GTX 1080 HDMI 10-bit 4:4:4 output.

[HashAsh]

Hi all.

I couldn't find an official Nvidia technical support email which is ridiculous, all I found was an online chat which just kept me waiting forever, so I'll try my luck here. I have an ASUS NVIDIA GTX 1080 hooked up HDMI, latest drivers. The Nvidia Control Panel won't let me output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 at 10-bit "50Hz" & I just can't understand why. I'm fully aware of the HDMI 2.0, 2.0a & 2.0b specs & limitations, according to the HDMI chart, I know ofcourse I cannot output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "60Hz" due to bandwidth limitations of HDMI 2.0-2.0b, but it clearly states I should have no problem outputting this RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz" signal so I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe I've missed or overlooked something which is why I'm here for help.

 

HDMI 2.0-2.0b bandwidth is 14.4 Gbit/s, the HDMI bandwidth needed for outputting my RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz" signal is 13.00 Gbit/s.

 

My 1080 is HDMI 2.0b & my Panasonic OLED HDMI ports are full bandwidth HDMI 2.0b & is a native 10-bit HDR10 panel. My HDMI cable is a Certified Premium High Speed Cable with the QR code to scan & confirm etc which is tested at 18 Gbit/s. So why won't it allow me to output my signal even though the bandwidth is definitely there ??

 

The weirder thing is if I set Nvidia to output at 30Hz, then it allows me the choices of RGB 8-bit or 12-bit only (no 10-bit) OR YCbCr 4:4:4 8-bit or 12-bit (again no 10-bit) & it actually does output these signals fine & stays when I apply them. Why would the native 10-bit depth of my panel be missing from the Nvidia output options at 30Hz yet it shows me 12-bit ?? Not that I intend to go down to 30Hz but it really adds to the confusion.

 

My friend has a Nvidia 970 which is HDMI 2.0 & his panel is also HDMI 2.0 so he's in the same HDMI boat as me & even he has this exact same issue, cannot output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz", also like me when he changes his refresh rate to 30Hz for curiousity, he too can only choose from 8-bit & 12-bit with 10-bit missing for both RGB & YCbCr.

 

So 2 main questions really. Why is Nvidia Control Panel not letting us output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ "50Hz" with HDMI 2.0?? 

Also why is it only letting us choose between 8-bit & 12-bit on 30Hz without my native 10-bit listed?  Are these driver issues ??

 

Thanks for your time,

Ash.

[Turtle Rig]

21 minutes ago, HashAsh said:

Hi all.

I couldn't find an official Nvidia technical support email which is ridiculous, all I found was an online chat which just kept me waiting forever, so I'll try my luck here. I have an ASUS NVIDIA GTX 1080 hooked up HDMI, latest drivers. The Nvidia Control Panel won't let me output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 at 10-bit "50Hz" & I just can't understand why. I'm fully aware of the HDMI 2.0, 2.0a & 2.0b specs & limitations, according to the HDMI chart, I know ofcourse I cannot output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "60Hz" due to bandwidth limitations of HDMI 2.0-2.0b, but it clearly states I should have no problem outputting this RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz" signal so I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe I've missed or overlooked something which is why I'm here for help.

 

HDMI 2.0-2.0b bandwidth is 14.4 Gbit/s, the HDMI bandwidth needed for outputting my RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz" signal is 13.00 Gbit/s.

 

My 1080 is HDMI 2.0b & my Panasonic OLED HDMI ports are full bandwidth HDMI 2.0b & is a native 10-bit HDR10 panel. My HDMI cable is a Certified Premium High Speed Cable with the QR code to scan & confirm etc which is tested at 18 Gbit/s. So why won't it allow me to output my signal even though the bandwidth is definitely there ??

 

The weirder thing is if I set Nvidia to output at 30Hz, then it allows me the choices of RGB 8-bit or 12-bit only (no 10-bit) OR YCbCr 4:4:4 8-bit or 12-bit (again no 10-bit) & it actually does output these signals fine & stays when I apply them. Why would the native 10-bit depth of my panel be missing from the Nvidia output options at 30Hz yet it shows me 12-bit ?? Not that I intend to go down to 30Hz but it really adds to the confusion.

 

My friend has a Nvidia 970 which is HDMI 2.0 & his panel is also HDMI 2.0 so he's in the same HDMI boat as me & even he has this exact same issue, cannot output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit "50Hz", also like me when he changes his refresh rate to 30Hz for curiousity, he too can only choose from 8-bit & 12-bit with 10-bit missing for both RGB & YCbCr.

 

So 2 main questions really. Why is Nvidia Control Panel not letting us output RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ "50Hz" with HDMI 2.0?? 

Also why is it only letting us choose between 8-bit & 12-bit on 30Hz without my native 10-bit listed?  Are these driver issues ??

 

Thanks for your time,

Ash.

TLTR but I read your entire post.  Firstly you will get the 30hz limitation with HDMI.  Also 50hz is very odd, it should be 60hz.  Also you should be 10 bit 60hz with a DP cable and not HDMI.  I believe you need 2 hdmi cables to get it working properly 10-bit 60hz, but don't quote me on that.  Grab a Display Port cable and I can just about guarantee your problems will go away and you can do 10-bit 60hz.  I don't know why your using HDMI from monitor to card ?  Grab a DP cable as I said from ebay and limitations will seize and what not.  If problem persists with DP cable then you need to do a DDU "Display Driver Uninstaller" in safe mode and choose nVidia and do a clean and restart and now back in normal mode grab the latest nVidia WHQL drivers and let us know what happens. 

[Tristerin]

Could be your cable is not up to the task - they make cheapo-depot cables and good cables

[Vishera]

Did you try 8 bit color 60Hz?

[20_below]

You might need a different card than the GTX 1080, I thought the Quadro lineup were the cards to get for 10-bit color? Or, you can try Blackmagic DeckLink cards which support what you are looking for. 

[HashAsh]

Turtle Rig lol thanks for taking the time to read my post, I just wanted to give as much info about my issue as possible.

 

Quote

TLTR but I read your entire post.  Firstly you will get the 30hz limitation with HDMI.  Also 50hz is very odd, it should be 60hz.  Also you should be 10 bit 60hz with a DP cable and not HDMI.  I believe you need 2 hdmi cables to get it working properly 10-bit 60hz, but don't quote me on that.  Grab a Display Port cable and I can just about guarantee your problems will go away and you can do 10-bit 60hz.  I don't know why your using HDMI from monitor to card ?  Grab a DP cable as I said from ebay and limitations will seize and what not.  If problem persists with DP cable then you need to do a DDU "Display Driver Uninstaller" in safe mode and choose nVidia and do a clean and restart and now back in normal mode grab the latest nVidia WHQL drivers and let us know what happens.

I don't have a 30Hz issue & don't get any limitations when on 30Hz with HDMI. The ONLY weird thing that happens when I try 30Hz is that 10-bit isn't listed even though my display is natively 10-bit (not 8+2 bit dithering), the only modes that are listed are 8-bit & 12-bit which both work fine. Also please know that I don't plan on leaving anything on 30Hz YUCK, just curious why there's no 10-bit as it just adds to my confusion.

Also 50Hz through HDMI is not odd at all. With version HDMI 2.0b I should be able to do 4k RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ 50Hz. Only HDMI "2.1" can do 4k RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ "60Hz". I can output 4k RGB\YCbCr  "4:2:2" 10-bit chroma subsampling @ 50Hz or 60Hz no problem. But if I want to keep my uncompressed 4:4:4 signal with my HDMI 2.0b at 10-bit then my only highest refresh rate possible is the 50Hz that I'm trying to get to work.

 

Regarding HDMI & DisplayPort, my display doesn't have a DisplayPort, if I get a DisplayPort to HDMI cable, won't I be getting the exact same result anyways because my display's side is only HDMI ports?? I don't have a cable otherwise I'd quickly try but I'll borrow off a friend.

 

On 8/27/2019 at 1:04 AM, Tristerin said:

Could be your cable is not up to the task - they make cheapo-depot cables and good cables

Yea it's a good cable & Premium HDMI certified 18Gb/s with a QR code I can scan to confirm the testing. On top of this my friend has the exact same issue as me with a different brand good quality cable at only 2 meters even! Another reason why it's not the cable is that the cable lets me output 4k YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit @ 60Hz (even 12-bit!) which is 15.68Gb/s bandwidth. The RGB/YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ "50Hz" signal I'm having issue outputting only needs 13Gb/s bandwidth, so my cable does 15.68Gb/s signal fine & a 13Gb/s signal I'm going for shouldn't be a problem.

 

On 8/27/2019 at 1:22 AM, Vishera said:

Did you try 8 bit color 60Hz?

Yes ofcourse, that's what I'm stuck on, RGB\YCbCr 4:4:4 with 4k 8-bit @ 60Hz, I'm trying to output RGB\YCbCr 4:4:4 with 4k "10-bit @ 50Hz", it's a HUGE jump from 8-bit max possible colors of 160 million compared to 10-bit's max possible colors of 1 billion.

 

On 8/27/2019 at 3:52 AM, 20_below said:

You might need a different card than the GTX 1080, I thought the Quadro lineup were the cards to get for 10-bit color? Or, you can try Blackmagic DeckLink cards which support what you are looking for. 

The Quadro lineup difference compared to normal is that the Quadros can do 10-bit + in OpenGL and Direct3D whereas the normal lineup of graphics cards such as mine can do 10-bit+ but only in Direct3D (games). For Windows that's how it is anyways not sure about Macs & Linux.

 

Thanks for your replies appreciate it.

[xg32]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:35 AM, HashAsh said:

.

ii had the same issues years ago with a 4k tv (12bit just wouldn't work but it showed up anyway), u can try forcing 10bit 50hz but it's a very long shot. The nvidia control panel shows refresh rates in 24 30 60 82 etc (especially when you are pushing bandwidth limits), this is not a problem with the gpu or the cable, but with the display, a 4k display really should have displayports.

[HashAsh]

22 hours ago, xg32 said:

i had the same issues years ago with a 4k tv (12bit just wouldn't work but it showed up anyway), u can try forcing 10bit 50hz but it's a very long shot. The nvidia control panel shows refresh rates in 24 30 60 82 etc (especially when you are pushing bandwidth limits), this is not a problem with the gpu or the cable, but with the display, a 4k display really should have displayports.

Well as I said 12-bit & 8-bit do show up AND do work on my display when I either do 30Hz or 50Hz with 4:2:2 output. Also I CAN do 10-bit 50Hz but only at 4:2:2 not at 4:4:4 which is exactly my issue here, trying to output 4k RGB/YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ 50Hz as my displays HDMI supports this signal 1000%. Also let's not forget my friend who has the exact same issue with a different 4k 10-bit display & Nvidia control panel outputting this signal. Even if I had a display port, there's no reason I can find why I'm unable to output this signal with my HDMI other than Nvidia's control panel. 

 

Thanks for your reply.

[xg32]

6 hours ago, HashAsh said:

Well as I said 12-bit & 8-bit do show up AND do work on my display when I either do 30Hz or 50Hz with 4:2:2 output. Also I CAN do 10-bit 50Hz but only at 4:2:2 not at 4:4:4 which is exactly my issue here, trying to output 4k RGB/YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit @ 50Hz as my displays HDMI supports this signal 1000%. Also let's not forget my friend who has the exact same issue with a different 4k 10-bit display & Nvidia control panel outputting this signal. Even if I had a display port, there's no reason I can find why I'm unable to output this signal with my HDMI other than Nvidia's control panel. 

 

Thanks for your reply.

the 12bit isn't really 12bit, it only shows up via hdmi to TVs sometimes, so your cap is effectively 8bit 50hz, this doesn't happen via display port. Point is, the problem stims from pushing the bandwidth limit of the hdmi on the display. Try making a custom resolution with 10bit 50hz and forcing it in the control panel.

[HashAsh]

xg32 thanks for your reply. I literally mean no offense but you're really making up your mind on something that you're obviously unaware of the actual specs or haven't really checked out the latest specs which I don't blame you because you have Display ports as your main.

I don't know how long it's been since you've bought a top of the range TV rather than just a gaming monitor but things have changed dramatically in the last year or so & the line between monitors & TV's has never been so blurry. HDMI 2.1 has VRR which is equivalent to Gsync Free Sync etc, QFT Quick Frame Transport which talks to GPU's with a frame by frame basis so there isn't input lag such as older TV's as manufacturers finally realize the gaming market, native 10-bit 4k panels, there's 8K tv's even, HDMI 2.1 even supports up to 10K these days, dynamic HDR10+, there's nothing missing from latest model top brand TV's anymore.

 

 

12-bit IS really 12-bit, why is that hard to believe for you? Even Dolby Vision is natively 12-bit uncompressed & has been for a while.When you output a color depth that is above what your display can do then the display dithers the 12-bit down to your display's native bit-depth, in my case when I output 12-bit, my display dithers it down to 10-bit. I'm not sure why you're stuck at the 12-bit anyway, you haven't read my post clearly at all. Why would you say my cap is effectively 8-bit 50Hz & that it wouldn't happen on a display port, are you living in a cave??  You seriously think HDMI is "capped" at 8-bit 50Hz ? I said I can output 10-bit 50Hz but it's just the uncompressed 4:4:4 that it won't let me do.  I don't even have the latest HDMI version. I even said I can output 12-bit @ 30Hz no problem, so not sure why you'd say that other than just skimming through my post & not reading properly.