PS5 HDR settings are the one display option most players set once at console setup and never touch again. That's a mistake. The PS5's HDR calibration tool is more capable than its simple three-step wizard suggests, and getting it wrong means you're watching games in colours your TV was never told to reproduce correctly. This guide covers what HDR actually does on PS5, how the calibration flow works, and what each setting changes in practice.
What HDR means on PS5, in plain terms
High Dynamic Range expands the range of brightness and colour that the console sends to your display. Standard dynamic range (SDR) content is mastered to a peak brightness of around 100 nits. HDR content on PS5 can carry peak brightness metadata up to 10,000 nits, though most consumer TVs top out between 600 and 2,000 nits depending on the panel. The console's job is to describe how bright and colourful the image should be. Your TV's job is to do the best it can with that description.
PS5 supports HDR10, which is the baseline open standard used by every HDR-capable TV sold in Australia. It does not natively output Dolby Vision from games, though some streaming apps running on the PS5 do support Dolby Vision for video content. If you see your TV reporting Dolby Vision while gaming on PS5, your TV is doing the conversion itself, not the console.
How to reach the HDR calibration tool
Go to Settings, then Screen and Video, then Video Output, then Adjust HDR. The console will first check whether your display supports HDR and prompt you to enable it on your TV if it isn't already active. Most modern Australian TVs sold since 2019 support HDR10, but you may need to enable a specific HDMI port mode: Samsung calls this HDMI UHD Color, LG uses HDMI Ultra HD Deep Colour, and Sony TVs typically label it HDMI Signal Format. Check your TV's picture input settings before assuming HDR isn't working.
The calibration tool itself runs three screens in sequence. Each one addresses a distinct part of how the image will look.
The three calibration screens, explained
Screen 1: peak brightness
This is the most important adjustment. The PS5 shows a bright square against a white background and asks you to adjust a slider until the square just disappears. What you're doing is telling the console how bright your TV's peak highlights actually get. Set this too low and highlights will clip, blowing out to pure white. Set it too high and bright scenes will look flat and washed out because the console is sending brightness values the TV can't reproduce.
The right setting varies by TV. A budget HDR TV might peak at 400 nits; a high-end OLED or QLED can reach 1,000 nits or more. Don't guess. Your TV's manual or manufacturer's spec sheet should list its peak brightness. Look for "peak brightness" or "HDR peak luminance" in the specs. Sony's own support page recommends sitting at a comfortable viewing distance in normal room lighting when running the calibration.
Screen 2: black level (minimum display brightness)
This screen shows a dark square against a black background. You adjust until the square just disappears. It tells the PS5 how dark your TV's darkest blacks actually are. On OLED panels, where true black means a pixel is off, this setting should be at or near the lowest value. On LED LCD panels, where even "black" areas have some backlight bleed, the number sits higher.
Getting this wrong in the dark direction crushes shadow detail. Environments that should show texture in near-black areas just become flat and featureless. Set it too bright and the image looks grey rather than having true depth.
Screen 3: paper white brightness
This is the subtlest setting. It controls how bright the console renders text, UI elements, and mid-tone content. Higher values make menus and subtitles pop but can make daytime game environments look harsh. Lower values feel more cinematic but might make on-screen text harder to read. Most players are fine leaving this at the midpoint the wizard recommends. If you find yourself squinting at subtitles or HUD elements in bright in-game scenes, nudge it up a little.
Common mistakes with PS5 HDR
The single most common problem is running HDR calibration in a bright room and then playing in a dark one. Ambient light changes your perception of what counts as "just visible" on those calibration screens. Run the calibration in the lighting conditions you actually game in.
Second: skipping the TV-side settings. Many TVs ship with HDR processing modes like "HDR Vivid" or "HDR Cinema" that apply their own brightness and saturation boosts on top of the PS5's signal. These can conflict with what the console is trying to send. Use your TV's dedicated "Filmmaker Mode" or "Calibration Mode" if it has one, or at minimum turn off any automatic picture enhancement. If your TV has a separate "Game Mode" under HDR, enable it. It reduces input lag significantly without sacrificing HDR tone mapping on most recent panel generations.
Third: assuming HDR is always active. PS5 only outputs HDR when a game or application signals that it can use it. Older PS4 games running in backwards compatibility mode may not trigger HDR output at all. You can check whether HDR is currently active by looking at your TV's info panel or status bar. On many Sony and LG TVs, the HDR logo appears in the corner of the screen when an HDR signal is detected. If it isn't there during gameplay, the game itself may not support HDR, regardless of your console settings.
Should you turn HDR off for any game?
Yes, in some cases. A small number of older PS4 titles have HDR implementations that were clearly rushed, producing washed-out colours or muddy contrast compared to the SDR version. If a game looks noticeably worse with HDR enabled than off, the issue is the game's own HDR grading, not your calibration. You can disable HDR globally in the PS5 video settings or on a per-game basis by setting the individual game's HDR option to off from within the game itself, if the developer included that toggle.
Natively developed PS5 titles tend to have far more careful HDR grading than their PS4 predecessors. Games like Demon's Souls (2020), Returnal, and the Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart series were authored with HDR from the ground up and reward proper calibration significantly. If you've been playing those on defaults, it's worth running through the calibration tool properly.
For a broader look at what the PS5's display pipeline is doing, the PS5 UI tips and hidden features guide covers other video output settings that interact with HDR, including 4K resolution and VRR (variable refresh rate). And if you're considering whether the newer hardware revision changes anything about visual output, the breakdown of PS5 Pro vs PS5 covers how Sony's Pro model handles HDR and the new PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaler.
A note on monitors vs TVs
If you're using a gaming monitor rather than a TV with your PS5, HDR calibration is worth more attention, not less. Most gaming monitors cap their HDR brightness at 400 nits, and several that advertise "HDR400" certification deliver a markedly different experience from a TV hitting 1,000 nits. Run the calibration to match your monitor's actual peak, accept that some HDR effects will be subtle, and consider whether your monitor's HDR mode actually improves on its SDR performance. On cheaper panels, it often doesn't. For those setups, disabling HDR and using a well-calibrated SDR picture profile is a legitimate choice.
Sony's official PS5 HDR support page includes TV compatibility notes and walks through the calibration screens with screenshots, which is useful if you want to cross-reference the steps above against Sony's own documentation.