Xbox Series X automatically switches between 1440p120Hz and 2160p60Hz on HDMI 2.0

Naner · Nov 7, 2020

A worry I had with the Series X is that my TV only supports HDMI 2.0, so 120fps gaming would be capped at 1440p. For me that's mostly fine, since I think that going forward most games targeting 120fps won't render at native 4K anyway. The only bother would be going to the menu and switching between the two options depending on which game I want to play.

The good news is that the Xbox automatically changes the output according to the game, if you set it to 1440p/120Hz on the menu. I played Gears 5 at 1440p/120Hz, then switched to Forza Horizon 4 and the output was 2160p/60Hz without needing to mess with the settings.

The only problem appears to be when the same game has both modes; going into the Gears 5 campaign, which is 60fps, the output remained at 1440p.

theAllseeingEYE · Nov 7, 2020

Cool!, that is quite nice. Now, if they can only find a way to switch the settings within the same game, that would be perfect.

PlayerOne · Nov 7, 2020

Thats cool, wish my tv supported 1440p120, its only 1080p in 120hz mode :(

matrix-cat · Nov 7, 2020

Awesome! I'd mentally prepared myself to be hitting that Display Settings menu regularly to switch between resolutions because I only have HDMI 2.0.

Theorry · Nov 7, 2020

This indicates also that i believe? From Ori after the new patch.
From Tom Warren on series x

brawndolicious · Nov 7, 2020

Stupid question but.......is it easy to tell if the game is running at 120 Hz instead of 60 or at 4K instead of 1440P?

I've never used a 1440P or 120Hz screen so I have no idea if it's a subtle or major shift. And yes, I said this is a stupid question.

Hasney · Nov 7, 2020

brawndolicious said:
Stupid question but.......is it easy to tell if the game is running at 120 Hz instead of 60 or at 4K instead of 1440P?

I've never used a 1440P or 120Hz screen so I have no idea if it's a subtle or major shift. And yes, I said this is a stupid question.

To me, that doubling of the framerate is instantly noticeable. Hell, my phone has 2 screens, one 60hz and one 120hz and even scrolling webpages you can just tell.

EvilBoris · Nov 7, 2020

Great news if true, that's quite a big departure from how it's handled on current gen.

Atolm · Nov 7, 2020

Very nice, I own a 1440p144hz screen with HDMI 2.0a and FreeSync, I can take full advantage with either downsampled 4k or 120hz modes.

brawndolicious said:
Stupid question but.......is it easy to tell if the game is running at 120 Hz instead of 60 or at 4K instead of 1440P?

I've never used a 1440P or 120Hz screen so I have no idea if it's a subtle or major shift. And yes, I said this is a stupid question.

Varies from person to person imo. For example I expected to notice a great difference on racing games and it wasn't that great, but instead on a quiet game like XCom, I was completely blown away by how smooth the camera zoomed in when characters were performing actions.

Deleted member 8166 · Nov 7, 2020

Microsoft is really doing a great job with its quality of life OS features

Black_Stride · Nov 7, 2020

EvilBoris said:
Great news if true, that's quite a big departure from how it's handled on current gen.

How are 120fps games then switching to a 60fps game handled this generation?

Naner · Nov 7, 2020

brawndolicious said:
Stupid question but.......is it easy to tell if the game is running at 120 Hz instead of 60 or at 4K instead of 1440P?

I've never used a 1440P or 120Hz screen so I have no idea if it's a subtle or major shift. And yes, I said this is a stupid question.

You can verify it from the TV's info button.

I felt that the jump from 60 to 120Hz isn't as big as from 30 to 60, but it's certainly notable.

Black_Stride said:
How are 120fps games then switching to a 60fps game handled this generation?

If you set the One X to output at 1440p/120, it'll always output that regardless of the game.

Atolm said:
Very nice, I own a 1440p144hz screen with HDMI 2.0a and FreeSync, I can take full advantage with either downsampled 4k or 120hz modes.

If a game renders at 4K, you'll get the downsampling even if the output is at 1440p.

brawndolicious · Nov 7, 2020

Naner said:
You can verify it from the TV's info button.

I felt that the jump from 60 to 120Hz isn't as big as from 30 to 60, but it's certainly notable.
If you set the One X to output at 1440p/120, it'll always output that regardless of the game.
If a game renders at 4K, you'll get the downsampling even if the output is at 1440p.

Wonderful. I can do a side-by-side and see if I have old man eyes now.

Also yes, it's best to set your console to output the native resolution of your display so that it can handle the scaling internally. I believe that always results in better image quality than having your display do it.

Naner · Nov 7, 2020

brawndolicious said:
Wonderful. I can do a side-by-side and see if I have old man eyes now.

Keep in mind the TV will tell you what the console is outputting, not what it is rendering internally.

plagiarize · Nov 7, 2020

Naner said:
If you set the One X to output at 1440p/120, it'll always output that regardless of the game.
If a game renders at 4K, you'll get the downsampling even if the output is at 1440p.

So, here's a curious thing. I have the One X and I'm in one of the more stable preview rings, so I'm not sure if I'm using the same firmware as people who aren't.

What happens on my Samsung Q9FN when I set output to 1440p 120 is that if the game is NOT in HDR it will play at 1440p 120hz output. Using Evil Within 2 set to unlocked framerate and checking the signal info on my TV I can confirm this without issue. Plays with more consistent frame times than when running at 60hz (despite being the same FPS) as you would expect.

However, if a game is HDR, the One X switches to 4K 60 output when you boot the game. So on a game like Ori 2, if I want it to send 1440p 120 to my TV I have to either turn off HDR in the Xbox One X menu or on that TV input.

Again, this is on the One X. So there it's sort of like a hierarchy. It presumes you prefer HDR 4K 60 over 1440p 120 unless you turn off HDR.

Sounds like something similar is happening here. Whatever check the software does to enable or disable the 120fps in game option is acting in the same way HDR did on the One X.

Do you have HDR enabled on your Series X? I presume that Gears 5 is booting in SDR and Horizon 4 is booting in HDR.

Naner · Nov 7, 2020

plagiarize said:
So, here's a curious thing. I have the One X and I'm in one of the more stable preview rings, so I'm not sure if I'm using the same firmware as people who aren't.

What happens on my Samsung Q9FN when I set output to 1440p 120 is that if the game is NOT in HDR it will play at 1440p 120hz output. Using Evil Within 2 set to unlocked framerate and checking the signal info on my TV I can confirm this without issue. Plays with more consistent frame times than when running at 60hz (despite being the same FPS) as you would expect.

However, if a game is HDR, the One X switches to 4K 60 output when you boot the game. So on a game like Ori 2, if I want it to send 1440p 120 to my TV I have to either turn off HDR in the Xbox One X menu or on that TV input.

Again, this is on the One X. So there it's sort of like a hierarchy. It presumes you prefer HDR 4K 60 over 1440p 120 unless you turn off HDR.

Sounds like something similar is happening here. Whatever check the software does to enable or disable the 120fps in game option is acting in the same way HDR did on the One X.

Do you have HDR enabled on your Series X? I presume that Gears 5 is booting in SDR and Horizon 4 is booting in HDR.

This is possible, I need to check if Gears is on HDR.

Ori isn't updated yet, so I can't test it.

ekim · Nov 7, 2020

So how does it work? What do I have to set on the OS level for the automatic switching? On One X I can only choose either 4k/60 or 1440p/120.

tomwarren · Nov 7, 2020

ekim said:
So how does it work? What do I have to set on the OS level for the automatic switching? On One X I can only choose either 4k/60 or 1440p/120.

ekim · Nov 7, 2020

tomwarren said:

Oh nice. So I have to set it to 1440p and check the "Allow 4k" option. Thanks!

tapedeck · Nov 7, 2020

Good to hear.

brawndolicious · Nov 7, 2020

Naner said:
Keep in mind the TV will tell you what the console is outputting, not what it is rendering internally.

Absolutely, I can't make a proper self-diagnosis until the Digital Foundry review.

brain_stew · Nov 7, 2020

That's really nice and well thought out. Really wish my B8 supported 1440p120hz. There's no technical reason it shouldn't, it uses a 120hz panel and supports 120hz at 1080p, has a 1440p60 mode and has the HDMI bandwidth for it but no 1440p120hz mode. LG's support of their previous generation TVs isn't great so I've no hope of it being added.

EvilBoris · Nov 7, 2020

Black_Stride said:
How are 120fps games then switching to a 60fps game handled this generation?

So on the current Xbox's you can set the resolution , but it is overridden by anything that is 4K/HDR.
You can't do 1440p or 1080p with HDR for example, it maxes out what your display can do.
I would set my xbox to 1440p, which output all SDR content to 120hz , but when a 4K/HDR game was booted it would override that.

Looking at Tom's image and description it sounds like they have decoupled the 4K resolution from the UHD/HDMI features so you can have more control.

Golding · Nov 7, 2020

Damn MS - bravo

EvilBoris · Nov 7, 2020

brain_stew said:
That's really nice and well thought out. Really wish my B8 supported 1440p120hz. There's no technical reason it shouldn't, it uses a 120hz panel and supports 120hz at 1080p, has a 1440p60 mode and has the HDMI bandwidth for it but no 1440p120hz mode. LG's support of their previous generation TVs isn't great so I've no hope of it being added.

With this stuff it all comes down to processing speed 1080p 120hz is the same amount of data to processes at 4K 60 , so I would presume that is why it can't go above that.

brain_stew · Nov 7, 2020

EvilBoris said:
With this stuff it all comes down to processing speed 1080p 120hz is the same amount of data to processes at 4K 60 , so I would presume that is why it can't go above that.

Would have thought it was half (quarter resolution X double framerate)? It's all academic anyway, as even if the hardware can technically support it, that doesn't mean anything if LG aren't going to enable it.

I've tried all manner of custom resolutions on PC but can't force anything past 1080p when using 120hz refresh. So it may well be a hardware limitation.

Naner · Nov 7, 2020

I tested Gears 5 again and it indeed disables HDR when outputting at 1440p/120Hz. So it prioritizes the framerate if the console is set to 120Hz.

Is HDR at 120Hz not supported by HDMI 2.0?

plagiarize · Nov 7, 2020

Naner said:
I tested Gears 5 again and it indeed disables HDR when outputting at 1440p/120Hz. So it prioritizes the framerate if the console is set to 120Hz.

Is HDR at 120Hz not supported by HDMI 2.0?

That is correct. Still this is still good news. I figured I'd have to toggle it on and off much more often than it looks like I will need to now.

The Riot Inside · Nov 7, 2020

HDMI 2.0 you say? Excellent news for me since I use a 1080P 240Hz monitor. I was worried 120Hz would be locked behind HDMI 2.1.

Gotchaforce · Nov 7, 2020

Do both PS5 and SX come with an HDMI 2.1 cable?

EvilBoris · Nov 7, 2020

Gotchaforce said:
Do both PS5 and SX come with an HDMI 2.1 cable?

Yes

Gotchaforce · Nov 7, 2020

EvilBoris said:
Yes

👍 thanks

Naner · Nov 9, 2020

So I tried Ori and the Will of the Wisps with unfortunate results.

Theorry said:
This indicates also that i believe? From Ori after the new patch.
From Tom Warren on series x

I got this message even with my console set at 1440p/120. I disabled the option Tom mentioned earlier in this thread, and that allowed the game to run at 1440p/120 albeit without HDR, which makes quite a big difference in this game.

Although maybe there's another update coming tomorrow because this seemed very buggy to me.

exodus · Nov 9, 2020

Atolm said:
Varies from person to person imo. For example I expected to notice a great difference on racing games and it wasn't that great, but instead on a quiet game like XCom, I was completely blown away by how smooth the camera zoomed in when characters were performing actions.

Yeah a lot of people think that. The problem with racing games is that most of the screen tends to be fairly static with little motion. Most of the motion happends on the periphery of the display where you're less likely to focus on, and which often has heavy motion blur for that extra sense of speed.

Fast camera panning is where 120Hz will be far more noticeable.

Gestault · Nov 9, 2020

This is a super good quality-of-life feature, and that seems to be the running theme of this gen. The need to manually adjust for games with more options will hopefully nudge more devs to make game-level options right in their menus.

Iron Eddie · Nov 9, 2020

HDMI 2.1 was supposed to make things easier bnut it has been nothing but growing pains. From my LG CX to my Dolby Atmos sound bar.

XVerdena · Nov 9, 2020

This is great

Myself · Nov 9, 2020

PlayerOne said:
Thats cool, wish my tv supported 1440p120, its only 1080p in 120hz mode :(

Try 1080@60. I'm stuck with that for the foreseeable future :)

MrBob · Nov 9, 2020

Can you get hdr at 1440p120 if you allow 422?

Chitown B · Nov 9, 2020

does anyone know if the Series X will allow 8 bit HDR for games? Most projectors need this, and I have to use an HD Fury LInker in order to get it to pass through, currently on my X1X.

Naner · Nov 9, 2020

MrBob said:
Can you get hdr at 1440p120 if you allow 422?

No idea, I will try.

EvilBoris · Nov 9, 2020

Chitown B said:
does anyone know if the Series X will allow 8 bit HDR for games? Most projectors need this, and I have to use an HD Fury LInker in order to get it to pass through, currently on my X1X.

Probably not, HDR10 and PQ10 are both 10bit.

Chitown B · Nov 9, 2020

EvilBoris said:
Probably not, HDR10 and PQ10 are both 10bit.

it works fine on PS4, just not Xbox One. For some reason they restrict passing 8 bit HDR. Yes there is a little banding with 8 bit but it is fine with gaming, rather than movies.

Calvin · Nov 9, 2020

That is really cool - any idea if it does anything differently at HDMI 2.1? Planning on primarily playing it on my C9 OLED.

Emick81 · Nov 9, 2020

I am thinking about buying the Dell 2721DGF ( 27 inch 165hz 1440P) for the Series X. Main use would be playing Shooters in the 120hz mode.

That monitor can do 1440P, 120FPS and VRR.

From what I read in this topic the Bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 is not enough for 1440, 120FPS, VRR and HDR? Is that correct?

GameAddict411 · Nov 9, 2020

PlayerOne said:
Thats cool, wish my tv supported 1440p120, its only 1080p in 120hz mode :(

At least your TV is honest about it unlike Sony with the 900h lol.

The Pet of the Month · Nov 9, 2020

Emick81 said:
I am thinking about buying the Dell 2721DGF ( 27 inch 165hz 1440P) for the Series X. Main use would be playing Shooters in the 120hz mode.

That monitor can do 1440P, 120FPS and VRR.

From what I read in this topic the Bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 is not enough for 1440, 120FPS, VRR and HDR? Is that correct?

Hm, I dunno about your model but my Q55FN can do 1440p120Hz with VRR and it only has an HDMI 2.0b port. I think 4k will not be supported but as your monitor doesn't do 4k it shouldn't matter.

sacrament · Nov 9, 2020

Theorry said:
This indicates also that i believe? From Ori after the new patch.
From Tom Warren on series x

This screen shot makes me super happy... i mean, Supersampled 6k @ 60FPS? I almost want to cackle.

Chippewa Barr · Nov 9, 2020

tomwarren said:

Allow Auto Low Latency Mode...does the One X have this option?

This is a thing that has been plaguing me for eternity with my One X...all my other devices switch to their respective modes, except my Xbox. It should switch the tv to Game Mode, but never has.

Praying this is enabled/allowed in the Series X.

I have a Sony 900F and Sony DN1080 AVR, for reference.

The Pet of the Month · Nov 9, 2020

Chippewa Barr said:
Allow Auto Low Latency Mode...does the One X have this option?

This is a thing that has been plaguing me for eternity with my One X...all my other devices switch to their respective modes, except my Xbox. It should switch the tv to Game Mode, but never has.

Praying this is enabled/allowed in the Series X.

I have a Sony 900F and Sony DN1080 AVR, for reference.

Yes it does have that option! But yeah it never really worked for me either. I overrode it and have my receiver set to game mode at all times just so I have a consistent experience.

Xbox Series X automatically switches between 1440p120Hz and 2160p60Hz on HDMI 2.0

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