Sony Pushes PlayStation 4 System Update 5.0 Beta Packed With New Features

Sony has announced that PlayStation 4 software update 5.00 is rolling out now for those who were selected in the beta program. A big portion of the 5.00 software update is to the overall master/sub-account system that allows parents to control what kids see and do on the PS4. The overhaul includes a new "Family on PlayStation Network" system that aims to be more flexible.

This new system makes it easier to set up PSN accounts for kids and offers customized parental control settings. Multiple adults can be part of a single family and the Family Manager account can promote another adult inside the family to Parent/Guardian, who is then able to set custom parental controls for children's accounts. Whereas previous parental controls applied all settings to all child accounts, the new system allows for individual settings per child. That means a 6-year-old can be locked to "E" rated games only while a 17-year-old can have "M" rated games enabled on the same account.

The "Favorite Groups" tab has been replaced with a new "Custom Lists" tab within the friends setting, allowing you to create and edit custom friends lists. The goal with that change is to make it easier for users to manage friends and access specific groups. With this setting you can do things like create custom friends lists for your CoD squad and send them all invites at the same time.

Updates to Broadcasts allows the community owner to bind the community to your broadcast giving a community button on the "Live from PlayStation" spectator screen. A click allows the spectator to jump directly to the community page. A PS VR Display message to Spectators and Spectators' Comments section has been added that when enabled shows comments in cinematic mode and in VR mode.

The big change for PS4 Pro users is one that we mentioned before with support for streaming at 1080p 60fps resolution; which is the only specific callout feature for PS4 Pro users in this update. Other improvements include the ability to share music to Twitter and Facebook via PlayStation Music and to share messages using your PS4 to the social networks. You can also now leave multiple message groups from one screen and leave several groups at one time. Popup notifications can be disabled while watching a movie or TV show on the console and an option for turning off message previews is added.

Sony also added an option to change pop-up notification color between the default white or black colors. The quick menu has been updated for access to data on download progress and installations or party invites. These are accessible from the Quick Menu. Virtual Surround Sound is now supported on PSVR with support for 5.1 and 7.1 virtual surround sound. Tournament bracket viewer is now available that shows the full tournament brackets for single and double elimination tournaments. A handful of new languages have also been added to the system. The last major PS4 system update came back in March when system firmware 4.5 debuted.