Wow, the method for playing video files on PS5 is ridiculously unintuitive

I haven't really had the need to play any video files on my PS5 before now, but I saw the Hitman 3 Playdate posted today and figured I'd put it up on my TV as background stuff to watch while I got some work done on my PC. Since it's premium content, it's not on YouTube, so I downloaded it, loaded it onto a USB, and plugged it in to my PS5.

Nothing happened. On PS4, when I plugged in a USB, the Media Player app would pop up. I suddenly wondered if the PS5 could even play video. I Googled it, and found this video explaining how to do it. But the thing is, the guy talks about (and shows) a "Media Gallery" app that you're supposed to be able to find under the "Games" tab (rather than the "Media" tab... argh). But in fact, as much as I looked, for me it doesn't show up there. I don't know if it's changed or what since this YouTube video was posted, but I can't get Media Gallery to show up on the home screen under either Games or Media.

You know where you find it? Under Settings --> Storage --> Console Storage --> Media Gallery --> USB. Really, guys? Really? You can't just put a video player on the "Media" tab, like anyone with an ounce of common sense would do?

Anyway, I just had to whine about this somewhere because it's so ridiculous and I'm annoyed. Obviously the GB duders discussed the PS5's UI issues ad nauseam at launch, including the MIA quick access to cloud saves via game tiles. Man do they ever need to fix some of this crap.

(For that matter, the PS4 also has a web browser through which I can watch GB videos directly off the site. It's not a good browser, but it's good enough for what I use it for. But the PS5 doesn't have a web browser at all. They definitely took some steps back on functionality.) Wow, there is a web browser on PS5, you would just never ever find it on your own. Ugh. Seriously, Sony, get your act together.

@atheistpreacher: Is there a Plex app for PS5 yet? I wonder if that would be any better, although obviously you'd need to be running a PC server somewhere to make it work.

@atheistpreacher: fwiw, the ps5 does have a web browser, it's just hidden in an even more obtuse way. And it can't go full screen so it's just barely there.

You can still log in to GB and watch videos though, if you get that desperate.

@rorie: Yeah, there is, and maybe that's what I should be doing. Maybe I'll set that up when my new computer gets delivered next week (my current system is about eight years old and slowly dying).

But of course that doesn't make a lot of the PS5's UI choices--including this Media Gallery one--any less stupid. :-P

Geez, I just Googled it, you're right, there is a web browser, and it is even more hidden than the Media Gallery. Seriously, what were these people thinking?

Oh, and I've also just discovered that the PS5's media player appears to dim the display after ten or fifteen minutes. Again, WTF Sony?

@atheistpreacher: That my gut be your tv actually. For instance my LG OLED knows that YouTube is video so it stays on but when I launch the official Spotify App the TV will switch to screensaver mode after a few minutes and there is no way to have the app stay on the screen. I guess it’s a feature to not waste screen use when listening to music? Still I would like the option to control this myself and it’s possible something similar is happening with the PS5

We're still living in a corporate hell started by EVERYONE reacting to iTunes getting big in 2003 cause of those dumb commercials by believing they could make their own ripoff of iTunes and beat it.

No one has bought an MP3 in 14 years, South Park Studios is like a decade old, and yet Sony still puts these dumb restrictions in hoping you'll buy ATRACs, and Microsoft hoping you'll buy Complete Seasons of SP at $3.99 per episode, all via their shitty 2006-lookin' webTV ass fake iTunes stores.

@humanity: Nah, 99% sure that it's not my TV. It ain't that "smart." It's a pretty budget TV that I bought in 2009. It will turn itself off after a while if there's no signal at all, but otherwise it has no idea what the hell's going on.

The web-browser on PS5 is mostly an escape hatch for when web content is just absolutely needed. Embedded browsers often being the entrypoint for hacking consoles is probably the reasoning behind this.

Maybe it's this setting:

Settings -> Screen and Video -> Screen -> Dim Screen While Inactive

@peffy: Yeah, that might be an option, but of course if you're watching a video, it shouldn't be reading as inactive in the first place.

Haven't tried this but maybe I should. If I want to watch MP4's on my TV I've been either plugging the USB straight into the TV and using the LG media player, or I've been screen-sharing straight to the TV from my PC or Phone. Seems weirdly awkward having the media player tucked away like that, but at least it's only awkward and not impossible, I guess?

People forget the ps4 was updated a fair amount early on, the early ui was pretty basic, folders didn't come till later, and the media player wasnt released untill middle of 2015, no video or audio files at launch if i recall correctly, hopefully the ps5 will get some of the same updates.

I think the big problem is all that stuff is in the PS4 now and Sony strips away features for their upgraded console. Why not just y'know, carry all that stuff over? It's not like the UI for the PS5 is brand new, it's a coat of paint on the PS4 UI with fewer features.

i'm not at all surprised to hear this. My experiences with playing media on my PS4 was so bad. Always had constant issues getting any local media to load from a usb hdd. The native Netflix, Stan, Disney, Twitch apps were always so hit or miss with bugs and performance issues.

I got so sick of it and just bought an Apple TV which works flawlessly and solved pretty much all my issues. I ended up making a PLEX server to stream my content from my pc to the Plex app. I was so impressed with how well it works. There's even a couple of native Giantbomb apps on the tvOS platform that will play all Giantbomb (including Premium) content. Its also nice having a dedicated remote to control the thing. Instead of having to power my dualshocks on and off every time I need to do something.