The Perils of Next-Gen Gaming: A Rant on Finding the Right TV

So, when it came time for us to build our ultimate next-gen gaming setup, we ended up going with an LG OLED specifically a 2020, 65 inch. 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. I go on bestbuy.com. I want to search for 4K TVs because obviously I want 4K, and 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 - 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 some-one 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 becomemore and more popular. But as of right now it's a complete God oof disaster trying to find any of these TVs that work well with the consoles.

Sure, you can just default to buying 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 sureshort 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.

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 those like sites that have done these super thorough tests of the TV to finally get the information it's been here on 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.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- If you're buying an XboxSeries 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 leavingperformance on the table.Here's the deal.All of these devices aretaking advantage of HDMI 2.1.Now, this looks exactly like the HDMIthat 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 samebut importantly the displaysthat you connect themto are also different.So sit down and give mea few minutes to explainwhy if you are going to be upgrading,you really do need to considerhaving a much biggerupgrade across the board.So to give you an example,this is something thatyou would think wouldactually be capable of gettingthe most out of the Xbox.While it's a 1080p gaming displayimportantly it will run all the wayup to 144 hertz providedyou're connected to a PC.The thing is thoughnot all of these thingsare created equalbecause you really need to take advantageof HDMI 2.1 to get the bestout of something like this.So I hop into the settingshere really quick.What you'll see is when I goto try change my resolutionobviously 1080p is the maxbut 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 simplynot set up to take asuch a high quality high bandwidth signalfrom a device over HDMI right?Theoretically, the cablesand everything here shouldbe able to do 1080p 120.And as you'll see later,some devices and someTVs will do that, right?But it is all very, very confusing.So what do we need to be able to playat 4K and 120 frames per second?Well, I'm glad you didn't ask thatbecause I happen to havewhat I was able to findas 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 videoof course, this stuff isgoing to evolve very quickly.since you're watching thislater, things may change.But as of recording this right nowthis is the cheapest displaythat should be capableof 4K and 120 FPS.And that's not even gettinginto all the other featuresthat this console support including HDRincluding auto latencymode, including FreeSync.So this is what you want to look for,HDMI 4K at 120 hertz.So with this TV specificallyhas four HDMI ports,two of which are rated for the Xboxand the PlayStation in your PC.The problem is unlessyou're ready to unbox the TVand look for what it says on the port.It's kind of hard to actually knowwhat really supports this.So now we have not only 4K is an optionbut if I open it up, I can bumpup to 120 frames per second.Now with 120 frames per secondyou're getting double the amount of framesdepending on the game andtherefore 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 anultra high-speed HDMI cableincluded with Series X.So I am using the cablethat comes with a Series X,but you can't just use any HDMI cable.You need to make sure that it is 2.1and some cables say they areand they actually aren't,a good way to test isto see if it's thick.Cause all of these 2.1 cablesare much thicker than a standard cable,but if you use the one thatcomes through your Xboxand I assume PS5, you should be fine.But the thing is, there's stillmore to it than this right?Because yes, we technicallyhave a working set up here,but there are other TVsthat either do or don'thave 120 support.And there's some TVs thatwill run at 1080p or 4Kand actually figuring out what works.You don't want to just buythis model of TV that I've testedcan get really complicated.So there are a few thingsyou should look forwhen it comes time toactually purchasing a TVor a monitor that youplan to use with the Xbox,with the PlayStation orto something like a 3080,if you wanna go over HDMI.First of all, HDMI 2.1 butthat's just the beginningcause you also need tosupport a full 4K 120.A lot of devices willtechnically support 120but 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 thatcan make a big differencein your gaming experienceCause it's not just about purelybeing able to play the game at 120.You also wanna make sure that you do thatwith say no torn frames.You wanna make sure that you get an HDR.There's a lot of stuff that goes into thisand certainly not all TV'sthat you purchase right noware going to support it.But I will say once youget it all up and running,this is a very, verynice looking experience.And mind youall of this will work on prettymuch 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 FPSbecause I'll say like DIRT looks nice.But if I wasn't runningat 120 FPS right nowI could probably beplaying on like a One Xand I wouldn't reallynotice the difference.So to really get the most out of these PS5and the Xbox Series X and those Series Shaving that full highrefresh rate is a big deal.So to make things even more complicated.Some TVs will have a hybrid approachto supporting somethinglike a PS5 or Series X.So this is a 2019 65 inch Vizio.Now if I hop into thesettings, what you'll see iswe see immediately 1080pand 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 thatdon't support anything higherbut if something likeDIRT has a 120 FPS optionI'll just slip my TVover into 120 hertz mode.Now there is another optionwhich is to switch over to 4K.Now by default,this is going to drop medown to 60 frames per second,which you getting from mostgames is going to be fine.But as actually, I justpass came through it.Even though it says 120hertz is an option at 4K.As soon as I do that,the TV and specifically the Xbox realizesthat that's not smart idea.Yeah, this refresh rate isn'tsupported with the resolution.So you said to the highest resolutionby this display with the frame rate.So essentially the Xbox specificallyis smart enough to knowwhat your TV can handleand the 4K TV details always tell you4K 60 not 4K 120 but you cango up to native 1080p at 120but just because you don'thave a brand new HDMI 2.1 TVdoesn't necessarily meanthat you can't get 120 FPS game play.Mean I have to do a little bit of fiddlingor lose a few pixels.But if it's me I would muchrather play at 1080p 120if the game supports it compared to 4K 60.So what happens when weplug the Xbox Series Xinto a 4K 120 gaming monitor?Well we should see the very least 4K,but now a different setof options will show upby actually jump in and out.So first of all 4K no brainer Right?However what I don't see if I open this upis any support for 120 frames per second.Now that makes sensebecause this is equipped withan HDMI 2.0 port not 2.1,which means that like alot of TVs, for example,I can play games at 4Kat 60 frames per second,but I can't get 120 framesper second out of it.So when it came time for us to buildour ultimate next gen gaming setup,we end up going with an LG OLEDspecifically a 2020, 65 inch.Now one of the nice things ispretty much all of the 2019and 2020 OLEDs do support 4K.They support 120 as well as stuff likethe auto low latency mode and FreeSyncand all that kind of stuff.But I think the real question hereis once you know that you have the TVand you have your HDMI cableand everything is set, cool.But how easy is it to find aTV that will actually work?Spoiler alert really (oof) difficult.So say I want to find a TVthat will work well with my brand new PS5.So I go on bestbuy.com.I want us to search for 4K TVscause obviously I want 4K,a 70 inch Samsung 4Ksurely a 70 inch Samsung TVeven though it's only $600,we'll support 120 FPS right?Oh wait, hold on.Motion enhancementtechnology motion rate 120.I mean, that soundslike what I need right?120 clearly that's the actual move right?Well, I found one thing.I found our NanoCell when I searched thatthe NanoCell that we have across the hallall those are the 55 inch,but it's the same thing.We know that this one works- Right, we do.- Do you think it says anywhere 60 hertz,- 4K at 120 hertz.- So what you're saying right nowis the only way to find outshort of finding someonewho answers the questionwho has the TV has tested it.A TV that is supporting thefull spec what we're looking forright? We just tested it.HDMI 2.1 all the bells and whistlesis to buy it and to try it.look, there will obviouslybe videos like this one.There will be articles that will tell you,Hey, look this is a great TV for PS5or Series X or whatever the case is.And as time goes on, theseTVs are going to becomemore and more popular.But as of right now it isa complete God oof disastertrying to find any of these TVsthat work well with the consoles.Sure, you can just default to buya very expensive high-end premium TVfrom a Samsung, from a Vizio from an LG,whatever the case is, it'll probably work.But if you wanna know for sureshort of finding an articleor a video of someone who'stested that specific featureit is really hard tocommit to that, right?I cannot believe this is literallyone 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 gameabout the 120 motion rate.120 motion rate is notthe 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 as120 true frames per second.I finally found itnative refresh rates 60.I've read 120 about 100 timesbefore I finally foundthis very technical articlewhich finally tells me that actuallywhat I really need to knowis I could buy this from PS5and I'm not getting what I'm hoping.Here's the deal.There are a lot ofthings going wrong here.I'll fully admit that theseconsole's are brand newand a lot of TV companiesand manufacturersand specific storesdon't even reallyunderstand the differencesand certainly haven't tested it right?But there is a fundamental issuewith the fact that I'mon a manufactures websiteand I can't find what I'm looking for.I'm seeing their marketing stuffbut that's not what actually I am lookingfor to make this TV dowhat I want it to do.Don't say that I'm having to go on theselike sites that have donethese super thorough testsof the TV to finally get the informationit's been here on thebottom of making sure that4K at 120 hertz is enabled right?That's not okay.Then you've got the TVand you're gonna missout on the next three,four, five years of gaming,never experiencing that extrafluidity that the consolethat you've alreadypurchased is capable of.Thank you very much for watching.Make sure you subscribe to the channelfor more ranting and raving is all aboutthe perils of the nextgeneration of consoles.Until next time.Good luck trying to get the mostout of your shiny new console.