UHD and HDR

Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
28,907
Is it true that SDR a lot of the time looks better than HDR. Sorry if it's a dumb question but watching videos on the subject on youtube they often show SDR looking better.

What were they all smoking?

I'm assume they either have a really poor TV with naff HDR or they don't even have HDR and want to make themselves feel better.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2006
Posts
5,353
What were they all smoking?

I'm assume they either have a really poor TV with naff HDR or they don't even have HDR and want to make themselves feel better.
Its true some things look far worse in HDR. Games more often then not are far worse in HDR and some film/TV content is more pleasant to watch in SDR. That's not to say HDR is always worse other content like Planet Earth in HDR is better.
 
Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
28,907
Its true some things look far worse in HDR. Games more often then not are far worse in HDR and some film/TV content is more pleasant to watch in SDR. That's not to say HDR is always worse other content like Planet Earth in HDR is better.

I can't think of any games that look worse in HDR

You aren't talking about those faux HDR modes are you?
 
Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
28,907
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2006
Posts
5,353
Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Last Legacy look stunning on my OLED

Again, the game of the year on Xbox One X looks really good.
Yes it looks good but have you switched between SDR and HDR? Though to be fair I think part of the problem depends on the device you use. Screens seem to be handling HDR differently and HDR gaming monitors seem to be all over the place. Some HDR screens are so bad in HDR your eyes hurt/water, others are washed out in HDR. Neither of which is a pleasant gaming/TV experience. I think once HDR standards settle down its going to be well worth it. But right now there are a lot of people finding some HDR content is looking worse then SDR. But when it works correctly it is a massive improvement.

HDR being all over the place is one of the reasons I haven’t brought a HDR device yet. Going wait a generation or two before getting one for TV/films. As for HDR gaming monitors still not found a decent one that fits my specs, so I think I have to wait a generation or two there as well.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
21,916
There are a number of articles eg games-look-bad-part-1-hdr-and-tone-mapping
on how hdr game animation have yet to catch up with the cinema experience games they call out
Battlefield 1, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and Horizon Zero Dawn
(as Pottsey said)

but the hdr game experience (vs sdr) will be much more diverse across tv brands due to the tvs tone-mapping technique, since for sdr everyone has brightness/contrast/colour-spaces that are closer/exceeding specs
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Oct 2008
Posts
4,771
Location
SE London Born and Bred
On my Sony XE9005 the only way to tell that the TV is in HDR mode is to check the Picture settings, there is no indication display on the TV when you put on something that it is HDR. However once you start getting used to HDR you do kinda get an inkling just looking at the screen whether HDR is active. And if you go in and turn it on and then off the difference between HDR and SDR is so obvious - especially on something like the Star Trek Series.

I understand a lot of people saying HDR looks worse because when I first got it I too thought that as the first thing I tried was Bright on Netflix and that is a dark film which meant the darks where extra emphasised, but as soon as I then compared the HDR to SDR I began to understand.
 
Caporegime
Joined
4 Jun 2009
Posts
31,045
Yes it looks good but have you switched between SDR and HDR? Though to be fair I think part of the problem depends on the device you use. Screens seem to be handling HDR differently and HDR gaming monitors seem to be all over the place. Some HDR screens are so bad in HDR your eyes hurt/water, others are washed out in HDR. Neither of which is a pleasant gaming/TV experience. I think once HDR standards settle down its going to be well worth it. But right now there are a lot of people finding some HDR content is looking worse then SDR. But when it works correctly it is a massive improvement.

HDR being all over the place is one of the reasons I haven’t brought a HDR device yet. Going wait a generation or two before getting one for TV/films. As for HDR gaming monitors still not found a decent one that fits my specs, so I think I have to wait a generation or two there as well.

And that there is more often than not the problem, the HDR displays.

Unfortunately the vast majority of displays out there especially "HDR" monitors are awful, they shouldn't even be allowed to advertise HDR as a feature when they are nowhere near meeting the HDR requirements :o

I've seen far too many people say HDR is **** all because they saw it on a "fake" HDR display.

There are a number of articles eg games-look-bad-part-1-hdr-and-tone-mapping
on how hdr game animation have yet to catch up with the cinema experience games they call out
Battlefield 1, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and Horizon Zero Dawn
(as Pottsey said)

but the hdr game experience (vs sdr) will be much more diverse across tv brands due to the tvs tone-mapping technique, since for sdr everyone has brightness/contrast/colour-spaces that are closer/exceeding specs

Not had time to read the entire article, but what display are using to base their opinion on this?

EDIT:

Just had a quick skim through and see it is just a general article about tone mapping etc.

They should compare different TVs for HDR gaming to see which is best. As shown by HDTV tests, some TVs look better in certain areas where as other tvs look better in other areas.



As for HDR gaming, not played anything on my set yet due to no console and no GPU capable of it but I wouldn't be surprised if there are issues with HDR in some games (especially by lazy/**** developers). One thing for certain is that PC gaming certainly doesn't look to be smooth sailing when it comes to HDR, where as consoles seem to handle it flawlessly.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
2,946
hi , is your tv switching to HDR mode using netflix ?
Forgot to check it, I did try (is it called) altered carbon which looked great image quality. Need to get my hands on a player and mad max as when I saw that in a shop the depth of image looked incredible. I'll check Netflix for hdr tonight
 
Associate
Joined
25 Oct 2016
Posts
1,540
Forgot to check it, I did try (is it called) altered carbon which looked great image quality. Need to get my hands on a player and mad max as when I saw that in a shop the depth of image looked incredible. I'll check Netflix for hdr tonight


Its alright , ive just read on another forum that my TV wont trigger HDR though the apps (annoying ) but it will through a device , so i'll give the xbox S ago when i get in
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2006
Posts
6,791
please let me know if netflix and the bbc iplayer trigger your HDR its doesn't on my DX

does Amazon Prime have free HDR/ UHD content



Not sure which Dx model you have but Netflix will definitely work for HDR you should see the brightness go to 100 in the settings, Amazon is having issues on the Tv's currently as they have updated to HDR10+ but the Tv's have not, and BBc Iplayer on the 2016 range wont do HLG via the APP on through HMDI, this is taken from a response i received from Panasonic.

The Dx750/802/902 have had the update to HLG however it has not been possible to update the version of BBC iPlayer on these models. Essentially, they can play HLG content only through the HDMI connection. The content on the built in iPlayer will be in 4K, just not 4K HLG. If you were to plug in a device that played HLG in to the HDMI, like an Amazon fire stick or a GH5 camera - or a Sky Q box when Sky start supporting HLG - that would play in 4k and HLG.
 
Back
Top Bottom