Gaming is one of the favorite pastimes of many young people today, and arguably the leader in the game consoles industry is Sony. Sony’s flagship console has been the PlayStation (also known as PS) and has been popular since the PS1 days.
The latest iteration of Sony’s console is the PS5; however, the PS4 is still very popular among many gamers. Also, people consider a laptop a greater priority at home than a TV; since they can use the laptop for work, study, and recreational purposes. So, if you’re one of such gamers who has a PS4 but doesn’t have a TV to hook it up to, I can show you how to connect it to your laptop via HDMI.
What You Need to Connect PS4 To Laptop With HDMI
To connect your PS4 to laptop with HDMI, you need the following:
- Laptop (preferably one with a USB 3.0 ports and above)
- PlayStation 4 console
- HDMI Cable
- HDMI Video Capture Card
- OBS Software installed on your laptop
Note: There are other means to get this done that require an internet connection, but we would not go into those today.
Steps To Connect PS4 To Laptop With HDMI
Once you have the requirements listed above, setting up is easy:
Step #1
First, connect your HDMI capture card to your laptop. You can purchase various kinds of capture cards, but I strongly suggest the Rybozen 4K HDMI Video Capture Card. I love this particular capture card because it is a plug-and-play device; there is no need for additional cables or an alternate power source.
Step #2
Switch on your PS4 and plug your HDMI cable into the corresponding port behind it.
Step #3
Connect the other end of the HDMI cable into the capture card connected to your laptop. Some capture cards have lights that indicate that you’ve successfully established a connection.
Step #4
Now, your PS4 is sending signals to your computer. However, you need a means of catching the signals being transmitted to your computer through the capture card. We would need to download a software known as OBS Studio; you can easily download it here. OBS Studio is available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, so no matter your operating system, you’re good to go!
Step #5
Install the OBS software with all the default settings and open the app. On the sources tab, click the “+” button and select Video Capture Device in the list of options that come up. Give it any name you choose in the popup that appears and click OK.
Step #6
Click on the option called Device, and you should see your capture card in the list of devices in the dropdown. Select it and click on OK (you can mess around with the display settings if you wish).
Step #7
Your game should be showing now in the part of the app that was once blank. For you to view the game in full screen, right-click the video, hover your mouse on the Fullscreen Projector (Preview) option and click the first option there. Your games should be up and running smoothly.
Related: 4 Ways To Connect PlayStation To Older Device
What’s The System Requirement to Connect PS4 To Laptop With HDMI?
Connecting your PS4 to laptop with HDMI doesn’t need a high-end laptop. The reason is your laptop is not running any programs but is running simply as a monitor for your game console.
The minimum system requirements I would suggest are:
- Intel Core i-3 processor
- 4 GB RAM
- About 500 MB hard disk space. That amount of space can easily contain the OBS installer file and the installed application.
Why Can’t I Connect PS4 To Laptop HDMI A Without Capture Card?
Many people make the mistake of thinking that you can plug an HDMI cable from your PS4 into your laptop since they both have the ports. However, you must realize that the HDMI ports on both your console and laptop are output ports; this means they were made to send signals and not receive them.
What a capture card does is that it captures the signal being sent from the PS4 and sends it as a video stream to your computer. That means your computer interprets the data sent from this device the same way it does a USB webcam.
