Windows HDR On Or Off

[adamf154]

So I bought my first 4k tv with dolby vision the other week and I also had to get a 2.0 hdmi lead so it worked properly, my films are mixed between hdr, hdr10 and dolby vision and ive been reading up on dolby vision and it looks like no media players can play them as dv so at atm ill be getting them as hdr 10, I have 4 players which im using to check things out, mpc (which ive been using for years), vlc, and films and tv and movie player from windows

When I was checking through my hdr movies mpc player always went to a black screen for about 5 seconds then the player started, the others didnt and thats when I found windows HDR, mpc would always turn windows hdr on before it started a movie, you can them turn it off if you want, that’s when I became aware of windows HDR and to be honest im not really impressed, so I looked it up to find out about it, so my screen was bright and colourful then I turned on hdr then it wasn’t, as most of you probably know its grey and dull when you turn it on, so I started checking films with it on and off with all the players some are brighter than others some are just way to dark with it on and brighten up when its off, so I don’t really know what is supposed to be the best, it is quite annoying and some of the players start to change when a film is on either going brighter or darker which is quite annoying

I do have a workaround though I have an old 2.5” hdd with a sata to usb wire, so I put a dv film on it and hooked it up to the tv and it recognized it straight away and I clicked on the film and it came up dv in the corner and on the control panel so I know it at least works and I can also watch the other films like that if I want, its obviously not as controllable as a player on the pc but I would be getting them in their true form unlike jusat now when I don’t really know what should be best

Im on windoiws 11 with a gtx 1660 gpu

So what does everyone do with hdr keep it on or off and what players do you find is best to play the true hdr and is there anything else you tweek to make the colour better

Thanks

[johns0]

Did you mean you bought your first 4k computer monitor?

[usually_quiet]

Windows HDR should be on if the computer is connected to a display that is able to use HDR10.

There is a free Dolby Vision Extensions app available from the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and 11: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/dolby-vision-extensions/9PLTG1LWPHLF I read that it allows the Windows Movies and TV app to send Dolby Vision data to a 4K TV that supports Dolby Vision if the GPU and its drivers are s compatible. I think your graphics card should be compatible.

[adamf154]

Did you mean you bought your first 4k computer monitor?

no i dont mean that

[adamf154]

Windows HDR should be on if the computer is connected to a display that is able to use HDR10.

There is a free Dolby Vision Extensions app available from the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and 11: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/dolby-vision-extensions/9PLTG1LWPHLF I read that it allows the Windows Movies and TV app to send Dolby Vision data to a 4K TV that supports Dolby Vision if the GPU and its drivers are s compatible. I think your graphics card should be compatible.

yeah i tried that last week, and like alot of the reviews absoute rubbish, i dont see any change and im not sure the app even works, and it doesnt send dv to my tv, the tv mode should allow you to watch in dv light or dv dark and ive not had that on any app, i have the latest drivers for my gpu it obviously isnt compatible if that is a factor

[usually_quiet]

Windows HDR should be on if the computer is connected to a display that is able to use HDR10.

There is a free Dolby Vision Extensions app available from the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and 11: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/dolby-vision-extensions/9PLTG1LWPHLF I read that it allows the Windows Movies and TV app to send Dolby Vision data to a 4K TV that supports Dolby Vision if the GPU and its drivers are s compatible. I think your graphics card should be compatible.

yeah i tried that last week, and like alot of the reviews absoute rubbish, i dont see any change and im not sure the app even works, and it doesnt send dv to my tv, the tv mode should allow you to watch in dv light or dv dark and ive not had that on any app, i have the latest drivers for my gpu it obviously isnt compatible if that is a factor

There are media player apps that can simulate HDR10 on a non-HDR display using tone mapping. However, I haven't seen any media player software that can simulate Dolby Vision on a non-Dolby Vision display. Since the display itself must do the processing for Dolby Vision, the OS and the GPU must have the ability to pass the Dolby Vision data through to the TV. So, yes the GPU is a factor.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what will work to get DV out from a PC based on personal experience. I don't have a 4K HDR TV yet and my PC monitor can only process HDR10. I don't have a discrete graphics card on any of my current PCs. I'm using the built-in iGPUs on 8th, 10th, and 11th-generation Intel processors.

[adamf154]

i have attached a couple of pics of independence day which is just hdr, on mpc and vlc i have hdr on and hdr off both look a bit brighter with hdr on but vls is brighter than both the mpc versions, so im thinking vls might be the best player, but ive checked a couple of other films and some are really dark

[usually_quiet]

VLC performs tone-mapping to simulate HDR if HDR is turned off in Windows 10/11 or the PC is connected to a display that can't process HDR10 metadata.

MPC-HC requires the use of MadVR to allow HDR-pass through to a display that supports HDR or apply tone-mapping to simulate HDR for a display that only supports SDR. Without MadVR, MPC-HC can only display a faded picture when playing video with HDR10 metadata. On the other hand, MPC-BE seems to handle HDR just like VLC does without using MadVR.

[adamf154]

ive heard of madvr was looking it up the other day, ive not downloaded it, not sure if it comes with the codec pack ive got but ill download it tomorrow and see what the difference is, im not sure if i can check my pc to see if i already have it installed, ok scrub that ive just found it, ill look up how to use it tomorrow