PS4 Pro Not Working With Your TV Here Are 9 Things To Try

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As I reported in an earlier story, the launch of Sony’s PS4 Pro has been plagued by widespread problems with getting the console to ‘talk’ properly to TVs.

Some people have been getting no picture at all from their PS4 Pro, while others can’t get the console to output 4K and HDR at the same time even though their TVs seemingly should be able to handle it.

There are also many reports of people being unable to feed their PS4 Pros through AV receivers into their TVs even when those receivers apparently carry HDMI ports compatible with the necessary HDCP 2.2 digital rights management protocols and latest HDMI 2.0a specification.

The PS4 Pro’s HDR, high-resolution images are great – for people who can actually see them. (Pic:… [+] Sony PlayStation)

PlayStation has already acknowledged problems with some TVs that will apparently need a firmware update (from either PlayStation or the TV manufacturers) to fix. However, reading through some of the complaints of PS4 Pro connection woes on various forums and social media feeds makes me suspect that at least a few of the issues some users are experiencing may be solvable without having to wait on Sony and/or the TV manufacturers to come up with new firmware.

Here, then, are nine things for afflicted PS4 Pro owners to try before they rip the last tufts of their hair out.

Please note that I’m assuming that your TV has a native 4K resolution, supports HDR, and has HDMIs that can support HDCP 2.2. If you’re not sure that your TV fits the bill on these points, check its specification with the manufacturer before exploring the tips below.

1. Make sure you’re using the correct HDMI port.

Some 4K TVs, especially budget models or sets from 2015, don’t support 4K HDR on all of their HDMIs. Consult your TV’s manual to ensure that the HDMI input you’ve got the PS4 Pro connected to is definitely up to spec.

Individual HDMI spec is something to check, too, if you’re experiencing issues with an AV receiver, as again it’s not uncommon for only a few HDMI ports on a receiver to support the latest specifications.

2. Make sure your HDMI port is switched to HDR mode

This, I suspect, will be by far the most common cause of fixable PS4 Pro connection problems. The thing is, with most HDR TVs you have to manually set an HDMI input to receive HDR signals. This crucial fact is hardly ever made clear enough in either TV instruction manuals or the instructions you get with external HDR sources like the PS4 Pro.

The HDMI UHD Color feature on a Samsung TV. (Pic: John Archer)

To make matters worse, every TV manufacturer calls the HDR mode on their HDMIs by a different name. With Samsung TVs, for instance, you have to go into the Picture menu and find the feature called HDMI UHD Color, and make sure it’s set to On for the PS4 Pro’s HDMI input. With LG TVs, the mode is called Deep Color, and again needs to be set specifically for the correct HDMI. With Panasonic TVs you just have two differently numbered HDMI ‘modes’ to choose from. And so the confusion spreads with every different brand of TV.

It’s not just TVs that are affected by this crazy situation either. AV receivers often have two 4K modes for their HDMIs, so try toggling between these for the HDMI your PS4 Pro is connected to. Bear in mind that some AV receivers only let you toggle their 4K HDMI modes on the units themselves, not via their onscreen menus.

3. Update ALL your firmware

Not running the most up to date software in your TV, console and even games could explain some of the issues people are experiencing.

For instance, it’s been annoyingly common this year for some manufacturers to sell a TV as HDR ready that actually doesn’t support HDR via its HDMIs until it’s received a downloadable update – and sometimes these updates haven’t appeared until weeks or even months after the TV launched.

If you have your TV permanently connected to the internet it’s likely you will already have the latest software running. If you don’t, though, add the set to your network and track down its ‘software update’ option, usually in its ‘System’ menus.

It’s more likely that you’ll have your PS4 Pro connected to your online network permanently, and if you do it will have done a firmware update when you first installed it. It’s still worth selecting the System Update option in the Settings menus to check, though.

Finally, most PS4 Pro-enhanced games require you to download a patch before their HDR/extra resolution features are enabled. So again, be sure to be online with your PS4 Pro next time you play an enhanced title, so that the update can be applied.

4. Perform a factory reset of your PS4 Pro

For some reason (possibly because the PS4 Pro potentially stores information on the information it first receives from your TV) resetting the PS4 Pro to its factory settings can fix some people’s connection issues.

This solution is especially effective for people (such as some LG TV owners) who are still struggling with connection issues despite their TVs receiving firmware updates that were supposed to fix the problem, and for people who initially either connected their PS4 Pro to the wrong HDMI port on their TV, or who initially tried running the PS4 Pro through an incompatible AV receiver.

You can reset the PS4 Pro to factory settings by entering its Safe mode. Instructions on how to do this are included in point 7 of this article.

5. Take your AV receiver out of the equation.

As hinted in passing in the previous point, if you’re looping your PS4 Pro via HDMI through a receiver and tip 2 hasn’t worked, try connecting the console directly to your TV.

Hardly any older receivers will support HDCP 2.2 and/or the necessary data bandwidths through their HDMIs, and I’m hearing plenty of anecdotal information to suggest that even models that are apparently up to HDCP 2.2 spec aren’t passing the PS4 Pro data through as they should. Or more accurately, they don’t seem to be feeding back the capabilities of the TV properly to the PS4 Pro.

Receivers such as Yamaha’s RX-A860 should support PS4 Pro video passthrough – though you may need to… [+] adjust their HDMI settings. (Pic: Yamaha)

Within my own set up I’ve discovered that if I connect my PS4 Pro directly to my Samsung KS9500 (KS9800 US) TV I get HDR RGB support, whereas if I loop my PS4 Pro through a Samsung K950 sound bar I can only get HDR YUV420 support. Even though the HDMI loopthrough on the K950 has appeared to be completely neutral with other source kit.

If removing the amp from the HDMI equation works for you then you’ll have to connect your PS4 Pro to your receiver via the console’s optical digital audio output if you want it to make use of your sound system.

6. Check your HDMI cable/HDMI splitter

It’s possible that the HDMI cable you’re running between your PS4 Pro and TV can’t carry enough data to deliver the full 4K HDR experience.

This isn’t as likely to be the cause of any problems if you’re using a short cable run, and the cable you get with the PS4 Pro works just fine. But if you’re not using the cable provided by Sony, it’s still worth giving that cable a go to see if it makes any difference.

Cable issues are much more likely to be a factor if you’re using a long cable run. If you are, make sure the HDMI cable you’re using is ‘Premium Certified’, meaning it has actually been certified as capable of handling 4K HDR levels of data.

Premium Certified cables do not have to cost substantially more than ‘ordinary’ HDMIs, by the way. This isn’t something you need to be spending hundreds of pounds on!

This is what a Premium Certified HDMI looks like. Exciting, isn’t it? (Pic: StarTech)

Also, if you’re getting sound but not a picture, as many people are reporting, this is not going to be your cable’s fault, as cable failure is an ‘all or nothing’ deal.

Some people run their sources through HDMI splitters into multiple screens. If that’s you, then again you need to make sure that your HDMI splitter is up to 4K HDR spec. Which very few are, as it happens.

7. Run your PS4 Pro in Safe mode and change the HDCP setting from 2.2 to 1.4

This solution was put forward by Sony on its EU forums in response to all the feedback from PS4 Pro users who can’t get any sort of picture to appear on their TVs. It goes like this:

1. Access Safe Mode on your PS4. To do this you need to turn off the PS4 Pro by pressing the power button on the front panel of the console. Once the PS4 Pro is fully off, press and hold the power button down again for around seven seconds until you hear a second ‘power up’ beep. Then connect your joystick via USB, and press its PS button.

2. Select option 8 (HCDP Mode adjustment)

3. Select option 2 (HDCP 1.4)

4. Your system will restart when you select OK.

This solution should mean that pretty much anyone who hasn’t previously managed to get an image from their PS4 Pro will be able to see one. However, since the HDCP 2.2 level of digital rights management is required for playback of many 4K HDR sources, this HDCP 1.4 solution is very far from ideal, and is clearly being proposed as only a temporary solution until a better firmware fix can be provided by either your TV manufacturer or Sony.

It’s worth repeating Sony’s Safe Mode disclaimer, too: “Some Safe Mode options could result in loss of data. We do not recommend using Safe Mode unless you are experiencing issues with your PS4 and one of our support articles has directed you to perform a step in Safe Mode.”

8. Make sure you’re playing an HDR- and/or 4K-compatible game

This may sound like a no-brainer to some, but there seems to be a lot of confusion out there about how the PS4 Pro enhancements work in relation to games, especially where HDR is concerned. The bottom line is that only games that have been remastered to work in HDR will actually play in HDR. The PS4 Pro doesn’t magically add HDR to titles that don’t have HDR written into their code.

A list of PS4 Pro-enhanced games can be found here – but just to confuse you more, these enhancements can come in a variety of flavors, with some titles just adding HDR, some just adding higher resolutions, and some adding both. Remember, too, that as noted in an earlier point you have to download the HDR/resolution patch that’s been retrospectively launched for many of the current enhanced titles, otherwise you’ll see no enhancements at all.

A patch for Uncharted 4 introduces HDR support. (Pic: Naughty Dog/Sony)

Your PS4 Pro will only actually switch to HDR output if you start playing a game that’s encoded for HDR; the console’s home screen is not HDR by default. So fire up a game such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided or Uncharted 4 and see if you get an HDR playback confirmation message on your TV (or see if your TV’s menus have switched to HDR picture settings if your model is one of those, like 2015 Samsungs, that doesn’t give some sort of ‘HDR is now playing’ onscreen message).

It’s unlikely that firing up an HDR game will suddenly alert the PS4 Pro to your TV’s HDR capabilities if the console hasn’t already detected them and revealed this in the Video Output Settings. But it’s worth a shot.

Where resolution is concerned, I have received reports of people being told in the PS4 Pro’s Video Output Information screen that their TV can only support 2K, only to have the console’s 4K output magically kick in anyway when a resolution-enhanced title such as Rise Of The Tomb Raider is played.

9. Try changing the RGB range and the resolution

This solution probably won’t work for many people, as the way the HDR/4K system works with the PS4 Pro is so dependent on what capabilities the console auto detects from your TV. But if you’re not getting HDR images when you think you should be, head into the Video Output Settings part of the Sound and Screen options and change the RGB range from Automatic to Limited. Or try changing the Resolution setting from Auto to 2160 RGB or 2160 YUV. It’s a long shot, but hell – if nothing else has worked this is a pretty easy last throw of the dice.

Living the dream! (Pic: John Archer)

Given the range of problems being reported around the PS4 Pro’s TV connectivity it’s possible – probable, even – that there may be other potential solutions I’ve not thought of. If you think you have one, feel free to share it in the comments – or send it to me via my Twitter feed so that I can add it to this article. And finally… Good luck!

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