With the release of the PS Vita not too long ago, Sony really ramped up the power and capabilities of its portable gaming machine, which was preceded by its much-beloved PSP some years ago.

Naturally, all this extra power and functionality allows for more than just playing console-quality games. In fact one of the most impressive (and, just plain cool) features that you can take advantage of on the PS Vita if you also have a PS3 is to play games and media remotely from it on your PS Vita.

Let’s take a look at how to connect your PS3 to your PS Vita and at everything that you can and can’t do with this neat little feature.

Note: Have a PSP or a PS3? Take a look at some great articles we have on them. Like how to transfer PSone saves between both or how to optimize your PS3 for the best Bluray experience.

Registering/Pairing Your PS Vita with Your PS3

To pair your PS Vita with your PS3, you will first need to register it. This is a one-time thing, so if you haven’t done it already, follow the instructions below. Otherwise just skip them.

If You Haven’t Registered Your PS Vita on Your PS3

Step 1: From the XMB on your PS3, go to the Settings menu. There, select Remote Play Settings from the available options and then choose Register Device.

Step 2: Choose PS Vita System from the options shown and then introduce the verification code on your PS Vita.

If Your PS Vita is Already Registered:

Step 1: On the XMB on your PS3, go to Network and select Remote Play.

Step 2: On your PS Vita tap the corresponding icon to start Remote Play. Then choose how you want to connect (I recommend connecting via Private Network, the quality is much better), and you will be ready to go. You will see your PS3 screen right on your PS Vita.

Cool Tip: You can also turn on your PS3 remotely using your PS Vita by choosing the Remote Start option from the settings mentioned above. That way you won’t even need to be near your PS3 to access it.

Content Ready for Remote Play

Let’s take a look at which content is available for you on your PS Vita via Remote Play and what you can and can’t do with it.

Games

Several games are available for remote play on the PS Vita. However, most of them are PSN games and PSone classics. Only five retail PS3 games are available for remote play. These are:

God of War Collection

Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Robotics;Notes

Tokyo Jungle

We’ll update the list as more PS3 games start offering the feature. For a full list of other (non-physical) titles, check here.

To start playing any of these via remote play, simply insert the disc in your PS3 (unless you own the digital versions) and start the game from your PS Vita. You even have the option to customize the controllers and image quality.

Videos

When it comes to videos, you can use Remote Play on your PS Vita play videos stored on media servers, as well as flash media and videos stored on your PS3.

Naturally, Blu-ray movies and any other kind of protected content is not supported by Remote Play.

Photos

Contrary to what happens with video files, you can view almost all kinds of image files on your PS Vita via Remote Play, including all major formats like PNG, JPG and more.

Additionally, you can also view images from remote media servers, which is quite cool.

Music

Just as with photos, the music playable through Remote Play from your PS3 on your PS Vita is pretty much unrestricted as long as it is not DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected. Other than that, if you have songs or playlists that you transferred to your PS3, they are perfectly playable via Remote Play on your Vita.

Cool Tip: While in remote play on your PS Vita, you can access your PS3 settings and choose it as your Audio Output option, that way you can enjoy games and media on your PS Vita with the sound coming out of your home sound system.

Others

Like the with the different media mentioned above, other important options from your PS3 are available via Remote Play on the PS Vita. Some of these include the PS3 settings, the browser, some video applications, the Friends menu and more.

And there you have it. If you have a PS3 and a PS Vita there is a lot of neat things you can do with them using Remote Play. And all of them without wasting a single bit of precious space on your PS Vita memory card.