Set your RGB to Full (Makes a World of difference)

[McKay]

In any comparison videos I always noticed that the PS4 colours looked washed out in comparison, not as vibrant. 

 

I stumbled on threads full of discussions, going through anything from recalibrating your TV, to buying top of the line cables etc. 

 

But I thought to myself "I shouldn't be able to spot a noticeable difference when my 2 consoles are hooked to the same monitor using the same cable".

 

Found a solution that has made noticeable differences for me and all of my friends. In the display settings of the PS4 itself, RGB is set to (Automatic). I changed it to Full, the screen faded to black for a second, and then it came back on even the blue screen of the PS4 UI looked so much more vibrant. I compared BF4 on PS4 and XB1 and now the colours and vibrancy are pretty much identical.

[neoadorable]

Thanks, will give it a shot when i go home later...usually i find these settings don't make a world of difference, but worth a try.

[Starbuck84]

From what I understood, you have a full, limited or auto setting with RGB. Full and limited are ways to describe the colour range of RGB. Full will give you all the colours, ranging from 0 - 255. While limited will give you 16 - 235. Colours could look washed out, but you'll notice black not being black, but a little gray. (Grey, gray...?).

 

It does depend on your television / monitor and for what purpose you're using it. Sometimes I find the limited range looks "smoother" with movies, while playing games I have it set to full. Also, if you're using a Samsung TV, trying to set the HDMI black level (on your TV) might also help a lot. Just a heads up.

 

In the end it's a matter of personal taste and trying to figure out what works best for your setup. I leave it at auto for the time being. :)

 

/edit: typo's...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

This should only be done if your TV supports RGB full, and a lot of them do not - It's more of a setting for monitors. It will lead to crushed blacks, as it will on your XB1 as well. What are crushed blacks?

 

If a TV is calibrated properly on limited there shouldn't be much difference between it and forcing RGB full besides it having proper blacks and shadowing. Lots of people suggest RGB full as it appears to make things pop when you first switch over, but you'll find yourself not able to see detail in dark games and/or increasing brightness settings in games when you can't see anything. The PS4 finally introduced an automatic setting which you are best keeping it on, it will detect automatically if your TV can support RGB full - Some that can need to turn it on first in their TV menu.

 

Unfortunately it's not a matter of taste, it's a matter of displaying the image rightly or wrongly. I mean you can still crush your blacks on limited with botched calibration, that goes to show it's all about calibrating correctly, and step 1 is not putting RGB on full unless you know for a fact your TV supports it. Step 2 would be to calibrate your TV correctly and then a lack contrast or wanting colour "pop" will never be an issue.

 

Anyone with a PS3/360, try running around in the pit in Dark Souls 2 with RGB full (if your TV doesn't support it). Even with a torch you can hardly see anything. Switch back to limited and see a world of difference.

 

This is not meant as a dig at your either McKay, just years of familiarising myself with this setting on consoles and going through calibrating 2 HDTVs that do not support it (first was a Sony HDTV, current is a Panasonic GT50).

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Yeah what AB said  :laugh: 
Honestly though I have learned a lot in regards to this topic over the years here, in large part due to the knowledge AB (and others) have shared over the years.
The best way to explain what I have learned is more often than not, colors are not meant to be super vibrant. They are meant to have a more cinematic feel.

So although your own personal preference may be more vibrant colors, and darker aka crushed blacks, that is not how they were originally developed to be seen actually.

That is why a calibrated TV is going to always be the best result at the end of the day.

The thing is, it might not be the result you personally think looks the best.

But it will be the result that is how things were developed and meant to be seen naturally.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Yeah what AB said  :laugh: 

Honestly though I have learned a lot in regards to this topic over the years here, in large part due to the knowledge AB (and others) have shared over the years.

The best way to explain what I have learned is more often than not, colors are not meant to be super vibrant. They are meant to have a more cinematic feel.

So although your own personal preference may be more vibrant colors, and darker aka crushed blacks, that is not how they were originally developed to be seen actually.

That is why a calibrated TV is going to always be the best result at the end of the day.

The thing is, it might not be the result you personally think looks the best.

But it will be the result that is how things were developed and meant to be seen naturally.

 

Yeah there was actually a discussion back in 2008! Ha

 

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/622671-rgb-fulllimited-discovering-truths-and-calibrating-your-tv/

 

Just to bring a simple comparison from it to this topic, here's two pictures of my old Sony TV. Top with RGB limited, notice shadow details, bottom with RGB full, notice how blacked out everything is. Nothing else was changed other than the RGB setting, exact same TV calibration.

 

 

[DeltaXray]

The upshot to this whole thing is that if your TV supports RGB full then it should be set to it. If it doesn't, then don't. The confusion comes where in the past there were a lot of tvs which didn't support Full so setting that caused issues however that's not so much of an issue anymore.

Your tv also needs to be set correctly so for example on my Samsung tv the option is called HDMI Black and must be set to 'Normal' for black detail to show correctly with RGB Full enabled.

[trooper11]

Ah the art of calibrating tvs, its always fun :laugh:

luckily we have places like this where people can share their own experiences to narrow down your options.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Yeah AB we have talked about that topic numerous times over the years, and I have always learned something new. :yes:

 

In my own research, I have found CNET has awesome calibration guides on their forums done by people who know their stuff. Usually if you just go there, type in your TV Model, you can find a calibration guide for it somewhere.

 

For example here is the guide for my TV.

It made a WORLD of difference just setting my TV to the suggested values in that thread.

 

Hope that helps some people out. (Y)

At the very least it is worth trying, can always set everything back to default.

[Boxster17]

Proper calibration would likely make a larger difference then simply flipping this switch.  As a few others mentioned, you should only be doing this so long as your TV supports it.

 

I spent a week breaking in my Panasonic plasma with slides then calibrated it and that made a huge difference over the default settings.  I noticed a big difference on top of this with the PS4 set to full RGB as I was getting a fair bit more detail in the low lit areas of games (without needing to crank up the brightness).

[neoadorable]

Can we stop calling TV menu settings calibration? :D Unless you mean opening up the set with tools and whatnot and really going at it!

 

Anyway McKay, i tried RGB full and couldn't tell any difference at all, good or bad, image looked the same to me. Then again i'm the guy who watched 1080p Blu-rays on a 768p screen for three years without realizing it, and thought they looked AMAZING

[Showan]

I got my settings from tweak tv

 

http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/

 

I have a LG 47lw6500

 

[JorgeIvan]

thanks for the tips!