Guide: Should You Use Game Mode on Your TV for PS4?

What's Game Mode on your TV? What does your TV's Game Mode do, and how does it benefit your games on PS4? If you have a modern television, chances are you'll be able to find something called Game Mode within its settings. But what does it actually do? Should you be using it when you play PlayStation 4 games? We're going to answer all these questions in this guide.

What is Game Mode on Your TV?

Within your television's picture settings, you may be able to find a setting called Game Mode, or something similar. Different TV manufacturers might have different names for it, but the function is about the same across all the major brands.

Game Mode is a display setting specifically designed for when you're playing games on your telly. Generally speaking, Game Mode prioritises responsiveness between your PS4 and your TV. In other words, it reduces input delay, meaning the time between you pressing a button and something happening onscreen is kept to a minimum. Your TV does this by dropping any unnecessary image processing that it usually does, and keeps things as uninterrupted as possible. It might even reduce resolution to achieve the best response times, depending on the manufacturer. The end result is that your PS4 games should feel more responsive.

How do you activate Game Mode on your TV?

This will depend on the brand and model of your television, but in a very general sense, we'll try and explain it.

First, you'll need to open your TV's settings menu while you're on the right channel for your PS4. In other words, have your PS4's menu up on the screen. On your remote control, you should have a button labelled 'Menu', or 'Options' -- something along those lines. Once you've found your television's settings menu, look for an option called 'Picture', or 'Display'. Within that menu, you should find options to do with the picture quality of your TV -- things like Contrast, Tint, and so on.

Once you've found your TV's Picture settings, look for an option called 'Viewing Mode', or 'Display Mode', or something similar. By default, it will probably be set to Normal. However, go into this menu and you should find a list of display options for various different uses. You should see options such as 'Cinema' and 'Sport' in this list. Among them should be 'Game', or 'Gaming'. You may notice that, if you select it, the picture on your TV might change ever so slightly. Once it's selected, just back out of all the menus and you're done.

Should you use Game Mode when playing PS4?

As a rule, it's advised that you activate your TV's Game Mode while you're playing games. You may not notice a difference straight away, but by eliminating some of your TV's processes, Game Mode generally ensures you're getting as little input lag as possible. It's particularly important for online or competitive games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Fortnite, or Mortal Kombat 11, where milliseconds can make a surprising difference.

Do you use Game Mode for playing PS4 games on your TV? Do you change any other settings to get the best experience? Share the knowledge in the comments below.