Great tips for the better Xbox One users in everyday gaming and entertainment experience you may not know.

In the previous article, we talked about some tips for using PlayStation 4 effectively. This article will be for Xbox One users only.

1. Calibrate the screen
The screen is the most important thing when playing games. So the screen must be optimized to bring the best picture to you, helping you to experience comfortable games for a long time.

In the menu Settings> Display & sound> Video output, you can find the option to support screen calibration is Calibrate HDTV for Xbox One to display the best and follow the step by step instructions. Just a little English is enough to do. But note, depending on the TV, the image may be sharper or no different than before adjusting.

Of course, if you are a real “player” in the issue of audiovisual, possessing devices such as blue filters, they all help a lot in calibration to have the best setting. These glasses are unnecessary, but it will make everything better than using the bare eye to refine. However, some TVs have color filter support features that you can customize and use instead of filters.

Moreover, if your TV has Game Mode, make sure to turn on this feature when it comes to TVs and screen quality. It will help optimize the refresh rate for video games. This feature will help minimize input lag between hand gestures and what appears on the screen, making the game experience better.

Input lag, in simple terms, is the delay between the time the TV receives the signal until the signal is displayed on the screen. Although the time is short, measured in milliseconds, it hardly affects the viewing experience.

Unfortunately, for gamers, especially in fast-paced and competitive action games such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Counter-Strike, the boundary between the winner and the loser is decided only in a tick a few milliseconds. Therefore input lag has a significant meaning in the game experience. This is also the reason why e-Sport matches use gaming monitors because their input lag is extremely low.

2. Refresh
While on the Dashboard main screen, press and hold two trigger buttons, then hold down the Y button, then release all buttons. In less than a second, you’ll see the Xbox One Dashboard refresh itself.

This is not clearing cache or clearing system memory at all. Exactly the Refresh feature is the same as pressing F5 on the Windows Desktop. This tip is quite useful when you notice the Dashboard is sluggish or frozen.

3. Game Hub

If you’re crazy about a particular game, like the one you play every day. Or you’ve just purchased Season Pass and always check for updates or new DLC to enlist downloads, avoid interruption because you have to wait for updates while excited. Or, for example, you’re curious to know who your friends often play this game to invite you to play with. If you have a game like that, the fastest way is to check the game hub of the game itself.

The game hub can be accessed by pressing the menu button on the handle when the game is highlighted. In it, you can view a lot of statistical information, such as who on the list of friends playing this game, rankings, video clips, or stream about games of other players. There is even an area to buy DLCs and see other players’ comments on the game. This is the best way to get all the essential and relevant information about a particular game.

Xbox One Dashboard

The main interface of Xbox One

4. HDMI input

Xbox One has an HDMI input port that you can use for some pretty cool games. If you don’t know, it’s the HDMI in from SAT / CABLE port on the back of the device used for TV shows via Set-top boxes, such as cable or satellite TV. Microsoft used this design for the goal of making Xbox One a complete all-in-one entertainment system. Unfortunately, it is not as expected, but we can still take advantage of other things.

With the function of receiving input from regular HDMI ports, you can attach anything to it, from old Xbox 360, PS4, or even Apple TV or Google Chromecast. Simply put, you can do many pretty cool things on Xbox One because almost anything with an HDMI out port can be displayed via the TV app on Xbox One.

5. Xbox One Preview Program
When participating in the Xbox One Preview program, users receive the latest update about a month before it is widely released to all Xbox One users. Each update brings new features, and program participants will experience it soon. How cool is that? In return, you only have to provide feedback to Microsoft. It’s basically like signing up for a beta test.

Previously this program is only for those lucky to register on the website or receive an invitation to use it randomly. You need to know someone on the list of friends participating in the program to ask for an invitation is okay. For now, Microsoft has expanded this program so that anyone can register themselves on Xbox One in an option available in the latest firmware update.

Note: Registration and confirmation to join the program can take a few days, so do not be impatient when your registration is not confirmed offline.