HDR makes most games look worse.

bentanchorbolt

bentanchorbolt

Banned
When it comes to film and television, HDR10 and Dolby Vision are overwhelmingly the better experience versus SDR content, in many cases its a massive difference, example would be The Punisher series on Netflix. On the other hand, so many games look objectively worse with HDR enabled; any NBA2K game, RDR2, Outriders, etc. While other games like Gears 5 and Division 2 w/ HDR look substantially more rich and deep. I really do think in a lot of cases with games, HDR is simply a gimmick that doesn't get the attention from developers it really should. Feels "broken" in a lot of cases, often times completely washes out the colors and, at least in the case of Outriders, turns the blacks from deep and pleasant into a grey mess.
 
Really frustrating. I don't get why this keeps happening. Outriders on my PS5 is a grey mess with HDR. Looks way better and more vibrant with HDR off.

I heard CP77 has this problem on console too. Why is this an issue?

It sucks because games like inFamous SS just absolutely shine in HDR but so many other games seem to have "broken HDR."

edit

I have an LG CX OLED, by the way. On PS5 some games look phenomenal in HDR, some look worse. Seems like some games have in depth calibration settings for highs, mids, lows, while others have one brightness slider that doesn't do enough.
 
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Depends entirely on the TV I think. On me LCD TV HDR looked awful. On my OLED it's night and day difference, HDR being far superior.
 
Calibration on a per game basis is usually the issue. Outriders HDR brightness meter is weidly setup. I had to drop it a ton to make it look ok.

We need more HGIG games.
 
Tickle My Tendies said:
Really frustrating. I don't get why this keeps happening. Outriders on my PS5 is a grey mess with HDR. Looks way better and more vibrant with HDR off.

I heard CP77 has this problem on console too. Why is this an issue?

It sucks because games like inFamous SS just absolutely shine in HDR but so many other games seem to have "broken HDR."
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Not sure about Outriders, but HDR in Cyberpunk is straight up broken. My understanding is basically it's rendered in SDR then they map it to HDR and it ends up making the blacks washed out. I'll see if I can find the video
Edit:

 
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I've noticed this too.

I just tell myself "my eyes must be wrong", because it happens in game after game, so surely the devs know better than me?
 
Ori and the Will of the Wisps looked like crap in HDR.

Resident Evil 2 Remake looked like crap in HDR.


My experience so far.
 
bentanchorbolt said:
When it comes to film and television, HDR10 and Dolby Vision are overwhelmingly the better experience versus SDR content, in many cases its a massive difference, example would be The Punisher series on Netflix. On the other hand, so many games look objectively worse with HDR enabled; any NBA2K game, RDR2, Outriders, etc. While other games like Gears 5 and Division 2 w/ HDR look substantially more rich and deep. I really do think in a lot of cases with games, HDR is simply a gimmick that doesn't get the attention from developers it really should. Feels "broken" in a lot of cases, often times completely washes out the colors and, at least in the case of Outriders, turns the blacks from deep and pleasant into a grey mess.
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TV calibration is the most stupid thing ever. I don't get how there's not an automatic calibration option to just display the colors as they were intended.
 
Are you talking about games with that supports HDR or games using the Auto-bullshit-HDR feature?
There is a big difference between them.

HDR is really beautiful in games.
 
god of war 2019
gran turismo sport
tetris effect
Ghost of sushimi nigri
COD cold war (caves mission holy shitballs)

LG oled c9

these games look fucking crazy good OP
 
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Games that I genuinely loved the HDR option: Horizon Zero Dawn, Ratchet and Clank, God of War, TLOU2, Ghost of Tsushima, AC Odyssey and Valhalla, Resident Evil 7, Spider-Man; the rest is pretty much standard.

The Witcher 3 is ABSOLUTE CRAP though.
 
You want a bad HDR game, Destiny or Destiny 2, hope you didn't want to actually see anything in that cave you're walking through.
 
Truth Reaction GIF by MOODMAN



Its a combination of issues, unfortunately you just have to evaluate on a game by game basis. I and many others here are nerds about this stuff, just ask us if you aren't sure. I don't mind doing the legwork because I know its annoying when you're trying to understand something you aren't that interested in and just want a straight "Should I turn it on? No, okay" answer.
 
Dthomp said:
You want a bad HDR game, Destiny or Destiny 2, hope you didn't want to actually see anything in that cave you're walking through.
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worst part is, if you actually get it calibrated right, which is near impossible, its a great looking HDR game at times. But good luck getting it dialed in.
 
Gold_Loot said:
Is it HDR? Or the implementation?
Most games seem to look great IMO.
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Its implementation for sure. As a PC gamer I don't really give a shit about HDR (yet) but man is it pretty on the right tv with the right game.
 
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Hmm, not really.. HDR is a great thing in my experience, except of course I've noticed various indirect issues. It's not HDR per se but in some cases a combination of equipment (nits / dimming zones / processing algorithms etc), user calibration, and developer implementation / art / tech/ compatibility.
 
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Yselacrey00 said:
TV calibration is the most stupid thing ever. I don't get how there's not an automatic calibration option to just display the colors as they were intended.
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Panels have variance, thats why it exists, there are standards you can follow/calibrate to but you can't just apply the same thing to different panels because of the variance.

Its like fine tuning a car, each engine is different.
 
do NOT fucking use HDR inc with windows 10 .
i don't know wtf is wrong with it..

but it does NOT look like my ps4 pro / ps5 at all
 
Spukc said:
god of war 2019
gran turismo sport
tetris effect
Ghost of sushimi nigri
COD cold war (caves mission holy shitballs)

LG oled c9

these games look fucking crazy good OP
Click to expand...

Everything except God of War I agree with, Kratos is pink on my set with HDR on. The increase of depth of the image is fantastic (What HDR should be doing) but colours are oversaturated to a point where it ruins the presenatation for me.

I haven't tried it again since I changed to PS5 so I'll give it another try just now in fact, brb. I'll take a photo of SDR and HDR if its still the same and try and show what I mean.

edit - okay he's not quite pink lol but everything is oversaturated and I can't fix it by turning down contrast, the lamp on the boat in the first minute of the game has its highlight blown out and it just looks bad to me, if I turn down brightness I can get back specular highlight detail but have to go too low to get it all back, SDR has a much better black level as well for me, like during the parts where he's shadowed in the house its much less grey.
 
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I didnt even realise you could have "bad" implementation from game to game. Is this something devs can improve on? I always thought it was the tv that was the big factor? Since getting my lgcx it looks fuckin amazing. On my old panasonic tv it was terrible. Just a grey mess
 
Shodan09 said:
Depends entirely on the TV I think. On me LCD TV HDR looked awful. On my OLED it's night and day difference, HDR being far superior.
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I think it's a mix of those 2 factors! And maybe bad calibration for the light available on your living room! Never set the tv for full Brightness in a dark room.
tv sensors usually work good
 
bentanchorbolt said:
On the other hand, so many games look objectively worse with HDR enabled; any NBA2K game, RDR2, Outriders, etc.
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I hate it when people say something is "objectively" better/worse when it is their opinion. Opinions are subjective, not objective. How good/bad something looks is entirely dependent on the individual experiencing it. I'm not disagreeing that HDR in most games looks bad. I'm just pointing out that that is a subjective claim, not an objective claim.
 
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i feel the same way, but one game that utilizes it well is PS5 genshin impact. at first config its way too vibrant but modify the hdr settings it really shines.
 
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Crackdown 3 has a particularly well-designed HDR implementation. Because it was taken into account during the design of the visuals. With most games, it's just tacked on to an art style that they already decided upon.

 
This thread.... Wow... HDR has for the most part been a great in my experience. I liked it so much on my LCD Sony 900F that I upgraded to an LG GX OLED. I have nothing but great things to say about gaming with HDR.
 
Outriders looks fine to me on the XSX, I have a OLED which is God's gift to HDR so most games soar in HDR on it. Only games that have given me issues are RDR2 which still looks crap in HDR and MH World. Even Cyberpunk imo looks great in HDR on it.
 
the only game in which I noticed HDR make it look worse is Dragon Ball FighterZ, besides that one all the games looks great IMO, I'm using a IPS display
 
IFireflyl said:
I hate it when people say something is "objectively" better/worse when it is their opinion. Opinions are subjective, not objective. How good/bad something looks is entirely dependent on the individual experiencing it. I'm not disagreeing that HDR in most games looks bad. I'm just pointing out that that is a subjective claim, not an objective claim.
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Neat!
 
stitch1 said:
This thread.... Wow... HDR has for the most part been a great in my experience. I liked it so much on my LCD Sony 900F that I upgraded to an LG GX OLED. I have nothing but great things to say about gaming with HDR.
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lg oleds .. up until the one about to come out ... have had brightness issues. I have an older model and it is pretty bad for hdr compared to other TVs.

as for the op yes I have started turning hdr off in a lot of games.
 
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