BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Very much depends on the game in my experience. Windows auto HDR thing has actually been great.
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Is it just me, or does HDR on most games look bad?
- Thread starter Hemingwayoffbase
- Start date
Lux R7
Member
Are u kidding me ?! re2 remake IS A PRIME EXAMPLE of game that looks way better with HDR.
Do not confuse how it looks with hdr vs how this game is mastered.
As it happens I have some RE2 pics playing with HDR on c1. no mods or anything.
+one from horizon and elden ring just because why not. HDR IS SICK
That's not my experience on the cx, it's washed out in hdr. Maybe there is some other reason for that
Ulysses 31
Member
I've seen YT examples of HDR 4K blu-rays that were downgrades from the SDR 1080p blu-rays but so far I've not seen anything like with the PC games I've played.
Freelance Yakuza
Member
You need the correct HDMI cable, and the TV needs the appropriate HDMI input. Some TV's have both 2.1 and 2.0 (if they are new), so you must pay attention
The TV also needs high nits
(HDR10+/Dolby Vision). I believe the bare minimum to look good is 1000.
Leaned this last week trying to config my PC...
Bojji
Member
Rayderism
Member
To me, HDR is all about the subtle details, whether it be in the varying layers of blacks, the whites or the colors. Once you find the balance, almost every other HDR game will fall in line and may only need minor in-game general brightness adjustment.
I initially tried that Vincent guy's way, but his way made everything much too dark and I lost fine detail in the blacks and subtle color gradiations in general scenes. I don't care what anyone says, that's just WRONG to me. Could be his settings worked for the TV he was tweaking on, but it looked crap for my TV.
I've come to the conclusion that no one can suggest an absolute set of adjustments for ALL TV's, only a general standard that will get you close, and you'll still have to tweak it a bit to suit your TV and personal preferences. Every TV model will have its own variances and theory on picture output. You just have to spend some time tweaking YOUR TV until you find the happy-medium that looks good to you.
I think I have my TV dialed in about as well as can be expected, considering HDR theory varies so much between devs/games/TV's. I'll tell ya, when you find that happy-medium on your TV, you will know it. Suddenly everything will pop and have incredible appearance of three dimensional depth to the picture.
I initially tried that Vincent guy's way, but his way made everything much too dark and I lost fine detail in the blacks and subtle color gradiations in general scenes. I don't care what anyone says, that's just WRONG to me. Could be his settings worked for the TV he was tweaking on, but it looked crap for my TV.
I've come to the conclusion that no one can suggest an absolute set of adjustments for ALL TV's, only a general standard that will get you close, and you'll still have to tweak it a bit to suit your TV and personal preferences. Every TV model will have its own variances and theory on picture output. You just have to spend some time tweaking YOUR TV until you find the happy-medium that looks good to you.
I think I have my TV dialed in about as well as can be expected, considering HDR theory varies so much between devs/games/TV's. I'll tell ya, when you find that happy-medium on your TV, you will know it. Suddenly everything will pop and have incredible appearance of three dimensional depth to the picture.
Hollowpoint5557
A Fucking Idiot
I have the same TV as O.P. and it looks spectacular. You are obviously doing something wrong. It's also Dolby vision compliant and looks good if you set your console up for that as well. Make sure your hdmi is connected to hdmi 3 input and enable "enhanced" on the tv menu under the extrnal input tab.
Kuranghi
Member
While a not-small proportion of HDR presentations are overall worse than the SDR outputs the main factor that's causing HDR to look washed out is just that your TV isn't up to it.
Normally Sony 90-series LCDs are a good start for HDR but your 2020 model was significantly downgraded over what came the previous 3 years and 3 years after. They reduced peak brightness to less than 800 nits and dropped zone count below 30 so any dark scenes with a HUD overlay/text popups will look washed out.
You should upgrade to a X90L or if looking to keep cost down look at Hisense U8K (or even U7K).
Normally Sony 90-series LCDs are a good start for HDR but your 2020 model was significantly downgraded over what came the previous 3 years and 3 years after. They reduced peak brightness to less than 800 nits and dropped zone count below 30 so any dark scenes with a HUD overlay/text popups will look washed out.
You should upgrade to a X90L or if looking to keep cost down look at Hisense U8K (or even U7K).
LimanimaPT
Member
Hum, I may be completely wrong, but doens't the TV has to support HDR?
El Muerto
Member
I've had better results with auto-hdr on Xbox than games that support actual hdr. Also my TCL Roku tv had better looking HDR than my new LG (non-oled) tv. My LG tv will just default to the dingiest picture if i turn HDR on and messing with settings does not fix it. I just dont bother with it and tweak it myself.
crazepharmacist
Member
HDR looks amazing to me in Call of Duty Warzone/MW3 and in Cyberpunk but that's because I have a Samsung LG G9 OLED monitor. I didn't realize why the colors and brightness looked so good in those two games until recently. Samsung has a proprietary HDR mode called "HDR10+ Gaming" that those two games support.
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xBlueStonex
Member
100% agreed.
I remember playing through RDR2 for the first time and being surprised at how muted everything looked. The grass wasn’t really green, the shadows were more grey than black. A buddy of mine suggested I turn off HDR so I figured what the hell - couldn’t be any worse than what I had. The difference was incredible. Suddenly there was actual saturation and contrast everywhere I looked. It literally felt like entirely different game.
Since then I’ve mostly kept HDR off, albeit tinkering around with it on newer games. For some reason the HDR calibration in-game has never worked for me across any title. Adjusting the “paper white” doesn’t seem to do much, even when going into values beyond 1K. So I ultimately just leave it off and adjust the SDR picture to my liking. My LG C2 currently has black levels a little lowered, hue a little up, and sharpness all the way down (among other settings). The picture is absolutely stunning.
When screens went beyond 60hz to 144hz, my mind was absolutely blown the first time I got to experience it. Total game changer. HDR was sold as the same kind of evolution, but so far it just hasn’t delivered.
I remember playing through RDR2 for the first time and being surprised at how muted everything looked. The grass wasn’t really green, the shadows were more grey than black. A buddy of mine suggested I turn off HDR so I figured what the hell - couldn’t be any worse than what I had. The difference was incredible. Suddenly there was actual saturation and contrast everywhere I looked. It literally felt like entirely different game.
Since then I’ve mostly kept HDR off, albeit tinkering around with it on newer games. For some reason the HDR calibration in-game has never worked for me across any title. Adjusting the “paper white” doesn’t seem to do much, even when going into values beyond 1K. So I ultimately just leave it off and adjust the SDR picture to my liking. My LG C2 currently has black levels a little lowered, hue a little up, and sharpness all the way down (among other settings). The picture is absolutely stunning.
When screens went beyond 60hz to 144hz, my mind was absolutely blown the first time I got to experience it. Total game changer. HDR was sold as the same kind of evolution, but so far it just hasn’t delivered.
SenkiDala
Member
I have the LG C1 65" and there must be a problem in your unit or in your settings. HDR looks absolutely PERFECT on the LGC1, the black are ABSOLUTE BLACK and not washed out at all. You need to calibrate your TV (even though it's weird since the LG C1 works perfectly even without real calibration).
DeaconOfTheDank
Member
Yup, the black level floor is just slightly raised on both PS5 and PC (based on my own experience). There's a pretty lengthy talking about it, including HDR analysis + tweaks with reshade to overcome it:
I'm focused on PC here and OLED Steam Deck by extension. For consoles, you could probably adjust your OLED panel brightness settings to circumvent things like black level raise, but that's less than ideal.
EDIT: The guide I linked to also covers consoles
Giallo Corsa
:
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Bojji
Member
After patches right now HDR in RDR2 is not bad at all. There are 2 settings for HDR, cinematic (shit) and advanced (what you want). In advanced game has proper HDR with good black levels and all...
But game launched with broken HDR.
Calverz
Member
HDR on re2 remake on pc is broken.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
It’s a bit random.
If you start the game in hdr right after pc restart, then it works.
Nvidia broke hdr months ago. It all used to work properly before
Mister Wolf
Gold Member
I've noticed the games that force you to enable HDR through windows are problematic.
Crayon
Member
I have a real cheap hdr TV and I think that's what makes it not worthwhile. I can take pains to make one game look better than normal but then those settings make the next game too light or dark.
If I go to the store and see I really nice hdr picture, it absolutely buries anything I can get out of mine. I bet those would also be easier to set up in a sweet spot for most games.
If I go to the store and see I really nice hdr picture, it absolutely buries anything I can get out of mine. I bet those would also be easier to set up in a sweet spot for most games.
Insane Metal
Member
Some of the opinions here, come on man. HDR will always be better than SDR unless it's been poorly implemented, or you own a shitty TV set.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
Too much work lol icant
It’s not to much work even for me and anything is too much work for me
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Say what? Never played a game with broken HDR like Hitman 3 or one if the many others where it washes out the colors?
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Buy an Oled if you want great HDR. You need true blacks to get that great contrast. I used to have your TV and compared it side by side next to an LG oled and the difference is huge. A good oled looks so much nicer dude and I havnt even seen the recent ones with improvements to peak brightness, tone mapping and hdmi 2.1
If you can afford it DO IT you will not have to ask yourself this question any more
Kuranghi
Member
Once again I extend an invite to anyone wanting to come over to old young Kuranghi's house and see proper HDR on a bright, high zone count FALD LCD (which is the bare minimum for superb HDR, though most people should just buy an OLEG), because games like Death Stranding look so so much better in HDR.
Come on over lads/ladettes *pats space next to me on the couch with sinister look on face*
Simply travel to Scotland, UK. Either Glasgow or Edinburgh and stand in the town centre holding a sign saying Kuranghi, I will approach you with a balaclava on, blindfold you, bundle you into a cab and drive to mine (for doxxing safety).
When the blindfold is removed I'll have a beautiful game running in HDR, snacks and a beverage waiting, which I'll feed to you slowly throughout the evening. I'll be fully clothed don't worry about that.
Come on over lads/ladettes *pats space next to me on the couch with sinister look on face*
Simply travel to Scotland, UK. Either Glasgow or Edinburgh and stand in the town centre holding a sign saying Kuranghi, I will approach you with a balaclava on, blindfold you, bundle you into a cab and drive to mine (for doxxing safety).
When the blindfold is removed I'll have a beautiful game running in HDR, snacks and a beverage waiting, which I'll feed to you slowly throughout the evening. I'll be fully clothed don't worry about that.
Big Baller
Al Pachinko, Konami President
I own a CX and followed Teoh's advice except for the piss filter, sorry. But I was done with adjusting each game. I play on console, I dont want to fiddle with the settings everytime.
Shake Your Rump
Member
It‘s a goddamn shame that so many people are missing out on HDR. It requires no extra effort. The Sony 900/90 series and LG C series are configured perfectly fine in game mode out of the box. It’s literally plug and play for a PS4/PS5.
Bojji
Member
I was fighting warm color setting for a long time (and used neutral/0) but 3 weeks ago I decided to change every screen to warm (warm 50 on my LG) and after this time it looks absolutely correct to me, even white is not yellow anymore lol. But this is preference.
Some games have broken HDR and they look worse with it. Some developers only care about highlights, I recently downloaded saints row on EGS and HDR mode looks like absolute garbage aside few highlights here and there. I didn't try SDR mode so maybe it looks like shit too.
For comparison newest like a dragon game looks absolutely amazing in HDR mode.
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Insane Metal
Member
People, HDR makes your TV show many many MANY more shades of colors and brightness and shadows than it would otherwise. It makes absolutely no sense that games in HDR (or whatever media, really) look washed out or bad. If it does, something is wrong. Switch setting on your console or TV. It isn't difficult at all. You're missing out on the beauty of High Dynamic Range image.
I remember when I first saw Batman vs Superman on my KS7000 many years back, the flashlight on screen almost blinded me. It's supposed to show that high peak brightness, as well as very dark corners and still keep them colorful.
I remember when I first saw Batman vs Superman on my KS7000 many years back, the flashlight on screen almost blinded me. It's supposed to show that high peak brightness, as well as very dark corners and still keep them colorful.
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Bojji
Member
Many HDR games don't really use expanded color space, they use SDR color space in HDR mode.
Lazy/incompetent developers are making people think HDR is shit when in theory every game should look better with it on competent screen.
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Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Same. HDR on LG’s OLEDs, at least, look phenomenal for any games that had properly implemented HDR (like Alan Wake). It’s so good.
Whitecrow
Banned
Guys. Please.
TVs store different settings for sdr and hdr. If your game looks washed out, most probably is due to bad settings.
Out of all the HDR games I played, only Cyberpunk looked washed out even with matching settings between pc and TV.
While console/pcs will output the same rgb range when switching between sdr/hdr, TVs need to be tweaked, because you may have complete rgb for sdr, and when it receives hdr, the hdr display mode may be configured to receive limited rgb.
When the TV receives Complete rgb but its configured for limited, you will get crushed blacks, and in the other case, receiving a limited signal and expectint full, you get a washed out image.
TVs store different settings for sdr and hdr. If your game looks washed out, most probably is due to bad settings.
Out of all the HDR games I played, only Cyberpunk looked washed out even with matching settings between pc and TV.
While console/pcs will output the same rgb range when switching between sdr/hdr, TVs need to be tweaked, because you may have complete rgb for sdr, and when it receives hdr, the hdr display mode may be configured to receive limited rgb.
When the TV receives Complete rgb but its configured for limited, you will get crushed blacks, and in the other case, receiving a limited signal and expectint full, you get a washed out image.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
It's you
Sushi_Combo
Member
Most of the time it looks great, some games do kinda look like ass tho.
VeganElduderino
Member
nope , no problem here ! I just compare games like GOW Sd to HDR , and the colors seems deeper in SD ! maybe its just my settings, oh well looks fucking great non the less
Jigsaah
Member
HDR looks great on my TV...but on PC I have Auto HDR turned on. Something seems to happen if you try to turn it on in-game. It's almost like it a toggle and since auto HDR is on through Windows, turning on HDR in like Doom Eternal, for example, results in washed out colors.
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Kuranghi
Member
You dont need an OLED for great HDR. There are some LCDs that give great HDR too but they are the same price or more expensive than 2nd tier OLEDs like C3 and A80L so that's why it's easier to just say buy an OLED.
The thing is that not everyone wants to spend a grand+ on their TV, so OLED is out of reach for a lot of people.
You're always have to deal with blooming and raised black levels in scenes with low brightness elements sitting alongside much brighter stuff (like the HUD) on even really amazing examples of LCDs: 2023 examples being Sony X93/95L, Samsung QN95C, Hisense U8K and TCL QM8.
Though OLED doesn't have the issues above, it has the tradeoff that very brightness scenes just won't pop nearly as much as on the LCDs listed. Especially in a bright room, a lot of people just prefer the brighter sports and bright scenes over the better overall contrast of OLED and better black level/lack of blooming. My source for that is speaking to about 25000+ people about TVs and them seeing OLED next to moderate and high level
Since TCL has moderately worse image processing than other brands and the X95L + QN95C are the same or just shy of the price of even a tier 1 OLED (plus the X95L is not available in sizes less than 85" in NA, QM8 isn't in Europe) this just leaves the QN95C and Hisense U8K.
3rd gen Neo QLEDs still have a subpar game mode due to rely too much on image processing that must be turned off in Game mode the choice is simple for me (and my customers):
Buy a Hisense U8K or pay much more and get an OLED, QN95C is you're a Samsung fan boy and Sony X95L if you're a Sony one. I'm a Sony fangirl and even I'd say overall the U8K is a better purchase than the X90L for most people, thats if you want to wowed by HDR both dark and bright scenes.
Sony image processing is ace but having 88 zones is not enough for dark scenes in HDR, the Hisense with its less good algorithm can brute force the better dark scenes because its has 8-10x as many zones
The thing is that not everyone wants to spend a grand+ on their TV, so OLED is out of reach for a lot of people.
You're always have to deal with blooming and raised black levels in scenes with low brightness elements sitting alongside much brighter stuff (like the HUD) on even really amazing examples of LCDs: 2023 examples being Sony X93/95L, Samsung QN95C, Hisense U8K and TCL QM8.
Though OLED doesn't have the issues above, it has the tradeoff that very brightness scenes just won't pop nearly as much as on the LCDs listed. Especially in a bright room, a lot of people just prefer the brighter sports and bright scenes over the better overall contrast of OLED and better black level/lack of blooming. My source for that is speaking to about 25000+ people about TVs and them seeing OLED next to moderate and high level
Since TCL has moderately worse image processing than other brands and the X95L + QN95C are the same or just shy of the price of even a tier 1 OLED (plus the X95L is not available in sizes less than 85" in NA, QM8 isn't in Europe) this just leaves the QN95C and Hisense U8K.
3rd gen Neo QLEDs still have a subpar game mode due to rely too much on image processing that must be turned off in Game mode the choice is simple for me (and my customers):
Buy a Hisense U8K or pay much more and get an OLED, QN95C is you're a Samsung fan boy and Sony X95L if you're a Sony one. I'm a Sony fangirl and even I'd say overall the U8K is a better purchase than the X90L for most people, thats if you want to wowed by HDR both dark and bright scenes.
Sony image processing is ace but having 88 zones is not enough for dark scenes in HDR, the Hisense with its less good algorithm can brute force the better dark scenes because its has 8-10x as many zones
Killjoy-NL
Gold Member
I believe PS5 needs to be set to limited rgb to match HDR on tv.
Bojji
Member
For LG tvs it's the best to set automatic for both tv and console.
Mister Wolf
Gold Member
There are a lot of HDR monitors that use 8-bit dithering to achieve High Dynamic Range of color.
Whitecrow
Banned
PS5 can output HDR on full.
TVs tho, although they can receive full both in hdr and sdr, are made with limited in mind, and work better with limited.
Full rgb is less accurate, although its hard to notice unless you know how a calibrated display looks like