- If you're buying an Xbox Series X, a PS5 or an RTX 3080,
then to get the most out of them,
you need to do a much bigger upgrade.
The display, the cables you're using,
all of that has to be optimized.
Otherwise,
you're just simply leaving performance on the table.
Here's the deal.
All of these devices are taking advantage of HDMI 2.1.
Now, this looks exactly like the HDMI
that we all know and love.
However, it functionally is very different.
Not only in just the cables,
which even though when you look at them,
they look basically the same
but importantly the displays
that you connect them to are also different.
So sit down and give me a few minutes to explain
why if you are going to be upgrading,
you really do need to consider
having a much bigger upgrade across the board.
So to give you an example, this is something that
you would think would actually be capable of getting
the most out of the Xbox.
While it's a 1080p gaming display
importantly it will run all the way
up to 144 hertz provided you're connected to a PC.
The thing is though not all of these things
are created equal
because you really need to take advantage
of HDMI 2.1 to get the best out of something like this.
So I hop into the settings here really quick.
What you'll see is when I go to try change my resolution
obviously 1080p is the max
but I don't have 120 hertz.
I don't have 4K.
I don't have any of these things.
The console's are capable.
But most displays are just simply
not set up to take a
such a high quality high bandwidth signal
from a device over HDMI right?
Theoretically, the cables
and everything here should be able to do 1080p 120.
And as you'll see later,
some devices and some TVs will do that, right?
But it is all very, very confusing.
So what do we need to be able to play
at 4K and 120 frames per second?
Well, I'm glad you didn't ask that
because I happen to have what I was able to find
as the cheapest, oh classic.
The cheapest HDMI 2.1 device I could find.
So this is the LG 85 series NanoCell TV.
And as I was recording this video
of course, this stuff is going to evolve very quickly.
since you're watching this later, things may change.
But as of recording this right now
this is the cheapest display that should be capable
of 4K and 120 FPS.
And that's not even getting into all the other features
that this console support including HDR
including auto latency mode, including FreeSync.
So this is what you want to look for,
HDMI 4K at 120 hertz.
So with this TV specifically has four HDMI ports,
two of which are rated for the Xbox
and the PlayStation in your PC.
The problem is unless you're ready to unbox the TV
and look for what it says on the port.
It's kind of hard to actually know
what really supports this.
So now we have not only 4K is an option
but if I open it up, I can bump up to 120 frames per second.
Now with 120 frames per second
you're getting double the amount of frames
depending on the game and therefore double the smoothness.
So if I wanted to play a game like DIRT 5,
I would get that full experience.
One thing though to note,
you'll see 4K 120 requires an ultra high-speed HDMI cable
included with Series X.
So I am using the cable that comes with a Series X,
but you can't just use any HDMI cable.
You need to make sure that it is 2.1
and some cables say they are
and they actually aren't,
a good way to test is to see if it's thick.
Cause all of these 2.1 cables
are much thicker than a standard cable,
but if you use the one that comes through your Xbox
and I assume PS5, you should be fine.
But the thing is, there's still more to it than this right?
Because yes, we technically have a working set up here,
but there are other TVs that either do or don't
have 120 support.
And there's some TVs that will run at 1080p or 4K
and actually figuring out what works.
You don't want to just buy
this model of TV that I've tested
can get really complicated.
So there are a few things you should look for
when it comes time to actually purchasing a TV
or a monitor that you plan to use with the Xbox,
with the PlayStation or to something like a 3080,
if you wanna go over HDMI.
First of all, HDMI 2.1 but that's just the beginning
cause you also need to support a full 4K 120.
A lot of devices will technically support 120
but maybe it's something like 1080p.
But then there are things like FreeSync.
Does it support a variable refresh rate?
Does it support auto low-latency mode?
These are all things that can make a big difference
in your gaming experience
Cause it's not just about purely
being able to play the game at 120.
You also wanna make sure that you do that
with say no torn frames.
You wanna make sure that you get an HDR.
There's a lot of stuff that goes into this
and certainly not all TV's that you purchase right now
are going to support it.
But I will say once you get it all up and running,
this is a very, very nice looking experience.
And mind you
all of this will work on pretty much any HDMI display right?
Like that's not a huge problem,
but if you wanna get the most out of it,
and honestly a lot of these games,
you do need to have stuff like 120 FPS
because I'll say like DIRT looks nice.
But if I wasn't running at 120 FPS right now
I could probably be playing on like a One X
and I wouldn't really notice the difference.
So to really get the most out of these PS5
and the Xbox Series X and those Series S
having that full high refresh rate is a big deal.
So to make things even more complicated.
Some TVs will have a hybrid approach
to supporting something like a PS5 or Series X.
So this is a 2019 65 inch Vizio.
Now if I hop into the settings, what you'll see is
we see immediately 1080p and 120 FPS as an option.
That's great.
I think in a lot of scenarios, what I would like to do,
is play at 4K for games that don't support anything higher
but if something like DIRT has a 120 FPS option
I'll just slip my TV over into 120 hertz mode.
Now there is another option which is to switch over to 4K.
Now by default,
this is going to drop me down to 60 frames per second,
which you getting from most games is going to be fine.
But as actually, I just pass came through it.
Even though it says 120 hertz is an option at 4K.
As soon as I do that,
the TV and specifically the Xbox realizes
that that's not smart idea.
Yeah, this refresh rate isn't supported with the resolution.
So you said to the highest resolution
by this display with the frame rate.
So essentially the Xbox specifically
is smart enough to know what your TV can handle
and the 4K TV details always tell you
4K 60 not 4K 120 but you can go up to native 1080p at 120
but just because you don't have a brand new HDMI 2.1 TV
doesn't necessarily mean
that you can't get 120 FPS game play.
Mean I have to do a little bit of fiddling
or lose a few pixels.
But if it's me I would much rather play at 1080p 120
if the game supports it compared to 4K 60.
So what happens when we plug the Xbox Series X
into a 4K 120 gaming monitor?
Well we should see the very least 4K,
but now a different set of options will show up
by actually jump in and out.
So first of all 4K no brainer Right?
However what I don't see if I open this up
is any support for 120 frames per second.
Now that makes sense
because this is equipped with an HDMI 2.0 port not 2.1,
which means that like a lot of TVs, for example,
I can play games at 4K at 60 frames per second,
but I can't get 120 frames per second out of it.
So when it came time for us to build
our ultimate next gen gaming setup,
we end up going with an LG OLED
specifically a 2020, 65 inch.
Now one of the nice things is pretty much all of the 2019
and 2020 OLEDs do support 4K.
They support 120 as well as stuff like
the auto low latency mode and FreeSync
and all that kind of stuff.
But I think the real question here
is once you know that you have the TV
and you have your HDMI cable and everything is set, cool.
But how easy is it to find a TV that will actually work?
Spoiler alert really (oof) difficult.
So say I want to find a TV
that will work well with my brand new PS5.
So I go on bestbuy.com.
I want us to search for 4K TVs
cause obviously I want 4K,
a 70 inch Samsung 4K surely a 70 inch Samsung TV
even though it's only $600,
we'll support 120 FPS right?
Oh wait, hold on.
Motion enhancement technology motion rate 120.
I mean, that sounds like what I need right?
120 clearly that's the actual move right?
Well, I found one thing.
I found our NanoCell when I searched that
the NanoCell that we have across the hall
all those are the 55 inch, but it's the same thing.
We know that this one works
- [Narrator 1] Right, we do.
- Do you think it says anywhere 60 hertz,
- 4K at 120 hertz.
- So what you're saying right now
is the only way to find out
short of finding someone who answers the question
who has the TV has tested it.
A TV that is supporting the full spec what we're looking for
right? We just tested it.
HDMI 2.1 all the bells and whistles
is to buy it and to try it.
look, there will obviously be videos like this one.
There will be articles that will tell you,
Hey, look this is a great TV for PS5
or Series X or whatever the case is.
And as time goes on, these TVs are going to become
more and more popular.
But as of right now it is a complete God oof disaster
trying to find any of these TVs
that work well with the consoles.
Sure, you can just default to buy
a very expensive high-end premium TV
from a Samsung, from a Vizio from an LG,
whatever the case is, it'll probably work.
But if you wanna know for sure short of finding an article
or a video of someone who's tested that specific feature
it is really hard to commit to that, right?
I cannot believe this is literally
one of the only TVs that should do it.
And it doesn't say it.
I would never have known.
So hang on a second.
I'm coming back to that 70 inch right?
Samsung talked a big game about the 120 motion rate.
120 motion rate is not the same as 120 FPS.
A lot of these TVs will run at 120 or 240,
but that's with motion smoothing.
That's not the same thing as 120 true frames per second.
I finally found it native refresh rates 60.
I've read 120 about 100 times
before I finally found this very technical article
which finally tells me that actually
what I really need to know is I could buy this from PS5
and I'm not getting what I'm hoping.
Here's the deal.
There are a lot of things going wrong here.
I'll fully admit that these console's are brand new
and a lot of TV companies and manufacturers
and specific stores
don't even really understand the differences
and certainly haven't tested it right?
But there is a fundamental issue
with the fact that I'm on a manufactures website
and I can't find what I'm looking for.
I'm seeing their marketing stuff
but that's not what actually I am looking
for to make this TV do what I want it to do.
Don't say that I'm having to go on these
like sites that have done these super thorough tests
of the TV to finally get the information
it's been here on the bottom of making sure that
4K at 120 hertz is enabled right?
That's not okay.
Then you've got the TV
and you're gonna miss out on the next three,
four, five years of gaming,
never experiencing that extra fluidity that the console
that you've already purchased is capable of.
Thank you very much for watching.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
for more ranting and raving is all about
the perils of the next generation of consoles.
Until next time.
Good luck trying to get the most
out of your shiny new console.