One of the first things you see when booting up FFXV for the first time is a question asking, “Display: Television or Home Theater?” At the prompt, you can choose between “Television” or “Home Theater.” This question was confusing enough for those who play Final Fantasy 15 on console (and ostensibly on a television), but the same question persists on the new Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition. We’ll explain what the Final Fantasy 15 Television or Home Theater question is really asking below and which you should pick in which situation.
Should I Choose That My Display is Television or Home Theater in Final Fantasy XV?
First of all, it doesn’t matter what your display is when answering this question the first time FFXV boots up. The selection doesn’t really have anything to do with your screen at all. Instead, this is the game’s roundabout way of asking you about your audio setup.
Although it’s poorly worded, this prompt is basically asking you whether you’re using your television or monitor speakers, or if you’re using a speaker system connected to an A/V receiver or something similar. After breaking it down like that, it makes the question much easier to answer.
You should choose that your display is:
- Television: Choose “television” if you’re using speakers arranged for stereo sound only. This would be built-in television and monitor speakers as well as low-end soundbars and computer speaker sets.
- Home Theater: Choose “home theater” if you have a 5.1 or a 7.1 speaker setup. This doesn’t include “virtual surround” devices that are usually just stereo speakers trying to fake actual surround sound.
What the “Display: Television or Home Theater?” question seems to control is the sound compression for the game. If you’ve ever been watching a movie or TV show and you can’t hear the dialog, that means you’re listening to either uncompressed audio or audio compressed for surround sound speakers.
When you pick “television” the game will compress audio to use the frequencies that cheaper speakers included in TVs and laptops use (usually high and high-mid range). That way you don’t get that awkward effect where the dialog is too low, and the music and sound effects are too high. When you pick “home theater” the game will continue to use uncompressed audio or audio compressed for Dolby Digital or DTS.
For more info on Final Fantasy 15 see our game hub or the articles below.
