Here’s a fun fact about your PS5 or PS5 Pro: out of the box, it’s probably not showing you the best picture it can. Not because Sony hates you. Because the console plays it safe, guesses what your TV can do, and sometimes guesses wrong. And because a couple of settings that sound smart, like forcing HDR on everything, quietly make half your games look worse.
What follows is the whole video output menu, what each option actually does, in the order to change them. Everything lives in one place: Settings > Screen and Video > Video Output. Ten minutes in that menu, and your games look like you bought a slightly better TV.
First, read what your TV is actually getting
Before touching anything, open Video Output Information at the top of that same screen. It shows the resolution, refresh rate, color format and HDR support your console is really sending right now. This is your receipt. If it says 1080p on a 4K TV, or no HDR on an HDR TV, something in the chain is wrong and no amount of tweaking below will fix it. Check the HDMI port too: many TVs only do their full tricks on one or two ports, and the port often needs an “enhanced” mode switched on in the TV’s own settings. Do that first, then come back here.
Resolution: Automatic, and why that is not laziness
Set Resolution to Automatic. The PS5 reads what your TV supports and picks the highest mode. That’s exactly what you want. A fixed setting can lock you out of modes. A 1440p monitor, for example, needs Resolution set to 1440p to run Sony’s test for 1440p at 60 Hz and 120 Hz with VRR. On a normal 4K TV, Automatic gets you 2160p and keeps every door open.
120 Hz Output: leave it on Automatic
120 Hz Output on Automatic lets supported games run at 120 frames per second when your TV supports 120 Hz. There’s no picture quality downside here. The console only uses it when the game offers it. If a game suddenly looks like it dropped to a softer resolution, that is the game’s own 120 Hz mode trading pixels for frames, and you can turn the mode off inside that game. The system setting itself is innocent.
VRR: Automatic, plus the free bonus toggle
If your TV supports VRR (variable refresh rate), set VRR to Automatic. VRR lets the TV change its refresh rate in real time to match the game’s frame rate, which kills screen tearing and smooths out the little stutters you feel when a game dips from 60 to 52 frames in a busy scene. It works in a range, roughly 48 Hz to 120 Hz on PS5, so it won’t save a game running at 30.
Then turn on Apply to Unsupported Games underneath it. This tells the PS5 to use VRR even in games that were never officially updated for it, which stabilizes their frame rate. Sony’s own note is the honest one: if a specific game behaves strangely with it on, turn it off for that game. In my experience it is almost always a win.
ALLM: the setting that fights input lag for you
ALLM (auto low latency mode) on Automatic tells your TV to jump into its low latency game mode the moment the PS5 is playing. If your TV has a game mode and you have been switching it manually like a caveman, this ends that. One quirk Sony itself documents: ALLM fires whenever VRR is active, even if you set ALLM to Off. To truly disable ALLM you also have to turn VRR off. Leave both on. Your thumbs will thank you.
HDR: this is the big one, and most people have it wrong
Now the setting that quietly ruins more game nights than any other. HDR gives you two real choices: Always On and On When Supported.
Always On sounds like the premium option. It’s not. It forces HDR output on everything, including SDR games that were never made for HDR. The console stretches those games into an HDR container and the usual result is washed out colors, grey looking blacks and a picture that looks like someone breathed on the lens. If your older games look weirdly pale, this is almost certainly why.
Set HDR to On When Supported. Real HDR games still get full HDR. SDR games stay SDR, the way their art teams made them. This one change is the closest thing on this list to a free picture upgrade.
Adjust HDR: the calibration almost everyone rushes
Right below the HDR setting sits Adjust HDR, and this is where your TV’s peak brightness gets measured. Skip it or rush it and your HDR games tone map to the wrong ceiling, which means blown out skies or a picture that looks dim for no reason.
The method that works is boring and simple. Do it in the room lighting you actually play in:
- On the first screen, move the slider until the symbol is barely visible, not invisible, not clear as day. Barely there.
- Do the same on the second screen: barely visible.
- Same again on the third screen: barely visible.
That’s the whole trick. People love to crank these sliders to maximum because bright feels better, but that tells the console your TV is brighter than it is, and highlights clip into white mush. Barely visible means the console maps HDR to your panel’s real limits. There’s no universal number of clicks I can give you. Every TV peaks at a different brightness. The pattern is the number. Trust the pattern.
Extra credit: if your TV has an HGiG mode in its picture settings, turn that on before calibrating. HGiG tells the TV to stop doing its own tone mapping guesswork so the console’s calibration actually runs the show.
RGB Range: a two sided coin, and both sides must match
RGB Range chooses between Limited and Full black levels. Neither is better. What matters is that the console and the TV agree. Leave it on Automatic and they almost always do, because the HDMI handshake sorts it out.
You only touch this when blacks look wrong. Crushed blacks, where dark scenes turn into one black blob, or washed out blacks that look grey, are the symptoms of a mismatch. Then set the PS5 manually and set your TV’s black level (often called HDMI Black Level, Low matches Limited, High matches Full) to the same side. Automatic first, manual only as a rescue mission.
Deep Colour Output: Automatic, forever
Deep Colour Output on Automatic lets the console send its full color depth. There’s no clever alternative pick here. Automatic is the answer, and if you ever get screen flicker, Sony’s actual troubleshooting step is the 4K Video Transfer Rate setting above it: try -1 or -2 to limit the signal. Know the cost before you do: those limit 4K at 120 Hz and the color format, so it is a fix for flicker, not a picture upgrade.
PS5 Pro owners: two extra toggles you paid for
If you have a PS5 Pro (the CFI-7000 model group), your Video Output menu has two extra lines the base console does not.
Enhance PSSR Image Quality is the system level switch for PSSR, Sony’s AI upscaling. It applies to supported PS5 games and is on by default. Leave it on. If one specific game shows odd visual artifacts, Sony’s advice is to switch it off and check if the effect changes, because results vary by game. PSSR lives in the games that support it, so no, this toggle does not magically upscale your whole library. Manage expectations, enjoy the games it does help.
Enhance Image Quality for PS4 Games is a separate feature that cleans up PS4 games running on the Pro, sharpening edges and reducing artifacts. This one is off by default, it needs a screen that supports 2160p or 1440p at 60 Hz, and it doesn’t work with every PS4 title. Turn it on, and if a particular old favorite starts behaving strangely, Sony says turn it back off. Your PS4 backlog looking cleaner is a genuinely nice bonus for a setting most Pro owners never find.
The after checklist
Run through this once when you are done:
- Video Output Information shows the resolution and HDR your TV advertises
- An SDR game no longer looks washed out (that was Always On)
- A bright HDR scene keeps detail in the sky instead of going white
- Dark scenes show detail instead of a black blob (RGB Range and HDR calibration)
- A fast game feels smoother with VRR, and the TV jumps to game mode by itself
If all five check out, you did it. Same console, same TV, better picture. The settings were there the whole time, hiding behind the most boring menu in gaming.
Sources
- PlayStation Support, “How to change PS5 console resolution” and the PS5 4K resolution guide: menu paths for Resolution, VRR, Apply to Unsupported Games, 120 Hz Output, ALLM behaviour with VRR, 4K Video Transfer Rate limits, HDR Always On behaviour: playstation.com
- PlayStation Support, “How to enhance image quality for PS4 games on PS5 Pro consoles”: Enhance Image Quality for PS4 Games path, 2160p or 1440p (60 Hz) requirement, CFI-7000 model group only: playstation.com
- PlayStation Support via UMA Technology’s PSSR settings guide: Enhance PSSR Image Quality path, on by default, turn off if a game shows unexpected visual effects: umatechnology.org
- Gamers Together, “PS5 TV Settings: 120 Hz, VRR and HDR”: Sony’s own troubleshooting list for 4K 120 Hz, and the ALLM plus VRR interaction: gamerstogether.cz
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