4 things the PlayStation 4 Pro can do that the PS4 can’t

The first four things you should do with your PS4 Pro

Play

Behold the glory of 4K HDR

OK, so this is an obvious one, but it’s definitely the biggest reason to buy a PS4 Pro over the original.

While technically the PS4 Pro doesn’t output a lot of games at native 4K resolution (apart from exceptions like the excellent Rez Infinite), it does up the resolution of a lot of titles. inFAMOUS: First Light and Second Sun, for example, both get ramped up to a native 1800p before being upconverted using a couple of incredibly clever techniques. Essentially, even the stuff that isn’t native 4K looks as though it is.

Another benefit is that, unlike PC games where you’re forever trying to balance resolution with detail to get a solid frame rate, the PS4 Pro does all the tweaking for you. Yay for simplicity.

As we found out in our review though, you need to make sure that your TV is actually set to receive a 4K HDR signal. On both our Philips and Samsung test TVs, we needed to go into the settings menu of the television, and make sure the HDMI settings were configured correctly. Just one to bear in mind if you’re new to the razor-sharp world of 4K TVs.

Share the love, in style

If you’re lucky enough to wrap your mitts around the shiny new PS4 Pro, but your mate Gary isn’t (poor Gary), then all is not lost.

Being the standup person you are, you’ll want to share the love – and what better way to do that than by playing a game of FIFA 17 with him in glorious 1080p?

Yep, while previously the PS4 could Share Play to other PS4 owners at 720p, the increased power of the PS4 Pro means you can jump up to 1080p. Hooray!

The downside, however, is that you’ll need a pretty beefy internet connection to ensure that it’s a smooth experience – Sony recommends a 15Mbps upload speed for things to run smoothly.

Stream if you want to go faster

Another scenario. You’ve snuck a PS4 Pro into your house under the cover of darkness, set it up in the spot where your old PS4 was under the TV, and you’re gaming happily the next day. Go you.

But, uh oh! Your other half has spotted the slightly larger footprint and matte black plastic styling of the newer model, and is harassing you for spending yet more money on your gaming hobby. But all is not lost. Relax, and tell them you bought it as an investment, so that so you could become the next YouTube millionaire.

You see, the PS4 Pro can stream to the world’s favourite time-wasting video service at 1080p in 60 frames per second. This means your adoring viewers will be able to get even more detail on your l337 360noscop3z Call of Duty headshots, and feel the full 187mph in the Aston Martin V12 Vantage you’re driving in Project Cars.

Hyde Park penthouse, here you come.

Share screenshots in 4K

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to taking the best in-game screenshots. After all, there are entire subreddits dedicated to just about anything you can think of, but you get the idea -taking photos in-game and sharing them with people is a thing that exists.

If you’re going to one-up the digital Hockneys on that particular corner of the internet though, there’s no better way to do it than by dropping some gorgeous shots at full 3840 x 2160 4K resolutions.

If you fancy having a go, just press the “Share” button on your controller, go into the settings, and set your screenshots to the higher resolution. Boom – you can share them at mega-resolution on social media, put them on a USB drive for archiving, or upload them to reddit for max respect from the screenshotting elite, and watch your eStreet Cred soar.