To HDR or not HDR, that is the question...

[VBR]

4K is arguably a good improvement over 2K (1080p/HD), especially on larger screens or for those of us who sit very near to our screens to game. However, I have heard of people not liking HDR and prefering SDR. What's your opinion; is High Dynamic Range just a gimmick? Or, is it the future for all games and visual content? Does it work in some games and not in others? Discuss...

 

[PletdeKoe]

HDR is very specific to the television or monitor you have and the application that uses it. It didn’t really click for me, untill I got an LG oled television with the ps5. It looks fantastic.

 

[lancia delta hf]

I tried HDR on Horizon zero dawn, I have a very nice Sony 55 inch which has been professionally calibrated and has an amazing picture, but I cant say I liked the HDR in Horizon so have it switched off.

 

[VBR]

I tried HDR on Horizon zero dawn, I have a very nice Sony 55 inch which has been professionally calibrated and has an amazing picture, but I cant say I liked the HDR in Horizon so have it switched off.

Interesting. I have a budget 4K HDR TV (UE40MU6120), and I tried GT Sport with HDR on as well as off but didn't notice that much difference, although I slightly prefer the HDR setting when playing. I did notice that the HDR setting made the dark grey colour on the home screen a lighter grey. I also tried Horizon Zero Dawn, but only on HDR, so can't comment on that. I noticed that the PS4's default blue background colour looked brighter/lighter and more vibrant, but on my entry level TV I'm not really getting much of a wow factor with most things. I did watch some 4K HDR fireworks display videos on YouTube, and noticed that some of the explosions were brighter. Very happy with the TV overall though, as it is a big improvement over my old 720p screen.

 

[sesselpupser]

Interesting. I have a budget 4K HDR TV (UE40MU6120), and I tried GT Sport with HDR on as well as off but didn't notice that much difference, although I slightly prefer the HDR setting when playing. I did notice that the HDR setting made the dark grey colour on the home screen a lighter grey. I also tried Horizon Zero Dawn, but only on HDR, so can't comment on that. I noticed that the PS4's default blue background colour looked brighter/lighter and more vibrant, but on my entry level TV I'm not really getting much of a wow factor with most things. I did watch some 4K HDR fireworks display videos on YouTube, and noticed that some of the explosions were brighter. Very happy with the TV overall though, as it is a big improvement over my old 720p screen.

I've got a similar TV, a UE40MU6400, and similarly saw zero difference with HDR on except some clouds in Death Stranding. Our TVs have edge lit panels, though, so HDR on them is only just slightly better than being merely compatible with HDR signals, a TV with full array local dimming would look significantly better because it can actually dim the backlight selectively whereas an edge lit panel is pretty much a global effect which is just not what HDR is supposed to be. Samsung themselves have started making OLED TVs now because even they can't deny that OLED is the future, but their QLED displays with "quantum dots" and now mini- and micro-LED do look great with HDR content.

HDR on OLED TVs looks even better because every pixel is its own backlight so you get a much smoother HDR effect; an LCD TV with a FALD backlight can only dim a certain number of zones so depending on the content you might even see the edges of those zones.

This explains it better: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reference/what-is-a-fald-backlight-a-basic-definition

 

[VBR]

HDR, as regards colour, can be a bit of a con according to this article: https://pointerclicker.com/is-hdr-8bit-or-10bit/

I just found out that my TV is 8 bit, and it doesn't even support FRC.