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My HDR seems overly dark, looking for suggestions

DQ

DQ

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So when I play 4K movies in HDR on my HDR TV. They do look great but it appears overly dark to me. I am not sure what to adjust outside of general picture settings but if I turn up brightness its overly bright for non HDR.

My situation here is a little complicated due to how I play and use my titles. So these 4K titles are lossless MKV files coming off my NAS, feeding Plex playing on a Roku through my receiver and then on my TV.

So it looks like this:

Plex -> Receiver -> Roku -> TV

Everything works great the issue is again the HDR comes off dark. Each step of what I have listed has it's own settings to tinker with. But no matter what I try I still get overly dark HDR. Maybe it is just a function of my TV purely but I was hoping there was something I was missing or overlooking.

Just looking for some suggestions. Thanks.
 
I wish I could help you DQ but I am lucky to have a TV much less 4K and HDR. :)
 
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So the way I am playing them is the only way I can play them as I am all Digital.

HOWEVER

The TV itself IS a smartTV (I just don't use that part normally). It is possible I can use it's Plex app and play directly. I will try that but I have a feeling the WiFi on the TV will not handle a stream of that size. My Roku Ultra takes everything it's got to do it. But I will give it a shot I just have to see a few moments to know.

Thanks for the suggestions I will go tinker with it and report back.
 
So little update.

I notice while playing HDR content if I pull up the TV menu it is as bright as it normally is, it is simply the stream that is dark.

Still working on trying it to TV directly, I block the TV from the internet so I have to reverse all that stuff first.

EDIT - Just more info, this is NOT being transcoded it is a direct stream from Plex, no way I could transcode a 4k title anyway.
 
DQ said:
no way I could transcode a 4k title anyway.
Click to expand...
With a decent Nvidia GPU in the Plex server, you could ;)
Of course not with the same quality as the source :unsure:

I just tried to feed my 4K movies directly to my Samsung TV ... but it turns out it doesn't like something on the MKVs :eek:
But from my experience HDR content looks brighter than "normal"
 
cartman0208 said:
With a decent Nvidia GPU in the Plex server, you could ;)
Of course not with the same quality as the source :unsure:

I just tried to feed my 4K movies directly to my Samsung TV ... but it turns out it doesn't like something on the MKVs :eek:
But from my experience HDR content looks brighter than "normal"
Click to expand...

I have a dedicated Plex box but it's comprised of my hand-me-downs. So while it does have a 730 in it I am not going to spend cash on it for a good card. Plus, for me, there is no sense in it. The only thing it cannot transcode without issue is 4k and that is not something I am interested in doing anyway.

I did run a test and watch the first few mins of the new Dune on Plex in 4k and then on HBO Max in 4k. My Plex version is superior but the darkness looks about the same. So this will have to be something with Roku or the TV.

I will run another 4k test or try to with native TV apps.

EDIT - It could also be my receiver. The TV test will tell the tale however.
 
coopervid said:
Get the Roku out and the we go the next step.
Click to expand...

Yup, I am trying. The TV is acting up and not letting me get to its apps because I never agreed to the TOS. I have too many layers of filtering and its freaking it out. All self-inflicted things :p
 
DQ said:
Yup, I am trying. The TV is acting up and not letting me get to its apps because I never agreed to the TOS. I have too many layers of filtering and its freaking it out. All self-inflicted things :p
Click to expand...
App? Why? Plex to receiver to TV. No internet involved.
 
coopervid said:
App? Why? Plex to receiver to TV. No internet involved.
Click to expand...

Plex is an app (I know you know that) so I have to run it on something. Right now I am running it on the Roku. What I was going to try based on what you guys mentioned was running Plex on the TV itself. This would cut out the Roku and the Receiver.

If you are saying play something directly to the TV, I cannot. I don't have a player that's not in my PC so I have to use an app to play my MKVs. So using an app on the TV is as close as I can get.

The only reason the internet is involved is to get Plex installed on my TV. Right now the TV has no applications.
 
DQ said:
Plex is an app (I know you know that) so I have to run it on something. Right now I am running it on the Roku. What I was going to try based on what you guys mentioned was running Plex on the TV itself. This would cut out the Roku and the Receiver.

If you are saying play something directly to the TV, I cannot. I don't have a player that's not in my PC so I have to use an app to play my MKVs. So using an app on the TV is as close as I can get.

The only reason the internet is involved is to get Plex installed on my TV. Right now the TV has no applications.
Click to expand...
Right. Therefore only cut out the Roku. I aasumed Plex ->TV won't work.
 
Really?
If it's a SmartTV I bet is has a USB slot... and it SHOULD have some native build in player ... what happens when you feed a video file through there?
 
cartman0208 said:
Really?
If it's a SmartTV I bet is has a USB slot... and it SHOULD have some native build in player ... what happens when you feed a video file through there?
Click to expand...
That'a good test. Let's do it. You don't expect Dolby Vision since Samsungs doesn't support it.
 
cartman0208 said:
Really?
If it's a SmartTV I bet is has a USB slot... and it SHOULD have some native build in player ... what happens when you feed a video file through there?
Click to expand...

Good idea, let me try that.
 
Also, I played a 1080p version of a title and then its 4k/HDR counterpart and their is a huge brightness diff between them. Also tried factory resetting the TV but that did not help.
 
So I tried the USB method and believe it or not it played it no problem. The outcome was more or less the same with the darker picture. I bumped the brightness a bit and it made a "natural" picture. Still not as vibrant as normal but in reality possibly more natural looking. I just tend to like a vibrant and bright picture.

So all in all I think this is just how my TV displays HDR. I don't really think I can do much about it beyond raising brightness.
 
It's tone mapping. How many nits is your TV? I assume it's not been calibrated? If the metadata isn't being sent properly, or the video you're playing is mastered to a higher nit level, the tv will default to 4000 nits and apply a snike ton of tone mapping. Depending on how well your TV tracks pq eotf up to its max nit level, where it'll then clip, you may be under or over tracking. If it's dark it's likely under tracking. Calibration can correct this and other issues.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk
 
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