How to Change Brightness on PS4: A Complete Settings Guide

You open the PS4 settings looking for a way to make the picture brighter or darker, and no brightness slider is there. The console sends a picture out through HDMI, and the TV, the HDR tools, and each game decide how light or dark that picture looks.

How to Change Brightness on PS4 starts with the HDMI port on the TV, then two console settings left on Automatic, then a calibration called Adjust HDR. This page walks through that path, the check that tells you the TV accepted HDR, and what to change when one game still looks wrong.

What Controls the Picture on a PS4?

Three controls stack on top of each other, and only one of them lives inside a game. The TV decides how much light the panel puts out. The PS4 decides whether it sends an HDR signal and how that signal is mapped, and the game can still raise or lower its own scene after both of those are set.

The video menu is where a slider would be, and the list is shorter than that. Resolution, RGB range, HDR, Adjust HDR, deep color output, and on some consoles supersampling are the entries in the PS4 video output settings guide. A brightness slider is not among them. By default the HDMI output is set to match the TV you connect, which you change from Settings, then Sound and Screen, then Video Output Settings.

A brightness slider in the quick menu shows up in a lot of fix lists, and Sony’s own notes do not describe one. Holding the PS button opens a quick menu whose published options include power controls, such as rest mode and turning the console off. You can also add accessibility shortcuts there, including text to speech, inverted colors, and custom button assignments. None of those changes how bright the television looks.

Set the TV Port Before the Console

Once you know the slider is not on the console, the TV port comes first, because HDR never starts if that port is stuck in a basic HDMI mode. Check the owner’s manual for which HDMI port supports HDR content, then turn on that port’s enhanced color setting before you open the PS4 menu. Makers do not share one name for the switch.

• HDR is the plain label on some sets.
• Wide Color Mode and HDMI Enhanced Mode show up on others.
• UHD Color Mode, Ultra HD Premium, and Ultra HD deep color are the remaining names Sony lists for the same idea.

The cable and the path matter as much as the name on the port. Follow Sony’s HDR setup steps for PS4, which tell you to use a Premium HDMI cable in the HDR port and to plug the console straight into the TV. A receiver or a switch box in the middle cannot carry the HDR output. The cable Sony names is the one described in the Premium HDMI cable specification.

If a soundbar sits between the console and the TV, take it out of the chain for the test. Get the direct connection working first. Once the PS4 reports that the display supports HDR, the console and the panel can do the job, and any later failure belongs to the device you put back in the middle.

How to Change Brightness on PS4 With Adjust HDR

With the TV port set, the console work is a short path from the home screen. You are not hunting for a hidden slider. You are turning HDR on the way Sony’s setup asks, then showing the console where your panel loses the brightest symbol.

1. From the home screen open Settings, then Sound and Screen, then Video Output Settings.
2. Set HDR to Automatic.
3. Set Deep Color Output to Automatic as well. Sony’s setup puts both on Automatic together.
4. Open Video Output Information. When the display supports HDR, Supported appears under the HDR label. If it does not, fix the port, the cable, or the direct connection before you calibrate.
5. Go back to Video Output Settings and select Adjust HDR.
6. Follow the screens. Move the symbol with the D-pad, left and right, until it is almost invisible, then repeat that on each following screen and finish when the tool offers Done.

Adjust HDR exists so compatible games can use an HDR TV with the picture matched to that panel, which is how the user guide describes the tool. The on-screen ask, as the calibration is shown in walkthrough after walkthrough, is to leave the symbol almost invisible. Push one more notch and the symbol vanishes, and you have gone past the mark. Step back until a trace of it returns.

Software version is the other gate on this screen. Sony’s current HDR support article lists system software 7.0 or later among the requirements for enjoying HDR on the console. Open Settings, then System, then System Information, and read the version listed with the console’s network addresses.

HDR on the PS4 is older than that support line. A PlayStation Blog post dated September 14, 2018, says support reached every PS4 model with system software update 4.0. A console that is already on a recent update is past both the launch update and the version the current support article lists.

Run the calibration in the light you actually play in. A bright room makes HDR highlights glare, and a pass done with the lamps off will look harsh once those lamps are on. You can open Adjust HDR again whenever the room, the TV picture mode, or the cable path changes.

Games are not the only HDR source. For a streaming app, confirm the video itself is the HDR version, which most apps mark with an indicator icon, and look in the app menu if an HDR switch is tucked there. Adjust HDR still sets the console mapping, and the app decides whether that stream is HDR at all.

When a Single Game Still Looks Too Dark or Bright

The console setting is a baseline, and a single title can still look like a cave or a blown-out desert because that grading lives in the game. The console baseline is done once Adjust HDR is finished. The next stop is the pause menu of the game that looks wrong.

Where Do You Find Brightness Inside a PS4 Game?

There is no single menu name, so you search by idea rather than by one label. Some games put the control on the first launch screen and later bury it under gameplay or video options. Others place it under accessibility, next to subtitles and color filters.

CHECK THE GAME FIRST

Start the game, pause, and check Options, Display, or Accessibility for a brightness or HDR control before you go back to the PS4 video menu. A change there leaves every other game alone.

The swing inside one title can be wide even after the console is calibrated. Lost in Random, on its official PS4 accessibility page, documents a brightness level from minus 50 to 50. That range belongs to the game, and moving it does not rewrite Adjust HDR for the rest of the library.

RGB Range on a PS4 Is a Repair Switch

If the whole image looks crushed or oddly clipped, RGB Range is the tempting next menu. The user guide tells you to change RGB Range only when an HDMI device does not send range information correctly, and to change Deep Color Output only when video is not displayed properly. Both are repair switches for a bad handshake.

• Leave Automatic: This is the setting Sony’s HDR setup asks for, and it is the right home when the picture already looks normal.
• Try a manual range: Use it only when blacks are crushed or colors look clipped after the TV port and the HDR path are confirmed.
• Put it back: If the manual choice looks worse, return RGB Range and Deep Color Output to Automatic and judge the picture again.

Deep Color Output on Automatic is part of turning HDR on, and it is also the setting you keep unless the image fails. Chasing a brighter home screen by flipping it is how a working picture gets replaced with flicker or a blank frame.

PS4 and PS4 Pro Differences for 4K and HDR

Brightness and sharpness split by model. Every PS4 can send HDR, and 4K does not make the panel brighter. You can enjoy 4K only with the PS4 Pro, while every PS4 model can still output HDR, which the 4K and HDR setup for PS4 Pro separates from the HDR steps.

A standard PS4 or a PS4 Slim can still use HDR on a 2K or 4K set that supports HDR10, the format Sony’s setup requires. The image stays at HD resolution while the brightness range gets wider. If you wanted brighter highlights rather than a sharper picture, a non-Pro console can do that part.

Sony describes 4K as almost four times the definition of standard 1080p HD. That comparison is about sharpness. It does not raise the backlight, and it does not replace Adjust HDR.

Resolution Choices on PS4 Pro

From the home screen, open Settings, then Sound and Screen, then Video Output Settings, and open Resolution. The Pro guide gives you three practical choices when the TV can accept them.

• Automatic: The Pro picks the highest resolution the display and the content both allow.
• 2160p YUV420: One 4K choice, available when the TV reports support for it.
• 2160p RGB: The other 4K choice in that menu, also only when the display supports it.

Greyed-out entries mean the TV did not report support, so those modes cannot be forced. Some games also need 4K switched on inside their own menus, and the Pro guide points you to the game manual for that switch. A PlayStation VR processor unit and headset in the chain can limit the definition the TV shows, even when the Pro resolution is set correctly.

Supersampling is easy to mistake for a brightness fix. On some PS4 systems you can tick Enable Supersampling Mode to improve video quality in some games when the TV is 2K or lower. It is a sharpness option for smaller displays, and it will not lift a dark HDR scene on a 4K set.

Fixes for a Dark, Bright, or Washed-Out PS4 Picture

If the right model is connected and the picture is still wrong, match what you see before you open another menu. A washed-out game, a dim panel, and a console that has gone to sleep look similar from the couch, and they do not share a fix.

MATCH THE PICTURE TO THE FIX

• Washed-out HDR: Run Adjust HDR again and stop when the symbol is almost invisible, one step before it disappears completely.
• Dim everywhere: Raise the TV backlight or OLED light, and turn off the set’s energy saving picture mode or light sensor, because the PS4 cannot override the panel.
• One game only: Use that game’s brightness or HDR screen, and look for an HDR toggle that applies only inside the title.
• No HDR flag: Recheck the direct Premium HDMI connection, the port’s enhanced mode, and Automatic for both HDR and Deep Color Output, then read Video Output Information again.
• Black after idle: The console has entered rest mode or hit its off timer, which you set under Settings, Power Saving Settings, Set Time Until PS4 Turns Off.
• No picture on Pro: Sony’s PS4 support includes Set HDCP Mode on the PS4 Pro for a 4K TV that does not support HDCP 2.2, for the case where the screen stays blank.

If HDR still does not come on after the port, the cable, the direct connection, and Automatic are all confirmed, Sony’s HDR article points you to the PlayStation Repairs diagnostic tool. That is a hardware path, not another lap through the same calibration screens.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Check the PS4 System Software Version?

Open Settings, then System, then System Information, and read the system software version on that screen. Sony’s HDR support article asks for version 7.0 or later, so compare the number you see with 7.0 before you swap the cable or redo the TV port.

What Does Rest Mode Do to the PS4 Screen?

Rest mode switches the picture off, and it is not a brightness control. The power indicator blinks white and then turns orange while the console sleeps, and you leave rest mode by turning the PS4 on again. Features that stay available are chosen under Settings, then Power Saving Settings, then Set Features Available in Rest Mode.

Can Supersampling Mode Change PS4 Brightness?

Supersampling does not make the picture brighter or darker. On some PS4 systems, Enable Supersampling Mode can improve some games when the connected TV is 2K or lower. On a 4K set, use Adjust HDR and the TV backlight instead of that checkbox.

Why Does One PS4 Game Look Flat After Adjust HDR?

The console calibration sets a baseline, and the game can still grade the image after that. Open the game’s display or accessibility menu and look for brightness, contrast, or an HDR switch that applies only to that title. Streaming apps mark HDR videos with an indicator icon and sometimes keep a separate HDR switch in the app menu.

What If Video Output Information Never Says Supported?

The calibration tool cannot create HDR support the TV did not report. Check that the HDMI port’s enhanced color mode is on, that the cable is a Premium HDMI cable, and that the PS4 plugs straight into the TV rather than a receiver or a switch box. Then open Video Output Information again and look under the HDR label.

With Supported showing under HDR, and with Adjust HDR set in the room where you actually play, the console side of brightness is finished. Later changes belong on the TV backlight or inside the one game that still looks wrong.