Major Issues When Enabling HDR In Windows

[Turbosound]

I'm have a lot of trouble when I enable HDR in Windows. There is one connection being made to my GPU (RTX 4090) and single display (NEC M751) via Displayport. I'm using the exact Displayport cable in the link below and the cable is less than a year old.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1736095-REG/rocstor_y10c284_b1_displayport_1_4_cable_12.html

When I have HDR disabled in Windows and my display is in SDR, there are no issues. However, when I enable HDR in Windows and my display goes into HDR mode, (briefly shows on the display) Windows becomes unusable. The black text becomes very hard to read and everything seems cloudy. Sometimes when I enable HDR there is a white line that runs up and down the center of the display. This being intermittent is very strange. I tried taking screenshots when HDR is enabled. Then, I would switch back to SDR and look at the screenshots. However, they would appear normal as if I never enabled HDR. Therefore, I had to take pictures with my phone. I have games that support HDR and HDR has to be enabled in Windows before launching the game in order to enable HDR in the game. I would hate to constantly be switching back and forth since I have to disable HDR when using Windows.

I have reached out to NEC and updated the firmware for the display. I'm still waiting for them to get back to me. I also tried several different Nvidia drivers and the Windows HDR calibration tool. I even wiped my entire hard drive and reinstalled Windows. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there a way to rule out my GPU and Windows itself being the issue?

 

[pendragon1]

Is there a way to rule out my GPU and Windows itself being the issue?

step 1 - try a better cable.

 

[Turbosound]

step 1 - try a better cable.

Yes, I have thought about doing this but didn't want to waste $30 doing so. I wanted to reach out first. I really hope it's not the cable because this is the only Displayport 1.4 (or higher) cable offered in 12ft. I will but another cable and try it out. Thanks!

 

[Turbosound]

I just bought a new Displayport cable for $30 and have the same results.

 

[pendragon1]

return it.
is it only happening with hdr, and even at lower/higher res?

 

[Turbosound]

I will, I got one locally for that reason. I'm glad I tried because now I know for sure it's not the cable, so thank you. Yes, only happens when I enable HDR in Windows regardless of the resolution.

 

[pendragon1]

got another gpu or monitor to try? tried all ports?

 

[Mr Evil]

The specs for that monitor say it's only 500 cd/m², which isn't enough to make HDR look good, so you're not losing much by only being able to use SDR.

Anyway, a couple of things that might help:

1. "HDR/SDR brightness balance". This can be found in Display settings -> Windows HD Colour settings, then it's the slider at the bottom.
2. ICC profiles. These shouldn't be wrong, but using the wrong one can mess things up weirdly. They can be changed in Display settings -> Advanced display settings -> Display adapter properties for Display x -> Colour Management -> Colour Management (yes, it's buried deep).

Those settings have probably moved in Win 11, but that's where they are in Win 10.

 

[XoR_]

Looks like sharpness being cranked to maximum. Look in to OSD/menus for sharpness setting or change mode to something else. Likely you want game mode.
As for line across the screen - no idea what this is about but definitely HDR wasn't tested by manufacturer.

And no, it doesn't look like cable issue.
It is only cable issue when it is cable issue and usually it is not.

 

[Turbosound]

got another gpu or monitor to try? tried all ports?

I don' t have another GPU or monitor to try. I did try all the ports on my GPU. Only the Displayport #1 on my display supports v1.4 which supports HDR. Therefore, there is only one port to try on my display.

 

[Turbosound]

The specs for that monitor say it's only 500 cd/m², which isn't enough to make HDR look good, so you're not losing much by only being able to use SDR.

Anyway, a couple of things that might help:

1. "HDR/SDR brightness balance". This can be found in Display settings -> Windows HD Colour settings, then it's the slider at the bottom.
2. ICC profiles. These shouldn't be wrong, but using the wrong one can mess things up weirdly. They can be changed in Display settings -> Advanced display settings -> Display adapter properties for Display x -> Colour Management -> Colour Management (yes, it's buried deep).

Those settings have probably moved in Win 11, but that's where they are in Win 10.

I could be wrong here, but I think commercial displays have different standards with specifications. This display is very bright and powerful. It can draw more than 4 amps@120v! Therefore, I think it's very capable of decent HDR.

I tried enabling auto color management in the display properties, but it didn't make any difference.

 

[pendragon1]

I don' t have another GPU or monitor to try. I did try all the ports on my GPU. Only the Displayport #1 on my display supports v1.4 which supports HDR. Therefore, there is only one port to try on my display.

try the hdmi. the manual says it will do 4k/60 w/hdr, and your card can certainly do hdr on all ports.

very capable of decent HDR.

base hdr, its barely above the minimum 400.

ps: why such an odd display, its a commercial one.

 

[Turbosound]

Here is a picture of my Steam library with HDR enabled. To me, Steam looks fine, but the Windows taskbar still has issues. Also here is a picture of the Spiderman title screen with HDR enabled and disabled. To me, it looks better with HDR enabled. Last is a picture of Spiderman in game with HDR enabled which also looks fine to me. Again, HDR has to be enabled in Windows beforehand in order to enable HDR in any game.


Do these pictures prove that Windows is the issue? Does anyone else have a display that supports HDR? If so, what does Windows look like when you enable HDR? Please post a picture. From the little bit of research I have done, I understand most people have issues with Windows when enabling HDR in Windows.

 

[pendragon1]

yes desktop will look worse and so will text, especially on that commercial display. thought the line was the bigger issue...

 

[Turbosound]

try the hdmi. the manual says it will do 4k/60 w/hdr, and your card can certainly do hdr on all ports.


base hdr, its barely above the minimum 400.

ps: why such an odd display, its a commercial one.

I will try using a hdmi connection just to see. Although, I prefer displayport over hdmi.

Like I said, I think commercial displays have a different standard with this specification. Meaning, 500 nits on a commercial display is comparable to 800 nits on a consumer display. Either way this display is certainly powerful/bright enough to produce decent HDR in my opinion.

I checked out a few consumer displays at first but decided to go with a commercial display for several reasons. They are designed to be used 24/7 so it will last me a very long time. They have a much better cooling performance and overall better quality. Most of all, I prefer the design/construction of commercial displays.

 

[Turbosound]

yes desktop will look worse and so will text, especially on that commercial display. thought the line was the bigger issue...

So, are you saying that things will look worse in Windows with any display when HDR is enabled?

Basically, this would be saying that HDR should never be enabled when using Windows, is this correct?

Bottomline, I'm just wanting to know if there is something wrong with my display or GPU. Based or your reply, I assume the results I have when enabling HDR in Windows is normal and there's nothing wrong with my display or GPU.

 

[Turbosound]

I would appreciate a picture of Windows with HDR enabled on a display that supports HDR.

 

[XoR_]

Your OP photos look exactly like when I crank up sharpness from 50 to 100 on LG 27GP950.
Otherwise at sharpness of 50 HDR looks okay on this display.... I mean it is 1200:1 contrast ratio IPS so obviously SDR image looks worse than in SDR where #ffffff maps to actual white on the LCD panel - it does not in HDR mode even at 100% desktop brightness set in Windows because HDR is supposed to still give a bit more luminance past 100% brightness and why the lower contrast ratio and why unless you have OLED you shouldn't use desktop in HDR.

BTW. I am not quite sure how anyone seeing the image you posted didn't connect the dots and immediately figure out its too much sharpness.
You say the last picture you posted looks fine to you... no comment really. It looks like crap with way too much sharpness. Just because HDR ON vs OFF in game doesn't change anything doesn't mean the picture with HDR OFF in the game with HDR enabled in the Windows is correct.

Just lower the sharpness because it is obviously set too high

 

[chameleoneel]

I'm have a lot of trouble when I enable HDR in Windows. There is one connection being made to my GPU (RTX 4090) and single display (NEC M751) via Displayport. I'm using the exact Displayport cable in the link below and the cable is less than a year old.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1736095-REG/rocstor_y10c284_b1_displayport_1_4_cable_12.html

When I have HDR disabled in Windows and my display is in SDR, there are no issues. However, when I enable HDR in Windows and my display goes into HDR mode, (briefly shows on the display) Windows becomes unusable. The black text becomes very hard to read and everything seems cloudy. Sometimes when I enable HDR there is a white line that runs up and down the center of the display. This being intermittent is very strange. I tried taking screenshots when HDR is enabled. Then, I would switch back to SDR and look at the screenshots. However, they would appear normal as if I never enabled HDR. Therefore, I had to take pictures with my phone. I have games that support HDR and HDR has to be enabled in Windows before launching the game in order to enable HDR in the game. I would hate to constantly be switching back and forth since I have to disable HDR when using Windows.

I have reached out to NEC and updated the firmware for the display. I'm still waiting for them to get back to me. I also tried several different Nvidia drivers and the Windows HDR calibration tool. I even wiped my entire hard drive and reinstalled Windows. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there a way to rule out my GPU and Windows itself being the issue?

So, are you saying that things will look worse in Windows with any display when HDR is enabled?

This is normal Windows HDR experience.

Basically, this would be saying that HDR should never be enabled when using Windows, is this correct?

You only enable HDR when you are expecting to see some HDR content. It could be a video. It could be a game.

There is a slider for "SDR" brightness, which helps a lot. But, it won't make SDR look "normal".

There are some mods like SpecialK which can auto-acitvate Windows HDR settings, when you launch a game. So that you don't have to always do it by hand. I'm sure some video players could be set up like that, too.

 

[MaZa]

Here is a picture of my Steam library with HDR enabled. To me, Steam looks fine, but the Windows taskbar still has issues. Also here is a picture of the Spiderman title screen with HDR enabled and disabled. To me, it looks better with HDR enabled. Last is a picture of Spiderman in game with HDR enabled which also looks fine to me. Again, HDR has to be enabled in Windows beforehand in order to enable HDR in any game.


Do these pictures prove that Windows is the issue? Does anyone else have a display that supports HDR? If so, what does Windows look like when you enable HDR? Please post a picture. From the little bit of research I have done, I understand most people have issues with Windows when enabling HDR in Windows.

If your problem is Windows looking washed out with HDR enabled, that is normal. Sort of. For more technical answer, the problem is that Windows uses wrong gamma for mapping SDR content to HDR. It uses piecewise gamma, which is technically the true SRGB gamma but nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has ever used it for any kind of computer media, games, movies etc. In comparison MacOS offers users an option do they want to use piecewise gamma or 2.2 gamma, latter being the correct one. Windows on the other hand defaults to the wrong one for 99.99% or computer users with no option to change it.

There are fixes for it but the problem with those is that they apply the correction for everything, including HDR content that doesn't need any kind of gamma correction, resulting in crushed shadow details. You'd have to enable and disable the fix depending on what content you are watching which make the fix kinda useless. Might as well as disable HDR all together except when you want to consume HDR media.

 

[Armenius]

I will try using a hdmi connection just to see. Although, I prefer displayport over hdmi.

Like I said, I think commercial displays have a different standard with this specification. Meaning, 500 nits on a commercial display is comparable to 800 nits on a consumer display. Either way this display is certainly powerful/bright enough to produce decent HDR in my opinion.

I checked out a few consumer displays at first but decided to go with a commercial display for several reasons. They are designed to be used 24/7 so it will last me a very long time. They have a much better cooling performance and overall better quality. Most of all, I prefer the design/construction of commercial displays.

Your display is not FALD, so it does full screen dimming and lowers the contrast to make bright spot appear to stand out. The pictures are normal for a fake HDR display like this. I had a TV that did this and this is almost exactly how it looked.

 

[pendragon1]

So, are you saying that things will look worse in Windows with any display when HDR is enabled?

Basically, this would be saying that HDR should never be enabled when using Windows, is this correct?

Bottomline, I'm just wanting to know if there is something wrong with my display or GPU. Based or your reply, I assume the results I have when enabling HDR in Windows is normal and there's nothing wrong with my display or GPU.

yes, see above replies.

 

[LukeTbk]

Try HDR content if it look ok you are probably ok, windows will look strange...

I would hate to constantly be switching back and forth since I have to disable HDR when using Windows.

They made a shortcut (because it is quite standard to go back and fort and many game need to be HDR on before launch), you can try win+ ALT + B, it is not 100% painless, little loading time depending on the monitor that can go black for a couple of seconds, but it is at least quick and easy.

 

[Turbosound]

Great news, I got HDR to work properly in Windows! NEC got back to me and let me know the Spectraview engine for display has to enabled in order for HDR to work properly. This was not in the manual, so I had no way of knowing. Also, this didn't work at first, exactly half of the screen appeared slightly different than the other half. It wasn't until I removed the cable I just bought and plugged my old one back in. Even though Displayport has clips you can hear when plugging in, I must not have had it 100% fully seated. I think this explains the white line from before. Either way, I would have never got to the bottom of this unless I got another cable. Which by the way I wasn't planning on doing until pendragon1 mentioned it.

Now, I can use Windows with HDR enabled and everything look great! Here are a few pictures after the fact. Lesson learned, REALLY make sure the cable is plugged in ALL the way. For example, I had it plugged in all the way the first time. However, this last time I really pushed almost as hard as I possibly could which should not be necessary. Maybe the pins on my display/GPU ports are weak, I don't know. I should be all set now, thanks everyone!