Does P3D need an HDR display to look its best?

[Christopher Low 5,332]

HDR Lighting was a lifeline for me in P3D. I hated the "inside a supernova" brightness in broad daylight of FSX and standard lighting in P3D. In fact, it restricted me to short flights close to dawn or dusk, simply because I couldn't stand looking at the super bright landscape at any other time of the day. I now have the brightness in P3D v3.3.5 dialled back to only 0.40, and can finally start flying at other times of the day.

There are numerous areas of VFR Photographic Scenery England and Wales where the colours are rather over saturated, and these "stick out like a sore thumb" in broad daylight. However, they are much less obvious when the brightness is significantly reduced, and it makes a MASSIVE difference to my enjoyment of VFR flight.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

Christopher, I'm not seeing supernova brightness. Just normal. That's why I don't need HDR switching on.

What graphics card, monitor and cable connections do you use?

[Christopher Low 5,332]

2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 770

24" 1920x1080 Asus VS247HR widescreen

DVI or HDMI (will need to check when I get home)

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

8 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 770

24" 1920x1080 Asus VS247HR widescreen

DVI or HDMI (will need to check when I get home)

Thanks. I wonder why I see such a different image to you?

[Christopher Low 5,332]

When I say "supernova" brightness, I am exaggerating to a certain extent. It is more probable that I just have a low tolerance for brightness levels. I am the kind of person who prefers a handful of lamps on in the living room rather than the bright main light in the centre, so that may be an indication of my requirements

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

Understood Christopher. All my flying is done in daylight hours so that might explain why I prefer a brighter image. If you do yours in subdued light then HDR will probably be fine.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

I'm revisiting this topic because a lot has changed since my original post 22 months ago.

I now have a new system and a new monitor which replaced a Sony 32" Full HD TV. I've had to stay with P3D v3 for FSL Concorde until such time as a 64-bit version is released.

I decided to have another crack at HDR figuring L-M wouldn't have added it unless there were tangible benefits. I still have more tweaking to do but overall it does add another dimension to the lighting effects. I need to check some tutorials on YT to get the best out of it.

Needless to say when I load up P3D v4 I'll certainly be turning it on. I can only assume the graphics card and especially the monitor play a major part in making it look good. My Sony TV clearly wasn't up to the task.

It's all the more impressive when I'm having to run a UHD monitor at 1920*1080 too. With the extra contrast it does help give the gauges that extra clarity.

[eslader 1,777]

On 4/20/2017 at 2:04 PM, Ray Proudfoot said:

Thanks Jim. It is mighty confusing they're using the same naming convention as genuine HDR.

Perhaps a discussion as to what HDR is is warranted.  HDR means high dynamic range. All it means is that unlike regular photography, HDR photography can show detail in dark and light areas simultaneously. If you've ever taken pictures with a regular camera you know you have to choose what you're exposing the picture for - the shadows or the light areas. And whichever you choose, the other one isn't going to be as visible.

HDR purports to eliminate that issue by sampling at multiple exposure levels simultaneously.

So you don't need an "HDR monitor" to display HDR photography, because if your monitor can display this photo:

 

 

and also display this photo:

 

 

then it's capable of the dynamic range you need - all it needs is to get HDR imagery.

 

In the old days some LCD monitors had poor dynamic range because they were backlit by a couple of fluorescent bulbs and had to do all of the contrast work by darkening pixels, which was only partly successful. So you'd, for instance, have a picture where anything that should have been black was actually grey. But these days the backlighting is much more discrete and so really, almost all of them can display an HDR image.

 

As evidence, if this picture looks good:

 

 

then your monitor can already display HDR imagery (a normally-exposed photo would either show the sunlight properly while the arch would be dark, or it would show the arch properly while the sunlight would be blown out).

 

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

10 minutes ago, eslader said:

Perhaps a discussion as to what HDR is is warranted.  HDR means high dynamic range. All it means is that unlike regular photography, HDR photography can show detail in dark and light areas simultaneously. If you've ever taken pictures with a regular camera you know you have to choose what you're exposing the picture for - the shadows or the light areas. And whichever you choose, the other one isn't going to be as visible.

HDR purports to eliminate that issue by sampling at multiple exposure levels simultaneously.

So you don't need an "HDR monitor" to display HDR photography, because if your monitor can display this photo:

Thanks Charles. I had discovered that HDR in P3D is quite different to HDR when applied to TVs.

What HDR in P3D is giving me is far greater brightness where the sun is shining into the cockpit. Just as in real life I guess. And the better the monitor the better the results. It definitely gives a more lifelike image. Whether the same applies at night is immaterial to me as I rarely fly after dark.

[FreeBird(Josh) 314]

From what I think I understand that HDR in P3D is not the same as HDR on a TV or monitor. Its like a placebo effect that P3D uses to its graphic engine to give you more color control.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,924]

1 minute ago, FreeBird(Josh) said:

From what I think I understand that HDR in P3D is not the same as HDR on a TV or monitor. Its like a placebo effect that P3D uses to its graphic engine to give you more color control.

I agree it's different. It's not just colour control though. It's changing the brightness levels in an intelligent way. Things in sunshine are brighter than shade by a greater degree than without HDR enabled.

And it's not a placebo effect. You can see the difference.

 

[FreeBird(Josh) 314]

30 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I agree it's different. It's not just colour control though. It's changing the brightness levels in an intelligent way. Things in sunshine are brighter than shade by a greater degree than without HDR enabled.

And it's not a placebo effect. You can see the difference.

 

I used the wrong words. What you said is a better description.

[eslader 1,777]

From what I can tell it's a somewhat clunky brightness/contrast boost. This is, I suspect, why if you have back-lit buttons in the cockpit, the text on them can appear blurry, where if you turn HDR off it does not.

[Gordon Hutchison 76]

Love the HDR in P3D.

I think it does help if your monitor/TV can make full use of it though.

Got my settings dialled in just right for my 65" Sony 4K

[TurboKen 221]

While the HDR on my 55" 4k Sony tv shows an improvement in contrast/lighting over my 38" Dell I wouldn't say it was earth shattering in P3D.

Now if your talking movies, The Sony 4k is the way to go. The X1 processor allows for fast motion with ZERO motion blur, like a plasma. You will never look at a samsung again without grinning. In the end the 55" was too big for a computer monitor and I chose the 38". I still stand by that choice, but I was surprised the 38 was not a brighter display w/ HDR. especially at the price point it was at. But give it a few years.