HDR gaming: PC vs. consoles

[Quiz]

Generally, is HDR gaming better on PC or consoles? Based on what I've read, setting up HDR on PC requires quite a bit of effort and even then it might not work properly whereas on consoles it is pretty much "plug and play". Is this true?

 

[Armenius]

There is minimal effort required on PC compared console. You just need to manually switch HDR on in the Display Settings before playing a game, unless you like your desktop being bright and saturated all the time. Then you need to enable it in the options of the game you're playing. That is literally it.

 

[Domingo]

It used to be a pain in the ass on the PC, but it has gotten a lot better. At one time 1/2 the games would implement HDR from within the game and the other 1/2 wanted you to enable it within Windows instead. If you did it wrong, HDR wouldn't work correctly. In other cases, the calibration would be all over the place and games would be washed out. In a few other cases, there would be an HDR toggle in the game, but it would just straight up be broken and enabling it looked terrible.

These days it mostly just works. You enable toggle HDR on within Windows prior to starting a game. If you're on Windows 11, you can even press the Windows key+Alt+B to quickly do that. There's an official app for calibrating HDR, too. Even auto-HDR mostly works and looks good. It's not quite as easy as a console where you enable it at a system level, but it's more flexible. After all, there are games on the consoles that aren't in HDR, but the system is using auto-HDR to fake it. On a PC, you can do whatever you want.

 

[staknhalo]

Better on console, more streamlined experience, 'just works' for the most part

PC is fine, 'in a very PC way'

Sometimes you can toggle HDR in the game, sometimes HDR needs to be enabled before you launch the game to be able to toggle, or even see, the HDR settings.

Bunch of dumb little shit like that.

Quality (the fact this is mainly display dependant aside) I'd give it to PC cause of the superior (LUT calibrated even?) image you have to start of with, full range, etc

Just gotta deal with all the typical PC stuff

 

[|Tch0rT|]

^^^ This..

PC when it works it's fine but you have to figure out which games you have to toggle auto HDR on or off for it to work properly then enable HDR. It's wonky.

PS5 everything is HDR and auto converts SDR to HDR which is not cool IMO. Let me have the option.

Xbox Series X is nice cuz it plays whatever native HDR or SDR but some games will work with auto HDR, some don't.

 

[Quiz]

^^^ This..

PC when it works it's fine but you have to figure out which games you have to toggle auto HDR on or off for it to work properly then enable HDR. It's wonky.

PS5 everything is HDR and auto converts SDR to HDR which is not cool IMO. Let me have the option.

Xbox Series X is nice cuz it plays whatever native HDR or SDR but some games will work with auto HDR, some don't.

If we ignore the games, is the Xbox Series X a technically better console than the PlayStation 5 in terms of audio and video capabilities and options? For example, the PlayStation 5 doesn't support Atmos and at most can only support 7.1 audio for games through speakers unlike the Xbox Series X. Also, what HDR format does the PlayStation 5 support for games? I know the Xbox Series X can support Dolby Vision.

 

[Armenius]

^^^ This..

PC when it works it's fine but you have to figure out which games you have to toggle auto HDR on or off for it to work properly then enable HDR. It's wonky.

PS5 everything is HDR and auto converts SDR to HDR which is not cool IMO. Let me have the option.

Xbox Series X is nice cuz it plays whatever native HDR or SDR but some games will work with auto HDR, some don't.

It hasn't been wonky since the 21H2 Windows 10 update. Windows 11 has none of those issues out of the box. You can just toggle the HDR option in display settings for every game now. If a game doesn't support HDR, then HDR will turn off automatically unless you turn Auto HDR on in Windows 11.

If we ignore the games, is the Xbox Series X a technically better console than the PlayStation 5 in terms of audio and video capabilities and options? For example, the PlayStation 5 doesn't support Atmos and at most can only support 7.1 audio for games through speakers unlike the Xbox Series X. Also, what HDR format does the PlayStation 5 support for games? I know the Xbox Series X can support Dolby Vision.

The PS5 only supports HDR10. HGiG support, which is an accurate tone mapping algorithm for games, is game-dependent. I know that at least RE4 remake supports HGiG on both consoles.

Dolby Vision on Series X|S is only for games and streaming content. It is not supported for UHD Blu-ray playback.

The PS5 supports Dolby Digital Plus, which itself supports up to 15 channels of sound. I don't know if the PS5 supports that many, though. My audio system is only 5.1.

 

[|Tch0rT|]

If we ignore the games, is the Xbox Series X a technically better console than the PlayStation 5 in terms of audio and video capabilities and options? For example, the PlayStation 5 doesn't support Atmos and at most can only support 7.1 audio for games through speakers unlike the Xbox Series X. Also, what HDR format does the PlayStation 5 support for games? I know the Xbox Series X can support Dolby Vision.

Apparently some people have audio lag issues with the Xbox Series X outputting Atmos (seen lots of complaining on the Xbox sub forum of AVSforum). I don't.

HDTVtest youtube did a comparison on DV vs HDR10 gaming. I use HDR10 on XSX, the games have to support DV and I think the only ones that do are MSFS and Halo Infinite but not 100% on that. I only use DV for my Apple TV since that device will output native SDR and DV/HDR content at 24fps instead of being interpolated to 60.

 

[|Tch0rT|]

It hasn't been wonky since the 21H2 Windows 10 update. Windows 11 has none of those issues out of the box. You can just toggle the HDR option in display settings for every game now. If a game doesn't support HDR, then HDR will turn off automatically unless you turn Auto HDR on in Windows 11.

I'm on Win11. The ones that I remember that gave me issue where the RE Games. I think RE7 & 8 had to have Auto HDR turned to off or it wouldn't work right. RE2 & 3 Remakes seem to have broken HDR. I haven't tried RE4 Remake yet (waiting for a sale).

 

[CaptainClueless]

I'm on Win11. The ones that I remember that gave me issue where the RE Games. I think RE7 & 8 had to have Auto HDR turned to off or it wouldn't work right. RE2 & 3 Remakes seem to have broken HDR. I haven't tried RE4 Remake yet (waiting for a sale).

RE3 remake (and I assume RE2 remake) are odd ones indeed. Most games require you to have HDR enabled in Windows for the game to even show you the option in game to enable it. But if you do that with RE3 remake, you end up with this crappy washed out looking busted image. You need to DISABLE HDR in Windows, then enable it in game. It looks perfect doing it that way.

Fortunately, RE4 remake doesn't suffer from this issue. You can leave HDR enabled in Windows and it works correctly in game. Just like every other HDR title I've played on PC.

 

[Armenius]

I'm on Win11. The ones that I remember that gave me issue where the RE Games. I think RE7 & 8 had to have Auto HDR turned to off or it wouldn't work right. RE2 & 3 Remakes seem to have broken HDR. I haven't tried RE4 Remake yet (waiting for a sale).

HDR in RE2 and RE3 are messed up on consoles, too. It's not a PC-specific issue. I only enable Auto HDR for non-HDR games. Just like HDR, I don't leave it turned on.

 

[gamerk2]

HDR is better on PC then it used to be; Windows *finally* doesn't switch back to SDR when you bring up the OSD or alt-tab a game. As a result, I leave it perma-on in Windows and don't worry about it anymore. But there was a period where HDR in Windows was an absolute train wreck.