The best TV settings for an Xbox Series X

When you purchase an Xbox Series X, you are looking to have the best experience possible playing your games. You have the most powerful Xbox made to this point with a fast SSD and great features and services you can sign up for, like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. When you set up your console for the first time, you will want to make sure you are getting the most out of the tall box. Here are the best TV settings to have for your Xbox Series X.

Related: Microsoft finally reveals how much money Xbox Game Pass makes — it’s a lot

The best television settings for Xbox Series X

For the below settings, you will be able to set up your TV options the first time you activate your console. Outside of that, you can adjust them at any time by going to Settings and clicking on TV & Display Options under the General tab. Also, it is recommended that if your TV has it, you go into the television’s settings and turn Game Mode to Auto so it will switch when you start a game and cut down latency on your controller inputs.

• Resolution
  • 4K UHD (or whatever the highest resolution your TV can output)
    • Note: if you are running your HDMI through a secondary device, your console may think your TV can only output at a lower resolution. You can check your 4K TV Details just to the right of the Resolution selection to see all of the features your console is detecting you are eligible for. If you need to, also Calibrate your TV and HDR for games if your screen is eligible.
• Refresh Rate (if available with your TV)
  • 120 Hz
    • Note: some TVs can only handle doing one of 4K UHD resolution and 120 Hz at a time. In those cases, we recommend prioritizing the Refresh Rate by setting the resolution lower and bumping the Refresh Rate up to 120 Hz. Not all games will support this, but having this setting ready for when they do will give you the smoothest gaming experience.
• Device Control
  • Here, you can turn on HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (CEC). Whether or not you can utilize this will depend on your television set. This section is self-explanatory and will come down to your preference of whether or not you want your console to turn your TV on or off when you power it up or down or how volume control works.

For most people, the above options should be enough for you, but you can go even further with setting Advanced settings if you want.

• Video Modes
  • We recommend having everything your television supports turned on for all of the features listed in this section, with one exception. Allow YCC 4:2:2 should be turned off by default and not touched unless you notice your 4K and HDR is not looking like they should. If anything is grayed out, your TV does not support that feature and can not be activated.
• Video Fidelity & Overscan
  • Overrides
    • Auto-detect
  • Color Depth
    • This should be set as high as your television allows. 8-bit is standard, but 10 or 12-bit is preferable.
  • Color Space
    • Standard unless you have a very high-end television screen. In that case, PC RGB is better for you.
  • Overscan Border
    • This is your preference, but turned on will allow apps to stop the screen from cutting off the edges of the display.