9 Intelligent Makes use of For Your Previous PS4 (Different Than Gaming)

Sony’s PlayStation 4 first hit the scene again in November 2013, kicking off one of the vital profitable console runs in gaming historical past. It went head-to-head with the Xbox One and got here out on high in a giant manner, due to its killer lineup of exclusives, higher specs, modern interface, and powerful group help. Even when the PlayStation 5 arrived in 2020, the PS4 refused to step apart quietly, with new video games nonetheless dropping and hundreds of thousands of gamers protecting the system alive.

However occasions are altering. The PS5 has lastly taken the lead in month-to-month participant counts, and with rumors of a PS6 touchdown throughout the subsequent two years, the PS4’s lengthy, superb period is winding down. Many players have already unplugged the previous console to make room for one thing shiny and new.

Nonetheless, tossing your PS4 into storage or promoting it for a fraction of what it is value can be a waste. The system could also be getting old, however it’s removed from ineffective. Past gaming, your PS4 can rework into a strong streaming hub, house media middle, or perhaps a DVD participant. Listed below are some intelligent methods to breathe new life into your previous console lengthy after you’ve got stopped gaming on it.

In case you’ve retired your PS4 from gaming responsibility, turning it right into a devoted streaming hub is without doubt one of the smartest methods to maintain it in motion. The console was designed for leisure as a lot as for gaming, so it already comes ready to stream shows and movies from apps like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Hulu, Twitch, and Amazon Prime Video.

All you want is an HDMI connection to your TV and a stable Wi-Fi internet speed. As soon as logged into your favourite streaming accounts, the PS4 delivers easy 1080p playback (with as much as 4K high quality on the PS4 Professional) and crisp audio, rivaling many devoted streaming units. The interface is quick, intuitive, and simple to navigate with a DualShock controller. However if you’d like a extra conventional expertise, the PlayStation Media Distant presents fast entry buttons for quantity management and app navigation.

Whether or not you park it in your lounge or transfer it to a spare TV, your previous PS4 can rapidly develop into a go-to leisure system for visitors or household. It is a sensible, budget-friendly solution to give your console a second life whereas protecting all of your favourite streaming companies in a single place.

For tech-savvy people, you’ll be able to flip your PS4 into one thing surprisingly helpful: a Linux-powered PC. By jailbreaking the console and putting in a Linux distribution, you’ll be able to unlock its hidden potential and use it for gentle productiveness. Jailbreaking primarily modifies the PS4’s firmware to take away system restrictions, permitting the set up of third-party software program and customized working programs. Though the method presents flexibility, it additionally carries dangers, comparable to voiding your guarantee or probably bricking your console, so warning is vital.

That being stated, earlier than beginning your PS4-to-Linux conversion journey, make certain your console is working firmware model 9.0 or decrease, since these are usually jailbreak-compatible in comparison with newer firmware variations, which can require extra difficult strategies. You may want a USB drive, an web connection, and a pc to obtain the jailbreak device. As soon as the jailbreak is full, you’ll be able to load up a Linux distribution. In style choices embrace PSXITA, Ubuntu, and Arch Linux. You may start the set up course of by the console’s customized firmware menu.

When all the pieces is about, the PS4 boots right into a full desktop interface. You may join a keyboard and mouse, browse the net, write paperwork, or set up open supply apps. It is not going to interchange a contemporary laptop computer, however watching a twelve-year-old console run Linux easily is fairly satisfying and a intelligent solution to flip previous gaming {hardware} into one thing productive.

Your previous PS4 can do greater than acquire mud on a shelf or in a storage room someplace in your own home. With the assistance of Plex, it will possibly simply develop into the center of your property leisure setup. Plex connects your console to a central library hosted in your laptop or NAS drive, providing you with on the spot entry to all of your digital content material with out the necessity for additional {hardware}.

Setting it up is easy. Obtain the Plex app from the PlayStation Retailer, sign up, and hyperlink your account to the Plex media server working in your PC. After a fast sync, your media library seems neatly categorized in your PS4, full with art work, metadata, and computerized group. From there, you’ll be able to stream content material in your PS4 in full HD on to your TV through HDMI. 

Your console should be related to the identical native community because the PC working the media server. Subscribing to Plex Distant Watch Go or Plex Go, nonetheless, gives you distant entry to your Plex media server, that means it is possible for you to to entry content material out of your media server even once you’re not related to the identical native community. 

Your previous PS4 may simply be the most effective sound system you did not know you had. With Spotify’s native PS4 app, your console can rework right into a full-time music station in your room, house workplace, or lounge. Simply seize the app from the PlayStation Retailer, sign up along with your Spotify account, and also you’re good to go.

The setup is easy, however the expertise feels surprisingly premium. Spotify runs quietly within the background, letting you queue up playlists, shuffle your favorites, or blast your focus combine whereas finding out or working. In case you’ve obtained a Premium account, you will get pleasure from ad-free playback and high-quality audio. However when you use a free account, you’ll be able to actually stream music, however be ready for adverts and restricted skips.

You may management all the pieces straight out of your DualShock controller or sync your cellphone by Spotify Join for distant management. So, get that Spotify app, crank up your audio system, and you have your self a dependable, no-hassle music participant. It is a simple solution to breathe new life into your previous console — one playlist at a time.

In contrast to the PS5, the PS4 presents a devoted net browser, which suggests your console can double as a succesful web-surfing machine. As an alternative of letting it sit idle, plug it in, seize your controller, and hearth up the built-in browser proper from the house display (or Library > Functions). Pairing it with a Bluetooth or USB keyboard may even make typing and navigation higher.

After all, it isn’t meant for heavy multitasking or lengthy searching classes, because it lacks fashionable options present in PC browsers. However for accessing primary net pages, fast lookups, or studying information, it will get the job carried out. And for the reason that browser runs instantly from the PS4’s essential interface, you’ll be able to bounce out and in with out interrupting music or downloads within the background. It is a kind of underrated options that makes the console really feel extra like a sensible hub than only a gaming machine.

Earlier than streaming companies took over, the PS4 was top-of-the-line Blu-ray gamers you may purchase, and it nonetheless holds up surprisingly properly as we speak. As an alternative of retiring your previous console utterly, you’ll be able to repurpose it as a reliable Blu-ray and DVD participant in your lounge or bed room setup.

Pop in a disc, and you will get easy playback with sharp 1080p visuals and Dolby Audio help, which nonetheless delivers an immersive film expertise. It handles a variety of disc codecs with out fuss, so whether or not you are revisiting previous favorites or catching up on that dusty DVD field set, your PS4 can deal with it with ease.

Even higher, you do not want any fancy setup. Simply join your PS4 to your TV through HDMI, seize your controller, insert your most well-liked disc, begin the disc from the house menu, and also you’re prepared for film night time. For a console launched over a decade in the past, the PS4 proves that bodily media is not prepared for retirement but.

In case your previous PS4 is defective and past saving, its laborious drive may nonetheless have loads of life left. Each PlayStation 4 comes with an ordinary 2.5-inch SATA drive, which may simply be eliminated and become exterior storage in your PC, laptop computer, and even one other console. It is a intelligent solution to recycle previous {hardware} whereas getting one thing genuinely helpful in return.

To attain this, you solely want a small screwdriver and a USB enclosure, which yow will discover cheaply on-line. After eradicating the PS4’s panel and unscrewing the drive tray, merely slide the laborious drive into the enclosure, join it through USB, and reformat it to your most well-liked file system. In minutes, you’ve got turned what was as soon as recreation storage into a transportable backup or media drive.

This fast DIY undertaking does not simply lower your expenses; it helps scale back digital waste by giving a wonderfully good element a second life. Whether or not you employ it to retailer images, films, or work recordsdata, your PS4’s previous laborious drive can nonetheless serve a goal even after the console stops booting up.

For anybody who prefers to maintain a private library of films, exhibits, and music in a USB drive, your PS4 nonetheless has one thing for you. One of many PS4’s most underrated options is its USB playback possibility, which helps you to get pleasure from your saved media assortment offline through the Media Participant app. And regardless of the size of your USB drive, the PS4 is ready to deal with it. 

However earlier than you get began, it is advisable to format your USB drive as exFAT or FAT32 so the PS4 can learn it. After that, drop your media recordsdata into folders named “MUSIC,” “VIDEO,” or “PICTURES,” and the console will set up all the pieces routinely. The PlayStation 4 helps frequent codecs like MP4, MP3, and JPEG, so most of your media will play with out a hitch. It’s a easy setup that turns your previous console into an on the spot leisure hub with out being held again by an web connection.

Typically the most effective use for an previous PS4 is to provide it up. In case you’re able to say goodbye, buying and selling your console may give it a contemporary begin some place else. Retailers like GameStop and Again Market provide trade-in packages that may earn you retailer credit score or reductions towards a PS5 improve, usually providing you with as much as $150 in worth relying in your PS4’s situation and mannequin. It is a sensible solution to lighten your improve prices whereas protecting your previous console out of storage.

In the meantime, when you’re not fascinated with buying and selling, donation is one other rewarding possibility. Many faculties, group facilities, and charities gladly settle for older consoles for academic or leisure use. A PS4 that is now not seeing motion in your lounge may develop into a supply of pleasure or studying for another person. It is a small act of recycling that helps scale back digital waste whereas giving others entry to expertise and leisure they won’t in any other case afford. Ultimately, everybody wins, and your previous console will get the adore it deserves.