The Mixed-Resolution Nightmare: Why Your 4K Gear Gets "Stuck" at 1080p

You finally did it. You bought a beautiful 4K TV. You plug in your PS5, Apple TV 4K, or high-end PC, and you’re ready for that crisp, ultra-HD experience. But when you check the signal information… it says 1080p.

You check the cables. You restart the devices. You dig through menus. But no matter what you do, your expensive 4K gear is stubbornly outputting a 1080p signal. It’s one of the most common and frustrating problems in modern home theater, and it’s not your fault. Your system isn’t broken; it’s just doing exactly what it was told to do.

The problem isn’t your TV, your console, or your cables. The culprit is almost always a “weak link” somewhere in your HDMI chain, and the enforcer of this weakness is a tiny, invisible protocol called EDID.

The “Lowest Common Denominator” Problem

Think of your HDMI setup like a group meeting. Your 4K source (let’s say, your PS5) is the presenter. Before it starts the presentation, it has to ask everyone in the room, “What’s the highest video quality everyone can handle?”

Your new 4K TV raises its hand: “I can do 4K at 60Hz with HDR!”
But wait. What if your HDMI cable runs through an older soundbar or A/V receiver first?
Your 2018-era receiver, which you kept for its great audio, quietly says, “Sorry, I can only handle 1080p.”

The PS5 looks at both replies and makes a decision. To ensure everyone gets a picture, it must default to the lowest common denominator. It sighs, and switches its output to 1080p.

Now, your brand-new 4K TV is getting a 1080p signal, all because the receiver in the middle couldn’t handle the 4K signal. This is the “handshake” failure that drives people crazy.

Meet EDID: The Invisible Negotiator

This “meeting” is formally called an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) handshake.

EDID is basically a digital “business card” that every display (your TV, your monitor, your receiver) has. When you plug in an HDMI cable, the source device (PS5, Apple TV) asks for this card. The card lists everything that display can do: its maximum resolution, refresh rates, audio formats, etc.

When your source is plugged into one display, it’s simple. The PS5 reads the 4K TV’s card and sends a 4K signal.

But when you use an HDMI splitter to send the signal to two displays (e.g., a 4K TV in the living room and a 1080p monitor in the kitchen) or run it through an older receiver, the source device gets multiple EDID cards. It gets confused and, to avoid sending a black screen to anyone, it picks the “safest” option that all cards support: 1080p.

This is why you’ll see furious forum posts from people whose multi-thousand-dollar 4K setup is being held hostage by a single, older device.

The Fix: How to “Cheat” the Handshake

So if the problem is a bad negotiation, how do you fix it? You need a bouncer at the door that can manage the guest list.

You need a device with two specific features: EDID Management and Downscaling.

1. EDID Management: This feature essentially “lies” to your PS5. A smart device, like an HDMI matrix or a dedicated EDID manager, will intercept the handshake. It hides the 1080p receiver’s “business card” and instead tells the PS5, “Don’t worry, everyone here can handle 4K. Send your best signal!”

2. Downscaling (or Scaling): Now, that smart device is receiving a full 4K signal. It passes that beautiful 4K signal directly to your 4K TV. But what about the 1080p receiver? The device takes that same 4K signal and, using a dedicated processing chip, it downscales it—shrinks it down—to a 1080p signal that the older receiver can understand.

This is the magic solution. The source (PS5) is happy because it’s outputting its maximum 4K quality. The 4K TV is happy because it’s receiving a native 4K signal. And the 1080p receiver is happy because it’s receiving a 1080p signal it can actually handle.

This scaling capability is the primary difference between a “cheap” $20 HDMI splitter (which just copies the signal and causes the EDID problem) and a more advanced “distribution” device, such as a video matrix (like those from OREI or other brands) or a dedicated downscaler. These devices have the processing power to handle this “translation” in real-time.

So, if your setup is stuck in 1080p, don’t blame your TV. Your system is just following old rules. To fix it, you need a smarter device in the middle that knows how to bend them.