Start on the TV, not the console. The overwhelming majority of these are one setting on the input, and people spend an evening in the PS5 menus before they find it.
Every TV ships its HDMI inputs in a reduced mode. Full bandwidth is opt-in, per input, and it's buried:
- Samsung — Settings > General > External Device Manager > Input Signal Plus
- LG — Settings > General > Devices > HDMI Settings > HDMI Deep Color
- Sony — HDMI signal format set to Enhanced format, typically under Settings > Watching TV > External inputs
- TCL and Hisense — Settings > Inputs, then set HDMI Mode to Enhanced or 2.1
Turn it on for the port the PS5 is plugged into. Only that port. Enabling it on HDMI 1 does nothing for a console on HDMI 3, and that trips people up constantly.
If the picture goes black or starts sparkling the moment you enable it, that's not a failure — that's the port now asking for more than your cable can carry. Keep it on and fix the cable.
Then check you're on the right port
Most TVs have two fast ports and two slow ones, and the slow ones will never do 4K120. The manual names them. If you're on an LG C-series every port is fine; on nearly everything else, it matters.
Worth knowing: on many sets the eARC port is one of the fast ones, so a soundbar and a console end up competing for the same input. That's a real annoyance and there's no clever fix, just a decision about which one gets the good port.
The cable
The cable in the PS5 box is a Certified Ultra High Speed one and it's perfectly good. Don't replace it on principle. Replace it if it's been swapped for something from a drawer, or if the run is long.
A failing cable announces itself rather than degrading quietly: sparkles or white speckles, flicker, or the picture dropping out entirely. What it does not do is silently reduce your colour depth — the link either carries the format the two ends agreed over EDID or it visibly falls apart. So "it works but looks flat" is a settings problem, not a cable one.
Now the console
Settings > Screen and Video > Video Output. Resolution on Automatic, HDR on Automatic, 4K Video Transfer Rate on Automatic. Leave them there. Forcing values is how people end up with a console that won't hand back a picture.
Then run Adjust HDR in the same menu. It's three screens where you shrink a symbol until it disappears, and most people skip it. Skipping it is why HDR games look washed out on a set that's otherwise configured correctly — the console is guessing at your panel's peak brightness.
If the screen is already black and you can't see the menus, hold the power button until you hear the second beep to reach Safe Mode, then pick Change Video Output > Change Resolution. It resets the handshake blind. This is the one to reach for when nothing is on screen at all — the full PS5 no-signal walkthrough covers the rest of that case.
Two things your PS5 cannot do
Both of these get chased for hours by people who assume they've configured something wrong.
There is no Dolby Vision on a PS5. Not for games, not for apps, not for Blu-ray, not with a firmware update. It does HDR10 and HLG. If you own a Dolby Vision TV and you're hunting for the setting that switches it on, stop — Xbox has it, PlayStation doesn't.
And you will not get 4:4:4 colour at 4K120. The PS5's HDMI 2.1 port is capped at 32 Gbps, not the 48 Gbps the standard allows. 4K at 120Hz in 10-bit 4:4:4 needs about 40 Gbps, so the console drops to 4:2:2 chroma to fit. That's a hardware ceiling. A better cable doesn't help, a better TV doesn't help, and neither does any menu. For comparison, the Xbox Series X runs at 40 Gbps, which is exactly enough to keep 4:4:4 — which is why the two consoles measure differently on the same set.
In practice 4:2:2 is very hard to see in motion. It shows up on fine text and sharp high-contrast edges, so if you use a PS5 as a desktop machine you'll notice it, and if you play games you almost certainly won't.
If it still won't do it
Try a different input on the same TV before you conclude anything. Ports fail individually, and it takes thirty seconds to rule out.
Then power-cycle properly: hold the console's power button until it shuts down fully, unplug the TV and the PS5 for 30 seconds, bring the TV up first and let it reach its home screen before the console. The order isn't superstition — the console announces its capabilities on wake, and something needs to be awake to hear it.
If a receiver sits in the middle, take it out of the chain and go console-straight-to-TV as a test. That single step identifies the culprit faster than anything else, and receivers are very often the culprit.
FAQ
My PS5 dropped to 1080p by itself. The handshake failed on wake. Turn on the input's enhanced mode, then power-cycle with the TV coming up first.
"Signal Not Supported" when I turn on 4K. The port or the cable can't carry what's being asked. Enhanced mode on, certified cable, and check you're not on one of the TV's slow ports.
Where's the HDR setting? Settings > Screen and Video > Video Output. Set it to Automatic, then run Adjust HDR underneath — that second step is the one that matters and the one everyone skips.
Does the PS5 do Dolby Vision? No. HDR10 and HLG only. There's no setting and no update coming.
Why doesn't my PS5 do 4:4:4 at 120Hz? Its HDMI port is capped at 32 Gbps and that mode needs about 40. It's a limit of the console, not your gear.