If you’ve ever wondered if the PS5 has a better 4K Blu-Ray player than the Xbox Series X, we finally have an answer: it turns out that the PS5 takes the crown.
Vincent Teoh from HDTVTest put the two consoles side-by-side for an in-depth comparison, which revealed that the Xbox Series X exhibits more color banding than PS5, and that the Xbox Series X doesn't display 12-bit color, leading to less chroma bandwidth than Sony’s machine.
The PS5 also avoids the odd stutter or frame rate hitch during playback, which the Xbox Series X is prone to. Teoh shows this problem in action in the 4K Blu-Ray release of the Fifth Element, which shows how the Xbox Series X skips frames.
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While most casual viewers are unlikely to notice these issues, it’s clear that the PS5 has a slight edge over Xbox Series X when it comes to 4K Blu-Ray playback, which Teoh summarises nicely below.
"To sum up, the Sony PS5 is better than the Xbox Series X in terms of 4K Blu Ray playback," Teoh says. "While casual viewers will still be satisfied with the 4K HDR presentation from the Xbox Series X, when watching Ultra HD Blu Rays, the Sony PlayStation 5 simply delivered superior color gradation with less posterization, higher chroma bandwidth with less roll-off, as well as glitch-free 24 FPS output."
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It’s worth noting that even though the Xbox Series X loses out in this head to head comparison, it’s the only console that supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos when using streaming apps like Netflix. The Xbox Series X is also set to receive Dolby Vision support for games in 2021.
Of course, while it’s nice to have a 4K Blu-Ray player in both the next-gen consoles this time around (the PS4 Pro didn’t), if you really want to get the best out of your 4K Blu-Ray collection, consider buying a standalone player.
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