PS5 Pro Unboxing (Patreon)

Well, today is PS5 Pro day, and since I had to remove this thing from a box to hook it up in the first place, I figured I'd shoot a little something.

(At the time of this publishing, the video hasn't finished fully processing on YouTube, so check back for higher resolutions.)

After setting it all up, I've discovered that I'm having a heck of a time getting it to display through my capture setup, which is pretty hilarious. It all comes down to the HDMI Matrix that I'm using, which takes in four HDMI inputs and spits the signal out to two outputs--my TV and my capture card. The capture card is then piped out to my main monitor, which allows me to play games without having to turn my head away from the cameras and all that. It's the sort of setup that screams "man, when I move this entire operation to a somewhat larger space, I'm going to orient the screens in such a way that I don't have to do all this.

But for now, I'm using this Orei 4x2 matrix:

https://www.orei.com/products/4x2-hdmi-matrix-with-audio-extraction-bk-402apos=1&fid=9f1a4c0f2&_ss=c

It's actually a very capable device, but it runs into one weird issue: it occasionally drops signal in its default configuration. Since I'm trying to cleanly capture footage and, ya know, play games, having an unsteady signal really defeats the purpose of the whole thing. I can limit this by capping the matrix's output down to... uh... lemme look this up. It's... 8K60 4:2:0? The other thing I need to do is go into the PS5's settings and drop the arcane "Video Transfer Rate" setting down from Automatic to -1. The catch here is that setting it down to -1 prevents the PS5 from running at 4K120hz. Games that attempt to run at 120 frames per second (Call of Duty, for example) will drop to 1080p120. Not ideal!

On top of that, if I leave it at Automatic, for whatever reason the PS5 Pro won't display on the capture device at all. The normal PS5 did. Makes me wonder if they changed something about... something. Nothing about the Pro seems like it should change that, the only video setting that would is a new 8K toggle (that I can't turn on, because it knows I ain't got no 8K TV).

This, naturally, leads me to more gear. So I've just purchased this similar 4x2 matrix:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B6FCPG5Q

And we'll see if it's any better at this, but I suspect it'll have the exact same capabilities as the Orei, since it feels like all of these devices from all these random companies are nearly identical. Some of them are just rebadged versions of the same device, it's nuts. Of course, if this doesn't work, there's always this piece of rack-mounted insanity:

https://avproedge.com/products/ac-mx-88x

They... don't put the price of this thing on the page, you need to go find a retailer that carries it if you want to know that. It's about $8800, by the way. Hah!

My goal of having a setup that requires zero cable switching is a noble one, but I'm starting to think it's a pipe dream. A regular switcher that just passes HDMI video through to the capture card and goes out to the TV would be a much cleaner setup. Actually, wait... what if I took an HDMI splitter, just a regular ol' 1x2, and put it after the capture card? Maybe I could split to the monitor and the TV after the capture, and then I could use a regular switcher or just go direct or... ugh. Dude, I hate this stuff. Actually, I love this stuff, but I hate that so much of it is trial-and-error, especially when some of these boxes are $150 a pop. If I keep going, then hey, maybe that $8800 monster will become a deal, right? R... right?

I think I'm going to try putting the splitter after the capture card, that seems like one of the few things I haven't tried yet, and hey, it'll result in even more cables snaking back and forth behind my TV! The actual smart move--someday--will be to just put this TV closer to my main field of view so I can see it from the desk. Ya know, typing that out really makes this entire process seem 100% insane, like I should've reoriented things ages ago or something. Ah well. New matrix box shows up Sunday, wish me luck!