What is HDR and What Does It Do Exactly?

[ChaoticChaosx]

I just picked up an Alienware AW3423DWF. Finally got it setup. I was wondering how HDR on this QD-OLED would be against my Gigabyte G34QWC.

 

Do I need to enable HDR on monitor, windows and in game? What does HDR actually do to color?

 

I'm using 10 bit color depth, True black, (or HDR 1000 depending on game) on monitor,. Windows I have auto disabled. Say I'm playing RE4R. Do I need to enable it it game for HDR to be on? What should it be doing?

 

Vibrant colors, darker colors, dark areas darker?

 

I'm trying to get answers about it to get the most out of this monitor to determine to keep it or not. What actually is HDR?

 

Sorry new to all this fancy display talk. Black Friday price and all thought I try this monitor as all the praise I hear about it.

 

Appreciate any help on simplifying what HDR is and does.

[Hinjima]

5 minutes ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

I just picked up an Alienware AW3423DWF. Finally got it setup. I was wondering how HDR on this QD-OLED would be against my Gigabyte G34QWC.

 

Do I need to enable HDR on monitor, windows and in game? What does HDR actually do to color?

 

I'm using 10 bit color depth, True black, (or HDR 1000 depending on game) on monitor,. Windows I have auto disabled. Say I'm playing RE4R. Do I need to enable it it game for HDR to be on? What should it be doing?

 

Vibrant colors, darker colors, dark areas darker?

 

I'm trying to get answers about it to get the most out of this monitor to determine to keep it or not. What actually is HDR?

 

Sorry new to all this fancy display talk. Black Friday price and all thought I try this monitor as all the praise I hear about it.

 

Appreciate any help on simplifying what HDR is and does.

This guy explains it quick and simple.

Basically better colors in very bright or very dark scenes. It offers a more natural and realistic picture output compared to standard dynamic range

[GuiltySpark_]

9 minutes ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

Do I need to enable HDR on monitor, windows and in game?

The monitor, probably not, no. If you're on Windows 11, which you need to be if you want the best HDR experience, simply enable it in WIndows, set the SDR brightness slider, then, and this is critical, run the official HDR Calibration application in the Windows Store. 

 

Once in game, you may need to turn it on if the game doesn't automatically detect if HDR is on in Windows. 

 

Games that don't support native HDR might trigger Windows 11's AutoHDR mode (you'll know when you get a popup notification in the bottom right of the screen). Assuming you've enabled AutoHDR. 

 

Having a display capable of great HDR myself for the past 11 months, i'm a full on convert and LOVE it. 

 

If you want the best community for tips and tricks, /r/OLED_Gaming on reddit is fantastic. TONS of people have your display there.

 

As for what it is, the video @Hinjima linked probably explains it.

[ChaoticChaosx]

3 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

The monitor, probably not, no. If you're on Windows 11, which you need to be if you want the best HDR experience, simply enable it in WIndows, set the SDR brightness slider, then, and this is critical, run the official HDR Calibration application in the Windows Store. 

 

Once in game, you may need to turn it on if the game doesn't automatically detect if HDR is on in Windows. 

 

Games that don't support native HDR might trigger Windows 11's AutoHDR mode (you'll know when you get a popup notification in the bottom right of the screen). Assuming you've enabled AutoHDR. 

 

Having a display capable of great HDR myself for the past 11 months, i'm a full on convert and LOVE it. 

 

If you want the best community for tips and tricks, /r/OLED_Gaming on reddit is fantastic. TONS of people have your display there.

 

As for what it is, the video @Hinjima linked probably explains it.

Thanks I’ll try the HDR calibration and look at Reddit. 
Just wanna make sure I get this down to see if the monitor worth everything I paid lol  

3 hours ago, Hinjima said:

This guy explains it quick and simple.

Basically better colors in very bright or very dark scenes. It offers a more natural and realistic picture output compared to standard dynamic range

Will do thank you

[xg32]

6 hours ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

.

It's recommended to leave hdr on in windows, w11 has better support than w10

 

currently most content is still on srgb, as time went on monitors are able to display more colors, hdr is essentially the p3 color space with monitors that are capable of displaying more colors with higher peak brightness and contrast.

 

The DWF is 95% p3 iirc, anything under 90 starts looking washed out.

most hdr content atm is just a filter on top of standard srgb, but it gets the job done (check out shadow of war monster hunter or skyrim hdr filters in sdr mode)

 

You can also try forcing adobe rgb on srgb content that doesn't support hdr for more saturated colors.

 

 

 

 

 

[ChaoticChaosx]

38 minutes ago, xg32 said:

It's recommended to leave hdr on in windows, w11 has better support than w10

 

currently most content is still on srgb, as time went on monitors are able to display more colors, hdr is essentially the p3 color space with monitors that are capable of displaying more colors with higher peak brightness and contrast.

 

The DWF is 95% p3 iirc, anything under 90 starts looking washed out.

most hdr content atm is just a filter on top of standard srgb, but it gets the job done (check out shadow of war monster hunter or skyrim hdr filters in sdr mode)

 

You can also try forcing adobe rgb on srgb content that doesn't support hdr for more saturated colors.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm running sRGB color space. Should I not be?

Yeah In RE4R looks pretty good, I think so anyway. The merchants flame is more bright and in the sewer level black don't look smeared around corners and walls.

[GuiltySpark_]

26 minutes ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

I'm running sRGB color space. Should I not be?

Yeah In RE4R looks pretty good, I think so anyway. The merchants flame is more bright and in the sewer level black don't look smeared around corners and walls.

Right click the desktop > Display Settings > ensure the display is selected and scroll down to Advanced display > screenshot.

[Doobeedoo]

In short higher color depth and contrast closer how we see in real life. 

[Stahlmann]

It isn't as simple as saying it's "brighter".

 

First off, HDR content can use wider color spaces like D65-P3 and Rec.2020 which then results in a higher possible color saturation. Some HDR content still only uses the sRGB color space.

 

But the main thing it does change is how brightness works. In HDR content, the content creator decides what brightness it should have. The brightness values are then embedded into the content and your display will then interpret this signal to display the exact brightness that is asked for. So if the content calls for 100 nits, the display should show 100 nits. In SDR on the other hand the brightness is basically just a relative percentage, meaning some displays will show 100 nits on a 50% brightness patch, while another display with the exact same signal might be showing 300 nits with 50% brightness.

 

A common misconception is that HDR content is just brighter. That's wrong. Depending on your monitor habits, HDR content might look significantly dimmer than your typical SDR content (if you always used your monitors maxed out in brightness). But HDR has the additional brightness headroom to make highlights really pop out compared to the rest of the scene.

 

If the whole screen is bright in a scene, a bright headlight won't stand out. (SDR)

 

But if the whole screen is dimmer, and the headlight is very bright, it will stand out significantly. If the monitor has enough brightness headroom, then these highlights ideally should have a slight "blinding" effect similar to when you look into a headlight or the sun for example. (No worries, displays are nowhere near the brightness to where they can really simluate looking into the sun, so no eye damaging side effects)

 

You can also say that HDR content might not always be more comfortable to look at because of the big changes in brightness from scene to scene (the dynamic range), but it's almost always closer to how we'd perceive it in reality.

 

For HDR content it's recommended that you are in a dark environment. Because of the way the brightness works, HDR content overall might look too dim for daylight viewing. SDR content with brightness turned up to 11 can look better in this situation.

 

 

TL;DR:

The gross oversimplification would be: It doesn't always look subjectively better compared to SDR, especially in a bright room. But it almost always looks more realistic. And in a dark room, it's a huge difference when it comes to immersion.

[xg32]

10 hours ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

I'm running sRGB color space. Should I not be?

Yeah In RE4R looks pretty good, I think so anyway. The merchants flame is more bright and in the sewer level black don't look smeared around corners and walls.

srgb is the intended color gamut for most sdr content, but outdated imho, most srgb mode on monitors do look accurate, but an overwhelming majority of people i talk to like their colors at least slightly oversaturated. The only content i use srgb for is multiplayer fps games, battlebit, battlefield, cod.

 

for nearly all single player games i use adobe rgb.

 

For streaming and some games (cyberpunk 2077 i use hdr p3), for playing blu rays i use either p3 or rec2020 depending on which one looks better, take game of thrones for example, p3 looks better for outdoor scenes and 2020 looks on indoor scenes.

 

For ur monitor, i think the hdr true black mode is suitable for nearly all content, anime still looks better on argb.

[Stahlmann]

Specifically for your monitor you should alwasy use the 1000 nits mode for HDR content. Provided you're running the latest firmware there is no difference other than the higher peak brightness. So don't limit your experience by using the 400 True Black mode. 400 nits is barely enough to make HDR content pop.

[ChaoticChaosx]

4 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

It isn't as simple as saying it's "brighter".

 

First off, HDR content can use wider color spaces like D65-P3 and Rec.2020 which then results in a higher possible color saturation. Some HDR content still only uses the sRGB color space.

 

But the main thing it does change is how brightness works. In HDR content, the content creator decides what brightness it should have. The brightness values are then embedded into the content and your display will then interpret this signal to display the exact brightness that is asked for. So if the content calls for 100 nits, the display should show 100 nits. In SDR on the other hand the brightness is basically just a relative percentage, meaning some displays will show 100 nits on a 50% brightness patch, while another display with the exact same signal might be showing 300 nits with 50% brightness.

 

A common misconception is that HDR content is just brighter. That's wrong. Depending on your monitor habits, HDR content might look significantly dimmer than your typical SDR content (if you always used your monitors maxed out in brightness). But HDR has the additional brightness headroom to make highlights really pop out compared to the rest of the scene.

 

If the whole screen is bright in a scene, a bright headlight won't stand out. (SDR)

 

But if the whole screen is dimmer, and the headlight is very bright, it will stand out significantly. If the monitor has enough brightness headroom, then these highlights ideally should have a slight "blinding" effect similar to when you look into a headlight or the sun for example. (No worries, displays are nowhere near the brightness to where they can really simluate looking into the sun, so no eye damaging side effects)

 

You can also say that HDR content might not always be more comfortable to look at because of the big changes in brightness from scene to scene (the dynamic range), but it's almost always closer to how we'd perceive it in reality.

 

For HDR content it's recommended that you are in a dark environment. Because of the way the brightness works, HDR content overall might look too dim for daylight viewing. SDR content with brightness turned up to 11 can look better in this situation.

 

 

TL;DR:

The gross oversimplification would be: It doesn't always look subjectively better compared to SDR, especially in a bright room. But it almost always looks more realistic. And in a dark room, it's a huge difference when it comes to immersion.

Thanks for the information makes sense. I just finished with the windows HDR calibration I think it's best I could do.

 

3 hours ago, xg32 said:

srgb is the intended color gamut for most sdr content, but outdated imho, most srgb mode on monitors do look accurate, but an overwhelming majority of people i talk to like their colors at least slightly oversaturated. The only content i use srgb for is multiplayer fps games, battlebit, battlefield, cod.

 

for nearly all single player games i use adobe rgb.

 

For streaming and some games (cyberpunk 2077 i use hdr p3), for playing blu rays i use either p3 or rec2020 depending on which one looks better, take game of thrones for example, p3 looks better for outdoor scenes and 2020 looks on indoor scenes.

 

For ur monitor, i think the hdr true black mode is suitable for nearly all content, anime still looks better on argb.

I'll switch it to see what I prefer I suppose. Thanks, I do like a little over saturated as well. So may switch back to DCI-P3. I don't mess with color management area so not what system default would be.

 

3 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Specifically for your monitor you should alwasy use the 1000 nits mode for HDR content. Provided you're running the latest firmware there is no difference other than the higher peak brightness. So don't limit your experience by using the 400 True Black mode. 400 nits is barely enough to make HDR content pop.

1000nits it is on now does look a good bit or colors pop in cyberpunk. I like either honestly maybe true black for dark games. I am running latest firmware. Came with my monitor so didn't need to update after all so that was nice to see.

[ChaoticChaosx]

13 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Right click the desktop > Display Settings > ensure the display is selected and scroll down to Advanced display > screenshot.

SDR & HDR I was using 10 bit but switched back as I don't really see a difference.

[GuiltySpark_]

You really should be set to 10-bit, as its a 10-bit display. HDR will require it anyway.

[ChaoticChaosx]

1 minute ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

You really should be set to 10-bit, as its a 10-bit display. HDR will require it anyway.

Will switch back just found this hardware unboxed video of "tips & tricks" for new monitor setup. Says recommends as well. Will do thank you. Everyone so helpful here much more than reddit. Hah.

[NobleGamer]

13 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

But HDR has the additional brightness headroom to make highlights really pop out compared to the rest of the scene.

...and this is why monitor testing of peak brightness of SDR versus HDR almost always results in higher peak nits, hence the perception that "that HDR content is just brighter" - Because it often is true at peak. Other than that, yes it depends on the scene.

 

On 11/26/2023 at 3:04 PM, ChaoticChaosx said:

Do I need to enable HDR on monitor, windows and in game?

I'll warn you that some games without HDR support will have abnormal colors with HDR enabled in Windows, and I dont know of a way to toggle HDR per game. Also I'm not sure if AutoHDR can detect which games don't support HDR, and thus "fixes" non-HDR games.

Symptoms I've experienced with some such games include:

• Muted brightness or contrast
• Flashing of bright white in certain scenes/actions
• Slight flickering of solid grey color, even without any form of Black Frame Insertion (aka ASUS' ELMB) enabled (I notice this with some games made with Unity engine)
• Totally distorted color pallette, nearly with negative/inverted colors

[GuiltySpark_]

9 minutes ago, NobleGamer said:

• Muted brightness or contrast
• Flashing of bright white in certain scenes/actions
• Slight flickering of solid grey color, even without any form of Black Frame Insertion (aka ASUS' ELMB) enabled (I notice this with some games made with Unity engine)
• Totally distorted color pallette, nearly with negative/inverted colors

Shame. I've had this C2 since January and played with HDR whenever possible and its been fantastic. Either native HDR titles or with AutoHDR. 

[Stahlmann]

On 11/28/2023 at 3:56 AM, NobleGamer said:

...and this is why monitor testing of peak brightness of SDR versus HDR almost always results in higher peak nits, hence the perception that "that HDR content is just brighter" - Because it often is true at peak. Other than that, yes it depends on the scene.

 

I'll warn you that some games without HDR support will have abnormal colors with HDR enabled in Windows, and I dont know of a way to toggle HDR per game. Also I'm not sure if AutoHDR can detect which games don't support HDR, and thus "fixes" non-HDR games.

First off, AutoHDR only works in DX11 and DX12 titles. Vulkan and games that use DX9 and older graphic API's don't support AutoHDR at all.

 

On Windows 11 there is an easy and quick way to toggle HDR with the Windows + Alt + B hotkey.

 

On 11/28/2023 at 3:56 AM, NobleGamer said:

Symptoms I've experienced with some such games include:

• Muted brightness or contrast
• Flashing of bright white in certain scenes/actions
• Slight flickering of solid grey color, even without any form of Black Frame Insertion (aka ASUS' ELMB) enabled (I notice this with some games made with Unity engine)
• Totally distorted color pallette, nearly with negative/inverted colors

Most - if not all - of these symptoms rely heavlily on the monitor in question. Some brands put more effort into HDR than others. The LG C2 i'm currently using has absolutely no problems running in HDR 24/7 even for games that don't support HDR or AutoHDR. There are no weird colors, low contrast etc. In my experience LG is by far the best display brand when it comes to software support and a general lack of software-related issues with their displays.

 

But if your display has issues with the SDR to HDR conversion, then it's recommended to use the shortcut i mentioned above and keep HDR disabled for SDR content.

 

 

I personally don't like AutoHDR. It is exactly what many people think of HDR, being just simply brighter SDR content. There is no higher dynamic range or wider color gamut. It's literally just the SDR content with "upscaled" brightness to match the same peak brightness as other HDR content. But since the whole scene gets brighter, it loses the impact that native HDR content brings. Additionally, it also can't differentiate between UI and the 3D-rendered scene, so if a game has white UI, it will always be blasting at full brightness, eg. 1000 nits on an HDR1000 monitor. In that case the UI actively takes away from the image quality, which is not what you want.

 

The AutoHDR feature is in no way a replacement for a good native HDR implementation is what i'm trying to say. And for that reason i've kept it disabled for the longest time. I'd rather play a game in good SDR than bad HDR.

[ChaoticChaosx]

22 hours ago, NobleGamer said:

...and this is why monitor testing of peak brightness of SDR versus HDR almost always results in higher peak nits, hence the perception that "that HDR content is just brighter" - Because it often is true at peak. Other than that, yes it depends on the scene.

 

I'll warn you that some games without HDR support will have abnormal colors with HDR enabled in Windows, and I dont know of a way to toggle HDR per game. Also I'm not sure if AutoHDR can detect which games don't support HDR, and thus "fixes" non-HDR games.

Symptoms I've experienced with some such games include:

• Muted brightness or contrast
• Flashing of bright white in certain scenes/actions
• Slight flickering of solid grey color, even without any form of Black Frame Insertion (aka ASUS' ELMB) enabled (I notice this with some games made with Unity engine)
• Totally distorted color pallette, nearly with negative/inverted colors

 

21 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Shame. I've had this C2 since January and played with HDR whenever possible and its been fantastic. Either native HDR titles or with AutoHDR. 

 

16 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

First off, AutoHDR only works in DX11 and DX12 titles. Vulkan and games that use DX9 and older don't support AutoHDR at all.

 

On Windows 11 there is an easy and quick way to toggle HDR with the Windows + Alt + B hotkey.

 

Most - if not all - of these symptoms rely heavlily on the monitor in question. Some brands put more effort into HDR than others. The LG C2 i'm currently using has absolutely no problems running in HDR 24/7 even for games that don't support HDR or AutoHDR. There are no weird colors, low contrast etc. In my experience LG is by far the best display brand when it comes to software support and a general lack of software-related issues with their displays.

 

But if your display has issues with the SDR to HDR conversion, then it's recommended to use the shortcut i mentioned above and keep HDR disabled for SDR content.

 

 

I personally don't like AutoHDR. It is exactly what many people think of HDR, being just simply brighter SDR content. There is no higher dynamic range or wider color gamut. It's literally just the SDR content with "upscaled" brightness to match the same peak brightness as other HDR content. But since the whole scene gets brighter, it loses the impact that native HDR content brings. Additionally, it also can't differentiate between UI and the 3D-rendered scene, so if a game has white UI, it will always be blasting at full brightness, eg. 1000 nits on an HDR1000 monitor. In that case the UI actively takes away from the image quality, which is not what you want.

 

The AutoHDR feature is in no way a replacement for a good native HDR implementation is what i'm trying to say. And for that reason i've kept it disabled for the longest time. I'd rather play a game in good SDR than bad HDR.

Thanks again guys! Truly helped. Got HDR looking right. Popping colors and dark darks. No banding experienced so far. I run SDR when online and watching youtube or tv shows. Works fine as of now. Appreciate the information so much.

[GuiltySpark_]

3 minutes ago, ChaoticChaosx said:

 

 

Thanks again guys! Truly helped. Got HDR looking right. Popping colors and dark darks. No banding experienced so far. I run SDR when online and watching youtube or tv shows. Works fine as of now. Appreciate the information so much.

Definitely play with the SDR brightness slider in the HDR settings. I run mine at 25 simply to help with panel longevity. HDR content is unaffected by it but since you're viewing SDR content 90% of the time, it helps.