[PC Gamer] Your Nvidia card may not be giving full RGB over HDMI, test and fix

[Silverforce11]

Not to mention you would have to have bought a monitor that can actually display those lower blacks. That excludes all the cheap rubbish.

Its a storm in a glass of water.

All my el-cheapo BenQ or Samsung 1080p monitors can distinctly show the difference with those deeper blacks, but only on my Radeons. :/

It sure is a storm in a teacup, for those who are unaware, blissfully enjoying their washed out images for years.

Luckily NV disagrees with you, and they are going to fix it.

 

[Gikaseixas]

I personally prefer DVI but with HDMI features i'm slowly moving all of my displays to HDMI. I have 2 pc's with DVI and 2 with HDMI inputs.

It's nice to Nvidia finally addressing this. About time.

Don't understand NV defense force stance here. You guys should be thankful for this and not defend a company at all costs.

 

[96Firebird]

Guess I'm safe, both my monitors are connected via DVI, and my TV is HDMI.

 

[hawtdawg]

This probably would have been noticed a long time ago if people didn't already expect such [Redacted] blacks out of an LCD.



Profanity is not allowed in the technical forums.

-Rvenger

 

[cusideabelincoln]

This probably would have been noticed a long time ago if people didn't already expect such [Redacted] blacks out of an LCD.

Heh, yeah. I can easily see the difference in the whites but can barely tell the difference in the black column.

 

[SlowSpyder]

nVidia cards give full RGB range when the card is detected to a TV.
There is only a problem if you connect the card to a pc monitor over HDMI.

So i guess AMD user should only use HDMI from now on, too?

Sounds like a problem for many thousands if not millions of gamers, then.

 

[Creig]

This probably would have been noticed a long time ago if people didn't already expect such [REDACTED] blacks out of an LCD.

I wonder how many people assumed it was the panel at fault when it was actually their GeForce video card?

 

[Rvenger]

Reopened - If I see anymore arguing I am resorting straight to infractions. I am done playing games.

-Rvenger

 

[tidy]

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[Annisman*]

^^ If you see four distinct squares, you are fine.

I knew the "faded" image out from my GTX 670 wasn't normal when my 7950 at the opposite rig was much more vibrant. I thought its probably the calibration of NV's drivers and didn't think much of it..

All I can see is a giant black rectangle....soooo what does that mean for me

 

[AnandThenMan]

All I can see is a giant black rectangle....soooo what does that mean for me

Your monitor is turned off.

 

[master_shake_]

gonna have to agree with shintai.

the most common display cables for anything to do with nvidia are DVI cables.

who uses hdmi on a monitor?

dvi has a better picture.

well maybe display port if you are on 4k.

also on a tn panel if i move my head down there are 3 if i move it up there are 4.

 

[AnandThenMan]

who uses hdmi on a monitor?

dvi has a better picture.

A lot of people, no it doesn't.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Old news. This has been annoying the piss out of me on my 780.
Fix : http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=83

Works with the latest 344.57 FarCry 4 drivers.

who uses hdmi on a monitor?
dvi has a better picture.

 

[chimaxi83]

gonna have to agree with shintai.

the most common display cables for anything to do with nvidia are DVI cables.

who uses hdmi on a monitor?

dvi has a better picture.

well maybe display port if you are on 4k.

also on a tn panel if i move my head down there are 3 if i move it up there are 4.

DVI, a digital interface, has a better picture than HDMI, a digital interface?

Well you learn something new everyday.

 

[Annisman*]

No seriously I don't see any of the boxes at all...

 

[tidy]

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[digitaldurandal]

gonna have to agree with shintai.

the most common display cables for anything to do with nvidia are DVI cables.

who uses hdmi on a monitor?

dvi has a better picture.

well maybe display port if you are on 4k.

also on a tn panel if i move my head down there are 3 if i move it up there are 4.

Please use evidence to support your false claim that DVI has a better picture than HDMI. I personally get annoyed every time someone asserts a fact that is blatantly false on here for other users to read and become confused.

http://www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-vs-displayport-vs-dvi-vs-vga-which-connection-to-choose/

 

[Gikaseixas]

who uses hdmi on a monitor?

dvi has a better picture.

I work for one of the largest corporations in the world and right now we have a mix of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 machines.
Win 7 machines DVI still rules but for the newer ones we mostly have a combination of HDMI or DP
I'm typing on a Dell laptop connected to a docking station which sends picture signal through DP cable and I can't tell the difference in pic quality compared to DVI.

 

[blastingcap]

So, HDMI is now for connecting a PC monitor to the card? Wow.
HDMI does work when you connect a TV with support for full RGB. I can switch between full and limited on my Toshiba ZL1 and a GT740.
There are certain pc monitors which have only HDMI input. And here you get the problems. This has nothing to do with "defend nVidia".

All three of my monitors have no DVI port. Only HDMI. It's a problem for some people even if not for you.

 

[CP5670]

This is a pretty huge bug. I don't think I have ever gotten it though, and see the 4 squares easily in that image. I use 1920x1080 at 120hz on DP, and previously had the same setup on a DVI-DP converter. Maybe the 120hz is making the difference.

 

[VirtualLarry]

^^ If you see four distinct squares, you are fine.

I knew the "faded" image out from my GTX 670 wasn't normal when my 7950 at the opposite rig was much more vibrant. I thought its probably the calibration of NV's drivers and didn't think much of it..

I'm on my GT630, in Linux Mint 17.1, using the default OOTB free drivers. I can *barely* make out a difference between the top two squares and bottom two squares. Like, if I move my head up and down on my TN screen, I can kind of see a dividing line, but other than that, no.

When I was on my Winbook TW700 with Intel Bay Trail-T Atom IGP, I could *clearly* see all four squares, easily.

I'm going to boot into Windows 7 and check this thread.

Edit: Ok, in Win7 64-bit SP1 HP, and Waterfox 33.0.2, NV drivers 344.11. I see all four squares distinctly, like with the Intel IGP.
Note that I'm using an HDTV as a monitor, a 24" Westinghouse EWM24F1Y1. NV control panel under "Change Resolution", identifies the connector as "HDMI + HDTV".

Note that I had issues with this HDTV and HDMI audio a few months back when I got them, my GT430 card running the newest (at the time) WHQL drivers, would drop the HDMI audio sync if I turned the monitor off, or it went into monitor sleep mode. Ever since the beta drivers released around that time, it's been fixed.

 

[StrangerGuy]

All I can see is a giant black rectangle....soooo what does that mean for me

The 4 boxes are exceedingly distinct on a mainstream cheapo eIPS screen.

So much for "crappy LCD blacks, you won't notice a thing hurr."

 

[tidy]

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[Enigmoid]

The 4 boxes are exceedingly distinct on a mainstream cheapo eIPS screen.

So much for "crappy LCD blacks, you won't notice a thing hurr."

For me the difference is very noticeable when the screen is tilted toward me and completely indistinguishable when the screen is tilted away.

The problem with this test is the monitor quality is going to make a huge difference in visibility.