Different colour output between HDMI and DVI (same card)

[otheos]

I use this Asus HD4670 on my HTPC connected to my Sony 40S3000 via HDMI.

The card has both HDMI and DVI connections. When I use a DVI-HDMI cable, Catalysts identifies the TV as DVI and colours are great.

If I use ATI's DVI-to-HDMI dongle (supports audio over HDMI) and an HDMI cable the TV is identified as HDMI and colours are bad. Dark ones are almost black and bright ones are washed out.

Same if I use the native HDMI output straight with HDMI cable. Catalysts sees the TV as HDMI and sends wrong colours.

So how can I trick catalyst to send the same colours to the TV over HDMI that it sends over DVI.

I would gladly use DVI but I would lose Audio.

Now having looked in to it, this problem most probably has to do with the 0-255 and 16-235 colour spaces that are messed up. Catalyst 8.12 can change from PC to Studio colours only this makes absolutely no difference. The TV too has options between Wide and normal colours with very little effect.

My conlusion is that as soon as Catalyst thinks that an HDTV is connected (HDMI) it sends different colours to what it sends to a standard monitor that connects usually through DVI. The question is how to change that.

Thanks.

 

[Viper GTS]

As soon as I hit the part about dark and light areas I reached the same conclusion you did.

I did a little looking & found this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb...wthread.php?p=14254605

"Video levels" and "blacker than black" (BTB) and "whiter than white" (WTW) are the search terms you should be looking for if you want to continue this search further.

Do you use a receiver? If so use SPDIF audio output instead of HDMI. If you're going to a TV with intent to use the TV's speakers why not just pass 2.0 audio via analog?

Viper GTS

 

[otheos]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have also posted on avsforum and have been through all the mumbo jumbo of colour spaces and wow, I mean why can't some things work by themselves.

Anyhow, no I don't use a decoder, the card plugs straight to the TV. I am using spdif from my HTPC to my receiver and I can use analog audio for the TV however the quality (mainly levels) of audio is so much better with HDMI. When I playback a DTS movie the sound is converted to stereo much better than over the sound card. Don't ask me why, I am deep enough into colour spaces to start digging audio conversions.

Anyone else seen anything similar?

Thanks again (looking at that thread you just posted)

 

[Viper GTS]

ATI is actually trying to do you a favor here - Not many TV's can accept full 0-255 levels. It would be far better to make it user selectable, I can understand defaulting to this but the lack of an override is inexcusable.

What kind of source material are you having audio problems with? DVI to HDMI cable for video and SPDIF to your receiver should work beautifully unless you're trying to pass some high definition audio formats (from BD or HD DVD).

Viper GTS

 

[smoke123]

sigh i wud do ANYTHING for just good colors

i have the 32s300A sony bravia...and im using a DVI-HDMI cable 1.3....and the colors are washed out...

as in i can easily tell my reds are more RED on vga...but less on the dvi-hdmi connection...


pls PLS tell me what i need to do in order to get the same color quality i do on the vga otheos

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Check the HDMI Level setting on the TV: There is Full and Limited.
A PC will use Full. Anything else should use limited.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: gersson
Check the HDMI Level setting on the TV: There is Full and Limited.
A PC will use Full. Anything else should use limited.

Not always, my Samsung Plasma looks much better when the PS3 is set to output 0-255 rather than 16-235.

 

[smoke123]

sigh...i have no such "HDMI"settings allowed on the sony bravia such as FULL or limited...

tbh the settings i have or am allowed to have are the same as when i plug in thru a vga funnily enough...
this means the hdtv recognizes it is a pc connecting thru the hdmi port....*it even says that some of the options such as (mpeg noise reduction) and "advanced settings" cannot be selected while in pc mode...

this leaves me to conclude either it is a cable issue...although i dont see how a digital cable can make a difference with color

or my hdtv on hdmi ...even if recognizing it is connected thru a pc will still use a 16-235 color setting