Sony's 'Ready for PlayStation 5' 4K TV HDMI 2.1 update delayed (again)

(Image credit: Sony & PlayStation 5 images courtesy Sony; image edited by Future)

last updated 15 January 2021

Sony has been promising an official HDMI 2.1 update to its lone 'Ready for PS5' 4K TV since September last year. While the update for 4K gaming at 120Hz arrived back in November for the European XH90 and US X900H, it wasn't clear when the functionality for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) was going to arrive.

In November, Sony cited delays in a getting sign off through official HDMI channels as it had chosen to go for a non-proprietary solution, but there had been silence since. Well, until fuel was poured on the fire earlier this week when Sony apparently removed references to the update from some of its local support pages.

Worry not, though, because FlatpanelsHD confirmed that the update is still coming. In an official comment, Sony says "XH90 will support VRR and ALLM via a future firmware update. Any articles on Sony sites that stated otherwise have been updated with the correct information." Phew. The only problem is that there's still no news of when.

The only saving grace is that if you've already got a PS5 and XH90 – which we're very big fans of and you can read all about in our Sony XH90 review – you actually don't have VRR or ALLM functionality currently anyway. While the PS5 hardware is capable of supporting VRR to reduce any screen tearing or choppy framerates, Sony has been promising an update to actually enable it.

The official PS5 FAQ on the PlayStation Blog states "PS5 hardware supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) through HDMI 2.1. After a future system software update, PS5 owners will be able to use the VRR feature of compatible TVs when playing games that support VRR."

While you might have read the letters VRR so many times in that paragraph that they've lost all meaning, there's no mention at all of ALLM despite Microsoft's Xbox Series already having both features at launch.

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That's two big updates that Sony still has to fulfil so it's potentially worth considering that it's waiting to drop both updates at once, so the TV and console stay in sync when it comes to features.

For now, it seems that we can enjoy 4K gaming at 120Hz and hopefully full HDMI 2.1 functionality will be along sooner rather than later.

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Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in technology, gaming, and entertainment. She has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland and is the presenter of BBC Radio 3's monthly Sound of Gaming show. She can also regularly be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, and The Evolution of Horror podcast as well as writing for GamesRadar and NME. Louise loves finding ways that tech can make our lives better every day and no, she doesn't have enough smart lighting yet.