HDR always on ?

[Drabat]

Hi,

Im new to hdr and i read on reddit that it's not recommended to leave the HDR always on ( on windows i think)
And just pass the setting on for hdr content ( like game or média )
But this is my question , when im on youtube or watching anime and playing game should i turn it on even is the game or the content is not HDR ?
And why i can't let it on it's gonna reduce the lifetime of the monitor ? My display is a AW2725DF
What HDR profile should i use ( currently i use the PEAK1000) ?
Thanks

[RealNC]

When leaving HDR enabled, SDR colors look simply wrong to me. Gamma is off, black levels are off, image is washed out. If you want good image quality for SDR content, leave HDR off.

I believe on you can simply toggle HDR on and off with Win+Alt+B unless you disabled the Windows Game Bar.

[Chief Blur Buster]

When leaving HDR enabled, SDR colors look simply wrong to me.

Yes, there's a lot of crappy HDR implementations.

But there are HDR monitors with fantastic SDR.

As an interim workaround, you can use Win+Alt+B to switch between SDR and HDR on Windows 11, assuming you have Game Bar installed.

[RealNC]

When leaving HDR enabled, SDR colors look simply wrong to me.

Yes, there's a lot of crappy HDR implementations.

But there are HDR monitors with fantastic SDR.

I believe the SDR conversion when in HDR mode is done by Windows, not the monitor.

[Chief Blur Buster]

I believe the SDR conversion when in HDR mode is done by Windows, not the monitor.

Uhhhh.... It's a problem well beyond Windows 11

Even my Corsair Xeneon Flex has crappy SDR during the HDR mode with a MacBook M1 (1600nit XDR MiniLED FALD).

Only the built-in XDR display on the MacBook shows fantastic SDR during HDR mode.

The MacBook XDR displays have fantastic SDR while having access to 1600+ nit HDR. I currently use a MacBook as my mobile TestUFO development machine for the HDR version of beta.testufo.com (Development and debugging for HDR+120Hz+1600nit+10hours battery) and a MacBook M1 runs VSCode 10x faster than my Razer Blade 15.

So I juggle lots of platforms. It's nice that my Corsair Xeneon 240Hz doubles as a Thunderbolt-style dock, so I can plug in my tower rig, my Razer Blade, and my MacBook simply by using a single-cable USB-C hotswap (40Gbps USB4/TB3). I may get an external Thunderbolt KVM+E (Keyboard+Video+Mouse+Ethernet) switch, but for now it's easy to for me to dock/undock any desktop/laptop.

Long term, Windows 11 will improve HDR handling, but it's also the displays' fault too. The HDR ecosystem is currently quite suboptimal, with shades of amazing HDR without SDR sacrifice. And I can use other HDR modes that improves SDR handling on the MacBook (multiple profiles), but it's still highly fiddly. I wish I had more easily customizable SDR-subset adjustments during HDR mode.

[Drabat]

So to resume, letting hdr always ON with Windows doesn’t affect the monitor ( don’t reduced the lifetime) but i the colors gonna be bad , so for YouTube or crnchyroll for exemple i leave it off , but for gaming should i let it on even if the game doesn’t have hdr option ?
And im not sure about the hdr profile to use on this monitor between the desktop , hdr True black and the peak 1000 or the custom color

Thanks for the reply

[RealNC]

but for gaming should i let it on even if the game doesn’t have hdr option ?
And im not sure about the hdr profile to use on this monitor between the desktop , hdr True black and the peak 1000 or the custom color

Games that don't use HDR are going to look wrong as well.

Don't know what the "true black" thing is when it comes to OLED. I thought it's for LCDs only, but apparently some OLED have different HDR modes for this. But again, I don't know what it does.

[Drabat]

Ok i will try that my eyes must be bad lol without the hdr the color seem strange xD

[RealNC]

Ok i will try that my eyes must be bad lol without the hdr the color seem strange xD

The colors will be wrong if you don't use the sRGB clamp of your monitor, or use a tool like novideo_srgb to clamp the colors. More info:

https://pcmonitors.info/articles/taming ... emulation/

Your display has a "Creator" preset for this. This will do an sRGB clamp on the colors. I don't know if there is an independent sRGB toggle in the OSD that can be used with other presets. novideo_srgb might give better results if the monitor's sRGB mode is not that good.

[Drabat]

Yes the colors seems much better while i check clamp but it's the only fix ? I read on the post that you can fix it with a custom ICC profile i use the one done by rtings
But should i uncheck it if i use HDR
Damn i didn't tihk having an oled was such an headache lol