Who's using HDR?

[StingingVelvet]

I'm kinda going back and forth on HDR in this game. It absolutely adds a lot of depth and nice highlights, but it is also one of the dimmer games I've seen (on a good OLED don't at me about nits) and the blacks are absolutely raised into grey a lot of the time. SDR mode is much more high contrast.

Just curious what others decided on.

[Carighan]

I have not dabbled with HDR since getting this monitor two years ago, playing around with it in a bunch of media including games, and being quite disappointed by the effect. Interestingly I like it on my TV, but in video games it's just... naff?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally posted by Carighan:

I have not dabbled with HDR since getting this monitor two years ago, playing around with it in a bunch of media including games, and being quite disappointed by the effect. Interestingly I like it on my TV, but in video games it's just... naff?

Yeah it's really all over the place in games. With movies it's an improvement 99% of the time but a lot of developers don't understand HDR I think and they just kill all the contrast.

This game has some of that for sure, if you switch back and forth with SDR and HDR you'll see really dark areas in caves go from pitch black to a dull grey. However it's also true that it'll make the interior of a house much darker than the light in the doorway without losing detail. It's really 50/50 in this game.

[joridiculous]

HDR looks pretty ok on my monitor. (Qled)
But anything you want to "examine" is impossible too see unless you are in the correct angle towards a strong light. Even the map is hard too see many times.

Im more disappointed with Path Tracing. That one is really messed up. But where it works it looks pretty darned good.

[NitekPL]

$5 inch Oled here. It seems like I never get very bright highlights. It's oposite to Cyberpunk or Horizon games where HDR shines. Here the hdr implementation is not that impressive. I don't even see any big changes when I set the bar to 10000 nits :]

In conclusion - I have the same feelings as you. Dark, grayish, meh. :]

[smidlee]

My experience with HDR in pc games have been a mixed bag.

[bshock]

I'm playing it on an AW3225QF OLED and it looks OK. Not the best use of HDR but the blacks are solid enough. It definitely looks better than running in SDR.

[Frag Maniac]

I find it looks noticeably worse without it, and it's kind of nice you don't have to enable it in Windows before launching the game. Of course mileage is going to vary depending on the display you have.

[szatax]

G28I play HDR on VG28UQL1A, it handles transitions from dark to light and vice versa much better. Unfortunately, from time to time the game exits to the desktop, so the game resets the settings to FHD and turns off HDR. I'm currently looking for some error reporting options for this game, or a guide on what to turn off to eliminate the problem.

[Molesworth.Houghton]

When i switch Windows as well as my Display to HDR mode, does games uses HDR, too.? Or do i also have to activate it inside the game menu ? Thanks for reply.

[PostalGibbon]

Originally posted by Molesworth.Houghton:

When i switch Windows as well as my Display to HDR mode, does games uses HDR, too.? Or do i also have to activate it inside the game menu ? Thanks for reply.

I think every game in windows requires to toggle HDR on in the game options.
All the HDR games also require the windows HDR mode on before you turn the ingame HDR on.
only exception that i know to this rule is ME Andromeda which had HDR that turned windows HDR on by itself while ingame so you did not toggle HDR on before starting the game.

[szatax]

I have HDR turned on permanently and in the game I have to turn it on anyway. I don't know about others.

[PostalGibbon]

In my current gaming PC i have two screens, Philips Oled 4k 42" and Samsung Neo G9 curved 49" 5120x1440 res ultrawide (miniled with 2048 dimming zones not the qd-oled version)

I prefer sRGB colorspace over rec2020 HDR.
Simple reason really is that half ass design of the windows HDR mode which have to be always on or off.

You have to always remember to turn it on before starting the game or leave it always on and suffer washed picture in desktop when windows feeds sRGB signal to HDR mode.
Just leaving it off it is not worth the trouble for me.

However on the ps5/xbox HDR works just fine it is content detection that turn HDR on or off.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally posted by bshock:

I'm playing it on an AW3225QF OLED and it looks OK. Not the best use of HDR but the blacks are solid enough. It definitely looks better than running in SDR.

I'm leaning toward HDR but the blacks in SDR are way punchier and the bright desert day looks a lot brighter. HDR adds a lot of subtlety that helps the visuals though, like when light peeks into a cave and whatnot. It's really a mixed bag IMO.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally posted by PostalGibbon:

I prefer sRGB colorspace over rec2020 HDR.
Simple reason really is that half ass design of the windows HDR mode which have to be always on or off.

You have to always remember to turn it on before starting the game or leave it always on and suffer washed picture in desktop when windows feeds sRGB signal to HDR mode.
Just leaving it off it is not worth the trouble for me.

I find HDR in HGIG mode on my ASUS OLED to be fine for desktop use. If I wanna watch an SDR video or something I'll probably turn it off, but for normal use like posting here right now I just leave HDR on.

If you don't use HGIG though it might be blowing out the highlights in games and making your desktop look like a nuke's going off.

P.S. You know you can turn HDR on and off with win-alt-b right? Takes like two seconds, can even do it in-game.

[PostalGibbon]

Originally posted by StingingVelvet:

Originally posted by PostalGibbon:

I prefer sRGB colorspace over rec2020 HDR.
Simple reason really is that half ass design of the windows HDR mode which have to be always on or off.

You have to always remember to turn it on before starting the game or leave it always on and suffer washed picture in desktop when windows feeds sRGB signal to HDR mode.
Just leaving it off it is not worth the trouble for me.

I find HDR in HGIG mode on my ASUS OLED to be fine for desktop use. If I wanna watch an SDR video or something I'll probably turn it off, but for normal use like posting here right now I just leave HDR on.

If you don't use HGIG though it might be blowing out the highlights in games and making your desktop look like a nuke's going off.

P.S. You know you can turn HDR on and off with win-alt-b right? Takes like two seconds, can even do it in-game.

Win+alt+b shortcut i did not know that, thanks i have to test that how it will work on different HDR enabled games.

That being said i have never been big fan of the HDR it was not for me that big wow! factor same as 4k resolution.

Only time when i did say WOW! was when i did saw bluray and full hd first time at my home in 130" white screen and fullhd JVC DILA projector that was a wow!.

I like more of the 2,2 or or 2,3 gamma calibrated sRGB because of the more dark kinda feeling picture compared to more brighter HDR that in my experience lose the darker tone of the image.

And Oled (woled) brightness leaves a lot to be desired HDR or even sGRB color output when you compare it to qd-oled or even to this miniled backlighted VA panel that NEO G9 has.