The PS5 Just Got A Surprising Major Update
A PS5 update has surprised a lot of users.
This article is more than 2 years old
We can all agree that PlayStation came a long way from its original console, which was, at the time, a technological marvel in its own right. Fifteen years and four generations later, we’re introduced to the PlayStation 5, equipped with a solid-state drive, 4K capable graphics, ray-tracing, and exceptionally improved UI. Now, six months after its release, the PS5 has gotten a surprising major update.
According to the The Verge, the PS5 console now lets you store your games on USB drives or other compatible high-speed USB storage. This truly is a significant PS5 update, considering that you couldn’t move or download any titles to the external storage or play any titles stored externally. Before this patch arrived, players had to delete and re-download software directly to the external USB storage, with no options of playing the games stored there. The valid justification behind this constraint lies in the fact that PS5 titles are designed to take advantage of PS5’s built-in high-speed SSD.
The new PS5 update allows players to move titles from the internal storage to the external and vice versa, which is significantly faster than re-downloading them or copying them from a disc. Unfortunately, players can still not play titles directly from the extended storage, though Sony announced implementing a support for the M.2 SSD external SSD drives. This should allow the players to access and play any titles stored on an external storage drive. But how and when is this going to happen? We still don’t know.
Besides the added updating external storage capabilities, the PS5 update enhanced the PlayStation’s visual options. Most notably, the HDR and 120Hz support improvements and some new HDMI options regarding the one-touch play and power off-link.
The previous software version required players to manually turn off HDR (high dynamic range) features when playing SDR (standard dynamic range) content. This feature is now set to automatic detection and toggles HDR on and off according to the content the console reproduces. One-touch play is another quality-of-life improvement, as it automatically turns on the TV when you power up the console and switches it to the correct input. You can also enable the power off link, allowing the PS5 to enter rest mode if you turn off the TV connected to your console. Pretty neat.
Some players prefer PC monitors because of better pixel density or an improved refresh rate. Sony just added the support for PC monitors with a 120Hz refresh rate in the new PS5 update. So, if your monitor supports 120Hz, it should now work flawlessly on your PS5 console. Unfortunately, the variable refresh rate is still missing, and it’s unclear whether Sony plans on implementing this feature or not.
There’s an abundance of touchups that came with this firmware update, and we mentioned only the major ones. Sony also improved in-game chat controls, and an option to turn the chat off entirely, a better game management system, enhanced parental controls, and additional privacy settings, so no one can see what games you’re playing and when. Well done, Sony! Keep up the good work.
