I don't know what to think of HDR on PC games

[Infinity Times Two]

So I recently got an HDR monitor (not because of it, it was just a bonus). I heard the Windows 10 implementation of HDR is a mess, and turning it on during desktop use makes everything more dim and muted, not exactly what I was expecting. Ended up turning it off, and letting games enable HDR when they need to.

During games it's more of a mixed bag. Doom Eternal looks worse. Blacks are more crushed, and I feel disoriented playing with it on. It's like playing with an instagram filter on. There are settings for HDR calibration, but I have no idea what I should aim for there.

The other game I tried was Forza Horizon 4, which looks alright, but also dims everything. Not sure if it's better or not than not having HDR.

I'm very confused, Is it supposed to be this inconsistent?

 

[Firebrand]

What's the monitor's HDR specification? A lot of monitors have "HDR" but apparantely not the brightness and contrast to make it worth using.

 

[Infinity Times Two]

What's the HDR specification? A lot of monitors have "HDR" but apparantely not the brightness and contrast to make it worth using.

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It's HDR-400 and 90 % DCI-P3.

 

[EvilBoris]

Regardless of how much of a mess HDR is for Pc games, In my experience the games themselves offer the same HDR experience as elsewhere-once you have it setup

 

[Bradford]

Unless your monitor supports 1000 nit peak brightness, HDR is gonna look washed out and weak. Windows has poor HDR implementation to begin with, and most monitors that advertise as HDR aren't actually HDR as they can't hit the proper peak brightness levels to make a difference.

It's HDR-400 and 90 % DCI-P3.

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Yeah, this isn't up to spec for what you are expecting unfortunately. HDR is in a really sad state on PC. I would suggest just turning it off.

 

[Yuntu]

HDR is one of the most confusing things to me. Already scared to set things up once I actually get a new TV/monitor for next Gen that I will spent weeks to get the Settings right

 

[TSM]

HDR has been such a mess for so long that I think most PC gamers have just written it off at this point. We'll see what happens moving forward, but it would take a whole lot of improvements in just about every aspect before that attitude would change.

 

[Iichter]

I suspect Windows for not providing a good enough solution for HDR.

 

[Deleted member 4970]

HDR is one of the most confusing things to me. Already scared to set things up once I actually get a new TV/monitor for next Gen that I will spent weeks to get the Settings right

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Sony recently implemented a feature to the PS4 OS that has you set up your HDR settings. It's meant to make it so future games reference those settings and have your HDR picture quality good looking without needing to adjust settings further. The only game that takes advantage of it so far is No Man's Sky!

 

[Älg]

It's HDR-400 and 90 % DCI-P3.

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HDR-400 is practically not HDR at all, unfortunately.

 

[Taco_Human]

I bought a C9 and HDR worked pretty simply for me. I had to make sure all my driver's were updated, but once I plug in my computer to the TV, there's two options your check off in windows settings. Gammute color and one other, if they're switched on, then whatever supports it would automatically turn on. I'm still in bed, let me go check what my settings say.

I heard a lot of negative stuff just like this thread but it was super easy for me.

Edit: Here OP

imgur.com

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

imgur.com

If HDR settings are actually on, you should be able to check both of those off. That's it. Whenever I launch games, I get the extra color. I have a c9 television though, its not a HDR monitor.

 

[EvilBoris]

It's HDR-400 and 90 % DCI-P3.

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What model?

 

[SliChillax]

Windows HDR works great, I've compared the games with their console versions and it's the same, people just don't know how to set it up. Turn on the HDR setting in the System > Display, open the Nvidia control panel ( don't know how it is with AMD), go to Change resolution, select use Nvidia color settings, select the 422 option, apply, select 10 bcp color depth and and there you go. These settings are for my LG OLED B9. OP I suspect your issue comes to not knowing how to set up the image properly in the game settings and the monitor settings itself. Also having an HDR 400 monitor is like having a Ferrari that doesn't go over 60. You don't get the brightness with the HDR 400 monitor, but you'll still get the more natural colors and better contrast. Unless it's a completely shit monitor, I suggest playing with the settings until you get it right.

 

[Infinity Times Two]

What model?

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ASUS 27" XG27UQ 4K DSC 144 Hz

 

[EvilBoris]

ASUS 27" XG27UQ 4K DSC 144 Hz

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Ok, so a solid set.

Forza is a pretty good benchmark for HDR, if you feel it is too dim, but looks fine, it sounds like things are working correctly (HDR is designed for dark room viewing) increase the "brightness" option in game to bring it to more comfortable level and you will get the benefit of a 10bit output, even if you don't get a huge benefit elsewhere.

Another good one to try is Crackdown 3, which also has a really solid HDR output that activates automatically.

 

[CHC]

HDR 400 isn't worth using. I have it on my monitor and haven't touched it. Monitor looks great in regular mode, HDR is just a faded mess on both PC and PS4.

 

[Finaika]

HDR is one of the most confusing things to me. Already scared to set things up once I actually get a new TV/monitor for next Gen that I will spent weeks to get the Settings right

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Same. I'm terrified of HDR.

Why must it be so confusing?

 

[Deleted member 49611]

my monitor, ASUS VG27AQ, is advertised as having HDR. it apparently supports HDR-10 and max brightness is 350 cd/㎡

i've tried the HDR mode and i think it looks good but i haven't seen real HDR so can't compare them. the only thing is that blacks aren't really black because obviously it only has the backlight and no local dimming. as for brightness i think this monitor is really bright. in normal usage i have it set to 25-35% depending on how i feel. maxing it out is just not comfortable at all. if HDR needs more brightness then i'm not sure i'd use it on a monitor. maybe on a TV if i'm sitting far away from it then it'd be fine.

the only game i've played with HDR on is Destiny 2. I thought it looked good. The only game I have at the moment that supports it is Doom Eternal but I haven't bothered trying it. I forget the monitor is HDR because I use it very little. i'm quite happy just sticking to SDR.

i only really got this monitor because i was tired of trying to pick one and just went with RTing's best FreeSync gaming monitor.

 

[Yuntu]

Sony recently implemented a feature to the PS4 OS that has you set up your HDR settings. It's meant to make it so future games reference those settings and have your HDR picture quality good looking without needing to adjust settings further. The only game that takes advantage of it so far is No Man's Sky!

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Thats not a good sign only 1 game uses it so far. I genuinly hope such features become standard for every game.

 

[Vuze]

I don't even know where to start with PC HDR. I have a ""HDR600"" monitor (LG 34WK95U, not the reason I bought it fwiw) but between Windows HDR settings, Windows monitor settings, in-game settings and monitor (hardware) settings I'm completely lost as to what should be configured in which way. It's a real headache.

 

[JahIthBer]

A lot of games just have poor HDR implementations in general, so it might not just be PC, but with your monitor, well a lot of monitors just don't support HDR well, the panels are more focused on 144/240hz these days.

 

[BitterFig]

Are you using the UWP version of Forza 4? For me HDR only works in games if it is active in the Display settings.

 

[SapientWolf]

I think you need something closer to 1000 nits to get the full HDR experience.

Battlefield/Battlefront look like completely different games in HDR. The brown and grey look is replaced by a new vibrant color palette and the particle effects look incredible.

 

[dgrdsv]

Same. I'm terrified of HDR.

Why must it be so confusing?

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It'll get better with HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4+DSC or DP 2.0.

But you have to make sure that the display device is actually physically capable of proper HDR output. This means DisplayHDR600+ certification and preferably a FALD backlight for LCD monitors.

 

[dsk1210]

Looks good on OLED TV's but most monitors I have seen have backlight bleed and feel more washed out.

 

[pswii60]

Doom Eternal looks freakin incredible in HDR on PC, on my C9 OLED. One of the best HDR showcases. Sounds like you must have your monitor set incorrectly.

 

[Deleted member 4970]

Thats not a good sign only 1 game uses it so far. I genuinly hope such features become standard for every game.

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It's more of a future-proofing feature for next-gen! Still curious to see if The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima will use it.

 

[laxu]

The primary issue with HDR on PC is that 99% of computer monitors and most TVs are not good at it. TVs at least have a reasonable amount of dimming zones on anything slightly higher end but on computer monitors FALD is found on very few, expensive models. HDR400 spec should not exist because it's useless for HDR.

For great HDR, the best way to go is an LG OLED still.

 

[Kittens McMittens]

HDR 400 isn't really worth it in terms of HDR. However, turning HDR on also turns on wide colour, which can look good. Games have to be made for it though - if a game just uses regular 8bpc colour then there's not much benefit really. However, even software wide colour can be good as it reduces banding. So, the underlying textures will be all 8bpc colour and graded for SDR, but any gradients rendered in-engine will have less/no banding.

 

[Atolm]

I don't think the problem is Windows. It's the monitors.

 

[Faces of Death]

It's the monitor. I just went from an HDR 400 (actually like 350) to HDR 1000 and it's a massive difference. It looks great. Doesn't get as dark as my OLED but damn it's bright.

Windows definitely has some issues to work out with HDR, though. Not sure why we can't have a toggle for "HDR when available" or something like that. I think more games have started automatically switching to HDR, so it's improving at least.

 

[dgrdsv]

HDR 400 isn't really worth it in terms of HDR. However, turning HDR on also turns on wide colour, which can look good. Games have to be made for it though - if a game just uses regular 8bpc colour then there's not much benefit really. However, even software wide colour can be good as it reduces banding. So, the underlying textures will be all 8bpc colour and graded for SDR, but any gradients rendered in-engine will have less/no banding.

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This has more to do with how these gradients are actually rendered than the output device color precision capabilities. Most modern games output to an FP16 frame buffer which is then transformed into the output color depth / range. FP16 is a lot higher precision than even what Dolby Vision is using so the display precision is highly unlikely to be a reason for any visible banding on gradients.

 

[Smokey]

So I recently got an HDR monitor (not because of it, it was just a bonus). I heard the Windows 10 implementation of HDR is a mess, and turning it on during desktop use makes everything more dim and muted, not exactly what I was expecting. Ended up turning it off, and letting games enable HDR when they need to.

During games it's more of a mixed bag. Doom Eternal looks worse. Blacks are more crushed, and I feel disoriented playing with it on. It's like playing with an instagram filter on. There are settings for HDR calibration, but I have no idea what I should aim for there.

The other game I tried was Forza Horizon 4, which looks alright, but also dims everything. Not sure if it's better or not than not having HDR.

I'm very confused, Is it supposed to be this inconsistent?

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I've been playing in HDR on PC since 2018, and have had zero issues. Doom Eternal does not look worse, the game looks gorgeous in HDR. The issue there is the map becomes much darker in HDR mode, which will hopefully be resolved in a patch.

HDR Monitors are very hit or miss. I am using a PG27UQ which is a HDR1000 display. Granted it is a top end monitor for HDR, I can't agree with anything you're saying. Even the Windows 10 part. It is very useable in HDR mode for standard tasks compared to a few years ago.

It's HDR-400 and 90 % DCI-P3.

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This explains it. Unfortunately you got one of the "miss" monitors for HDR. I'd turn it off.

Regardless of how much of a mess HDR is for Pc games, In my experience the games themselves offer the same HDR experience as elsewhere-once you have it setup

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I'd agree with this. It actually runs better than console HDR when you take in the signal that gets sent from consoles. The Home Theater thread was full of comments at one time of people using external devices to address the HDR signal going to their TVs.

I suspect Windows for not providing a good enough solution for HDR.

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Not sure what this means.

Windows has nothing to do with manufacturers not putting out quality HDR monitors at reasonable price ranges.

Same. I'm terrified of HDR.

Why must it be so confusing?

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It's not?

I haven't adjusted anything in the Windows or NVCP side in months. Some HDR games require you to select the Windows HDR toggle before going into the game, and some don't. At worst it takes 2 extra seconds to activate it, and you're fine. I load up a HDR game and the screen automatically goes into HDR mode, just like you'd expect from consoles.

 

[Javier23]

Same. I'm terrified of HDR.

Why must it be so confusing?

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I'm on an LG OLED and HDR has been relatively straightforward for me in all cases. Setting up everything else on the TV was far more intimidating. I think the main issue is simply that too many TV sets and PC monitors that are supposedly HDR enabled just aren't up to the task, so people are confused when they enable it and it looks like crap. Even on PC/Windows, where I do most of my gaming, it's been mostly plug and play, save a few simple exceptions. I have never had to fiddle with anything any longer than 5 minutes.

On a good set, HDR is easy and looks amazing, but there's certainly still a loooooot of room for screens in general to improve to better support the feature.

 

[sn00zer]

Honestly HONESTLY....dont fuck with HDR on PC. I've found that 100% of the time it isnt worth the hassle to set up compared to just setting my output to "FULL RGB". It may look "marginally worse" but I promise you its better than the headache of getting HDR to work and FULL RGB looks great on my TV.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I'm on an LG OLED and HDR has been relatively straightforward for me in all cases. Setting up everything else on the TV was far more intimidating. I think the main issue is simply that too many TV sets and PC monitors that are supposedly HDR enabled just aren't up to the task, so people are confused when they enable it and it looks like crap. Even on PC/Windows, where I do most of my gaming, it's been mostly plug and play, save a few simple exceptions. I have never had to fiddle with anything any longer than 5 minutes.

On a good set, HDR is easy and looks amazing, but there's certainly still a loooooot of room for screens in general to improve to better support the feature.

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This

I don't know what to say these kinds of posts like the OP.

With doom eternal, I go into the settings in the game and I turn on HDR and....HDR turns on. Looks amazing. Blacks are most certainly not crushed and it looks infinitely better than with HDR off.


Sometimes for some games I need to turn in HDR first from the windows settings before I load said game which....is easy enough?


Using an lg c9 btw latest windows 10

The "it's a mess" thing is extremely overstated and is most DEFINITELY worth if if you have a worthy set (have no idea regarding monitors so)

 

[APizzaPie]

Turn on the HDR setting in the System > Display, open the Nvidia control panel ( don't know how it is with AMD), go to Change resolution, select use Nvidia color settings, select the 422 option, apply, select 10 bcp color depth and and there you go.

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I do the same as well except I select 12 bpc and I haven't encountered any issues. If I'm playing an SDR game, I disable the Windows HDR toggle and output RGB limited.

 

[pswii60]

This

I don't know what to say these kinds of posts like the OP.

With doom eternal, I go into the settings in the game and I turn on HDR and....HDR turns on. Looks amazing. Blacks are most certainly not crushed and it looks infinitely better than with HDR off.


Sometimes for some games I need to turn in HDR first from the windows settings before I load said game which....is easy enough?


Using an lg c9 btw latest windows 10

The "it's a mess" thing is extremely overstated and is most DEFINITELY worth if if you have a worthy set (have no idea regarding monitors so)

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This. C9 owner here too. Think the issue must stem from PC monitors claiming to be "HDR" when they really don't meet the necessary spec.

 

[Night Hunter]

I looked into the current state of monitors a few days ago for a PC build I'm planning and honestly, wtf is up with all that? Severely lacking feature set and extremely overpriced for the things you're getting.

I mean I guess it's just the economics of scale at play because TVs get sold in the millions, but seriously? I ain't paying a thousand bucks for a 30 inch display with 500 nits or some shit like that.

 

[Wrexis]

I've had a ton of calibration issues with HDR on Windows 10 - any time my PC goes into hibernation and comes out of it, HDR gets turned off.

 

[ZmillA]

I have my pc hooked up to my B8 and have had very little trouble getting HDR setup. HDR is used whenever possible and always looks great when setup right

 

[Mercador]

Windows is a hdr mess every time there's an update.

 

[Deleted member 2834]

For the past 3 years I've played PS4 and PC games on my KS8000 and the only times I ever noticed HDR was when it was worse than SDR. It's beyond worthless. I don't think I've ever seen a feature this useless and imperceptible (unless it's worse) stay relevant for so long.

 

[Th0rnhead]

Using Windows HDR with a 4K TV works great. I have my PC hooked up to my LG B8, and HDR makes everything way more vibrant.

Honestly, my main issue is that more PC releases don't support it while the console versions do.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

For the past 3 years I've played PS4 and PC games on my KS8000 and the only times I ever noticed HDR was when it was worse than SDR. It's beyond worthless. I don't think I've ever seen a feature this useless and imperceptible (unless it's worse) stay relevant for so long.

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Don't confuse your television being bad for HDR with the feature itself being bad


HDR when done properly is an absolute game changer as confirmed by many, many posts on literally nearly every forum that discusses it

 

[Iichter]

Not sure what this means.

Windows has nothing to do with manufacturers not putting out quality HDR monitors at reasonable price ranges.

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Just a general sentiment I've got that is partially due to Windows 10 itself, for example settings not getting saved, screenshots are not shareable if you're on HDR (a fallback would've been nicer), a friend is sometimes forced to disable HDR if he doesn't want his computer to go crazy (forcing him to reboot) when he alt-tabs from a SDR game to his desktop, we're just not at the same level of dedicated media consumption hardware (consoles, mediacenters etc) where it actually is plug&play.

So my assumption is just that it's weirdly implemented and it could be better managed.

 

[SliChillax]

I do the same as well except I select 12 bpc and I haven't encountered any issues. If I'm playing an SDR game, I disable the Windows HDR toggle and output RGB limited.

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There are no 12 bit panels so it's useless to select it.

This. C9 owner here too. Think the issue must stem from PC monitors claiming to be "HDR" when they really don't meet the necessary spec.

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Also same, B9 owner here. I'm still shocked at how expensive and shitty most current HDR monitors are. It used to be the opposite once upon a time. The new 48inch LG CX will be such a nice TV to replace most HDR monitors.

 

[ss_lemonade]

When it works, it looks just as good as xbox one/ps4 hdr to me.

 

[LordDraven]

Windows HDR works great, I've compared the games with their console versions and it's the same, people just don't know how to set it up. Turn on the HDR setting in the System > Display, open the Nvidia control panel ( don't know how it is with AMD), go to Change resolution, select use Nvidia color settings, select the 422 option, apply, select 10 bcp color depth and and there you go. These settings are for my LG OLED B9. OP I suspect your issue comes to not knowing how to set up the image properly in the game settings and the monitor settings itself. Also having an HDR 400 monitor is like having a Ferrari that doesn't go over 60. You don't get the brightness with the HDR 400 monitor, but you'll still get the more natural colors and better contrast. Unless it's a completely shit monitor, I suggest playing with the settings until you get it right.

Click to shrink...

This

 

[LordDraven]

I've had a ton of calibration issues with HDR on Windows 10 - any time my PC goes into hibernation and comes out of it, HDR gets turned off.

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Who still uses hibernation?