yes, i can see why we don’t need walls full of third party crap… but really the consumer should be able to decide.
I understand this, but I mean, when I play games on an android device with a bluetooth headset… the latency in audio is not noticeable. And bluetooth is used for the controllers, where latency would presumably be far more noticeable.
Everything I’m seeing is suggesting bluetooth has a latency of 30-40ms… that couldn’t really have any kind of impact on audio for games, I wouldn’t think.
Sony doesn’t make the best headsets on the market.
You’re right, that would be nice, and that’s the drawback to handling it the way they have: even devices that would be good enough end up blocked. But I understand why they might make that compromise to avoid the customer service hassle and bad user experience for thousands of people using crappy devices.
That’s silly though. It’s totally easy to use all kinds of total trash headsets with the PS4.
You just can’t use bluetooth ones. Even if they are super high end ones.
We’re outside my tech knowledge here but they don’t really have a way to block the plugin devices right… like just having the slot is enough. The Bluetooth stuff has always been weird. For example, my work laptop, it won’t work with any bluetooth headset… mice are fine.
Almost everyone knows that some headsets sound good and some headsets sound bad. And it’s usually the cheap ones that sound bad. There’s no meaningful demographic that is going to write Sony nasty letters because they’re not getting a full bass sound with the earbuds they got for $5 at the gas station.
A dramatically lower portion of the population understands that wireless headsets introduce lag, and even fewer realize it can vary by device, so when suddenly the gun in fortnight isn’t firing it at the same time they push the button or they see the animation before they hear the shot, “oh I have a cheap controller/headset” isn’t going to be most people’s first thought. They’re going to think something is actually wrong with the game or the system, not that it’s just a lower quality product and that this is acceptable.
Some pretty decent deals going on at Sony. Lowest prices I’ve seen on Watch Dogs 2 and GTA V.
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/grid/STORE-MSF77008-DAYSOFPLAY18LP/1