PS5 VRR System Update Tested and Discussed - Is It a Game-Changer? 

The convergence of gaming, specifically console gaming, PC monitor technology and TV technology (such as HDR) is both interesting and hilariously chaotic. I'm an enthusiast in all 3 areas but seriously it's getting ridiculous and I hope the chaos leads to more and much better Standards. This is why DF is becoming a must in the tech community. They mix it all up in the best way.

It is crazy how Insomniac quickly became PS5 tech wizards after they have been acquired by Sony. Here are some of the next-gen features they have utilized: - Ray-traced reflections at 60 fps. - Instantly loading levels through the best implemention of PS5's I/O block and fast SSD we have seen so far. - Stable 40 Hz fps target for 120 Hz displays - Muscle deformation through machine learning in Spider-man Miles Morales - Closest to Pixar animation level graphics we have gotten so far with Ratchet & Clank on PS5 - Best implementation of temporal injection/supersampling on console that looks close to native resolutions - Good DualSense and 3D audio support in R&C - And now the VRR and LFC modes I think no other developer have utilized next-gen consoles THIS effectively as of now.

John thank you so much for your excellent coverage of this and TV/monitor technology in general

As a long time PC GSync fan, I was looking forward to VRR on PS5. It works great with my C1 in Spider-Man Remastered. I hope more games get uncapped framerate support in the future though…

You guys are awesome! I genuinely learn so much from your channel. You speak plainly yet not dumbed down.

This seems perfect for RE Village too. That game was almost always 60 and VRR will clean up those few moments where it dipped

Thank you guys for the great clarification about VRR and Lfc on various systems! Nice Video!

I've been waiting for you guys to discuss this in-depth. Very informative!

The Insomniac updates are spectacular and show just how much headroom Spidey and R&C had on PS5. Up to 30fps extra in Performance RT mode. Insane given how visually impressive they are. Real coding wizardry. Now if Guerrilla could just follow suit and update Forbidden West. They’ve made a botch job of performance mode and could save the day with a fixed 120hz/40fps Fidelity Mode or an uncapped VRR Fidelity mode :)

Totally agree with Returnal having a patch that removes the fps cap. 😍

Thank you guys, as always. This VRR PS5 coverage answers a lot of my questions, thanks again

VRR in the insomniac games is simply transformative. I don’t think the DF content truly convey the difference, you play in Fidelity mode and is feels very close to performance. So much so I had to double check. The difference between 30 and 40-60 with VRR basically means that a new TV can transform your experience. It is also noteworthy how much performance overhead is needed for a locked frame rate.

Thanks for this Video!

I'd be really interested in a video on how VRR lowers input lag if you're on the display's native refresh rate? Are we talking unlocked or engine locked framerates? Or is it just in comparison to v-sync? Because that does make a lot of sense in that case.

Tango Gameworks just released an official vrr patch for Ghostwire Tokyo today. Not sure they added the low frame-rate compensation. Hopefully they did. Also great video guys!

Finally been waiting for you guys to cover this!

Outstanding video as always guys! Insomniac is standing on top of the industry at the moment.

If others like me are having trouble getting RE8 to update to the VRR version, Capcom suggested clearing the PS5 cache and rebuilding the database.

Awesome video. Love the format!

So, it took Sony 2 years to do it and they half-assed it? Sounds like typical Sony under Jim Ryan

Playing with VRR enabled in the Fidelity mode on both of the Spider-Man games is insanely awesome. I love getting to play both games around 60fps in native 4k with ray tracing. I’ve had a great experience so far with VRR on my Sony 50X85J

A question for you.. I have a Samsung QN95A and I’ve tried VRR enabled games like Spider-Man. The info that appears on top of the image pressing info button or within the game bar shows a variable framerate (for example 90-95 hz and it varies), but game bar shows VRR disabled. I think it is a firmware issue and only a wrong info in the game bar, did you do something specific to have the correct info in your game bar?

I love you guys. I waited for this.

Great content as always gentlemen!

Returnal removed VRR in the latest patch. Makes me think they will implement a dedicated patch.

Great video! I'd be interested to see how Ghost of Tsushima and Doom Eternal PS5 are on VRR. Or are they are any recommendations for turning it on with LG Oled TVs and games that are adding it over time?

How did you get a game dashboard on the LGCX? Did you use a different tv in the video? Also, can Sony from a system standpoint with an update activate LFC and shorten the VRR range? Ty!

Thanks for a nother good Video...Dafür ein Dankeschön und auf Wiedersehen ✌️

Hey John and Alex, I love your videos and the information you gave us every time but I have a big question for you: What is the best TV monitor right now (2022) for us, the gamers? ... LG C1 or C2 (yes "My Life in Gaming" reference) Sony new Oled.. etc...

Not supporting Freesync as part of the VRR support is a MASSIVE fail for Sony. I just expected it would as they use a AMD GPU! What madness is this?! A ton of people have Freesync monitors and TV's, so why not support it?!

Guys you do amazing job on Digital Foundry. Thanks

Glad VRR has been updated on PS5. My A80J just got an update for VRR last month. Games look and play amazing!

Sony should pay Insomniac to patch the PS5 firmware and add some useful features.

Vrr absolutely saves the crap out of Elden Ring on Series S. With it on, the performance mode feels quite excellent to play. I tried turning it off and wow, it's a completely different experience.

@DigitalFoundry It's been a while, but i remember reading that the type of display (OLED vs LCD) have a different bottom threshold to support VRR. It was a long time ago, but i think it was stated if you use an OLED, it works if you maintain 40 or above, where LCD/LED etc is 48fps... Is this true? I know this was circulating some time before playstation 5 supported the feature and curious if this stands.

Not sure if it’s related but I had my PS5 4K transfer rate set to -1 because it looked like I was drunk whenever I moved the camera. I turned the -1 back to the default automatic setting and everything looks great now! Frame rates and even image quality!

Sony half assed this. A company that makes TVs and game consoles fumbled VRR.

Honestly, for RE Village in particular if you’re on an LCD, I’d argue it’s best to leave off VRR and keep superior local dimming, specifically because the game runs good enough and because the HDR implementation looks absolutely incredible.

So I also have CX OLED, but I don't believe I have the overlay that they show to display the VRR info the way they do in the video. Is there a different firmware I can download to get that menu, or a special way to get to it? Perhaps it's a regional difference since I'm in the US and John is in Europe? I'm aware of spamming the green button on my remote for the VRR display information, I would just prefer the overlay in the video much more.

Great video and thanks it helped would you use vrr on the series x on a oled tv if the game can do 120fp ? And if you turn this off should you turn it off on the tv or both the series x also ?

This VRR update is obviously a future proofing implementation. It’s nice we got some specific patches from Devs but for the rest of the titles already out on the system, we’ll see this inconsistent implementation but moving forward I’m certain every new release will have specific VRR implementation at the game level rather than relying on the system wide support.

Vrr works great on xbox and it always has 😉

Idk if I somehow missed this in the video but why is VRR in Astros playroom without an unlocked framerate option? Thought it was a locked 60

I have a dumb question : I've got a G-Sync display for my PC. The G-sync mode is activated on the Nvidia panel. Is it enough to consider anything I do on that PC being displayed in VRR ? Should I turn off V-sync in games menus ? (if that changes anything, it's not an official G-Sync, but it's 165Hz and I had to activate "FreeSinc" on my screen's menu.)

Setting up a camera to record the screen at 240fps or higher is the closest I can think for trying to capture VRR performance metrics. It’s still easily possible, even with that setup, for the camera recording and the display being out of phase with each other, meaning having to do multiple takes or getting some seriously high end equipment to timecode sync the display and the camera. Also, until you get that far, try to always set your shutter speed or shutter angle to the quickest possible setting you can manage while still getting a good exposure. That should eliminate nearly all of the ghosting effect of recording a TV screen.

Anybody tried this with Destiny 2? Either the standard or PvP-only 120hz modes? I feel like it’s generally pretty rock solid frame rate wise already so maybe there’s not much to benefit from here, but interested to know if it’s worth checking out.

Loving the arcade stick in the background, especially after I just finished a KOFXV session.

Hey John, do you turn on AMD Freesync on your LG tv or just the vanilla VRR?

13:38 Doo-Doo

This is what happens when you support VRR but skip out on AMD Freesync Premium. No native LFC/No HDMI 2.0 support/ lower VRR range

What is the overlay at the bottom of the screen when gameplay is shown?

John your camera grading looks fantastic in this video, not sure if you've made adjustments or got a new camera, but good stuff

Imagine locking a subpar software based vrr implementation behind an update a year plus after console release😂

Works well with Dirt 5 on my LG C1 48

This is where game visual settings like on PC would come in big. I could turn my graphics up or down to whatever I want, then I could enable VRR and have a good looking and steady game

Pretty exhaustive, thank you for the info.

Played through Miles Morales again. Really is a true pleasure on the LG CX in performance mode at those high frame rates with VRR. Rachet and Clank I originally beat in the 30fps Fidelity Mode and then the 40fps patched Fidelity Mode. But now I'm playing through in the Performance non-RT mode with VRR and it's such a great way to revisit this amazing piece of work! Looking forward to more first party games being patched with unlocked higher FPS modes for VRR.

Hopefully now both platforms are using it we get more updates for it. Because as far as I know there are extremely few games on Xbox that support it other than cleaning up instability. Though it's frustrating that they never bothered patching Dmc5 on Xbox but immediately fixed the issue on PS5. I doubt they even bothered doing it still which is just stupid

So are you saying that Even with an OLED (LG CX), don't default to always try VRR or is that for LCDs?

Does VRR bring any frame rate benefit on a 60hrz display that has VRR in fidelity mode for miles morales for example

I obviously appreciate this new VRR feature for the ps5 and my LG C1. However I have a switch in the middle, so I can switch from my LG C1 and my monitor (AOC 24G2U). My monitor supports freesync premium, but Sony chose to implement the HDMI 2.1 VRR standard. So I can't use VRR on my monitor, which is where I play games like COD/WarZone/Apex/Fortnite etc. Anybody else in this situation?

Thank you so much for this video. This helped me understand what VRR is.

question my tv is a samsung q9fn 2018. there is freesync on board but dobyou suggest turning off local dimming when it is active and vice versa ? btw in gale mode i don t notice a change on high medium or low. only wHen when mode is inactive

I have a 2019 Samsung Q70r 85” LED tv. I was looking forward to this VRR update but unfortunately it doesn’t work right with most of the games I’ve tried including games that have been patched such as Dirt 5 and Astros Playroom.. the screen either turns a yellow tint color or flickers on and off constantly. This tv is capable of freesync so I’m not sure what the problem is . It isn’t a hdmi 2.1 display. Maybe that’s the issue but like I said there’s VRR freesync in the TVs video options menu. So bummed about this not working probably 😞

I play a lot of PS4 games still so I’m pretty sad it isn’t available with PS4 games. Also, the low frame rate compensation not being a thing Is disappointing. Though I’m still glad it’s finally here

I have an LG CX and the difference with Elden Ring is simply amazing

Is there any benefit to having both vrr and freesync toggled on at the same time on the lg c1?

VRR option dosn't appear at all in the PS5 settings for users of Samsung NU8000. Was this the same for u on the NU8000?

My Samsung Q70r (2019) does not have HDMI 2.1 so I thought I was out of luck. But when set to Freesync Ultimate it works! I was so glad but wonder what’s up with that as there is no 2.1? Also noticed that occasionally when switching to 120hz mode the colors go pale, but if I switch it back an fourth one or twice the richer color returns and works fine in 120hz and looks smooth and beautiful. Odd but I’ll take it!

Xbox VRR - Enable VRR in settings. Enjoy. PS5 VRR - Watch this DF Video, research your display, adjust settings depending on game, keep expectations low as things may still not improve.

How do you bring up the game bar on the lg cx. I didn't no they even added one to the cx models. I no about the green button presses which only tells you what the TV is outputting at.

Do you have to change the ps5 setting to performance mode? Or keep it on auto? I have lg cx trying to get Elden ring to ring smooth is hard even with the new vrr mode on ps5.

Love the idea of VRR. My X900H does it but, as stated in the video, it absolutely murders the picture quality. I'm only going to use it in games where the tearing or stutter is unbearable. Looking at the new LG C2 come next black friday because its pretty terrible. I wish Sony would have been clear with this when buying because I would not have bought this panel if that was the case. Learned a lesson to not trust a "feature to come later."

40fps LFC support is crucial for VRR.

What actually happens to the resolution of games with drs? Like ratchet and clanks preformance rt mode runs great but i feel like the image might be a bit softer than before.

I have tested Tales of Arise and Nioh 1 and 2 Remastered. All working as intended and better than ever.

This should make it a bit easier to draw direct comparisons to a PC GPU right? Now we can see the GPU being used 100% in many more games, and with Vsync off in some of them. Ghostwire Tokyo would be a great game to see how the PS5 compares.

I just want 1440p 😭

It has been a while since I read the HDMI spec. Is quick transport (pardon if I do not remember the exact marketing term) also implemented? It is supposed to reduce latency.

I tested spiderman on my Hisense U8G (it's lcd), and FALD seems to be working fine with VRR at 4k 120hz. I think it was running in 4:2:2 though. So some LCDs seem good to go. I haven't tried other games yet though

Unless it’s devs like Insomniac that make great use out of VRR implementation, all devs should strive to make theirs games a rock solid 30/60fps without and drops. VRR can be great, but there is always a trade off be it large or small.

other youtubers video length 2 to 10 min long, digital foundery 36 min😳

Great explanation, John

with th qn90a i havent seen any reduction of picture quality while VRR is on

Was looking forward to VRR, then found out it doesn't work on my 1440p Gigabyte M27Q. Starting to think I should of gotten Series X instead of PS5 😮‍💨

It's depressing how many limitations there are on this VRR implementation after coming from a GSync monitor on PC. Doesn't help that I have an X900H TV which disables the FALD with VRR, and still doesn't even really display 4K120 properly. So much for the "READY FOR PLAYSTATION 5" branding.

Finally the video we have all be waiting for

So for us with lg cx do ve want the standard vrr or the AMD frersync premium

I forgot that when you have a game running at 4K/120hz, the PS5 share UI drops to 1080p

I have been waiting on this one

As far as Spider-Man I'm running 1440p 120hz Performance RT mode with VRR on I haven't experienced any (noticeable to the eye) frame drops and it just looks beautiful. Using a TCL 6 series.

Curious which TV you guys used.... Panasonic jz2000 has max 60 frames in vrr.. My a90j has 100+ frames in Spiderman in performance rt mode.

Is anyone even a little worried that companies are going to become dependent on VRR to cover up frame drops? Elden Ring, looking at you.

I think it's disappointing that the PS5's VRR is as limited as it is. Not being able to reach lower frame rates or support other nonstandard VRR TV implementations feels like it's falling short of what we should expect after such a long wait.

Works on my older LG Oled BX model

LG C1 with VRR on playing Ratchet and Clank performance RT is like a DREAM!

For Elden Ring, I tested and is a game changer for the PS5 version on Performance mode, works really great, but still I prefer playing the PS4 version + BFI, the movement clarity is just unbeateable for me, I play on a C1 btw.

It may not be as good as the Xbox or PC implementation but at least PS5 is becoming feature complete, I do hope Sony continue to improve it though sounds like VRR still needs more work...Is it even technically possible?

How do you pull up that LG CX VRR menu?

Tales of arise en modo fidelidad gráfica que tal funciona en ps5? Se consiguen ya esos 60 fps? O sigue oscilando entre 30 y 45-50?