Guide and tips to buy a TV to play with your PS5 or Xbox Series X in 2022

The arrival of the new consoles what we look for today in a television has changed. In the last year there has been a leap in the benefits of all brands and to make the most of them the best thing is to renew the TV you have, although for that you must take into account different factors.

And it is that, the resolution is not everything and, although a few years ago the gamers made the leap to 4K resolution on consoles with PS4 Pro and, above all, Xbox One X, the 4K TV they bought may not have the best features on the market and, above all, do not be prepared for the new machines to suck the juice out of you.

Then we will give them 10 keys to buy a TV to play and take advantage of Xbox Series X and PS5.

There are quite a few features to take into account, but the good thing is that it is an investment that you are going to get a lot out of if, like us, you are one of those who spend many hours a week in front of the television enjoying adventures, sports and virtual stories.

Content index to buy a TV for your PS5 or Xbox Series X

HDMI 2.1, this is important

What do we have to look at HDMI ports to buy a TV in 2022? That’s how it is. Almost all modern televisions now have HDMI 2.0.

It is the most recommended for both 4K resolution and, above all, for 60 Hz and features such as dynamic HDR. The reason is that the bandwidth of this port is 18 Gbps and it is the most suitable for consoles such as Xbox One X or PS4 (although we can play well with a 1.4 port).

However, if you’re going to spend money on a gaming TV in 2022 to take advantage of both Xbox Series X and PS5, it is best to aim for models that have the HDMI 2.1 standard. It is the newest and not all models have it, but there are obvious advantages.

To get started, supports 8K 120Hz signals and, although we are not going to need the first, we will need the second.

The bandwidth is higher the HDR that the consoles “send” to the television is of higher quality and it is a standard that has ALLM and VRR technologies that, basically, are a low latency and variable refresh mode.

If you have REAL 120 Hz, all the better

This one is easy: the new consoles will be compatible with games at 120 fps and, to enjoy this frame rate, we need panels that have, at least, a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

There are many panels with very fast refreshments, but what you have to look for is that these Hz are real and not interpolated.

If they are interpolated yes, the image is sharper because the blur, but other defects appear in the image and it ceases to be so pure.

And yes, the game you will see above is Dirt5, which will have a 120fps mode on the new consoles.

Cool extras like FreeSync support and lowest possible latency

Related to the soft drink, we have an extra. Until not long ago, a panel that was compatible with AMD’s FreeSync or Nvidia’s G-Sync technologies was a matter of monitors.

However, little by little we have seen televisions with Nvidia’s vertical synchronization solution and, especially since it does not cost much to mount it, that of AMD.

Xbox One X es compatible con FreeSync, which helps eliminate tearing (those annoying horizontal lines that appear cutting the image in some video games), but the two new consoles will also be compatible with the technology.

If we have a TV compatible with FreeSync, we will appreciate it.

Low response times

Ehe response time is what happens between when we press a button and the action is reflected in the video game.

This latency depends on many things (if we are streaming, the connection between the controller and the console, and the game’s own internal lag), but the screen also has an influence. The measure is milliseconds or more.

Televisions have neglected for many years, but recently they have put their batteries and we can already see models with response times below 20 and 10 ms.

It’s not the most vital thing to play on console, but if you have the opportunity, it’s a joy to combine a low response time with that 120 Hz refresh, especially for games like driving.

If you are going to change your television, now you do have to bet on 4K resolution

If you are going to buy a new television to play PS5 and Xbox Series X, you should almost opt ​​for 4K resolution. We may see some games at 1080p with different filters to virtually increase the resolution, but most games should go to 4K resolution.

Therefore, it is time to make the leap to a panel with this resolution or, if you have a 4K television with a few years behind you or mid-range, maybe it is better to improve the quality of the panel.

Sure it’s HDR, but look at the color depth: 10 bit better than 8 bit or 10 bit interpolated

And that’s where both HDR and screen nits come into play… and color depth. Color depth is important as a lot of HDR TVs are HDR, but at 8-bit depth.

This makes the color palette not as rich as it should be to display high-quality HDR.

With 8 bits, we have 256 color tones for the 8 primary colors, which gives us 16.7 million colors. Yes, if we can buy a monitor with a color depth of 10 bits, the better, since each color will have 1,024 shades and, therefore, the color range will be better, with more than a million colors.

There are some cheaper 10 bit panels, which are the ones that use 8-bit panels with dithering, a technology that simulates the color spaces between each of the primaries.

Look for real 10-bit monitors at a minimum.

When choosing a panel… OLED? QLED? IPS? Full Array LCD?

This is a complicated question. Every major manufacturer bets on a technology and, for example, from Samsung we have QLEDs, from LG we have OLEDs in the high range and IPS one step below, Sony has OLEDs, but it also works with Full Array LED LCDs…

For personal tastes, QLED or LCD Full Array would be chosen to play because they are inorganic panels and, although the OLEDs have improved a lot in terms of burned images, if you are going to make a significant outlay for a TV that you want to last a generation and that you are going to give a lot of cane playing, I would opt for those two technologies.

of course, OLEDs have other advantages when it comes to representing the movement of video games and, above all, when it comes to showing the deepest black color because, basically, they turn off the pixels that have to show that black color.

For cinema, for example, I love OLEDs, since the image quality is sublime, but in video games we rarely have a pure black on the screen, so one of the main advantages of the OLED panel is lost.

What is clear is that, whatever panel you choose (as long as it meets the rest of the characteristics), we are talking about a high-end television from now on, so the image you are going to have is going to be fantastic to play in any case. .

Software is important…

We talk about physical elements, but… what about the software? It is important to have some software additions to take advantage of video games a little more. For example, there are televisions that lend us a hand for online games with modes Game Motion Plus o Dynamic Black EQ.

The first one makes the blur less noticeable to have a more fluid and sharp image. The second highlights objects in dark scenes. These two technologies are useful for competitive online games, for example.

For the rest, I am in favor of deactivating them, since the most fluid movement is not always the artist’s intention, so it is better to enjoy the work as it has been conceived. I like the game mode, since, with a few tweaks to leave the image as we want, it makes the television’s lag go down enough to enjoy a better experience.

On the other hand, there are other software tools such as the possibility of placing a split screen to be playing and looking for a guide on YouTube in a section that we cannot miss, which, really, are not bad at all, since that is how we do all the “homework” from the television instead of picking up the mobile.

…and also the sound

And we haven’t talked about the sound, but it is one of the keys to get fully into video games.

Yes, many of you are going to choose to buy an independent system, such as a sound bar or speakers, but those integrated into televisions have improved completely in recent months and we find models with immersive 3D sound with different technologies.

Sony, LG and Samsung have technologies that allow you to simulate surround sound only with the speakers built into the TV.

This is something that they do automatically thanks to the AI ​​of the processor and software and it is very interesting, but what we have to make sure of is the compatibility with Dolby Atmos.

Sony has its own sound engine for PS5 and has already announced headsets compatible with that 3D sound.

If you are clear that you want PS5 and take full advantage of the console’s Tempest engine, it may be worth waiting for news on televisions and sound bars from the Japanese company, but if you want to buy the television now… Dolby Atmos is a fantastic technology that is not going to be outdated anytime soon.

And what about the promise of 8K resolution?

We have already given you the main keys when choosing a television to play in 2022 and take advantage of PS5 and Xbox One X, but… Where have we left the 8K resolution and why have we not told you to look for that resolution in the different models?

Simple: this resolution is being promoted because the new consoles are going to be compatible with it, yes, but just like PS3 it was going to be 1080p and very few games reached the resolution (and the ‘big ones’ that did, like GT6, cheated .

The current generation was also going to be 1080p and until PS4 Pro and Xbox One X arrived, that resolution was not the norm without frame drops. The new consoles will be compatible with 8K resolution and 120 Hz, yes, due to the HDMI 2.1 standard, but from saying to doing… there is a stretch.

for now, no news on 8K gaming and, in fact, the power of the consoles prevents complex titles from reaching that resolution, but we do know that there will be games at 120fps.

Dirt5, of what contains them impressions on HobbyConsoles, will have a 120 fps mode on the new consoles, so we think it’s more interesting to bet on image quality and HDMI 2.1 rather than crazy resolutions that we’re not going to take advantage of.

And so far our recommendation. There are a few months left until the release of the new consoles, so you have time to estudy the purchase of your next television to play. It is still an investment, so you have to think about it well.