Topic: madvr and hdr (Read 2288 times)

Inquisition · « **on:** July 01, 2021, 09:35:19 am »

hi folks,

i have a question about madvr and hdr. first, everything works perfect, also after update to mc28. congrats for this great work to the team.

my question is, when i look an video in theatermode (i only use theatermode for normal usage of mc) and it is hdr, then its correctly send to my tv (sony kd65ag8 oled) and the tv shows me also hdr.

when the movie has stopped, mc stays in hdr mode so everything is to high boosted with contrast.

what can i do that mc oder madvr switch back to sdr mode?

this behaviour i also had before in mc27

Inquisition · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2021, 10:42:02 am »

oh i forgot,

i have set "passthrough hdr to display" and "send hdr metadata to display"

TheShoe · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2021, 11:44:50 am »

this is a problem with madVR and/or nVidia drivers (at least in what I have read). It's been reported elsewhere that HDR seems to get "stuck" even though you stop playback of an HDR video. If you subsequently play an SDR video, colors will look terrible.

It happens to those who use madVr with other players such as MPC-HC.

Some useful posts:

https://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1927705&postcount=2097
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176013 <-- look at the comment on the nVidia 442.92 driver:

Inquisition · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2021, 11:58:40 am »

ah ok, looks like its an nvidia issue, i also have an nvidia card (gtx1070).

my solution till yet was starting for one second and stop then an sdr video for switching back to normal mode. this works, but is an annoying step.

Lets look after an old driverversion from nvidia, maybe this could be an solution.

think i try 425.31 and will report

thanks

TheShoe · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2021, 12:51:08 pm »

I had thought of using an older driver as well but since I also play some games (I have a 3090 RTX), updated drivers are important.

I was largely able to work around it by setting up custom profiles in madVr with specific resolution/refresh rates and then choosing the profile based on video source meta data. there was also specific settings when to change/restore the original display mode.

This works for me majority of time, but sometimes fails. And for reasons I can still never explain, Media Center almost never restores the original refresh rate for me of 60Hz; it often sticks to 23, which while fine for movies, is not so much for general Windows desktop use.

I also tried just using Windows in HDR mode all the time. This worked perfectly for video playback for HDR content, but not great for SDR content or normal windows desktop usage. It does however support HDR gaming where games can't typically automatically switch to HDR.

HDR and windows while better, is still messy.

Good luck! interested in anything you discover

Inquisition · « **Reply #5 on:** July 01, 2021, 03:39:04 pm »

hmmm, i am not able to install the older version on my win10 actually build.

so this solution failed.

i had to look for another solution.

the problem you tell with refresh rate, on my pc this works fine. he jumps back to 60hz when i stop play or movie has finished.

Inquisition · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2021, 04:37:15 pm »

Oh oh, that wasn't a good idea playing with the driver. I deinstall the old driver first and tryed to install the old one but he is too old for Win10 21h1.

Then I installed new the actual Nvidia driver in mode new installation. Now I have same problem, after playing an HDR video the PC doesn't switch back to SDR mode till I restart him.
Before I only had to start an SDR video for an second or two and the pc switch back.

I restore now the system. Luckily I have an 6 days old backup.

TheShoe · « **Reply #7 on:** July 01, 2021, 05:42:10 pm »

if you cycle (restart) Media Center after playing an HDR video, whatever resource(s) are being held onto by madVr/nVidia/media center are "released". you should not have to reboot the entire PC.

As for the old nVidia driver - there is a way to install it - it's likely a non DCH compliant driver package. look up how to install non DCH drivers for nvidia on windows 10 (at your own risk of course)

tij · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2021, 01:23:09 am »

Maybe this will help

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,129835.0.html

Inquisition · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2021, 04:27:29 am »

Hmm go back instead of stop will be an idea, i will try this.

Quote

look up how to install non DCH drivers for nvidia on windows 10 (at your own risk of course)

this i will also take a look and try

restore yesterday was successful, so i can try new

EDIT:

the last nvidia who works fine 425.31 is allready an non DCH driver. but he is too old for actual win10 build

tij · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2021, 05:49:27 am »

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176013

That link has pdf that details madvr problem with each nvidia/amd driver version

Inquisition · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2021, 08:41:13 am »

could be useful thanks.

The NVCleanstall_1.10.0 toll i also found and i will try this one with an older driver to get it installed.

Inquisition · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2021, 10:23:11 am »

so, no chance to change this strange behaviour.

i have now the last nvidia driver installed, 471.xx and the only thing that changed is, when i stop the hdr video, the menus, gui of theaterview and desktop fall back to normal brightness and contrast. when i start another video without hdr it will be played to dark.

i close and restart mc28 now after playing hdr video, then all is ok.

the only thing i found is, before i installed actual nvidia driver, i deinstalled the one before. i did an complete deinstallation with clearing all files and registry entrys. then i restart and played videos only with standard driver of windows.
and i have the same behaviour as with installed nvidia driver!!!

looks like its not only on nvidia driver, looks like mc also has an false behaviour in this cause

Inquisition · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2021, 10:31:51 am »

think i or better we had to live with stopping and restarting mc after playing hdr video.

for me its only two fingertips on my remote, so its no drama, only bugging

TheShoe · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2021, 04:16:31 pm »

I think it's not Media Center as the same issue exists in other players where madVr+nVidia drivers are used.

The work around if you looked in one of the previous links is to restart the player - in that example they talk about MPC which is just a player and restarting it is fine; this is not a fine solution for Media Center however.

Unfortunately madVr seems dead from a further development perspective in favor of a new product. It's been a long time since it was updated

Perhaps JRiver can enhance their own Red October Standard to pass through HDR at the very least.

--

As an alternative, you can use Windows HDR as mentioned before and things should work. has its own compromises.

You can also try tone mapping in madVR but I could not get it to be acceptable (likely through lack of time/trying - some have had great success)

Inquisition · « **Reply #15 on:** July 02, 2021, 04:29:24 pm »

i tried tone mapping, i don't know if i like it or not. most things looking good but sometimes i get the feeling something is wrong with the picture.

Tone mapping makes sense if you have an 3DLUT File from your TV, Monitor and so on.

madVR is an person, so many things to play with and try, and the hours run away like speed of light lol

and after them you also can't remember what was better now lol

i left it like it is now. i built a restart macro for my remote system, so after stopping hdr video, i make a short tip and mc closes and restarts after 5 seconds.

jmone · « **Reply #16 on:** July 02, 2021, 05:42:46 pm »

I'm hesitant to post this, but the latest test version of madVR specifically address this issue (though in my testing I'm not so sure). All you need to do is copy the files into your "C:\Users\[USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 28\Plugins\madvr" folder (but take a copy of this folder first so you can restore it if needed)

jmone · « **Reply #17 on:** July 02, 2021, 05:47:22 pm »

...I should add that these are time limited test versions, so it will stop working at some point.

Inquisition · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2021, 06:05:19 pm »

sounds interresting, thanks

will give them a try

rec head · « **Reply #19 on:** July 03, 2021, 06:03:05 am »

I'm curious to hear if it works.

TheShoe · « **Reply #20 on:** July 03, 2021, 09:12:44 am »

well that implies perhaps an updated version will be released

will give it a try. i’ve used different versions of madvr with mc in the past without issue

Inquisition · « **Reply #21 on:** July 03, 2021, 10:38:03 am »

It works. I tested it and there's no problem with switching back to SDR after video stopped.

Let's hope regular version will be released early. This test versions will stop after one month?

tij · « **Reply #22 on:** July 03, 2021, 12:31:42 pm »

Last "regular" release was in 2018.

Last "stable" beta without expiration is 113 ... if memory serves me right.

While i am grateful for madshi's work on madvr, i would not hold my breath for next "regular" release (i really hope i am proven wrong here)

And if you are indeed on madvr betas ... i see no point in letting your TV/projector do tone mapping ... as sole focus of those betas is dtm (dynamic tone mapping ... aka dolby vision concept applied to hdr10)

Inquisition · « **Reply #23 on:** July 03, 2021, 03:00:50 pm »

Hmm if there comes no new version without expire date I go back to my restart procedure of MC.

But let's hope

tij · « **Reply #24 on:** July 04, 2021, 10:07:49 am »

Even if what you using expires ... there will be always new beta available ... problem is - those betas have lots of setting for testers to try out (all hdr dtm related). This can be confusing for regular users (not in your case ... as it seems you just passing hdr to tv)

... there also can be stability issues ... in which case there will be no support from JRiver fo these beta builds

Imho ... try tone mapping with MadVR ... what is supplied by default with MC is really good enough for 99% users (surpassing most tone mapping provided in tvs and projectors).

If you are that 1% of videophils who want absolutely best ... you can try 112b or 113 (versions ppl keep refering they will fall back to if madVR htpc dies out). Dont ask support for these here though as they are not supported by JRiver ... search avs forum or reddit

EDIT: if money is no objection ... then Envy or Radiance PRO is way to go

TheShoe · « **Reply #25 on:** July 06, 2021, 07:57:57 am »

gave the latest beta (b134) a shot and for me it's unstable. stopping video playback results in Media Center locking up. could not get far enough to see if the "HDR/SDR" issue is resolved or not.

Inquisition · « **Reply #26 on:** July 06, 2021, 01:42:21 pm »

Quote

If you are that 1% of videophils who want absolutely best ... you can try 112b or 113 (versions ppl keep refering they will fall back to if madVR htpc dies out). Dont ask support for these here though as they are not supported by JRiver ... search avs forum or reddit

EDIT: if money is no objection ... then Envy or Radiance PRO is way to go

No no, not one of the 1%.

Just wanna do as good as possible without rocket science or days or weeks of testing of parameters. Just annoyed of the hdr bug and need of starting an sdr movie or restart mc. But looks like theres no other way.

Envy or Radiance is too expensive, thats not worth for me cz i only have an handful of 4k hdr movies on htpc. The rest is on disk and they play through sony x800mk2 and i dont wanna rip them all to harddisk.

so its no real drama.

Quote

gave the latest beta (b134) a shot and for me it's unstable. stopping video playback results in Media Center locking up. could not get far enough to see if the "HDR/SDR" issue is resolved or not.

ok, on my htpc it works well yet without any bugs. but everyone has another system.

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Author Topic: madvr and hdr (Read 2288 times)