PS5 Pro misses out on an underrated Xbox Series X feature, expert reveals
The PS5 Pro is the most powerful console on the market, but Microsoft's Xbox Series X wins in this area
🤔 PS5 Pro falls short versus the Xbox Series X in one key area
📺 Microsoft’s console can output at an uncompressed bandwidth
🎨 Like the PlayStation 5, the PS5 Pro is limited to 4:2:2 chroma subsampling
💪 The Xbox Series X has a bandwidth of 40Gbps compared to the PS5 Pro’s 32Gbps
The PS5 Pro can deliver better graphics and performance than the Xbox Series X, which isn’t a surprise as it costs $800. However, Microsoft’s console has one distinct advantage over Sony’s system, which has persisted since the beginning of this generation.
As spotted by HDTV Test’s display expert Vincent Teoh, the PS5 Pro keeps the same limited HDMI 2.1 bandwidth of the PlayStation 5. The PS5 Pro is still only outputting 32Gbps, which maxes out at 4K/120Hz at YUV 4:2:2.
However, the Xbox Series X has a HDMI 2.1 bandwidth of 40gbps, which allows it to output at 4K/120Hz at full RGB 4:4:4 chroma.
Teoh discovered the difference using a Philips 2024 OLED TV, which can accurately report the HDMI bandwidth of a connected video source.
But what do these numbers mean to most people? Honestly, not a lot. You’d be hard pressed to notice the difference unless you’re a display enthusiast, but essentially the Xbox Series X can output a picture that isn’t compressed and features more luminance and color information than the PS5 Pro.
The impact of chroma sub-sampling is minimal for most viewing, which is why the movie industry adopted 4:2:0 subsampling along time ago, which is less than the 4:2:2 used by the PS5.
Chroma subsampling is only really a concern when there’s text on screen over different colored backgrounds, like when using Xbox Series X’s Edge browser to write or edit a document.
Thankfully, the PS5 doesn’t have an internet browser, circumventing this issue somewhat, but you’d think the most advanced console on the market could deliver an image with no compression.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.