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Windows 11 SDR Content Brightness

J

JasonHF

n00b
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Aug 6, 2020
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I've been doing some further investigation into the Windows 11 SDR Content Brightness setting. It seems that the SDR Content Brightness actually controls the SDR reference white level (Paper White) and thus controls the SDR reference white level for Auto HDR. Microsoft stated that the minimum value is 80 nits, so 0% = 80 nits (DirectX reference).

Microsoft didn't specify what the maximum value is, though. So, I ran an HDR metadata test (using HDR + WCG Image Viewer, HDRImageViewer) on a 100% white SDR window in Windows HDR mode to determine maxCLL values. SDR Content Brightness of 0% = 81 nits, 25% = 181 nits, 50% = 287 nits, 75% = 401 nits, and 100% = 498 nits. Using 0% = 80 nits and 100% = 500 nits, this nearly linear relationship yields the following equivalency:

SDR Content Brightness (%) = (SDR reference white level - 80)/4.2

So, SDR Content Brightness 0% is SDR reference white level 80 nits, 5% is 100 nits, 10% is 120 nits, 17% is 150 nits, 29% is 200 nits, 52% is 300 nits, and 100% is 500 nits.

I'm curious if this formula works for your individual monitor. You can test it by doing the following:
1: Set up your SDR and HDR picture modes as similar as possible. You can't compare if your have HDR in a saturated/vivid mode and SDR in an accurate mode, for instance.
2: Pick an SDR brightness setting and note the luminance (should be available in TFT Central or rtings.com review).
3: Use this luminance (in nits) as the SDR reference white level to calculate the SDR Content Brightness and set it in Windows HDR mode
4: Flip back and forth between SDR and HDR (Win+Alt+B) to see if SDR windows look the same.

This formula works pretty well for my monitor (LG C2). As a general aside, how do you generally set your SDR Paper White using in-game HDR settings? Do you target a specific luminance value or do you match it to your monitor's SDR brightness setting?
 
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5% 100 nits all day and night. Anything higher is way too bright for me and I’ve always aimed for 100 on my displays and TVs.
 
Ankle said:
5% 100 nits all day and night. Anything higher is way too bright for me and I’ve always aimed for 100 on my displays and TVs.
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That's impossible in a room with any sort of light shining through. 2000+nits is what general consensus considered "too bright", not 100 for any type of display/panel technologies.
 
Xar said:
That's impossible in a room with any sort of light shining through. 2000+nits is what general consensus considered "too bright", not 100 for any type of display/panel technologies.
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I dunno how anyone can stand that even in a lit room. 100 nits feels plenty bright even with the lights on or sunlight coming through the windows. In a dark room it’s excessively bright to me already to the point it makes my eyes burn and sting.
 
Ankle said:
I dunno how anyone can stand that even in a lit room. 100 nits feels plenty bright even with the lights on or sunlight coming through the windows. In a dark room it’s excessively bright to me already to the point it makes my eyes burn and sting.
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I rarely heard people saying 100 nits' so bright to the point of eye breeding.. Maybe it's OLED's 100 nits you meant?

I personally found OLED's 100 nits to be a lot brighter than IPS's 100 nits due to its 0 black level, it gave the impression of 300 nits IPS especially when viewing in a dark room.
 
Our eyes view everything relatively. Calibrating you screen, or it coming factory calibrated, is usually done right up against the screen in very dim to dark room conditions. Take that, and/or you tweaking your settings to your liking. Once the room lighting conditions swing +/- in either direction, your eyes won't see the same levels (color intensity/nits/saturation, contrast/brightness/gamma) that the screen was at your baseline. The brighter your room is, the lower the values will be, and vice versa, the darker your room, the higher (back toward the calibrated levels) the values will be perceived.

It's just like looking at a flashlight or a phone at max brightness on a dark night, dark bedroom, etc. vs looking at the same thing on a sunny day or in a bright room. Even the bright flashlight or screen will look paler in brighter conditions, and more intense (even too intesnse depending how bright they go) in darker ones. A dim flashlight with dying batteries, or a phone set to low brightness brought out into sunny daylight will be extremely dim looking, while in the dark they will be very visible.

On my tvs, I keep different sets of named picture profiles so that I can use different values for different lighting conditions, different times of day/seasons/dark weather conditions, blinds open/closed, etc. There is no "one size fits all" , unless you keep your room lighting conditions from changing at all by avoiding sunlight and using static artifical lighting levels, or if you use blinds, etc. Like I said with my named picture profiles comment - lighting throughout a day through to night swings through values, and seasonally, weather wise, etc. so it's not an on/off thing with sunlight through windows lighting. Otherwise, if you darken your room to reference HDR levels, then 100nit actually "looks like 100nit" to your eyeballs. Once you brighten your room, you will need 250 - 350 nit to perceive the brightness and values the same as 100nit, depending how bright the room is. TV review sites like RTings also give high marks to very bright SDR in order to "overcome glare" on screen surfaces (from using in sub-optimal, at least for screen viewing, room lighting conditions).
 
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Xar said:
That's impossible in a room with any sort of light shining through. 2000+nits is what general consensus considered "too bright", not 100 for any type of display/panel technologies.
Click to expand...
My TV is 2,000 nits and I enjoy melting my eyeballs at full brightness. Having said that, my OLED G9 monitor goes to around 250 for SDR and 400 for HDR and that’s plenty for how close I am to it.
 
Xar said:
I rarely heard people saying 100 nits' so bright to the point of eye breeding.. Maybe it's OLED's 100 nits you meant?

I personally found OLED's 100 nits to be a lot brighter than IPS's 100 nits due to its 0 black level, it gave the impression of 300 nits IPS especially when viewing in a dark room.
Click to expand...
It's two things in my experience:

1. The viewing angles of an OLED are almost perfect, which means you're getting that 100nits to your eyes from 100% of the screen. IPS next to it is noticeable dimmer around the edges or at an angle.
2. If you have a QD, ambient light doesn't just raise blacks, it raises everything.

I have a PG32UCDM with two PA329CRV's (one on either side), and I have to calibrate the OLED to 94nits to actually get them to look uniform in my office with the lights on.
 
I honestly don't go this deep on it. I just set this based on what feels comfortable. I ended up with a bit different values on my Samsung G95NC superultrawide and my LG CX 48" OLED TV, but both very low.

If I cared about SDR color accuracy, I'd just turn off HDR mode altogether.
 
I crank my C2 to the max brightness, run the hdr calibration tool in win 11 (run hdr nonstop in windows) and set my sdr slider at 4. Works well enough for me.
 
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