Troubleshooting Issues with 4K and HDR on Xbox One S

As you already know, Xbox One S features 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, 4K video streaming and High Dynamic Range (HDR) for games and video. As it is a relatively new technology, not everyone will be familiar with it. Microsoft today posted a blog post for the beginners to learn more about 4K and HDR. Read it here.

If you already have a 4K HDR TV and want to check your TV’s 4K and HDR capabilities, double-tap the Xbox button to open the guide, choose Settings > All settings > Display & sound, then choose Advanced video settings > 4K TV details. It will display all the 4K and HDR capabilties of your TV under following headings,

TV resolution

This detects whether your TV can display the 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz. This is required to upscale the system, games, and some apps to 4K. In other words, this lets your console run at 4K all the time, regardless of content.

4K UHD as a resolution setting isn’t required to play 4K content, however. Games and apps that use 4K features like the 4K resolution (for watching movies) and HDR (for movies and games) can switch those features on without needing the overall 4K UHD resolution.

Watching movies & TV

Movie and TV content varies in how it’s stored and played. Some video apps can play 4K content at different refresh rates, and some also support HDR (High Dynamic Range) content. This section tests your TV’s ability to display different 4K and HDR modes.

For example, your TV may support 4K at 24 Hz but not 4K at 60 Hz. In this case, it may display 4K 24 Hz movies at their native 4K 24 Hz, but 4K 60 Hz content may display at 1080p instead. How content actually displays depends on the video app, the available content, and the capabilities of your TV.

Playing games

Some games can play HDR. This section tests your TV’s ability to show HDR for games.

If you have issues, see Troubleshooting 4K and HDR on Xbox One S to see what you can do to fix it. For the technical details supporting the tests on this screen, see 4K on Xbox One S technical requirements.