I finally took the time to set up my 4K TV's HDR settings properly...

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

... and I'm floored. When I first got the 4K TV a few months ago and tried HDR, I didn't understand why everyone praised it so much, the screen brightness was just all blown out. I decided to calibrate my TV settings and not bother with HDR, in my eyes the jump to 4K had already been great coming from a 1080p TV.

Tons of Switch games have been coming out so I haven't exactly touched my PS4 Pro too much, but today something in me had me tinkering with the TV settings. I decided to give HDR another shot and goddamn... Games like Spider-man (this one was the most impressive by far), Assassin's Creed, 2K20... I feel like I'm more excited for upcoming games on the platform, and I encourage anyone who like me, didn't bother calibrating their HDR settings to do so. The difference in visuals is honestly incredible.

EDIT: As I said, I'll be leaving my HDR settings here for the TCL S425 (these same settings might work on other TCL TVs, so if you are struggling getting your image to look right, give these a shot!)

PS4 Video Output Settings:

TV Options:

TV Options > Advanced picture settings:

Roku mobile app Settings > Expert Picture Settings (must have TV on and linked to the mobile app to be able to change these):

TheInfinityGauntlet · Sep 21, 2019

How did you calibrate it?

RivalGT · Sep 21, 2019

Give shadow of the colossus a try with HDR. The HDR is very impressive in it.

Deleted member 49319 · Sep 21, 2019

Try:
Resident Evil 2
Uncharted 4
God of War
GT Sport
Shadow of the Colossus

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

TheInfinityGauntlet said:
How did you calibrate it?

I used rtings.com and followed their recommendations as a start. Then I sat down with an HDR game playing in the background and began playing around with the multiple settings my TV had until I found the ones that made me go "Holy shit".

Pretty much went with the exact same visual settings I have on my non-HDR setting (Movie with Game Mode on) and set HDR to "Bright HDR" while my TV backlight itself is on "Dark".

Honestly the best way I can describe how to do it is by eye. Sure follow a guide such as rtings, but play around with your sliders. You'll know when it looks right I can guarantee you that

GemmolSwitchPS4 · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
... and I'm floored. When I first got the 4K TV a few months ago and tried HDR, I didn't understand why everyone praised it so much, the screen brightness was just all blown out. I decided to calibrate my TV settings and not bother with HDR, in my eyes the jump to 4K had already been great coming from a 1080p TV.

Tons of Switch games have been coming out so I haven't exactly touched my PS4 Pro too much, but today something in me had me tinkering with the TV settings. I decided to give HDR another shot and goddamn... Games like Spider-man (this one was the most impressive by far), Assassin's Creed, 2K20... I feel like I'm more excited for upcoming games on the platform, and I encourage anyone who like me, didn't bother calibrating their HDR settings to do so. The difference in visuals is honestly incredible.

cant wait for next gen systems if you think hdr look good wait until you see Dolby vision on a tv with more than 1000 nits it's the future

hope Xbox and Sony use it and get away from HDR it use less colors than Dolby vision they need to just abandon HDR altogether

cooldawn · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
...

What TV OP?

Dreamboum · Sep 21, 2019

my sony tv doesn't even pretend to have HDR for some reason. I can't activate HDR content

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

cooldawn said:
What TV OP?

There was a huge deal on Amazon.ca a while back and I got myself a TCL43S425-CA for $280. I know it's probably not the best TV around but when looking around reviews wise, for the normal price of $380 it's a pretty good TV. For $100 off, it seemed like a no brainer for someone like me, looking to upgrade

Deleted member 37303 · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
There was a huge deal on Amazon.ca a while back and I got myself a TCL43S425-CA for $280. I know it's probably not the best TV around but when looking around reviews wise, for the normal price of $380 it's a pretty good TV. For $100 off, it seemed like a no brainer for someone like me, looking to upgrade

I have one of those too. They're great for the price. Even talked a few friends into picking one up. They all love theirs as well.

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

ThunderousBandit said:
I have one of those too. They're great for the price. Even talked a few friends into picking one up. They all love theirs as well.

ALSO worth noting for fellow TCL owners then, my image instantly got all around better once I made a few tweaks on the PS4 itself and the TV's advanced settings in the Roku app. I set the colour space in the app to "Auto" and the PS4 resolution to 2160 RGB, Limited Colour Space. These 3 things actually changed the image overall for the better, I think the Automatic PS4 settings was not too great at picking up correct values from this TV.

BizzyBum · Sep 21, 2019

I still think Horizon Zero Dawn had some of the most jaw dropping visuals paired with HDR, from what I've played on the PS4 Pro.

I would definitely check that game out.

Yautja_Warrior · Sep 21, 2019

GemmolSwitchPS4 said:
cant wait for next gen systems if you think hdr look good wait until you see Dolby vision on a tv with more than 1000 nits it's the future

hope Xbox and Sony use it and get away from HDR it use less colors than Dolby vision they need to just abandon HDR altogether

Just a shame even less TV's support DV compared to HDR current. Support is slowly growing but I don't expect it to become the standard for gaming, hopefully some games will support DV though.

cooldawn · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
There was a huge deal on Amazon.ca a while back and I got myself a TCL43S425-CA for $280. I know it's probably not the best TV around but when looking around reviews wise, for the normal price of $380 it's a pretty good TV. For $100 off, it seemed like a no brainer for someone like me, looking to upgrade

Oh wow amazing price. Good catch.

I was hoping I had the same set to compare but alas...

NewDust · Sep 21, 2019

Dreamboum said:
my sony tv doesn't even pretend to have HDR for some reason. I can't activate HDR content

Some tv's have only one specific hdmi port that supports HDR.

GemmolSwitchPS4 said:
hope Xbox and Sony use it and get away from HDR it use less colors than Dolby vision they need to just abandon HDR altogether

Dolby Vision is a form of HDR

MattyG · Sep 21, 2019

I've had a lot of trouble getting HDR working right on my Samsung RU8000, but I'm gonna have to give it another shot

monketron · Sep 21, 2019

Yautja_Warrior said:
Just a shame even less TV's support DV compared to HDR current. Support is slowly growing but I don't expect it to become the standard for gaming, hopefully some games will support DV though.

Dolby Vision requires a licence fee where as HDR10 does not. That's going to hurt the uptake of DV in anything but the more expensive sets and ultimately means game makers are unlikely to waste precious development time/money on it.

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

I'm gonna post my TV settings on my first post for anyone who has a similar TV and wants to try them out. Who knows, it might help someone out

Yautja_Warrior · Sep 21, 2019

monketron said:
Dolby Vision requires a licence fee where as HDR10 does not. That's going to hurt the uptake of DV in anything but the more expensive sets and ultimately means game makers are unlikely to waste precious development time/money on it.

Also a factor. It is superior to HDR / HDR+ and more 4k blu-ray's are starting to support it, so it's slowly growing but I expect HDR+ to be used more than DV for most games.

Maybe some of the really big AAA games will use DV at some point.

AfterZero · Sep 21, 2019

I have the same TV and it always looks way too washed out compared to regular 4K. I've tried Rtings settings but it still doesn't help much. Couldn't hurt to try yours out.

Sky87 · Sep 21, 2019

Days Gone is the most impressive looking HDR game on PS4, believe it or not. Environments look photorealistic at times, at least on my OLED.

EvilBoris · Sep 21, 2019

Dreamboum said:
my sony tv doesn't even pretend to have HDR for some reason. I can't activate HDR content

if it's one of the older ones it's turned off by default

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tomsguide.com/amp/us/sony-tv-settings-guide,review-5605-19.html

or your cable isn't specced correctly

Lukemia SL · Sep 21, 2019

RivalGT said:
Give shadow of the colossus a try with HDR. The HDR is very impressive in it.

I just played this against the one you have to wave the fire at to knock them off the ledge. Bruh the dark blacks against the bright light outside the cave that is lit by the orange fire glow was amazing.

Also Borderlands 3 got HDR right if anyone is looking to check that out.

EvilBoris · Sep 21, 2019

Yautja_Warrior said:
Also a factor. It is superior to HDR / HDR+ and more 4k blu-ray's are starting to support it, so it's slowly growing but I expect HDR+ to be used more than DV for most games.

Maybe some of the really big AAA games will use DV at some point.

Mass Effect used it on PC, I've spoken about this before, but the Benefits for using it are fairly minor for gaming , especially with the new HDR setup options on PS4 and Xbox.
And in fact if they wanted to support many of the older displays which support "Dolby vision" then there is a performance hit to encode it into the image.
HDR10+ is just as pointless for real time content too, as there is little point making post processing tone mapping adjustments when you can do it natively within the software

Toni · Sep 21, 2019

I have an LG C9 Oled tv, HDR calibrated with 4k pass-through cable with PS4 Pro.

I know what you mean, fam. God of War, Horizon and RDR2 look out of this f*cking world with a good set up.

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

Rendr said:
I have the same TV and it always looks way too washed out compared to regular 4K. I've tried Rtings settings but it still doesn't help much. Couldn't hurt to try yours out.

I posted my own just now, give that a shot. I use those exact same settings in "Movie" mode, when not using HDR or for my Switch when it's docked.

AfterZero · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
I posted my own just now, give that a shot. I use those exact same settings in "Movie" mode, when not using HDR or for my Switch when it's docked.

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing if this makes a difference. I've heard that this TV isn't really true HDR but hopefully those settings will give me at least some use out of it.

Ferrs · Sep 21, 2019

That's the thing for these new TV, you come for the 4K,a nd stay for the HDR.

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

Rendr said:
Thanks! Looking forward to seeing if this makes a difference. I've heard that this TV isn't really true HDR but hopefully those settings will give me at least some use out of it.

Although the settings and white/black values are not as great as the TCL 6 model, this TV still packs a punch and it very much has real HDR10 support. I believe it was on PCMag that I read a review that went deep into all that technical talk, but this is HDR, it's just a matter of having display properly. The default HDR setting off the box "Dark HDR" messes up with the colours in a terrible way, makes skin tones look yellow...

I'm curious to see how it turns out on your end, no TVs are ever truly the same so chances are you may have to play around a bit (specially with the backlight, I play in a dim room and most my devices are dimmed so I don't get eye strain).

Deleted member 37303 · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
ALSO worth noting for fellow TCL owners then, my image instantly got all around better once I made a few tweaks on the PS4 itself and the TV's advanced settings in the Roku app. I set the colour space in the app to "Auto" and the PS4 resolution to 2160 RGB, Limited Colour Space. These 3 things actually changed the image overall for the better, I think the Automatic PS4 settings was not too great at picking up correct values from this TV.

I'll have to give that a shot with my Pro. Thanks.

Darknight · Sep 21, 2019

names2hard4you said:
I used rtings.com and followed their recommendations as a start. Then I sat down with an HDR game playing in the background and began playing around with the multiple settings my TV had until I found the ones that made me go "Holy shit".

This is not really calibration though. This is just fiddling with the settings until it makes you think it's impressive looking. It could be completely wrong in calibration because of how you changed the settings. Starting with rtings settings is fine, but you really need to tweak them with calibration screens and not simply based on what's pleasing to your eye.

names2hard4you said:
There was a huge deal on Amazon.ca a while back and I got myself a TCL43S425-CA for $280. I know it's probably not the best TV around but when looking around reviews wise, for the normal price of $380 it's a pretty good TV. For $100 off, it seemed like a no brainer for someone like me, looking to upgrade

Your set really isn't an HDR set despite the marketing lying to you. Without local dimming and wide color gamut, it's really not displaying what HDR should look like. I really hate how these manufacturers lie about the HDR capabilities making people believe they have them. That doesn't mean there isn't some improvement, but it's not what people are talking about when they're talking about HDR.

Yautja_Warrior said:
Also a factor. It is superior to HDR / HDR+ and more 4k blu-ray's are starting to support it, so it's slowly growing but I expect HDR+ to be used more than DV for most games.

Maybe some of the really big AAA games will use DV at some point.

This is misleading. DV makes up for the TV not being able to display a full HDR picture. HDR10 can look just as good as DV with a proper display. The quick and dirty difference is HDR10 assumes you have a proper display where as DV helps compensate better when you don't.

-shadow- · Sep 21, 2019

I can't wait for Nintendo to not remove the HDR on their next system. The fact they dropped its support on the Switch when the Tetra fully supports it (along with native 4k support/upscaling) still puzzles me.

EvilBoris · Sep 21, 2019

-shadow- said:
I can't wait for Nintendo to not remove the HDR on their next system. The fact they dropped its support on the Switch when the Tetra fully supports it (along with native 4k support/upscaling) still puzzles me.

The screen isn't HDR , which will have been half the battle, also the HDMI interface doesn't support it either.

shark97 · Sep 21, 2019

sorry to burst your bubble but that low end tcl you have wont have true hdr. neither wide color gamut or 600+ nits brightness. It's just a buzzword on the box.

Yautja_Warrior · Sep 21, 2019

EvilBoris said:
Mass Effect used it on PC, I've spoken about this before, but the Benefits for using it are fairly minor for gaming , especially with the new HDR setup options on PS4 and Xbox.
And in fact if they wanted to support many of the older displays which support "Dolby vision" then there is a performance hit to encode it into the image.
HDR10+ is just as pointless for real time content too, as there is little point making post processing tone mapping adjustments when you can do it natively within the software

Seems like a waste of resources then. Hopefully next gen will have better HDR controls to make things look as good as possible.

I know it probably won't happen but something like the Panasonic ub820 / ub9000 HDR optimizer would be cool to see on newer consoles, allowing more control over HDR content.

LoneWolfHunter · Sep 21, 2019

Can you post the PS4 settings image again OP? It's cropped.

EvilChameleon · Sep 21, 2019

I have had mine for a few years now and I still haven't found the perfect picture. Some games look good, others look like absolute washed out trash. I feel dumb.

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

Hey maybe it isn't True HDR then, but it sure as heck does look better with the setting on than with it off.

LoneWolfHunter said:
Can you post the PS4 settings image again OP? It's cropped.

Hmm I just looked the photo should look okay? How are you viewing this page? Either way, all it is is Resolution: 2160p RBG, RGB Range: Limited and then the other 2 settings set to automatic

LoneWolfHunter · Sep 21, 2019

It's just a tiny square picture:

https://i.ibb.co/9HJLnVF/20190921-131817.jpg

But thanks

ghostcrew · Sep 21, 2019

This why I ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whenever people say that HDR does nothing or even looks worse than SDR.

HDR looks amazing. If it looks bad to you or you can't tell the difference then you've either got a bad TV or you're doing it wrong.

Congrats on finally nailing it OP! Enjoy the new world!

Deleted member 39353 · Sep 21, 2019

Yeah, can you repost your PS4 settings? It was working earlier before I had time to compare to mine.

dogbox · Sep 21, 2019

I have this TV! Got it on that same dirty deal a few months back aha. I'm gonna try out these settings later, thanks OP. :)

names2hard4you · Sep 21, 2019

seventeenbells said:
Yeah, can you repost your PS4 settings? It was working earlier before I had time to compare to mine.

Took a screenshot of the PS4 settings and replaced it on my first post. Hopefully that helps

dogbox said:
I have this TV! Got it on that same dirty deal a few months back aha. I'm gonna try out these settings later, thanks OP. :)

It's a great TV! You may want to try tweaking Contrast to 90 btw. I realized I have that for my normal non-HDR gaming (Movie mode) instead of 100, so I decided to try reducing it in HDR mode and don't really notice much of a difference.

Shadow · Sep 21, 2019

HDR was fantastic when I tried it on a OLED LG. I calibrated it when we first got it so it was all up and running beforehand. It's my parents TV though so I hardly get to use it much. I do plan to get the new TCL 625 if the rtings review is good so I can't wait for that. I know it won't be as good as the LG, but I know it'll be better than the low tier LCD from 2008 I'm using now lol.

GemmolSwitchPS4 · Sep 21, 2019

Yautja_Warrior said:
Just a shame even less TV's support DV compared to HDR current. Support is slowly growing but I don't expect it to become the standard for gaming, hopefully some games will support DV though.

it definitely will be the standard I bet Xbox next system will use it, and more TV as of 2018 have it and as of this year you can even get it in a tv under 1000 for first time I think even though the new systems come next year by time everyone starting picking up the systems in year two or three there will be more Dolby vision in everyone living room

my tv have both hdr, hdr 10+ and Dolby vision and as much as I like HDR.......dolby vision is so beautiful

Red XIII · Sep 21, 2019

the peak brightness on that set isn't so great.

Deleted member 16876 · Sep 21, 2019

Not sure if this fits here or not so please tell me to take it somewhere else if you want.

I am planning on upgrading from my TV soon. I have a 1080 28" TV and I want to get a new TV with HDR and all that. Would a PC monitor be a good purchase? Most TV's these days are really huge and my room has no room for them so I was thinking of buying a PC monitor and just using it instead.

bigstef71 · Sep 21, 2019

Can someone explain to me what exactly is hdr10+ and dolby vision?

dreamstation · Sep 21, 2019

I really should revisit the HDR settings on my 75X9000F because honestly I wasn't really blown away with HDR like the way some people describe it. I was rather disappointed actually after reading other people say how great it is. Any tips for this particular model? I've looked at the RTINGS settings but I wasn't that happy with the way it looked to be honest. Any suggestions on how to calibrate it 100% how it is supposed to look rather than just going by eye?

Darknight · Sep 21, 2019

bigstef71 said:
Can someone explain to me what exactly is hdr10+ and dolby vision?

They're HDR formats with dynamic metadata. Most TVs don't have the ability to display a HDR image properly and the image has to be tone mapped to your display. With dynamic metadata, it allows content to be mastered in a way so on a scene by scene basis they can tell the TV how to tone map the content better based on what's being displayed such as a really dark night scenen or a bright daylight scene. Theoretically, as TVs get better and can show the entire range, this won't be needed. Dynamic metadata is to help make up for the short comings of the display.

I finally took the time to set up my 4K TV's HDR settings properly...

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