Over the weekend, we reported that some Xbox One owners in the UK are noticing judder when using the console’s TV integration feature to watch live television feed from external set-top boxes such as a Sky+HD box. The problem lies with the fact that the digital TV broadcasting system in the United Kingdom and Europe is based on 50Hz, but the Xbox One outputs 60Hz natively. The resulting frame rate conversion (FRC) introduces judder/ stutter, which is especially noticeable on fast-panning shots in sports programmes, or scrolling news tickers.
While we wait for Microsoft to release a software update to at least enable 50Hz output in full-screen mode on the Xbox One, a HDTVTest reader has alerted us to a workaround to force the console to send out 50Hz instead of 60Hz signal. Commenting on our original article, here’s what he said:
Here are the precise instructions. First, set your Xbox One to auto-detect HDMI (under Display settings). Then, toggle the resolution from 1080p to 720p (or vice versa), which should trigger a prompt window asking if the screen is displaying correctly, and if you want to keep the new resolution. Select “No” before the 15 seconds is up. This seems to trick the Xbox One into thinking that the TV is not compatible with 60Hz signal, and voila! 50Hz output. Depending on your television set, you may need several attempts to succeed – the good chaps over at CVG have verified that this unofficial fix works too.
Remember that with this method though, a blanket frame rate of 50Hz is applied to ALL content on the Xbox One, meaning that even 30fps or 60fps video games will be displayed at 50Hz, which may look unnatural or even exhibit micro-stutter. Of course, you can manually switch back to 60Hz whenever you want to play games, but this hardly seems like the seamless user experience Microsoft is shooting for. For UK and European owners who are hell-bent on piping live TV broadcast through their Xbox One console, at least this workaround offers a way for them to watch various television programmes without experiencing judder.
