I got a new monitor today that now allows me to use HDR 10 in the sim when I click HDR in the display settings.  When I turn it on, everything is so much darker?  For those using HDR in the sim and on your PC, should it look like that or should I do something to make it look better?

There is a Microsoft HDR calibration app on the Windows store.  I'd start with working through that. 

3 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

I got a new monitor today that now allows me to use HDR 10 in the sim when I click HDR in the display settings.  When I turn it on, everything is so much darker?  For those using HDR in the sim and on your PC, should it look like that or should I do something to make it look better?

You should run the Windows HDR Calibration tool.

Press the Windows key and start typing "HDR Cal..." If it is installed on your system, you should see it in the list on the start menu. If it is not currently installed, you might get a link to the Play store in yuor start menu list. Use that to install it. If you didn't see the installer in the list, just go to the play store and search for the "Windows HDR Claibration" app.

It runs you through 4 easy to use screens. The 1st one sets the black level, the next 2 set the white level, and the last is a Saturation level. The first 3 are super easy to use and its obvious what they do. The saturation setting is a bit trickier. I'm still looking for the best setting, but it's somewhere between 40 and 70 on that slider.

When you exit the tool, it will suggest a fliename to save it as. Make sure to add something to remind you what you set the saturation slider to. If you run the calibration again to try a different sat level, you can save that profile with the sat level in the filename. Then, you can easily swap between them (I think it requires a reboot - I do when I switch) using the Color Management App to figure out which one works best for you.

 

Edited February 2, 20233 yr by MDFlier

Thanks guys.. I'll give these a try!

I managed to make this work a few weeks ago, but it took some fiddling. The monitor itself had to be set to enable HDR, and there is an OS setting under System >
Display > HDR that needs to be turned on. As noted above, calibration is then required. It's all a bit fiddly, but it looks great.

 

57 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

I got a new monitor today that now allows me to use HDR 10 in the sim when I click HDR in the display settings.  When I turn it on, everything is so much darker?  For those using HDR in the sim and on your PC, should it look like that or should I do something to make it look better?

Did you turn on HDR in Windows?

50 minutes ago, Noel said:

Did you turn on HDR in Windows?

Yes 

If it's the AW3423DW, then the Alienware control app also has a setting for light and dark modes. Switching it to dark will boost the colours a bit. Also HDR 1000 is much better than 400 (imho).

Another thing you can do is increase gamma in the Nvidia GeForce overlay if you're using that.

As others have said, it can be a bit fiddly setting up, but once you get HDR working well, it really is "a game changer".

Nice tip on the Cal tool I'll have to check that out.  You shouldn't have to reboot though.  In non-HDR I use DisplayCal to calibrate my monitors and you can just choose a profile in the Color Management panel and it instantly applies it.  Maybe I can get my poor HDR400 monitor to not blow out the highlights as bad with that tool.  Though I'm probably looking for a new main monitor now that I have something that can drive 4K+ so I might go after OLED for true HDR capabilities.  I bought the current one for ulrawide + color accuracy not HDR so didn't really care that it was only HDR400.

1 hour ago, scotchegg said:

If it's the AW3423DW, then the Alienware control app also has a setting for light and dark modes. Switching it to dark will boost the colours a bit. Also HDR 1000 is much better than 400 (imho).

400 would be wonderful. I bought this display to use for work since I needed the extra real estate. Didn't even know it had HDR (310) until after I got it home. It's a potato from an HDR capabilities perspective. That being said, it still looks much, much better than SDR so now I'm using it for MSFS for a bit.    

10 minutes ago, flyinion said:

Nice tip on the Cal tool I'll have to check that out.  You shouldn't have to reboot though.  In non-HDR I use DisplayCal to calibrate my monitors and you can just choose a profile in the Color Management panel and it instantly applies it.  Maybe I can get my poor HDR400 monitor to not blow out the highlights as bad with that tool.  Though I'm probably looking for a new main monitor now that I have something that can drive 4K+ so I might go after OLED for true HDR capabilities.  I bought the current one for ulrawide + color accuracy not HDR so didn't really care that it was only HDR400.

I wasn't sure about the reboot. Couldn't find any info on that. I agree that I shouldn't have to but a reboot only takes about 30 seconds so I just do it anyway.

55 minutes ago, flyinion said:

Nice tip on the Cal tool I'll have to check that ou

The Windows HDR Calibration App is for Win 11 only

11 minutes ago, Noel said:

The Windows HDR Calibration App is for Win 11 only

Yep.  I’m on 11

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/g-sync-monitors/7/396645/enabling-hdr-correctly-on-windows-10/

sp

19 hours ago, Noel said:

The Windows HDR Calibration App is for Win 11 only

Oops apparently I never updated my signature fully.  Got the 4090 in there a couple weeks ago but apparently forgot about the Win 10 to Win 11 entry back in October when I reinstalled.  Thx for the info though.

Just tried out that app.  Works pretty nice, unfortunately didn't do much for my poor HDR400 monitor.  Did a test with late afternoon + a few clouds and if the camera wasn't aimed right at the sun and low to the ground, highlights were still just totally blown out.  I do need to double check that I didn't have two color profiles interfering with each other though.  Apparently the app makes and "advanced" color profile and so both it and the standard one from DisplayCal can be active together in the Color Management window, but it's not obvious if both are loaded when a game is in HDR mode.  So I'll do it again but remove my calibrated non-hdr one and close out DisplayCal's loader tool first.  I'm pretty sure HDR400 just doesn't have enough range to properly map the tones in HDR mode in the sim in a usable manner.

Edited February 3, 20233 yr by flyinion