Microsoft Confirms PS4 Will Work Through Xbox One HDMI Port

[Andy Chalk]

Microsoft Confirms PS4 Will Work Through Xbox One HDMI Port

Microsoft says that yes, you can plug a PlayStation 4 into the Xbox One's HDMI port, but it would really rather you didn't.

Speaking at the Tokyo Game Show last week, Albert Penello, the senior director of product management and planning for the Xbox, declined to directly answer the question of whether the Xbox One would support a video feed from a PlayStation 4 through its HDMI port - but he did say later on, while talking about the console's ability to "snap" applications to the side of the screen, that "any application can be snapped to a game... this could be the live TV feed, so if you wanted to be playing Ryse and Killzone at the same time, you could snap that."

Killzone, of course, is a PlayStation-exclusive franchise, so that seemed to be that, and in a follow-up post on NeoGAF Penello confirmed that the Xbox One will in fact pass a PS4 signal through its HDMI port - but added that he doesn't think it's a good idea.

"I'll get back with a more detailed story, but long story short it won't be a great experience, and I indicated as much in the interview which wasn't included. HDMI latency is fine for video feeds, but not great interactive," he wrote. "Its also funny to me that this was basically a quick question I was asked after a UI demo, which I answered, but its written like I made a big deal about it..."

Does that sound reasonable? I'm asking honestly, because I don't know - it strikes me as a bit of a dubious proposition, but my experience in such things is limited to passing a TRS-80 through a VCR back in the day. We'll find out the moment both consoles are available, because you just know that as soon as it can be done, it will be done, but in the meantime, what do you think?

Sources: GameSpot [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=82953285&postcount=121]


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[Ed130 The Vanguard]

So he states that HDMI latency 'wouldn't be great for interactive' yet is a part of a company claiming that shunting graphical processing serverside 'with the power of the cloud' is a-ok?

Right.

 

[OuendanCyrus]

I think I'm going to try this as soon as I get hold of both consoles.

Just for laughs.

 

[rofltehcat]

This kinda sounds incestuous... can we plug a Xbone into an XBone into another Xbone and so on?

 

[tdylan]

This kinda sounds incestuous... can we plug a Xbone into an XBone into another Xbone and so on?

That's some "inhuman centipede" action you've got going there.

 

[Arawn]

Of course I can see why saying yes to such a thing makes it look like he's encouraging people to buy a PS4. But he must realize they must first buy the Xbox One to perform such a maneuver. As the competition they are unable to say anything good about their opponent even offhandedly (I'm surprised that's a word). I doubt any name calling or bad mouthing will change anyone's mind at this point. Similar to the presidential election at least 80% of people have made up their minds and know what they're going to buy. Still if someone wants to purchase both, I say more power to them.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Now all we need to be able to do is run a WiiU feed through the back of the PS4 while it's connected to the Xbone and the summoning ritual will be complete.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Ah ha! So if you want to hook your PS4 up to an HDMI recorder, you can get around mean ol' Sony not wanting you to by running it through an Xbox180 first.

Alternatively, use this feature to produce videos of yourself pulling up the 180 dashboard while playing Killzone 4 to convince your more gullible friends that you have the 180 version of the game.

 

[stabnex]

So let me get this straight.. their HDMI port is going to be laggy, and even though they've essentially opened up all sorts of "snap" features they're telling us it's a bad feature?

 

[Fappy]

This reminds me of the days when you'd have a cable running from the wall into an NES brick, a Genesis brick, an SNES brick, a VCR brick and ending with the VCR cord's connection to the TV. Glad Microsoft is feeling nostalgic.

 

[Seracen]

So he states that HDMI latency 'wouldn't be great for interactive' yet is a part of a company claiming that shunting graphical processing serverside 'with the power of the cloud' is a-ok?

Right.

So let me get this straight.. their HDMI port is going to be laggy, and even though they've essentially opened up all sorts of "snap" features they're telling us it's a bad feature?

+1 on both of these. However, It astounds me how much M$ is making a big deal out of the XBONE as this "Media Hub."

A proper response to this question would have been "why not just plug it into your TV?" However, if he'd done this, it would undermine M$'s whole business strategy of selling us our own televisions.

Just...there's just so many things I want to say...how do I even articulate?

 

[tangoprime]

Or I could just... y'know, have them plugged into separate HDMI ports on the back of my TV, and use the input selection.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

"Its also funny to me that this was basically a quick question I was asked after a UI demo, which I answered, but its written like I made a big deal about it..."

Albert Penello just doesn't understand PR. It doesn't matter if he makes a big deal out of his comments or not. What matters is if the media and potential customers make a big deal out of it. Of course, not understanding the importance of PR, a top-ranking MS exec once again blows off public scrutiny.

This kinda sounds incestuous... can we plug a Xbone into an XBone into another Xbone and so on?

Or what if you plug an XB1 into itself?!? O.O!

XBONECEPTION.

BWOOOOONG.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Or I could just... y'know, have them plugged into separate HDMI ports on the back of my TV, and use the input selection.

Doing it that way will render all those 'amazing' TV features the Xbone has unavailable to you, which is pretty much the only thing it has over the PS4 right now.

That and exclusives.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Or I could just... y'know, have them plugged into separate HDMI ports on the back of my TV, and use the input selection.

Doing it that way will render all those 'amazing' TV features the Xbone has unavailable to you, which is pretty much the only thing it has over the PS4 right now.

That and exclusives.

Oh god, how will I say what I want to watch to my TV, have the Xbox think it's something completely different and take me to something I don't want to watch now? I'll have to go back to using reliable buttons!

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Or I could just... y'know, have them plugged into separate HDMI ports on the back of my TV, and use the input selection.

Doing it that way will render all those 'amazing' TV features the Xbone has unavailable to you, which is pretty much the only thing it has over the PS4 right now.

That and exclusives.

Oh god, how will I say what I want to watch to my TV, have the Xbox think it's something completely different and take me to something I don't want to watch now? I'll have to go back to using reliable buttons!

Hence the 'amazing' terminology. The stupidest thing about all this is that anyone who uses an internal decoder (which is fairly sizeable portion outside of America) won't be able to use those features anyway.

 

[g3ko]

How come nobody asked this yet?
Is it possible to short-circuit a console through it's HDMI port?
(Or at least the video output circuit, but you understand my point here).
Other than that (not following the Xbox One updates) what more enhancements could it possibly bring to have an already HDMI capable device run through another and not just snap it directly to the TV?

 

[rofltehcat]

How come nobody asked this yet?
Is it possible to short-circuit a console through it's HDMI port?

That'd be both hilarious and sad and I believe it is 100% in Microsoft's capacity to ship consoles that blow out when people (inevitably) do this.

captcha: good job

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

...So....By getting both consoles and hooking them up like this, I can play PS4 games on X-Bone?
/Might have misunderstood something.