Honestly, I almost skipped this one. A game console selling out is not my beat. I watch sports, I resent cable bills, and the last game I finished had a plumber in it. But every time a PlayStation trends, the same question lands in my inbox from people who just bought one or are about to: can this thing replace my Roku?
My take is that a PS5 Pro is a perfectly good streaming box, and it would be a silly one to buy for that purpose. Both halves of that are true, and which one matters depends on whether the console is already sitting under your TV.
If you already own one, use it
The app lineup on PS5 is better than people assume. The big on-demand names are all there: Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and YouTube. So are the free ad-supported apps I lean on when I'm between subscriptions, like Tubi and Pluto TV. Twitch, Crunchyroll and Plex are there too, and so is Sony's own movie app, Sony Pictures Core.
For a sports-first person, the important ones are these:
- YouTube TV (about $83 a month) has a PS5 app. That's the full cable-replacement bundle with locals, ESPN, FS1 and the rest.
- Hulu + Live TV runs through the regular Hulu app, in the same price ballpark.
- The ESPN app is on the console, which covers ESPN's direct-to-consumer plan (around $30 a month for the full version) without a bundle.
- Peacock (about $11 a month with ads) and Paramount+ (roughly $8 to $9 on the entry tier) handle a big share of NFL, Premier League, Big Ten and Champions League nights between them.
- League apps such as MLB and NBA have had PlayStation versions for years.
That's most of my own weekly rotation. If your console is already plugged into your best TV, you don't need a second device hanging off the next HDMI port. Sign in and you're done.
Picture quality is fine: 4K and HDR in the major apps. The Pro's extra horsepower does nothing for streaming, though. Netflix does not look better on a Pro than on a base PS5. That power is for games.
Where it falls short
This is where the "silly to buy for that purpose" half comes in.
Some live TV services aren't there. Historically, Fubo and DirecTV's streaming service have not offered PlayStation apps, and Sling's console support has been spottier than its Roku and Fire TV support. Newer sports apps also tend to show up on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Google TV first and on consoles later, if ever. So before you build a Saturday around a specific service, check its official supported-devices page. I'd check for anything launched in the last year or two, and that includes the newer network-owned sports apps.
No Dolby Vision. The PS5 does HDR10 for streaming, not Dolby Vision. If you bought a TV partly for Dolby Vision, a $50 streaming stick will show Netflix and Disney+ in a format your console won't. Most people watching a football game won't notice. Movie people will.
It's a power hog for this job. A console draws many times the electricity of a streaming stick to play the same video. Over one game, that's nothing. Over a year of using it as the household's all-day TV box, it shows up on the bill. I hate paying for things I don't need, which is the whole reason I cut cable.
The controller is a bad remote. It wakes up, it times out, and someone in the house will always hit the wrong button and end up in a game menu. Sony sells a media remote for around $30, which fixes most of this. If you're going to stream daily, buy it.
The Pro has no disc drive. If your plan was 4K Blu-rays alongside streaming, the drive is a separate purchase (about $80 when you can find one). A standard PS5 with a drive makes more sense as a movie machine.
Would I buy one to watch TV?
No. The PS5 Pro has listed at around $750 in the US, and that's before a disc drive or a media remote. A good 4K streaming stick costs $30 to $50, and a top-end Apple TV 4K is still well under $150. Any of those gets you a wider app selection, a real remote, lower power draw and, on most of them, Dolby Vision.
The math I'd actually run is this. The money saved by not buying a console for streaming pays for roughly eight months of YouTube TV. That's an entire football season plus the playoffs and a chunk of basketball. A streaming box is a commodity, and the subscriptions are the expensive part. I'd spend there.
If you're buying the console to play it, the answer changes. Then the streaming apps are a free bonus, and I'd happily run my whole setup through it, at least until I hit a service it doesn't carry.
My setup advice if the PS5 is your main screen
A few things I'd do on day one:
- Download apps from the Media tab on the home screen, not the game store. They're easier to find there.
- Turn on HDMI device link in the system settings so your TV remote can handle basic navigation and the console powers on with the TV.
- Keep a cheap streaming stick in a drawer, or just use your TV's built-in apps, for the one service the console lacks. A $30 backup beats switching your live TV provider.
- Plug in an antenna. A PlayStation doesn't change the fact that your local NFL games on CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC are free over the air with a $25 antenna connected to the TV. It remains the best deal in sports.
Right now: the shortage (time-sensitive)
This is the part that will age. As of early October 2026, PS5 Pro stock is tight ahead of the Grand Theft Auto VI launch. Reports from Kotaku, Mashable and TechPowerUp describe Sony limiting purchases in Japan to active PlayStation users through a lottery tied to playtime. Whether anything similar reaches US retailers, I can't tell you. Check PlayStation's official store and the major retailers directly for current stock and pricing.
If you're only after a streaming device, none of this affects you. Please don't enter a lottery or pay a reseller markup for a box you plan to watch Peacock on. Leave the consoles for the people who want to play the game.
So: use the one you have, and don't buy one for this. Put the difference toward the subscriptions that carry your team.
See you on the couch. I'll be the one with the antenna.
— Dana
— Dana Whitfield