Does anyone else think HDR is much more impressive in games than movies/tv?

[lemmykoopah]

I've been toggling on/off on the series X lately testing various games and HDR on brings a massive change to the depth and impact of the image. HDR off and every scene where there is lighting involved looks flat, dull. HDR on makes everything look more life-like and realistic. It's a great improvement.

However I feel that HDR on in movies and tv just seems to blast out often unnaturally bright headlights and that's it... I don't feel lighting in movies or shows looks flat or dull without HDR like it does in games... It's hard to explain I think its because movies are already 'real' and need less dynamic range increase for a convincing picture than something that is being rendered?

 

[DanielG123]

I think it ultimately depends on the specific movie, and what display you're watching it on; same thing with games. I've seen plenty of films where the HDR implementation is absolutely stunning, where as others have been pretty lackluster. The same applies to video games; there are some titles where HDR is transformative and mind blowing, and there are others where I feel it's better left turned off.

 

[Gero]

Really depends on the movie/game. I've seen some mighty impressive HDR movies on netflix

 

[ArcheTenix]

Honestly, even where the movies are touted as being good for HDR, I can never tell the difference. I think the nature of the medium makes it much more suitable to HDR than traditional film and TV.

For me, HDR is just a brighter image — I don't notice much of a difference in colours.

 

[lemmykoopah]

Really depends on the movie/game. I've seen some mighty impressive HDR movies on netflix

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I'm comparing to the best HDR showcases on d+. I feel hdr for movies is just "hey here's these bright headlights we're going to blast your eyes with" and in games it's much more than that. It basically unflattens and elevates the whole picture where there is lighting involved. More nuance.

 

[lemmykoopah]

For me, HDR is just a brighter image — I don't notice much of a difference in colours.

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That's what I think too for movies. But for games it's much more nuanced than that.

 

[The Shape]

I think the opposite.

But what I truly find amazing is that I only really saw the potential of HDR when I changed my TV. I had an entry level LG that had awful HDR implementation, then I changed to a LG Oled C1 and holy shit it's a night and day difference.

Watching Dune is an incredible experience.

 

[digitalrelic]

I think games tend to go a little more "torch mode" with it more often than films, where it's usually reserved to make those brightest of highlights pop.

Both look fantastic in their own ways though.

 

[NuclearCake]

What monitor/TV do you have OP?

A lot of games I noticed seem oversaturated in their default HDR setting in game that needs to be dialed back to look more natural. I think Doom Eternal looked pretty bad at the default HDR settings. Even picture settings of the HDR game mode in most TV's is pretty oversaturated by default.

 

[ciddative]

I often fail to notice it in movies as it just looks normal, whereas games often have flashy effects or action that showcase the highs and lows more readily.

 

[Demonic Drape]

Watch 4K discs.

4K streaming is not the same. At all.

I've done straight comparisons between the same movie streaming and my physical copy and you lose so much of the details and nuance on streaming.

 

[Deleted member 50735]

As others have said, it very much depends on the individual piece of content. But games in general usually at least give more flexibility as they can be set to suit the nit capability of your display better. My Z9J natively can display around 2,800+ nits and that's where games in general really shine as many movies are 1000nits only. Even on lower nit TV's like OLED, some tone map 4000nits, again at least with most games you usually can adjust them to suit.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Expanse in HDR is incredible. Can't agree with this at all.

 

[Thorn]

I can't even tell HDR when I try it out. Maybe it's my TV I dunno.

 

[EvilBoris]

I think it very much depends on how it's made and what the director/DP/Colorisy wants any given scene to look like. but generally it's pretty conservative, often being chosen to be not a millions miles from the SDR presentation.

Over in games we have a different problem- HDR is often still treated like a mod , an afterthought.

Both of these mediums still have a big issue with the realisation that they have to create the same price of content several times over and hand tune them to match. Movies have this covered with the Dolby Vision platform, but this comes with costs and production pipelines that don't suit everyone.

 

[Lkr]

what tv are you using?
it depends and varies greatly by content regardless of medium. there are tons of bad video game implementations of HDR. D+ isn't always a "showcase" for HDR unless you're watching something like MCU

it's very obvious to me when a show/movie isn't in HDR because it's nowhere near as bright lol

 

[hydruxo]

Opposite for me. Very few times I've been impressed by HDR with games. A lot of them tend to not implement it very well either.

 

[TaySan]

I strongly disagree. Very few games I even notice the difference while 4K UHD Blu rays have blown me away. Not streaming mind you.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I'm comparing to the best HDR showcases on d+. I feel hdr for movies is just "hey here's these bright headlights we're going to blast your eyes with" and in games it's much more than that. It basically unflattens and elevates the whole picture where there is lighting involved. More nuance.

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A lot of HDR on D+ just looks bad: I would love to be able to turn it off in the app settings, but I can't.

 

[Thera]

Remember that movies / shows still have to look great in SDR. That's why you still have mostly terrible gamma 8n night scene where black is grey and things looks terrible.
One of the scene that was text book "this is how HDR looks on an OLED" was the weird dimension thing in Stranger things season 1. Absolute black and very bright white. Incredible to see.

Add to the fact that real exterior scene are quite rare and that most HDR are post process one.

 

[Älg]

I feel like I can't tell the difference either way :(

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

With higher temporal resolution from higher framerates in some games and more dynamic delivery because of interactivity, absolutely.

But the game also has to deploy good HDR. Movies and shows do it more consistently, it feels like.

 

[Kotze282]

Have never seen proper HDR. The TV and monitor I've seen it on have very bad HDR that just makes everything look kinda washed out and crushed. So I turned it off. :(

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Watch 4K discs.

4K streaming is not the same. At all.

I've done straight comparisons between the same movie streaming and my physical copy and you lose so much of the details and nuance on streaming.

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This. Every time I see people laugh at physical media for movies I figure they haven't seen or heard them on a good or even decent setup. It's a rather large difference.