topic Re: HDR content darker and washed out in Android TV

HDR content darker and washed out

Pucker---Up — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 10:20:38 GMT

I've been watching some videos on my 55XE9005 using the SmartYoutubeTV app as discussed in the other large thread.

This is my first HDR experience but I'm sure something isn't right. When I load up the HDR stream and the TV changes to HDR mode (as indicated in the picture settings) it appears like the brightness drops and everything looks LESS contrasty and washed out. When I switch the stream over to the SDR 4k option and the TV drops out of HDR, the overall brightness is noticeably higher and everything appears more contrasty.

I have brightness set to max for both modes and am using the Cinema Home picture mode.

This behaviour is basically the opposite of what I expected from the HDR stream, I thought the whole point was it should be brighter, higher contrast and more colour pop than the SDR equivalent but that doesn't seem to be the case

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Jecht_Sin — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 06:34:19 GMT

@Pucker---Up It has been discussed in this page of the main "HDR on YouTube" thread. Simply S-YouTube TV, when playing HDR content, uses the colour space BT.709 instead of BT.2020. Try to manually switch the Colour Extension in your settings from AUTO to BT.2020 and you should see the real deal.

I personally believe this is one of the reasons why the official YouTube app fails to show HDR content. The issue has been reported to the S-YouTube TV developer in Github, but it may not be fixed on the app, it should be the VP9.2 decoder broken. I get the same issue when playing with Plex downloaded HDR videos from YouTube.

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

marcobremb — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 17:31:20 GMT

After the update I found out that TV doesn't change automatically picture settings between SDR and HDR channels using the internal tuner

With HDMI no problems, but with digital tv there is now this bug

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Pucker---Up — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 23:02:47 GMT

Yes, I did make the change manually but it still seems worse than the SDR content, which can't be right. Switching manually to 2020 does help with the colours, but not the brightness. I can tell when the TV flickers as it switches between SDR and HDR the brightness (as in backlight strength) just seems lower for HDR despite it definitely being set to Max for both modes.

Admittedly when watching HDR content on Netflix (which does automatically switch to BT.2020) it doesn't seem as bad, but then I'm not able to immediately switch to the SDR stream like I could in SmartYoutubeTV to compare like for like.

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

MiCal1967 — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:03:12 GMT

Same thing for SES UHD DEMO Satellite CHANNEL.

Picture is washed out, fade and cannot be adjusted.

Picture settings from Action Menu:

Picture mode: HDR Video(fade and cannot be adjusted)

Brightness: Max

Contrast: Max

Gamma: Max

Light sensor: fade and cannot be adjusted

All Advanced settings affect almost nothing in picture except from Clearness which has a better picture in Min instead of default 2.

Does this happen to all ATV1 or ATV2 or later too? Or it is a transmittion issue? Don't remember this picture before Nougat

KD-55X8508C

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

stormyuk — Sat, 30 Jun 2018 11:54:42 GMT

@Pucker---Up wrote:

I have brightness set to max for both modes and am using the Cinema Home picture mode.

That's your problem I think, SDR content on these XEs should be between 10 and 20 for brightness. If you are viewing SDR content at max brightness you will get the behaviour you describe .

The whole pop to max brightness settings in HDR to max is the point. The TVs got nowhere to go with your settings in terms of brightness.

I am very happy with HDR content on my XE90.

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Yuanunsin007 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 14:53:37 GMT

Your issue might be that gamma is set too high. It needs to be set to the middle setting.

Try these settings. Might not be your model but good starting point

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sony-xbr-65x900f-lcd-ultra-hdtv-review-settings

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:36:37 GMT

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:41:29 GMT

MY SONY KD49XG9005B HDR TV HAS WASHED OUT RESOLUTION IN HDR MODE AS WELL

AS DOLBY VISION WHEN WATCHING 4KUHD MOVIES BUT SUPERB IMAGES WATCHING ORDINARY BLU-RAYS

WHATS THE REMEDY?

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 08:40:07 GMT

MY KD49XG9005B TV GOES MISTY GREY WHEN SWITCHING TO

HDR MODE 4 UHD 4K MOVIES ALSO COLOURS FADE AND SHARPNESS DETERIOATES AND DOLBY VISION ASWELL

HAS THE SAME EFFECT BUT BRAVIA MODE SEEMS TO BE ALRIGHT

ANY IDEAS??

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

rooobb — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 08:54:14 GMT

@Kontiki1977 are you aware the writing in uppercase is like shouting on a forum?

You have to specifiy first of all which content are you looking at on which platform . Then we can check which image setting you have on your tv. But respect is the first thing

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 15:37:16 GMT

hi,rooob

appologies for caps

to buisness watching 4k uhd with hdr on my kdxg9005b tv having set hdr mode,dolby vision

mode to on image is 50% less colour,less sharp,allot dimmer generally a picture that look like

something resembling an early colour production watching in bravia mode is brilliant so to sum up

i can only tolerate Bravia mode at present. lok forward to you input.

thanks Paul...

P.S the above topic is 4k uhd blu-rays with hdr resolution

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

rooobb — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 15:50:59 GMT

Sorry @Kontiki1977 I have some problem in understanding your english, maybe you are not mother tongue as well as me

Trying to recap, I'm missing some part... you cannot set the tv to Dolby Vision in any way, that's right? Your Tv switchs to DV only automatically as soon as it detect a DV feed. So on the other side you are using an UHD Bluray player (which one?) with a DV UH disk? Is the BD player set to display DV?

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 21:14:37 GMT

HI,rooobb

you know my tv model already my disc player is a SONY UBP X800M2 with the latest

software update and 18gbps HDMI leads im no tech wizzard but when i set my disc

player to either HDR or DV the results are the same screen res goes a sort of misty

grey and all picture settings contrast,colour,hue,sharpness,degrades by at least 50%

also my tv is set to auto detect DV. only HDR is ajustable settings are HDR,HDR10,HLG

or just off its

very frustrating can"t enjoy HDR or D/VISION quality where am i going wrong can you

help ?? thankyou

PS Im routing my d/player via my sony av reciever it supports all formats sony STR-DH790CEK

does this matter?

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

rooobb — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 22:35:38 GMT

AFAIK your av receiver does not support Dolby vision, so you won't be able to see any dolby vision content through it. I suggest you start connecting your BDP directly to the tv and if you want still enjoy lossless audio connect the HDMI audio output only to the receiver too.

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

rooobb — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 22:37:56 GMT

Than maybe is only a silly suggestion, I hope you are aware that you can enjoy HDR only if you have an HDR content. so you can set your bdp to dolby vision only if you have an UHD dolby vision encoded disk playing into it. Tha same is true for HDR10 content

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Kontiki1977 — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:17:38 GMT

HI,rooobb

Ive tried connecting bdp direct to tv no joy same result my AV STRDH790 does support D/VISION PASS THRU

and also HDCP2.2 content at all HDMI ports latest software is installed Im guessing Im not meant to enjoy

HDR /D/VISION unless Im doing something stupid and not regonising simple settings. Bravia Mode in bdp

screen settings isseems to the trick but not sure it reproduces HDR -D/V resolution.await your ideas.

thankyou...

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

rooobb — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:22:36 GMT

HI @Kontiki1977 I do not see in the specification nor in any firmware updgrade that your AV receiver support Dolby Vision. Atmos for Audio but not Vision for Video.

Nonetheless if you connected the BDP directly to the TV it doesn't matter.

Let's try to do a step back: which UHD BD encoded in Dolby Vision you are trying to display?

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

sjd10001 — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 19:41:32 GMT

I have the same issue Sony AF8. Nothing booked up other than Sonos Beam. Dolby Vision via Netflix App displaying Dolby Vision is awful. I just thought that was what HDR/Dolby Vision was like. Not impressed. Not until I recently purchased an A8 that I really saw what HDR was about. Wow. The difference between two sets is staggering.

Checked some other apps eg Disney + and it's same for Dolby Vision only. HDR10 is ok. Still not a patch on my new A8.

Any help appreciated

Re: HDR content darker and washed out

Win_88 — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 15:32:26 GMT

Hi @sjd10001

Due to the way HDR works, the peak brightness drops when it's actually in use, so losing some brightness is expected. On the other hand, it's also perfectly normal to find the menus and all other content to be washed out and "not looking right" when HDR is enabled. This is because the screen basically displays the colours in a different way that is supposed to make HDR look good, but the rest of the user interface elements will look grayish.

If the issue you're facing is different, let us know more about it. Also, nothing will serve to bring the point across like pics/video.

Win_88