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Is PGR3 too dark when using HDTV?

A

.Abras.

Member
I just got my 360 today and when I played PGR3 the image was too dark, making it difficult to drive.

I'm playing on a Sharp Aquos, and all others game I have looks normal.

Another strange thing is that when I enter on the cockpit view, the image comes back to normal brightness.

I called other 2 friend's that plays on HDTV and they report the same problem.
 
On my 'optimal' brightness for my best picture, I do have problems seeing cones in shadowed areas. Otherwise it isn't too bad.
 
It's not too dark on my LCD but it's really dark on my rear projection CRT. I have to bump up the brightness about 8-9 notches which is much more than any other game I own.
 
Hah, and I thought I was the only one. I always turn the brightness up when playing PGR3. I blame the HDR, it makes the game appear very dark unless you're in the shade. It would be nice if the game had an exposure setting like the photo mode.

It's darker inside the cockpit, that's why it appears brighter outside; HDR.
 
Yusaku said:
Hah, and I thought I was the only one. I always turn the brightness up when playing PGR3. I blame the HDR, it makes the game appear very dark unless you're in the shade. It would be nice if the game had an exposure setting like the photo mode.

It's darker inside the cockpit, that's why it appears brighter outside; HDR.
Click to expand...

Yes, same as in PDZ. Personally, I think it's really well done, and adds to the experience.
 
joaomgcd said:
Yes, same as in PDZ. Personally, I think it's really well done, and adds to the experience.
Click to expand...

If you look into a dark area in PDZ for a few seconds the exposure shifts and lightens everything up.

What I really blame is the automatic exposure control most TVs have set. This "feature" sucks. My TV tries to compensate for what is being displayed by doing a photoshop levels style balancing by trying to find white, trying to find black and then averaging. I wish TV manufacturers would stop this crap.
 
Completly agree the game is way to dark. Go into photo mode and up the contrast and brightness bars slightly and you can get a far better image than what the developers have left us with. Can`t see what they were playing at tbh.
 
Some LCD's are too dark to begind with, plus there should be an option to kind of backlite it, which should help.

I have a bright LCD, and at 720p or 1080i I have no issues with PGR3 being too dark.
 
Trustus Jones said:
Completly agree the game is way to dark. Go into photo mode and up the contrast and brightness bars slightly and you can get a far better image than what the developers have left us with. Can`t see what they were playing at tbh.
Click to expand...


Holy shit..this works? I'm playing on a generic 19 inch PC monitor and both PGR3 and PDO are abit too dark to play in for long. So by doing the above steps it'll brighten the picture even more then? I've already got my brightness maxed out so maybe your tip will help.
 
Its pretty normal on my LCD PJ, but i do get alot of ehm...you know fade shit, when im in the sunlight and i enter a dark room the first seconds its really dark, and then it brightens up, i dont know if its meant to be like that(Perfect Dark has it as well) or if its my PJ, but it gets annoying.
 
Don't know about PGR3, but I had problems on my CRT HDTV with PDZ and Kameo having dark colors being way too dark, and bright colors being way too bright. First the first time ever on a TV, I had to turn the Contrast down to less than half, then boost brightness way up to make things look good. The contrast ratio was absolutely insane.
 
Raiden said:
Its pretty normal on my LCD PJ, but i do get alot of ehm...you know fade shit, when im in the sunlight and i enter a dark room the first seconds its really dark, and then it brightens up, i dont know if its meant to be like that(Perfect Dark has it as well) or if its my PJ, but it gets annoying.
Click to expand...

Again that's HDR, and if you pay attention it happens in real-life. :lol
 
Angelus said:
Holy shit..this works? I'm playing on a generic 19 inch PC monitor and both PGR3 and PDO are abit too dark to play in for long. So by doing the above steps it'll brighten the picture even more then? I've already got my brightness maxed out so maybe your tip will help.
Click to expand...

It'll brighten it in photo mode. Not during gameplay.
 
Angelus said:
Holy shit..this works? I'm playing on a generic 19 inch PC monitor and both PGR3 and PDO are abit too dark to play in for long. So by doing the above steps it'll brighten the picture even more then? I've already got my brightness maxed out so maybe your tip will help.
Click to expand...

It won`t completly alter the image for when you are playing, but it allows you to alter contrast, brightness etc in effects for when your in photomode taking a picture. But It`s a perfect example to show how much the developers have screwed up the brightness/contrast settings of this game. Have ago and see for yourself how much better the image becomes with a couple of tweaks to the contrast/brightness/exposure, then take a picture and go back to your race and look how dull and dark the image becomes again.
 
Oh damn I jumped the gun assuming too much. I'll give the color settings a try in photo mode,any enhanced picture never hurts when taking photos.

But umm,anyone else getting dark looking games on their monitor? I've got one of those dinosaur monitors where the end that attaches to the monitor itself is simply a plug that has no male end,it's one of those that cannot be removed from the monitor at all. Which means I have to use that little adapter Microsoft included with the 360-where it allows you to atach the other end of my monitor's PC cable-into the adapter-then reinsert it into my PC.

I'm wondering if I'm getting alot of darkness because I'm doing this. Is the quality of the picture being compomised perhaps? Again-is anyone else using the adapter Microsoft included with the 360? How is your picture? Dark or fine?

It could be my monitor. Inwhich case I won't buy a new one for the 360,I'd rather spend the money on a HDTV,which I was planning to buy next summer though.:/
 
Warm Machine said:
If you look into a dark area in PDZ for a few seconds the exposure shifts and lightens everything up.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I meant. :) I think it's a cool feature and works the same in both games. If you're in a dark area in PGR3, everything becomes brighter too.
 
I got a plasma for the 360 and every damn game seems too dark. Upping the brighness/contrast just washes the image out with greyness:(
 
Sugarman said:
I got a plasma for the 360 and every damn game seems too dark. Upping the brighness/contrast just washes the image out with greyness:(
Click to expand...

If you have VGA connection on the Plasma, ditch the component and go that route. Much better picture quality including color levels.
 
Really? It does have a VGA input, and I was thinking about asking about it. If you have like some proof or some pics or something I'd appreciate it (it's like 30 or 40 for them, don't want to spend that much on something that's not worth it).
 
Sugarman said:
Really? It does have a VGA input, and I was thinking about asking about it. If you have like some proof or some pics or something I'd appreciate it (it's like 30 or 40 for them, don't want to spend that much on something that's not worth it).
Click to expand...

If a simple "trust me" is too little for you to risk the $40, then just go buy it at a store where you can return it without restocking fee.

But trust me, VGA (true RGB) cable sends "brighter" picture through than component (Y-Pb-Pr). Plus, it will open up a bunch more resolution than component. One of them might actually be your Plasma's native resolution to boot.
 
Warm Machine said:
If you look into a dark area in PDZ for a few seconds the exposure shifts and lightens everything up.
Click to expand...

For the longest time, I thought my TV was doing that. Until I realized it only happened in PDZ. And I really hate it. It's really annoying to see brightness changing by itself all the time. It's not subtle and it's not well done.
 
I just discover that it only gets darkenes in some citys.

Las Vegas and Numbugring don't suffer that. Very strange.
 
Shogmaster said:
If you have VGA connection on the Plasma, ditch the component and go that route. Much better picture quality including color levels.
Click to expand...

I'm about to go VGA as soon as the damn cable is available here but what do you mean by "better picture quality"? I know VGA allows me to set the dashboard resolution closer to that of my LCD display, but does this affect the games too even if they are rendered at 720 (or 600)?
 
TTP said:
I'm about to go VGA as soon as the damn cable is available here but what do you mean by "better picture quality"? I know VGA allows me to set the dashboard resolution closer to that of my LCD display, but does this affect the games too even if they are rendered at 720 (or 600)?
Click to expand...

The color rendering via component cables is not true RGB. It's Y-Pb-Pr:

RGB vs Y-Pb-Pr

"You can vaguely think of Y,Pb,Pr as RWB (W for white) when comparing with RGB. In reality all three subsignals are different (contain different proportions of red, green, and blue; the R of RGB is 1.0R + 0.0G + 0.0B).

The "white" (Y, luminance) carries full horizontal resolution while the Pb and Pr carry half. Whereas for RGB all three lines must carry full resolution.
Click to expand...
 
HDR Lighting is going to be the new lens flare until it is reigned it. It is cool to have light blowouts and over exposure but when it hurts the gameplay it sucks. What I like about it is the ability to have whiter than white information in the display.
 
Hitachi Rear Projection 52". Game looks great, brightness is perfect on middle TV settings. Infact the night tracks are my favorite.
 
i'm not sure if it's my lcd or the 360, but vga looks considerably better than component.
 
Happy New Year and all that....

I have a tube HDTV and the picture and brightness on PGR3 is stunning....with no difference between the in car and behind car viewpoints. My two bits. My TV and 360 are set to run in 1080i.
 
My 32 inch Sony WEGA CRT is much too dark in HDTV modes. When I'm doing a cone challenge, I've got to switch the Xbox to 480p to get rid of HDR. During most other challenges, it doesn't bother me much. The darkness actually makes Vegas look better. Almost photoreal. But yeah, strange that they seem to have messed up on polishing this effect.
 
.Abras. said:
I just got my 360 today and when I played PGR3 the image was too dark, making it difficult to drive.

I'm playing on a Sharp Aquos, and all others game I have looks normal.

Another strange thing is that when I enter on the cockpit view, the image comes back to normal brightness.

I called other 2 friend's that plays on HDTV and they report the same problem.
Click to expand...
Buy a Avia calibration DVD, pop it in your 360 and calibrate your HDTV.
 
Yusaku said:
Again that's HDR, and if you pay attention it happens in real-life. :lol
Click to expand...

Oh yeah right they did it so well that after 20 years of living i only starting noticing pupil adaption in Perfect Dark and Pgr, thats how good it is!
 
it's somewhat dark at times, yup.
It's the hdr, it's a little exaggerated.
Also, i've read papers stating that proper hdr uses more resources than AA.
I'm probably in the minority here, but i think hdr doesn't add enough to graphics to justify such a huge performance hit.
 
Was way too dark for me (only this and King Kong being the culprits) on my LCD projector. The VGA cable resulted in much brighter images. Give that a go if you can.
 
Hey, I'll be able to buy a Mad Catz 360 VGA cable tomorrow. What's the general opinion on this? Is it good? I've read about some issues with some 3rd party cables but dont recall if they were about the Mad Catz VGA one. I may pick it up if it's as good as the official one (which is expected to hit my store in two weeks :/)
 
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