Cables for Gaming Consoles
Gaming consoles have wireless controllers and VR headsets that need to be charged quickly and easily. You will need USB-C cables and a charger like those used for cell phones. The console itself, need to be connected to a monitor, TV or projector using HDMI cables. Which one should you use?
What HDMI Cable does PlayStation and Xbox Need?
HDMI was first introduced in 2003 and developed to become the standard for connecting video and audio to TVs, monitors and projectors. On the outside, HDMI cables have not changed much, however on the inside they vary significantly by generation and bandwidth. You need to make sure you have the right cable to achieve the full potential of the source connecting to your visual device.
When looking for HDMI cables, you will find different naming standards depending on what the cables can do. The certifications come in Standard, High-Speed, Premium High-Speed and Ultra High-Speed.
|
Certification |
Version |
Year |
Characteristics |
Bandwidth |
|
Standard |
Pre 1.4 |
2009 and earlier |
No support for 4K or HDR |
|
|
High-Speed |
1.4 |
|
Supports 4K at 24 or 30Hz |
Up to 10.2 Gbps |
|
|
2.0 |
2013 |
Supports 4K at 50 or 60Hz. Added Dolby Atmos surround. |
Up to 18 Gbps |
|
|
2.0a/b |
2015/2016 |
Supports 4K at 60Hz. Release a) added support for high dynamic range (HDR), release b) added support for hybrid log gamma (HLG) format. |
Up to 18 Gbps |
|
Ultra High-Speed |
2.1 |
2017 |
Supports 4K 120Hz or 8K 60Hz with eARC, uncompressed 8K signal, dynamic HDR, Dolby Vision and several next-generation gaming technologies. |
Up to 48 Gbps |
|
|
2.1a |
2022 |
Supports 4K 120Hz or 8K 60Hz with HDR Source-Based Tone Mapping |
Up to 48 Gbps |
PlayStation 4/ Xbox One
The highest video setting on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One is 1080p 60Hz with HDR, which requires an HDMI High-Speed cable or higher. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One do not support 4K meaning that you could use HDMI version 1.4, 2.0 or 2.0a/b. You can always use a higher-end cable given that they are backwards compatible.
PlayStation 4 Pro / Xbox One X / Xbox One S
PlayStation 4 Pro (PS4 Pro) and Xbox One X were developed with 4K 30Hz or 1080p 60Hz, which is higher than the base models. Game resolution for PS4 Pro ranges from 1080p to 1440p with some games allowing upscaling to 4K resolution. Xbox One S outputs a 4K image, but it’s exclusively upscaled from 1080p. Given that the output for these consoles is somewhere between 4K at 30 FPS and 4K HDR at 60 FPS, we would recommend a High-Speed HDMI 2.0a/b cable or better.
PlayStation 5 (PS5) / Xbox Series X|S
PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are equipped with Ultra-High-Speed HDMI 2.1 outputs, which support video output at 4K at 120 FPS, or 8K at 60 FPS. Most TVs, monitors and projectors advertised as 4k use an aspect ratio of 16:9 with 3840x2160 pixels. We would recommend using an Ultra-High-Speed HDMI 2.1 cable supporting 8K60Hz and 4K120Hz.
