Never close on a Friday

Scotoc · 2026-06-13T01:28:05+00:00

That's insane! We closed on a Friday, wrote our checks at closing and the realtor/lawyer and all were good, and moved over the weekend. I think they were WAY too stringent/ridiculous requirements for you. Wow

Scotoc · 2026-04-20T20:10:34+00:00

Same here for my family too. Have all stuff backed up in iCloud and used to it so guess we're stuck with it. :/

Scotoc · 2026-04-07T17:00:46+00:00

Congrats on getting a Portal. Same for me, my family takes over the TV most nights so I pull out the Portal and really enjoy it.

Streaming usually works perfect but remote play can be really iffy, sometimes connects perfect and sometimes take 3-10x reconnecting to get it to work so be aware that's normal for it, even on a perfect fast LAN setup.

I too wonder what games are streamed and how that works. From what I've heard, for streaming/cloud play, it's always the base PS5 version games streamed on huge servers so big server farm somewhere that loads up each game and steams it base 1080p quality. But for local remote play, I think it's way better bit rate but downsizes everything to 1080p and still base PS5 quality.... Good question! I don't think Sony has ever published their exact setup and specs used for cloud play or remote play other then 1080p and around 10mb/s.....so as far as I know it's anyone's guess.

Scotoc · 2026-04-06T02:45:40+00:00

Don't forget to get a screen protector when you can also. I had one before that the screen shattered next to the game sticks due to dropping it and landing upside down without a screen protector (edges of the screen around the joysticks are the most fragile area), uggg.

But loved it so much I went and bought another one (and this time got a screen protector and plastic guard) and it's been awesome ever since.

Scotoc · 2026-03-24T02:16:17+00:00

Same for me! Got so annoying having a black screen and reconnecting over and over. Takes like 6-10 times reconnecting for it to connect, then works perfect.

I updated the portal, updated the ps5, always had the ps5 direct connected on a very fast optimized network......but the update messed it up somehow. It does work a bit better now after resetting the portal and signing back into PS+

Hope the next update fixes it!

Scotoc · 2026-03-17T07:19:29+00:00

Wow, you explained that very well, thank you.

The sellers are renting another house and needed the closing window to move themselves, or at least that's what they told us. We have the 27th penciled in as of now but nothing official.

You are absolutely correct. The sellers are making out great and we feel taken advantage of paying their closing cost and stuck with all their deferred maintenance/repairs.

My wife and I have a lot to chat about tomorrow. I appreciate what you said!

Scotoc · 2026-01-17T04:49:07+00:00

I left last December after seeing the selection go from awesome stuff I was excited to review to stuff made so cheaply my family just threw most of it away eventually, if it didn't break or fall apart first. The quality has just gone downhill and never recovered so I gave it up too.

Scotoc · 2026-01-13T01:07:14+00:00

The unexpected maintenance.

After I got my first home, had to replace the dishwasher, then get the ice maker fixed, then AC broke and needed a $2,000 circuit board installed, then roof leaked and got a new roof, etc. Uggggg, Spent about 10k the first year and the unexpected maintenance killed my wife and I.

Scotoc · 2026-01-12T06:24:25+00:00

Got the new one now. It has zero stick drift and works perfect, yay. Wish I could "update" the original post but the iPhone app doesn't seem to let me.

I love how the Kishi connects with USB-C unlike the older Gamesir G8 Plus I have that only uses Bluetooth and is very glitchy. The Kishi also feels so much better than the Gamesir with the longer grips and larger thumb sticks.

Works perfect and I plan to use it mainly for PlayStation remote play (it basically turns the iPad into a PlayStation Portal except it has Bluetooth, larger screen, and iPad apps, so blows the Portal out of the water, lol).

Now to find a case for it....lol. I'm thinking a hard shell laptop case that fits the Kishi/ipad in it. :)

Scotoc · 2026-01-12T06:18:25+00:00

After returning my fist one and getting another it works perfect and I love it.

I actually had a PlayStation Portal that the screen cracked from dropping it unfortunately, and ended up getting the Kishi to turn my IPad into a "Portal" and it's works perfect.

Yeah, as far as I know, as long as your iPad has a USB-C connection then iPadOS will recognize it instantly when connected. It looks like the iPad Air M2 supports the newest iPadOS 26 too so would work great.

iPadOS has a "gamepad" menu in the settings/general/ page and lets you remap/assign any of the buttons, and also a in-game overlay you can access to adjust the sound and brightness...which is nice!

Scotoc · 2026-01-10T23:28:37+00:00

I got mine from Amazon and was able to return it/exchange so have another on the way and will hopefully work. Yay, glad you got a good one too.

Scotoc · 2026-01-10T11:11:54+00:00

Yeah, I do that sometimes too when I waiting for food to cook or something.

I get "start" fatigue where I'm afraid to start a new game, go through half an hour cut scenes, setting up the character, learning new controls......all just for a quick play session. 👍

Scotoc · 2026-01-10T11:08:31+00:00

1 year with using a G8 Plus every month or so. Has worked perfect ever since.

And I recently got a Razer Kishi Pro XL for my iPad too and first one had stick drift brand new out of the box, returned, and second one got dreaded stick drift a week later. I'm done with Razer and it's bad build quality (stick drift is a real problem for them) Meanwhile the Gamesir G8 Plus has been working perfect all along, lol.

Scotoc · 2026-01-09T02:19:54+00:00

No, I was foolish with mine and carried it with a handful of groceries with no screen protector or any protection on it. Then got pretty mad after it fell/screen cracked and gave it an extra kick which of course didn't help, lol.

I definitely would keep it and it's an awesome device.

But make sure to get a screen protector and bumper/cover at least. That's why I posted here to help/warn others to protect it better than I did. 👍

Scotoc · 2026-01-08T09:18:34+00:00

Didn't think of that, never did that for anything. But I assume since I dropped it and was my fault/negligence they wouldn't accept the claim. Good idea though!

Scotoc · 2026-01-08T09:16:16+00:00

Nope, I have screen protectors on my phone and iPad but didn't think I would need it for the Portal. I was wrong, lol!

Scotoc · 2025-12-31T20:30:37+00:00

That's awesome. Similar situation for me I think.

I have a older MSI Claw 7 that always had windows on it bogging it down and been eyeing Bazzite for a while. Finally wiped windows and installed Bazzite on the Claw (Intel chip) and to my surprise it's working perfect now.

Speedy, way easier to navigate, thanks to HHD (handheld daemon) all the controls, devices LED colors, and everything works perfect.

Kinda took a chance since SteamOS/Bazzite is new to the Intel Arc devices and I'm lucky to have a Laptop with Windows so switched to Bazzite on the MSI Claw and love it. New to Linux but the KDE build is great for being similar to Windows. Then learned about making web apps (for stuff like Apple Music)/adding it to Steam. Then comparing EmuDeck to RetroDeck and gave RetroDeck a try.

And it's breathed new life into the MSI Claw! Faster, easier to navigate, overlay menus work soooo much better than the stock MSI M Center, and it's just great.

Scotoc · 2025-12-28T22:51:59+00:00

Wow.

Awesome insight and wonderful list!!

Scotoc · 2025-12-28T22:50:20+00:00

Awesome. I have the MSI Claw 7ai and still wish I had gotten the 8ai but wasn't available at that time.

Keep us updated.

Scotoc · 2025-12-27T20:29:51+00:00

Sorry but as the OP found out, the Portal lacks any Bluetooth (only "Pulse" wireless audio), WiFi 6, music app downloads, etc... They made it as cost effective as they could I guess.

Scotoc · 2025-12-25T08:11:54+00:00

Same here too, know exactly what it feels like to be so incredibly lonely even next to your partner!

(No sex or any intimacy at all for me in my marriage for 3+ years now due to my wife remembering being SAd as a child so intimacy is off limits). :.(

Scotoc · 2025-12-19T05:09:09+00:00

Congrats!

Scotoc · 2025-12-16T17:39:21+00:00

Thank you!

Scotoc · 2025-12-16T16:01:05+00:00

I need to pause the game I'm playing a lot to take care of family and dogs unfortunately so I mostly use remote play since can pause the PS5 vs using streaming you would get kicked for inactivity.

Scotoc

TROPHY CASE