If you’re planning to buy yourself the PS5, Good Luck!
Since launching in November 2020, a worldwide shortage of Sony’s next-gen machine has made getting your hands on any version of the PlayStation 5 as hard as finding a PS2 controller in a warehouse full of PS3 controllers.
A while ago, after getting out of bed at 2 am to refresh various game websites to see if there were any PS5 latest drops, my friend managed to buy a PS5 Digital Edition.
While waiting for his console to be delivered, he asked me whether the PS5 Digital Edition does 4K.
I knew that the Standard PS5 can run 4K, but I wasn’t sure if the digital version did.
I quickly got on my laptop to do some research, and this is what I found.
Does the PS5 Digital Edition support 4K? Both the Standard and Digital PS5 can stream movies and play games in 4K. Other than the Standard PS5 having a disc drive, which can play 4K Blu-ray discs, the two consoles are identical products and will in the future get a software update to enable them to support 8K.
OK, now that you know that the Digital PS5 has enough power under its hood to deliver 4K, I’ll tell you how to play games at 4K on the PS5 and other key differences between the Digital and Standard PS5..
Rumours the PS5 cannot support 4K are not true
Before the PS5 was released rumors had started circulating online that the next-gen console would struggle with 4K.
One game developer going by the name AestheticGamer had tweeted:
“I’ve heard from other devs that PS5 struggles with 4K games in particular so you’ll see a lot of fake 4K”.
AestheticGamer
Several other people did claim to have insider information that Sony was finding it hard to deliver a console that comfortably played 4K games at 60fps.
They went further to say that 4K titles would have to be downgraded to run on the new console.
Sony never responded to the 4K rumors but game developers like TeamKill Media did.
In a tweet, Teamkill Media, who developed the PS5 Quantum Error game said “Quantum Error currently is running at 4K 65-70 FPS unoptimized. We will be hitting our goal of 4K 60 FPS”.
Now we know the claims by AestheticGamer and others were false.
I have played several games on the PS5 and I can confirm to you it supports 4K at up to 120fps, which gives you unbeatable smoothness while gaming.
Some of the PS5 titles that I have played that run 4K at 60fps and above are:
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
- Dead By Daylight
- Fortnite. This game supports 4K/60fps. You can, however, play it at 120fps at lower resolutions if you like.
- Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition. This game can run 4K at 120fps.
- Guilty Gear Strive
- Scarlet Nexus
- Chivalry 2
- Resident Evil Village. This game also supports ray tracing, which is a lighting tech that can display shadows, environments, reflections, etc., in a game as they would appear in real life. This makes scenes in a game look more natural and realistic. Ray tracing together with 4K at 60fps will make playing this eighth game in the Resident Evil series more pleasurable on the PS5.
- For Honor
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. This game not only runs 4K at 60fps but also loads faster on the PS5. If you played the game on the PS4, you know it had lengthy load times.
- Borderlands 3. This game has two modes, performance and resolution mode. Performance mode allows you to play games at resolutions lower than 4K at 120fps. Resolution mode renders the game at 4K/60fps.
- The Nioh Collection
The Digital PS5 supporting native 4K at up to 120fps gives it a marketing edge over Microsoft’s digital next-gen console, the Xbox Series S.
The Series S was designed to display games at 1440p at 120fps, but can upscale game graphics to 4K.
How to enable 4K resolution on the Digital PS5
When streaming a movie or playing a game on the PS5, it automatically selects the best available resolution.
But to be sure you’re streaming or gaming at the highest resolution possible, you can enable UHD manually.
For your console to deliver 4K resolution you’ll have to connect it to a 4K TV or monitor with a high-quality HDMI cable.
The PS5 comes with an HDMI 2.1 cable which you should use to link your console to the TV via the HDMI ports found at the back of the devices.
Once you do the HDMI connection here is how to manually set up 4K on your Digital PS5.
1: Go to the top-right corner of your PS5’s Home Screen and select Settings.
2: On the Settings menu, scroll down and select Screen and Video.
3: Under Video Output, click on Resolution to set your PS5’s screen resolution. Change this setting to 2160p to keep your PS5 at 4K display permanently.
You can leave the Resolution setting at automatic if you want your PS5 to continue determining the best display for your movies and games.
4: The PS5 supports HDR10. So, for a better 4K experience from the Screen and Video menu, select High Dynamic Range (HDR) and turn it on. HDR delivers higher contrast, which makes your images brighter and more pleasant to look at.
If your TV doesn’t support HDR, a pop-up message will appear on your screen saying “Your TV doesn’t support HDR.”
Once you change your console’s setting to 4K, you can start to play movies, TV shows, and games that support this resolution.
What is the difference between the Digital PS5 and Standard PS5?
Unlike the Xbox Series X and S which have major differences, the tech on the Standard and Digital PS5 is similar.
The similar specs on the consoles make them capable of delivering the same power and performance, for example, 4K at up to 120fps, ray tracing, and 3D audio.
The only major difference between the consoles is:
- The Standard PS5 has a disc drive. If you have a library of physical PS4 games you would like to continue playing get the PS5 disc version. The Digital PS5 only plays digital games so it isn’t compatible with PlayStation game discs.
- The Digital PS5 is slimmer. Because the Standard PS5 has a disc drive it has a slight bulge to accommodate the disc drive. The Digital console is more symmetrical and slimmer due to the lack of a disc drive.
- The Digital PS5 is cheaper. The digital PS5 version sells for $399 while the Standard PS5 goes for $499. The $100 price difference is large because the Digital PS5 doesn’t have a disc drive so it is cheaper to make, and therefore is sold at a lower price to consumers.
