Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[IAM4UK]

None of these HDR settings work for me in Win11. They did work fine in Win10.
Now, I have to manually switch "Use HDR" off or on, depending on the content I intend to watch.
If anyone has troubleshooting steps I might try, thanks in advance...

[jmone]

All I did was turn on HDR in Windows and set my displays to HDR ON and both SDR and HDR material works and looks fine without doing anything else.  Windows 11 then Tone Maps the SDR material, and I've set madVR to passthrough HDR Metadata. 

What content is not looking correct?

FWIW  I've not tried it yet on a TV or PJ yet as my HTPC are all 7th series CPUs. 

[IAM4UK]

All I did was turn on HDR in Windows and set my displays to HDR ON and both SDR and HDR material works and looks fine without doing anything else.  Windows 11 then Tone Maps the SDR material, and I've set madVR to passthrough HDR Metadata. 

What content is not looking correct?

FWIW  I've not tried it yet on a TV or PJ yet as my HTPC are all 7th series CPUs.

Thanks. My display is an LG OLED television. It is connected to a Marantz AVR, which is connected to the HTPC. The computer uses an nVidia GeForce 1660.
The HDR content plays correctly if and only if "Use HDR" is ON.
The SDR content plays correctly if and only if "Use HDR" is OFF. Otherwise, it is washed out and grotesquely pixelated in dark areas, regardless of the brightness slider setting.
When I was using Windows 10, "Use HDR" could be left ON, and all content worked. I do have the nVidia driver that is specified for Win11. Within madVR, I have tried both "Let madVR decide" and "Passthrough HDR"

[jmone]

From the LG's Menu can you see any signal info showing what it is getting?  Can you change the LG to be in HDR Mode?

I do have an LG OLED but I'd need to drag my PC to another room which would be PITA .....

[IAM4UK]

From the LG's Menu can you see any signal info showing what it is getting?  Can you change the LG to be in HDR Mode?

I do have an LG OLED but I'd need to drag my PC to another room which would be PITA .....

I can have the LG OLED indicate whether it's getting HDR BT.2020 or not. It automatically goes into "HDR Mode" and briefly indicates that whenever I switch Win11 to "Use HDR."

[jmone]

Does your "Desktop" also look weird or is it just SDR Video Playback in MadVR?  If it is just SDR in MadVR, there have been reports in the madVR thread of weirdness where you have to remove the "devices" in madvr (I did not have to do this) and set them up again.  Also give a try to the new JRVR option / RO STD to see if it is still weird with SDR Video Playback (to help narrow down what is causing the issue).

Also my madVR setting for testing is "Passthrough HDR to Display" + "send HDR metadata to the display" is checked

Also, this is what madVR OSD shows when playing back SDR for me

[TheShoe]

Thanks. My display is an LG OLED television. It is connected to a Marantz AVR, which is connected to the HTPC. The computer uses an nVidia GeForce 1660.
The HDR content plays correctly if and only if "Use HDR" is ON.
The SDR content plays correctly if and only if "Use HDR" is OFF. Otherwise, it is washed out and grotesquely pixelated in dark areas, regardless of the brightness slider setting.
When I was using Windows 10, "Use HDR" could be left ON, and all content worked. I do have the nVidia driver that is specified for Win11. Within madVR, I have tried both "Let madVR decide" and "Passthrough HDR"

I have a very similar setup: Win11, LG OLED (2016 model), Marantz, HTCP using latest nVidia drivers.

on rare occasion when I have HDR issues, the HDMI chain (?) breaks down for me and I have to reboot the Marantz which solves the problem for me.  I might suggest connecting your HTPC directly to the OLED and eliminate anything in between source and destination as a culprit.

As with @jmone, I have configured Win11 now to keep HDR on, madVR set to passthru.  After some time calibrating the various components I've arrived at what I find is an excellent HDR experience and an acceptable SDR->HDR tone-mapped experience.

It just "works" now, except that rare occasion I mention, which I have a suspicion is being triggered by my use of VNC to connect to the HTPC while the OLDE is off.  This has another effect of causing oddness in font size across some apps when I do use the LG as a monitor.  This too is solved by rebooting the marantz.

[IAM4UK]

Does your "Desktop" also look weird or is it just SDR Video Playback in MadVR?  If it is just SDR in MadVR, there have been reports in the madVR thread of weirdness where you have to remove the "devices" in madvr (I did not have to do this) and set them up again.  Also give a try to the new JRVR option / RO STD to see if it is still weird with SDR Video Playback (to help narrow down what is causing the issue).

Desktop and other windows look fine in "Use HDR" mode.
I have tried Red October Standard, and the problem is the same:  SDR content is washed out when "Use HDR" is toggled on.
Attempted to remove the Devices in madvr, but that responds, "Active devices cannot be removed."

[jmone]

Well if it is also happening with RO Std and RO HQ then it is not madVR.  Have you changed any LAV Settings by chance?

Only other idea I have is I can get a washed out SDR Desktop / Apps when running Chitubox (a 3D Slicer) and drag it between displays.  It seems to trigger turning off Windows HDR on one screen (and my screens when black during the change when Windows went from HDR to SDR).  Had to close it down and reset the HDR in Windows and on my screen.  Is it possible you are running something other graphics prog at the same time as MC?

[IAM4UK]

Well if it is also happening with RO Std and RO HQ then it is not madVR.  Have you changed any LAV Settings by chance?

Only other idea I have is I can get a washed out SDR Desktop / Apps when running Chitubox (a 3D Slicer) and drag it between displays.  It seems to trigger turning off Windows HDR on one screen (and my screens when black during the change when Windows went from HDR to SDR).  Had to close it down and reset the HDR in Windows and on my screen.  Is it possible you are running something other graphics prog at the same time as MC?

I have not accessed any LAV settings.
I run no other graphics program when testing these anomalies, and typically I run only MC on this HTPC. For this troubleshooting, I've had Windows Settings open, and Media Center, and sometimes madvr Settings.
Someone mentioned "displays that claim to support HDR, but don't really." That's not been a problem with my LG OLED E6, and I can play all my network-accessible content through my OPPO UltraHD Blu-Ray Player without issue. That includes SDR, HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. HOWEVER, my XBox One reported that it didn't consider my LG OLED's handling of Dolby Vision to be compatible with the XBox (Microsoft) way of handling Dolby Vision... So, MAYBE there's some spec Microsoft adheres to, which LG doesn't???  However, content on XBox One appears correct, whether SDR or HDR.

[JimH]

I have a very similar setup: Win11, LG OLED (2016 model), Marantz, HTCP using latest nVidia drivers.

on rare occasion when I have HDR issues, the HDMI chain (?) breaks down for me and I have to reboot the Marantz which solves the problem for me.  I might suggest connecting your HTPC directly to the OLED and eliminate anything in between source and destination as a culprit.

Did you try this?

[JimH]

Is it an HDCP problem?  I had a similar problem once that was solved by getting the right level of HDMI cable.

[IAM4UK]

Is it an HDCP problem?  I had a similar problem once that was solved by getting the right level of HDMI cable.

Were it an HDCP problem, I'd have playback issues that I don't have. As for the cables, I've tried many, and the current ones are certified 18 Gbps.
I will try removing the Marantz from the chain, but that won't be a solution, as I require the sound as part of my theater experience. I had the Marantz in the chain with Windows 10, when "Use HDR" worked for all types of content (SDR and HDR). The breaking of that working setup was coincident with the switch to Windows 11. Nothing else changed.

[jmone]

It's about narrowing down where the issues is.  What happens when you play a SDR video in a web browser?  Drag and drop some of your SDR Video into a web browser and see what happens.  Is it different in Full Screen vs Windowed?

[IAM4UK]

It's about narrowing down where the issues is.  What happens when you play a SDR video in a web browser?  Drag and drop some of your SDR Video into a web browser and see what happens.  Is it different in Full Screen vs Windowed?

Web browser image same issues as MC (only looks correct when manually switching "Use HDR" on or off to match content being played).
No difference in Full Screen v Windowed.

[IAM4UK]

I did take the Marantz AVR 7013 out of the signal path. No change in behavior. SDR content only looks correct if "Use HDR" is switched OFF, and HDR content of course only looks correct if "Use HDR" is switched ON win Windows 11 Settings.
I have an AMD GPU I could switch back to; however, it's a Radeon 5600, and it has HDMI audio dropout problems, as apparently all 5600 and 5700 AMD GPUs have. So, I cannot rely on that.
I do not believe the LG OLED 65E6 is the culprit, because it handles HDR 10 and Dolby Vision fine with the OPPO Ultra HD player, and it handled HDR and SDR fine in Windows 10 with "Use HDR" always ON.

[jmone]

So it's not the video renderer(s), MC, the Marantz.  That leaves Windows 11 and the LG.... and I'm thinking something in Windows 11 for your setup.  Can you try to remove the nvidia driver using DDU when booted into Safe Mode, then do a clean install of the latest Video Driver?  Here is the latest tutorial on how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OLhUAPDq0&t=2s&ab_channel=JayzTwoCents

[IAM4UK]

So it's not the video renderer(s), MC, the Marantz.  That leaves Windows 11 and the LG.... and I'm thinking something in Windows 11 for your setup.  Can you try to remove the nvidia driver using DDU when booted into Safe Mode, then do a clean install of the latest Video Driver?  Here is the latest tutorial on how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OLhUAPDq0&t=2s&ab_channel=JayzTwoCents

Thank you very much. I will try this process tomorrow.
Going to see the new James Bond movie tonight...

[IAM4UK]

Can you try to remove the nvidia driver using DDU when booted into Safe Mode, then do a clean install of the latest Video Driver?  Here is the latest tutorial on how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OLhUAPDq0&t=2s&ab_channel=JayzTwoCents

Did this cleanup. Nice to have it refreshed now, but the "Use HDR" switch still does not work for SDR content, and I must manually switch "Use HDR" off to view SDR content without garbage on the screen. Curiously, it's different kinds of garbage after the DDU process:  lots of sparkles, rather than so much pixelation.

[jmone]

Sparkles (if it is the "traditional" sparkles) are a sign of poor physical HDMI connection.  If you take a print screen do you see them (if you don't it's the connection)?  Can you post the print screen?  Can you also post a pic of your NVidia Settings?

[IAM4UK]

Thought it must be connection, but multiple certified cables show no difference. Read on another forum that the Nvidia STUDIO drivers have such problems, while the GAME-READY drivers don't. Although that makes no sense to me, I am going to DDU again, and then install the GAME-READY driver to test it.

Regarding Nvidia settings, I've been having those "use Windows settings." If that is ill-advised, I will gladly set the Nvidia options to things known to work...

[jmone]

I've used both Studio and Game Ready drivers and there is no difference in regard to sparkles.  Simple test.... do the sparkles show up in a Print Screen?  Default options in nvidia are fine for now.

[IAM4UK]

Sparkles do not show when taking screen capture; only when video is playing in MC. In fact, when playing the same content in "Movies and TV" app, there are no sparkles.
There were no sparkles before the DDU process, either. But then, the SDR content was pixelated and incorrectly colored in "Use HDR" mode.

So... I downgraded the MC Video Settings to Red October Standard, with the Nvidia Game Ready Driver cleanly installed. Result with "Use HDR" constantly set to ON, both SDR and HDR play with decent color (SDR) and proper color (HDR), but massive pixel sparkling.

[jmone]

Well we are getting somewhere (not sure where!!!).  At least the colour is now correct.  I guess the next step is to try work out the cause of the sparkles.  These tend to occur at higher HDMI transition bit rates over longer cable runs.  You could try a the following as a test:
- Connect the HTPC direct to the TV again with a short cable and see if the sparkles still appear.  This will reduce the length of the run.
- Drop the refresh rate (to say 23.976) / resolution (to say 1920 x 1080) in the nvidia control panel (turn off MC's auto display rate changing for this test) - which will drop the HDMI transmission rate used

[IAM4UK]

Thank you for so many good and logical troubleshooting steps.
I re-did the entire DDU process for a third time, and for some unknown reason, it seems to work now. No more sparkles, good color on both SDR and HDR content with "Use HDR" always on. I left MC in Red October Standard mode, because I'm frankly scared to adjust anything at this point. I've used the higher performance option for years, with madvr, but for now, I will enjoy a once-again working system...

[jmone]

Well done!  Glad you got it working.  This stuff can be hard to work out when it goes wrong.  I was having my PC Freeze after doing intensive GPU work.  Tried all sorts of things.  In my case I'd done inplace Windows upgrades & swapped GPUs over the years.  In the end, all I needed to do was a wipe and clean install of the GPU Drivers.

It is still worth trying Red October HQ (madVR) and also the new JRiver Video Renderer option (in MC Version 20.72 and above)

[IAM4UK]

It is still worth trying Red October HQ (madVR) and also the new JRiver Video Renderer option (in MC Version 20.72 and above)

Well, toggling JRVR on in 28.75 brought the sparkling pixels back, and reverting to RO Std didn't take them away; I'll probably have to DDU and reinstall again.
But having tried even more HDMI cables during this process, I just ordered some 48Gbps rated cables (mine are 18Gbps rated). Who can guess if that will make it work again? Curiously, the content can be played sparkle-free on other players, just not in MC.
I also have an AMD 56000XT GPU I can swap for the Nvidia 1660; however, that AMD card always had audio dropouts, so I don't want to do that unless I find a fix for that problem...

[JimH]

I think the sparkling thing is an HDCP problem.

Read this and search for sparkle.
http://old.hdfury.com/how-can-i-fix-the-hdcp-error/

I don't think it's the speed of your cables that is causing problems.

[rec head]

I had an issue with sparkles with my previous TV (2016 LG OLED, 65E6) and putting it in "PC Mode" got rid of them. My understanding was the PC mode disabled a lot of the TV's processing. I forget where PC Mode can be found but it isn't in any of the picture settings.

[jmone]

.... One other consideration is that even though I use Certified 18Gbps HDMI cables, I see some sparkles if I send 2160p upconverted content from the PC.....

I see you've had the Sparkles issue on and off for some time.

The higher rated cables is a good idea for testing, but it is still worth checking if it's the higher HDMI data rate / cable length causing the issue or a dodgy component (HDMI Connector, GPU etc).  I'd still suggest, connect the HTPC directly to the TV with a short HDMI cable and start with 1080p (max 5gbps), then UHD @ 23.976 (11gbps), then UHD @ 50/60fps (18gbps).  If it still sparkles then try different HDMI Ports, Cables, settings on the TV, even a different GPU or TV if you can.  If it passes, put the AVR in the loop and repeat.   

[jmone]

FYI - rpalmer68 has the following issue, and in the end it was the GPU.  It wasn't till he swapped to a spare 1660Ti I had that the issue was fixed.

I've been trying to resolve an issue where I get blue sparkling pixels all over the screen at random times, it causes MC to give random black screens during video playback. If I unplug the HDMI cable and plug it back in the pixels clear and playback is fine until they come back again at another random time.  I've tried different HDMI cables, including some very good ones previously and have now replaced my Motherboard/CPU/PSU etc this week but it's still happening so I'm now down to GPU/TV or a software/driver issue.

Before resorting to swapping components however, try the tests I suggest to narrow down where it could be.

[IAM4UK]

I had an issue with sparkles with my previous TV (2016 LG OLED, 65E6) and putting it in "PC Mode" got rid of them. My understanding was the PC mode disabled a lot of the TV's processing. I forget where PC Mode can be found but it isn't in any of the picture settings.

Thanks. PC Mode did eliminate the sparkles.
Some picture settings are no longer available in PC Mode, and I will have to get used to the look, but I will try to calibrate as close to correct as I can.

[rec head]

If you are more ambitious than I am you could see what PC mode disables and then try disabling them one at a time. Maybe you can find the offender and use everything else.

[Snookboy]

Not to hijack the thread from the OP, but this did catch my eye as I am also struggling with HDR off/on, pixelated blacks on SDR when HDR is on etc.  I read with interest the bypass setting in madVR.  Was not aware that existed.  That helps tremendously.  However, the TV now thinks it is getting an HDR signal with SDR media and therefore only HDR picture options are available when playing SDR.  (LG OLED)

Is this what most are doing?  Leaving HDR on for all content and setting madVR to pass through HDR and send HDR metadata to the display?

My initial assessment is this does seem to be working (a bit early to say positively) but I have to wonder about the display now treating everything as HDR.  TIA.

[BryanC]

Not to hijack the thread from the OP, but this did catch my eye as I am also struggling with HDR off/on, pixelated blacks on SDR when HDR is on etc.  I read with interest the bypass setting in madVR.  Was not aware that existed.  That helps tremendously.  However, the TV now thinks it is getting an HDR signal with SDR media and therefore only HDR picture options are available when playing SDR.  (LG OLED)

Is this what most are doing?  Leaving HDR on for all content and setting madVR to pass through HDR and send HDR metadata to the display?

My initial assessment is this does seem to be working (a bit early to say positively) but I have to wonder about the display now treating everything as HDR.  TIA.

I'd use JRVR going forward. It can switch between HDR/SDR modes much more reliably than madVR, especially on Windows 11. But yes, if you are on Win 11 and not using a madVR beta build then you will probably need to toggle HDR on/off depending on the source material.

Microsoft is releasing some display patches by February that should resolve some of the other HDR issues that users are reporting. For example, Windows 11 will only allow my Ryzen APU to output YCbCr 4:2:0 (no option for full RGB, and refuses to turn HDR on for the OS). This is what is causing all of the widespread reports of "yellow tinted screens". Luckily JRVR bypasses all of that nonsense and outputs 8, 10, or 12-bit full RGB depending on the source material.

There is also an option in JRVR to output SDR source material as HDR (inverse tonemapping?) if you like the look of faux-HDR. Personally i think it looks washed out and I'd rather just watch SDR content in SDR mode like it was designed, but if you have hardware or OS issues with display switching, leaving HDR "always on" might remedy it.

[Hendrik]

There is also an option in JRVR to output SDR source material as HDR (inverse tonemapping?) if you like the look of faux-HDR.

Actually such an option is not currently available. It might be in the future, and hopefully produce something that doesn't look overly terrible, but will of course always remain optional.

[BryanC]

Actually such an option is not currently available. It might be in the future, and hopefully produce something that doesn't look overly terrible, but will of course always remain optional.

OK, I misinterpreted "Enable 10-bit output for SDR," it is not inverse tonemapping, just a higher bitdepth for upscaled chroma?

[Hendrik]

Bitdepth is just the precision of the image, not fundamentally changing the type of information conveyed.
If it ends up looking very different, then thats either an issue with the graphics driver, or the display. But thats also why its optional, as its only ever useful if the display can process it properly, and can cause some issues in some setups.

[Snookboy]

Actually such an option is not currently available. It might be in the future, and hopefully produce something that doesn't look overly terrible, but will of course always remain optional.

Apologies for not being more specific.  I'm on Windows 10.  Setting madVR to pass HDR works pretty well, but now my TV is only getting an HDR signal even with SDR.  Therefore the TV processes the signal with HDR settings (OLED brightness, contrast etc.)

Is this what everyone is doing when watching movies from HTPC and JRiver?  Leaving HDR on and bypassing all to the display (or processor)?

[jmone]

On my Flat Panels (that have lots of NITS) I'm using JRVR Passthrough and letting the displays do the tone mapping (note: I'm on Windows 11 with HDR turned on all the time)

On my PJ I'm using (that do NOT have lots of NITS) I'm using JRVR to do the tone mapping.

Both setups look great (though on the PJ and then had to play around with what profile look best).