HDR games analysed

[FuturaBold]

I don't think Battlefront 2 get enough credit for it HDR, it's fantastic. It's a real technical marvel on X. Gears 5 has been getting a lot of praise and rightfully so but BF2 gives it a run for it money. I'm actually looking forward to NFS Heat, first NFS game to support HDR and running on Frostbite it should be a stunner.

 

[Lukemia SL]

Speaking of Frostbite, I still have to watch this GDC talk on HDR in Frostbite. Should be interesting.

 

[laxu]

Can anyone explain what is going on with my two Samsung screens and HDR? My issues is that depending on the game HDR either looks great or it looks very dull in areas that don't use the extremes of HDR's brightness and contrast capability.

The screens I have are:

• Samsung KS8000 - 65" 4K TV
• Samsung CRG9 - 49" 5120x1440 super ultrawide monitor

Both are edge lit VA panels with not many dimming zones. YouTube videos look great in HDR on both.

I've tried games with both my PS4 Pro and my PC (2080 Ti as GPU, Win 1903 with HDR setting enabled) just to rule out the platform itself.

Gears 5 (PC) and God of War 2018 (PS4) both look fantastic to me, but I tried for example Shadow of the Tomb Raider on both platforms and displays and the end result was the same: Good when in brighter areas and bad when in darker ones. For example the day of the dead party scene in the start has what seems like a gray haze over it compared to just running the game in SDR where it has more contrast and deeper blacks. Overall SDR has more depth to its colors to me, which you could of course call oversaturated or overcontrasted if you want but in any case there is a marked difference. I experience a similar issue in RDR2 with the updated HDR patch for example but I don't think I pushed its settings other than turning on the Game mode HDR.

Is this an issue with the fact that both my displays are very limited in their local dimming capability? Why does this vary by game? Shouldn't content that is closer to SDR still look similar to the SDR mode?

 

[MazeHaze]

Can anyone explain what is going on with my two Samsung screens and HDR? My issues is that depending on the game HDR either looks great or it looks very dull in areas that don't use the extremes of HDR's brightness and contrast capability.

The screens I have are:

• Samsung KS8000 - 65" 4K TV
• Samsung CRG9 - 49" 5120x1440 super ultrawide monitor

Both are edge lit VA panels with not many dimming zones. YouTube videos look great in HDR on both.

I've tried games with both my PS4 Pro and my PC (2080 Ti as GPU, Win 1903 with HDR setting enabled) just to rule out the platform itself.

Gears 5 (PC) and God of War 2018 (PS4) both look fantastic to me, but I tried for example Shadow of the Tomb Raider on both platforms and displays and the end result was the same: Good when in brighter areas and bad when in darker ones. For example the day of the dead party scene in the start has what seems like a gray haze over it compared to just running the game in SDR where it has more contrast and deeper blacks. Overall SDR has more depth to its colors to me, which you could of course call oversaturated or overcontrasted if you want but in any case there is a marked difference. I experience a similar issue in RDR2 with the updated HDR patch for example but I don't think I pushed its settings other than turning on the Game mode HDR.

Is this an issue with the fact that both my displays are very limited in their local dimming capability? Why does this vary by game? Shouldn't content that is closer to SDR still look similar to the SDR mode?

Click to shrink...

In my experience with the KS8000, it's absolutely due to the limited local dimming (the KS8000 only has 3 dimming zones). The problem is that when the backlight is maxed, the contrast gets kinda wrecked, resulting in a "gray filter" appearance on a lot of HDR content. Also some games just color grade differently for HDR.

 

[xRedbeardx]

AC Odyssey - Has something changed in the HDR calibration image?

I'll start off by saying HDR in-game seems to be absolutely fine, however I went into the HDR Settings menu last night found something a bit strange, the image now shows some inaccurate colour artifacts in the clouded area and some particular bright spots in the sky. These didn't exist when I first tuned the HDR settings and thinking they may possibly be a buggy result of some recent update.

To be clear, I'm not talking about the visual artifacts that occurs around the sun when the luminance setting is too low, this is something entirely different. The artifacts persists regardless of the luminance and paper white settings at both ends of the slider. Again, everything seems fine in-game. I'm just curious if I'm the only one seeing this on the calibration image. I'm playing on X1X on a Sony X900F with brightness at about 35%, luminance of 1000 and paper white of 250.

Edit: Nevermind, the issue disappeared when I checked again today.

 

[FuturaBold]

GDC talk on HDR in Frostbite is a bit dry but thanks for posting. According to the video Frostbite doesn't support wide color gamut!! :O
However, maybe they added it since the video was created?

 

[Lukemia SL]

GDC talk on HDR in Frostbite is a bit dry but thanks for posting. According to the video Frostbite doesn't support wide color gamut!! :O
However, maybe they added it since the video was created?

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That's surprising to hear, you'd think DICE would be the ones to support everything when they add it to their engine.

I still haven't had the time to watch that yet, I found another similar GDC type video by Nvidia, there was another one but I have lost it for now I'll keep looking if you're interested I'll post it.

 

[Xx 720]

Noticed in the Tom Clancy breakpoint beta on pc, you didn't have to turn on hdr in windows it just turns on automatically, and shut it off after leaving the game, wish every pc game did this. Ended up playing borderlands 3 mostly standard range cause I'd forget to turn it on.

 

[Edgar]

So gears 5, hdr is nice, but I feel like the contrast is a bit off. It's darker than most hdr games I'm used to. I am using x900e Sony TV and pc and using evil boris guide, 50/100/1000 and I can't seem to find good compromise between having good highlights but also not too dark

 

[Kyle Cross]

So, I just found out that One Piece: World Seeker has HDR. I had no idea, hadn't ever heard it mentioned. Not sure if the PC version does or not, the PC Gaming Wiki says it doesn't, but it absolutely does on PS4. There's no HDR calibration options, just a simple SDR brightness setting and an HDR On or Off toggle. It's probably a stretch (no pun intended), but do you have access to this title EvilBoris ? I'd be interested to hear if the HDR is proper or if it's "fake" HDR. When I turn the SDR Brightness setting all the way down the bright parts of the image remain looking correct, while darker parts get completely crushed. That suggests it isn't just SDR in an HDR container, right?

 

[Detective Pidgey]

Started with Destiny 2, but something is off with the HDR for me. First I fired the game up with HDR disabled on Xbox One X, I then did the brightness thingy and set it at 3, because that's when I barely see the symbol, at 4 I clearly see it.

I quit game, enable HDR again, fire game up. And I follow those two HDR instructions as well but there's something very off with the black levels, they are far from inky black and more like elevated.

Maybe I'll go back to SDR brightness and put it at 4 then.

HDR white point tells me to adjust the slider until I barely see the middle symbol. Which is basically at 5 for me.

HDR black point... about 30 for me.

 

[Foxashel]

Destiny 2:

I'm on an LG C8, and if I follow the instructions for the White Point slider, I have to lower the slider completely to the left. That seems wrong.

 

[kanuuna]

I feel like people here determined some time ago that you'll want to keep both those sliders in Destiny in their default positions. I could be misremembering.

 

[EvilBoris]

Destiny's settings are weird , as they are actually lift and gain, like you would have in a grading suite.

The centre point for each one is the default. The black one in-particular will actually massively crush blacks if you move it to the left. I'd leave that alone.

The white adjustment, either just leave that in the centre, or move it to the left to increase both the peak brightness, but the overall brightness.

 

[Samaritan]

Started with Destiny 2, but something is off with the HDR for me. First I fired the game up with HDR disabled on Xbox One X, I then did the brightness thingy and set it at 3, because that's when I barely see the symbol, at 4 I clearly see it.

I quit game, enable HDR again, fire game up. And I follow those two HDR instructions as well but there's something very off with the black levels, they are far from inky black and more like elevated.

Maybe I'll go back to SDR brightness and put it at 4 then.

HDR white point tells me to adjust the slider until I barely see the middle symbol. Which is basically at 5 for me.

HDR black point... about 30 for me.

Click to shrink...

Destiny 2 is just borked in HDR. Definitely keep both sliders in the middle, especially the brightness, as moving that a single point up will raise all blacks, and moving it down will crush them.

The HDR -> SDR -> HDR trick you mentioned doesn't actually do anything and isn't worth messing with.

It's not like the HDR implementation is bad, it looks downright incredible a lot of the time, but you'll lose a lot of detail in darker scenes while in HDR unfortunately. It's possible to live with though, just know it isn't your TV whenever you enter a pitch black cave and can't see shit.

 

[Detective Pidgey]

Destiny 2 is just borked in HDR. Definitely keep both sliders in the middle, especially the brightness, as moving that a single point up will raise all blacks, and moving it down will crush them.

The HDR -> SDR -> HDR trick you mentioned doesn't actually do anything and isn't worth messing with.

It's not like the HDR implementation is bad, it looks downright incredible a lot of the time, but you'll lose a lot of detail in darker scenes while in HDR unfortunately. It's possible to live with though, just know it isn't your TV whenever you enter a pitch black cave and can't see shit.

Click to shrink...

It doesn't work to run the game in SDR, set the brightness for that correctly and then go back to HDR? Hmmm, because I would almost swear I saw a difference when I went from SDR brightness at 3 to 4.

 

[EvilBoris]

It doesn't work to run the game in SDR, set the brightness for that correctly and then go back to HDR? Hmmm, because I would almost swear I saw a difference when I went from SDR brightness at 3 to 4.

Click to shrink...

it did make a difference, unless they patched it out recently?

 

[Detective Pidgey]

it did make a difference, unless they patched it out recently?

Click to shrink...

I'm fairly sure it still works, but I'm not sure whether to set it at 3 or 4. At 4 I clearly see the symbol and at 3 barely, and the game tells me to set it so I barely see it. What have you got this set to?

As for the game's HDR sliders. For me at default they weren't set to the middle (maybe because of me playing the trials years ago on my then OLED or Sony TV) I have set both white and black point to the middle now. Black crush is gone, but I definitely feel the black levels could be more inky black.

Either way, for me the calibration thing doesn't work as it should. HDR white point tells me to set it so I barely see the middle symbol, at default I see it clearly.

I think I'm gonna go back to running Destiny 2 in SDR, and put brightness to 3 again, since that's when I barely see the logo.

 

[da1eb7150]

I'm fairly sure it still works, but I'm not sure whether to set it at 3 or 4. At 4 I clearly see the symbol and at 3 barely, and the game tells me to set it so I barely see it. What have you got this set to?

As for the game's HDR sliders. For me at default they weren't set to the middle (maybe because of me playing the trials years ago on my then OLED or Sony TV) I have set both white and black point to the middle now. Black crush is gone, but I definitely feel the black levels could be more inky black.

Either way, for me the calibration thing doesn't work as it should. HDR white point tells me to set it so I barely see the middle symbol, at default I see it clearly.

I think I'm gonna go back to running Destiny 2 in SDR, and put brightness to 3 again, since that's when I barely see the logo.

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What TV you using this on I'm set to 3 on an lg c7 oled I don't mess with the black setting in hdr and I move the white balance to the left until it's not visible and it looks incredible

 

[Detective Pidgey]

What TV you using this on I'm set to 3 on an lg c7 oled I don't mess with the black setting in hdr and I move the white balance to the left until it's not visible and it looks incredible

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I have the Samsung Q9FN. I'm using 3 now as well. So you got HDR black point in the middle? I believe that's at 50,i counted the steps and it seems that 100 is the max. For some reason with HDR white point I can't get the symbol to disappear at all and settings like contrast enhancer are off on the TV.

 

[da1eb7150]

I have the Samsung Q9FN. I'm using 3 now as well. So you got HDR black point in the middle? I believe that's at 50,i counted the steps and it seems that 100 is the max. For some reason with HDR white point I can't get the symbol to disappear at all and settings like contrast enhancer are off on the TV.

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Yeah I think I counted 50 too I'm not sure about your white point mine disappears 4 or 5 clicks up from the far left but I have a different make tv

 

[Detective Pidgey]

Yeah I think I counted 50 too I'm not sure about your white point mine disappears 4 or 5 clicks up from the far left but I have a different make tv

Click to shrink...

Holy shit, I now found out why HDR was actually....well...underwhelming me. I had the HDR black point set correctly at 50. But it was HDR white point that ruined the whole thing for me because I had it set to the middle, making fire effects, weapon effects, skies, lights all look very toned down, bland even, now with HDR white point pretty much set all to the left (one or two nodges to the right) where I don't see the left symbol and barely see the middle one and HDR is now El superbo!

 

[da1eb7150]

Holy shit, I now found out why HDR was actually....well...underwhelming me. I had the HDR black point set correctly at 50. But it was HDR white point that ruined the whole thing for me because I had it set to the middle, making fire effects, weapon effects, skies, lights all look very toned down, bland even, now with HDR white point pretty much set all to the left (one or two nodges to the right) where I don't see the left symbol and barely see the middle one and HDR is now El superbo!

Click to shrink...

It's like a different game isn't it the moon for example doesn't look washed out now the moon's surface looks unreal

 

[Detective Pidgey]

It's like a different game isn't it the moon for example doesn't look washed out now the moon's surface looks unreal

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I've yet to visit the Moon but man, the first story quest Homecoming, crazy difference.

I really should have just listened to the calibration menu in the game because it told me to set the slider to where I barely see the middle symbol and don't see the left one at all. I just found it so weird that I only had to move the slider one or two times, plus in this thread someone said it was best to keep it in the middle.

Ah well, better late than never :)

 

[da1eb7150]

I've yet to visit the Moon but man, the first story quest Homecoming, crazy difference.

I really should have just listened to the calibration menu in the game because it told me to set the slider to where I barely see the middle symbol and don't see the left one at all. I just found it so weird that I only had to move the slider one or two times, plus in this thread someone said it was best to keep it in the middle.

Ah well, better late than never :)

Click to shrink...

Glad it helped

 

[Detective Pidgey]

Glad it helped

Click to shrink...

Crazy how it can make such a difference. I now truly see what all the hubub is about when it comes to HDR in this game and boy does it enhance the experience.

 

[BMofB]

AMD released 19.10.1 drivers which finally resolved all my HDR problems with 5700 XT + Samsung C27HG70. I can finally keep the Windows HDR setting on by default and even Gamepass games look great now!

 

[Hitcher]

Interesting -

 

[da1eb7150]

Crazy how it can make such a difference. I now truly see what all the hubub is about when it comes to HDR in this game and boy does it enhance the experience.

Click to shrink...

I've gone back to brightness 4 from 3

 

[Detective Pidgey]

I've gone back to brightness 4 from 3

Click to shrink...

Doesn't that raise the black levels a bit too much though? I noticed that some areas by themselves have raised black levels whereas other areas are pitch black and sometimes even crushed blacks.

 

[da1eb7150]

Doesn't that raise the black levels a bit too much though? I noticed that some areas by themselves have raised black levels whereas other areas are pitch black and sometimes even crushed blacks.

Click to shrink...

I found 3 very dark in the dark areas I know destiny is abit crap on black levels anyway

 

[Detective Pidgey]

I found 3 very dark in the dark areas I know destiny is abit crap on black levels anyway

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Yeah, such a shame. Especially with the very bad aliasing at times too, if only it had been as clean as say RDR2 or MHW.

I bought Division 2 and there's a few HDR options and I'm not sure what to do with those yet. I left em at default for now.

There's HDR peak brightness which is at 3000 here and HDR peak brightness for UI elements, which is at 400. Then there's also the general brightness which is at 10, sharpening at 7 and contrast at 20. Neutral lighting is off.

What is best for this?

 

[da1eb7150]

Yeah, such a shame. Especially with the very bad aliasing at times too, if only it had been as clean as say RDR2 or MHW.

I bought Division 2 and there's a few HDR options and I'm not sure what to do with those yet. I left em at default for now.

There's HDR peak brightness which is at 3000 here and HDR peak brightness for UI elements, which is at 400. Then there's also the general brightness which is at 10, sharpening at 7 and contrast at 20. Neutral lighting is off.

What is best for this?

Click to shrink...

I haven't played the division for a while as i seem to always be in empty games but I could never get the division looking it right the sky to me always looked bad but I assume I would have to set it to 4000 as that's what my TV tonemaps to but at that it seems to blow the sun out yet if I set it to the native nits of my TV then it doesn't look right either

 

[Detective Pidgey]

I haven't played the division for a while as i seem to always be in empty games but I could never get the division looking it right the sky to me always looked bad but I assume I would have to set it to 4000 as that's what my TV tonemaps to but at that it seems to blow the sun out yet if I set it to the native nits of my TV then it doesn't look right either

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that's my biggest beef so far with HDR. When you get the settings right and the developer knew what they were doing it's great. But trying to get some games to look great can be a real hassle. Sometimes I just want to disable it and I wish more games would have an option for this. Now I have to disable HDR on the Xbox itself just for this one game, meh.

 

[da1eb7150]

Yeah, that's my biggest beef so far with HDR. When you get the settings right and the developer knew what they were doing it's great. But trying to get some games to look great can be a real hassle. Sometimes I just want to disable it and I wish more games would have an option for this. Now I have to disable HDR on the Xbox itself just for this one game, meh.

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Yeah I know the feeling but I just leave it on and deal with it now my only issue is whether to have 422 checked on unchecked as I've seen conflicting reports

 

[Deleted member 4976]

EvilBoris If a game on PS4 is prompting me to adjust the system level HDR, does that mean it supports that functionality or does that just happen regardless?

(I ask because after getting today's Monster Hunter update, my PS4 prompted me for it, which seems a bit odd since I've been playing it with HDR all this time.)

 

[EvilBoris]

EvilBoris If a game on PS4 is prompting me to adjust the system level HDR, does that mean it supports that functionality or does that just happen regardless?

(I ask because after getting today's Monster Hunter update, my PS4 prompted me for it, which seems a bit odd since I've been playing it with HDR all this time.)

Click to shrink...

no, I think it just prompts it the first time you ever boot an HDR title. The game doesn't have an adjustable tone mapper currently, so it is unlikely it will be supported

 

[FuturaBold]

Yeah, such a shame. Especially with the very bad aliasing at times too, if only it had been as clean as say RDR2 or MHW.

I bought Division 2 and there's a few HDR options and I'm not sure what to do with those yet. I left em at default for now.

There's HDR peak brightness which is at 3000 here and HDR peak brightness for UI elements, which is at 400. Then there's also the general brightness which is at 10, sharpening at 7 and contrast at 20. Neutral lighting is off.

What is best for this?

Click to shrink...

What display do you own? For example my C9 tone maps 4000 nits so that's the Max HDR brightness. For UI I set 100 nits because it's an OLED and I don't want ABL to
Lower the brightness. Divison 2 IMO has great HDR.

 

[Detective Pidgey]

What display do you own? For example my C9 tone maps 4000 nits so that's the Max HDR brightness. For UI I set 100 nits because it's an OLED and I don't want ABL to
Lower the brightness. Divison 2 IMO has great HDR.

Click to shrink...

I have the Samsung Q9FN. I probably should set the HDR peak brightness to what I set Gears 5 as well. 4000 is way too high for this display. But I also wonder what to do with contrast. I think I'll just leave that at default. And sharpening is a personal thing probably, not gonna mess with that too much. Looks crisp enough.

 

[goaman]

hello I have a 55b7v and ps4 pro I use the p4olo member settings with the option 1b dynamic contrast on medium and I would like to know the hdr settings for sekiro in the game?
thank you in advance

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[Hitcher]

Got Ghost Recon Breakpoint today on XBX and initially there was a gamma setting that I dropped right down to 0 and the logos were still visible but now ingame it's way too dark and I can't touch that setting with HDR enabled.

Anyone else had this problem?

EDIT: Found a way to readjust the gamma.

Quit Breakpoint,
Disable HDR10 in the XBX settings,
Launch Breakpoint,
Adjust gamma,
Quit Breakpoint,
Enable HDR10 in the XBX settings,
Launch Breakpoint.

I set it back to default of 50 but if anyone knows the best gamma level please let me know.

 

[Edgar]

I'm playing AC odyssey on pc hooked to Sony x900e via hdmi. Anyone has recommended hdr settings? Right now I am using 50% brightness with 1000 maximum luminance and 80 on paper white, - 2 gamma on my TV. I'm just wondering I'm I'm loosing shadow detail or highlights or anything of the sort

 

[wildstrike1516]

Got Ghost Recon Breakpoint today on XBX and initially there was a gamma setting that I dropped right down to 0 and the logos were still visible but now ingame it's way too dark and I can't touch that setting with HDR enabled.

Anyone else had this problem?

EDIT: Found a way to readjust the gamma.

Quit Breakpoint,
Disable HDR10 in the XBX settings,
Launch Breakpoint,
Adjust gamma,
Quit Breakpoint,
Enable HDR10 in the XBX settings,
Launch Breakpoint.

I set it back to default of 50 but if anyone knows the best gamma level please let me know.

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Supposedly HDR was fixed in a recent Breakpoint patch. I haven't got to play since the patch. Have you noticed any changes?

 

[Blackthorn]

Am I correct in thinking that I should always set peak brightness in games when playing on the C9 to maximum, as long as the slider doesn't affect the rest of the image?

 

[nDesh]

no, I think it just prompts it the first time you ever boot an HDR title. The game doesn't have an adjustable tone mapper currently, so it is unlikely it will be supported

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Do you recommend me to disable the Dynamic Tone Mapping of the C8 before adjusting this? Or it makes no difference?

 

[EvilBoris]

Do you recommend me to disable the Dynamic Tone Mapping of the C8 before adjusting this? Or it makes no difference?

Click to shrink...

I would disable it first

 

[markb1980]

Anyone have the recommend HDR settings for Rocket League on LG C7 please?

 

[FairFight]

I'm curious what HDR settings people with LG oleds should be using on mortal Kombat 11. Standard? High End? Professional? It says up to 4000 nits so obviously that's out of the question given my B7 can barely hit 1000. Anyone know where standard and high end fall regarding nits. Thanks in advance for the reply.

 

[da1eb7150]

I'm curious what HDR settings people with LG oleds should be using on mortal Kombat 11. Standard? High End? Professional? It says up to 4000 nits so obviously that's out of the question given my B7 can barely hit 1000. Anyone know where standard and high end fall regarding nits. Thanks in advance for the reply.

Click to shrink...

Set to 4000 as that's what lg tone maps to

 

[Detective Pidgey]

The Division 2 has been updated, at the start it also says they have updated the brightness values and they tell you to check if they are still right for you. I look at the left image and barely see it, so should be good. Yet the night is way too bright now, fuck.