There’s nice information for individuals who purchased one among Sony’s ‘Good for PlayStation 5’ LED TVs from 2021 or 2022 and who recreation on it utilizing a PS5 or Xbox Collection X – you will now be capable of get each full video high quality and VRR (variable refresh charge) on the similar time!
Till now, activating variable refresh charges on Sony’s LED TVs that use its XR Cognitive Processor turned off the localized dimming characteristic of the backlight, which means that you simply did not get nearly as good HDR distinction should you had VRR on. We nonetheless ranked a few of these TVs as being among the many finest gaming TVs as a result of their nice different options, however this was undoubtedly a significant frustration.
However now an replace is rolling out to related TVs that fixes this difficulty, so VRR and native dimming can dwell in concord. It impacts the Sony X90J, Sony X95J and Z9J 8K TV from the 2021 fashions, and the Sony X90K, X95K and Z9K from its 2022 fashions. The change was noticed by TV reviewer Vincent Teoh (opens in new tab).
The replace seems to be out there now, however some TV software program upgrades take time to roll out, so test within the settings to see whether or not v6.5929 is obtainable for you but.
Sony’s rolled out firmware replace v6.5929 to allow native dimming in VRR mode on BRAVIA XR LED LCDs from 2021 (X90J, X95J, Z9J) & 2022 (X90K, X95K, Z9K), thus enhancing distinction efficiency throughout VRR gaming. I haven’t got any of those TVs to check, however let me know the way you get on! pic.twitter.com/NwIFsjGrTOJune 29, 2022
The replace does not have an effect on Sony OLED TVs that assist VRR, such because the Sony A90J, as a result of these do not use the identical sort of native dimming tech. It additionally does not change something for the Sony X85J and Sony X85K, which additionally assist VRR and use LED backlights, however these haven’t got XR-processor-powered native dimming, so it wasn’t a difficulty there.
Opinion: Sony wants to speak by way of its issues extra
It was unusual that this was an issue within the first place, contemplating the lengths Sony has gone to be sure that its personal TVs are very tempting to PS5 house owners. One of many key options of the ‘Good for PlayStation 5’ TVs is ‘Auto HDR Tone Mapping’, the place the PS5 is ready to recognise which Sony TV mannequin you’ve gotten, and tune its HDR output to profit from your set’s most brightness and deepest darkish tones.
At across the similar time, Sony lastly added VRR to the PS5, which implies that video games can have framerates that shift and up down with out inflicting display screen tearing, giving extra flexibility to builders.
So to have your TV’s specially-supported HDR capabilities hobbled by the opposite fancy new graphical characteristic felt like a significant oversight. We approached Sony on the time to seek out out if a repair for this difficulty was on the playing cards, however Sony declined to remark about potential future plans.
This communication has been an on-going annoyance with Sony TVs and gaming options: at launch, the X90J did not assist VRR, for instance, regardless of Sony saying that it might come. So we waited and waited, however there’s was no indication of when to count on it, leaving consumers who’d purchased it assuming the characteristic would come to marvel in the event that they’d been duped. It did arrive, finally, in fact.
By comparability, LG has commented on characteristic updates and issues up to now as they happen – even when it has been unable to present any specifics, we have seen the corporate say that it is conscious of points and is engaged on a repair. That is useful and reassuring!
Sony TVs stay massively common, and for good purpose – it makes a few of the finest 4K TVs round. I might fortunately suggest the X90J as among the finest 120Hz TVs for players. And we’re within the strategy of reviewing the brand new Sony A80K OLED TV, and its efficiency matches dearer TVs.
However as TVs rely increasingly more on updates so as to add options as time goes on, I believe Sony must turn out to be a bit extra open clients.