Nvidia rigged their HDR demo to trick people - straight up

[moonbogg]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgBzpYTn_8c

Just watch it. I know HDR has the potential to be great for gaming, but its dependent on not only game support, but some subjective programming of the game's colors by a game artist. The results ended up being worse on the HDR version of the game than the standard version, so Nvidia simply cheated and nerfed the monitor settings for the regular panel to make sure it looked as washed out as possible in comparison to the super expensive HDR monitor.
The only benefit I see for HDR monitors for gaming is possibly a better backlight uniformity due to all the LED zones, but the HDR aspect of the whole thing is premature and just a gimmick for now.

 

[HurleyBird]

Not surprising in the slightest, unfortunately.

That said, I'm not sure I agree that the SDR screen looked better after fixing it. That, and it's hard to make comparisons from a youtube video in the first place.

 

[naruto uzumaki]

Thats pretty redacted. Thats why i will always choose gtx over Nvidia's redacted






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[Bacon1]

I wonder if they also factory reset the HDR panel or if it had some messed up settings as well. It definitely looked semi washed out as they mentioned the colors weren't as vibrant. I did like the darker darks but the whole scene was just darker overall as well which seems.. "wrong".

Sadly it seems like HDR is going to have very (s)low adoption rate.

 

[tamz_msc]

I bet I can make any Dell Ultrasharp look better than both of those monitors in the comparison. HDR implementation of Mass Effect Andromeda is of questionable quality.

Witcher 3 would have been a better fit for showcasing the capabilities of HDR, if it was supported that is.

 

[AdamK47]

I've viewed HDR in LCD displays as a way to circumvent the shortcomings of the technology. It's an artificial means of generating higher contrast, brightness, and color grades. I'd rather they spend resources on developing better panels that incorporate greater standard viewing quality.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I've viewed HDR in LCD displays as a way to circumvent the shortcomings of the technology. It's an artificial means of generating higher contrast, brightness, and color grades. I'd rather they spend resources on developing better panels that incorporate greater standard viewing quality.

I agree.
Panels with natural higher contrast levels will automatically allow for more hdr type range.

 

[moonbogg]

I've viewed HDR in LCD displays as a way to circumvent the shortcomings of the technology. It's an artificial means of generating higher contrast, brightness, and color grades. I'd rather they spend resources on developing better panels that incorporate greater standard viewing quality.

I agree. I think HDR is best handled by OLED.

 

[nurturedhate]

Looks fantastic on my Samsung KS8500 w/ Horizon Zero Dawn. ME:A's implementation is lacking.

As an aside, I really wish we could get some image quality tests for video cards like we use to get 15-20 years ago. It's been forever since I've seen a decent review containing such info. I don't need it for ever release but it would be beneficial on release for new uarch or major driver changes.

 

[xorbe]

If you think about what HDR really is in the photography world, it's doesn't really apply to PC gaming, so the whole HDR thing is rather gimmicky by definition. What is HDR photography that makes those cool looking photos? It's several shots composited such that various areas have a local contrast. There is really no equivalent in PC game rendering since image creation is already under strict control of the application. So all that is left is for marketing to reduce saturation and play with contrast, in an attempt to make one image look more "defined". Yes you can have a display with deep blacks / bright whites / excellent contrast, but HDR really applies to photographic image acquisition, not the display. Otherwise, how are you viewing those cool HDR photos years ago already? Because it wasn't dependent on your display or video card.

 

[NTMBK]

If you think about what HDR really is in the photography world, it's doesn't really apply to PC gaming, so the whole HDR thing is rather gimmicky by definition. What is HDR photography that makes those cool looking photos? It's several shots composited such that various areas have a local contrast. There is really no equivalent in PC game rendering since image creation is already under strict control of the application. So all that is left is for marketing to reduce saturation and play with contrast, in an attempt to make one image look more "defined". Yes you can have a display with deep blacks / bright whites / excellent contrast, but HDR really applies to photographic image acquisition, not the display. Otherwise, how are you viewing those cool HDR photos years ago already? Because it wasn't dependent on your display or video card.

What we usually think of as "HDR" is actually tone-mapping an HDR image into the SDR range. An HDR display is actually displaying an HDR range. Two very different things.

 

[xorbe]

What we usually think of as "HDR" is actually tone-mapping an HDR image into the SDR range. An HDR display is actually displaying an HDR range. Two very different things.

Exactly, I agree. The point is that games can just do tone mapping from the get go, there's nothing special that is needed from either vendor to achieve said effect. This is just marketing.

 

[Dribble]

Exactly, I agree. The point is that games can just do tone mapping from the get go, there's nothing special that is needed from either vendor to achieve said effect. This is just marketing.

No that's wrong. The game with SDR isn't displaying the correct colours, they've adjusted the contrast range to fit the display. HDR actually displays what the game wants it to display, SDR's tone mapping replaces it with something else (or all your glowy stuff would white out, and all your dark stuff would look too black).

As for showing off HDR, yes Nvidia marketing cheated, but tbh it's pretty hard to market something to an internet audience that you can't see. E.g. a youtube video being viewed by someone with an SDR display can't show off HDR because you are viewing it on a display hasn't got the dynamic range.