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Here’s Why You Should Only Enable HDR Mode on Your PC When You Are Viewing HDR Content (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-31 07:36:55
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Looking at a common area of confusion and the problems with SDR, desktop and normal content when running in HDR mode all the time

https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/heres-why-you-should-only-enable-hdr-mode-on-your-pc-when-you-are-viewing-hdr-content


edit: also added a couple of sections about power consumption/heat/lifespan, and the Windows 11 HDR calibration tool

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Comments

Sven Dahlin

After using this calibration tool on my ASUS PG32UQ I get better HDR in HDR-enabled games (like MSFS which lacks an in-game HDR-calibration slider). I am actually running "HDR On" all the times, even in Windows desktop and it looks OK to me, as opposed to other pseudo-HDR monitors that can look completely awful if you enable HDR on the desktop (as you wrote in the article)

TFTCentral

Yes I’m aware of the app. It’s similar to the kind of tone mapping apps built in to modern consoles too and basically helps adjust the tone mapping and roll off points for your particular display. So it’s good to help tweak detail in darker content as well as brighter content. A fairly useful tool especially when paired with pc monitors which don’t have features like dynamic tone mapping themselves While HDR mode on all the time may look ok on that screen, hopefully the article has explained why it’s not a great idea. If nothing else you will be sacrificing contrast ratio a lot on an LCD like that when viewing SDR content :) Actually there’s another thing I should add to the article too…power consumption. If the brightness is running at max all the time, the power consumption of the screen will also be max and unnecessarily high! Will add that in :)

dk382

HDR mode looks largely okay on the Odyssey Neo G7 (32") in the latest version of Windows 11. It actually used to look a lot worse, but the 22H2 update seemed to improve the picture quite a bit somehow. I also don't mind leaving local dimming on for improved contrast because I don't do any image editing and don't use any dark-mode apps where it looks bad. My one question is power consumption. The windows brightness slider doesn't actually lower the backlight brightness on LCDs, but how does that interact with local dimming? Am I still wasting a lot of power on the Neo G7 when leaving HDR mode on even though the local dimming should theoretically be kicking in?

TFTCentral
>>109687611

Relative to using SDR mode, yes for sure. The local dimming may help a bit but overall the backlight will be at 100 power output. The other major issue is the contrast ratio, unless in HDR mode for desktop use you’re running at the max windows HDR brightness slider!

Anonymous

I was a bit surprised to see this article - I actually measured (with a colorimeter) the output of "SDR with Windows HDR enabled" on my LG G1 and it works really well. Its accuracy is similar to native SDR, and in fact it's even a bit better in some cases (in particular, it effectively works around the infamous LG OLED SDR black crush issues). This suggests that the math behind the Windows automatic sRGB-to-BT.2020/PQ gamut converter is sound and it's working as intended. Other issues mentioned in the article (contrast, blooming, power consumption) don't apply to OLED. I do see how it can be problematic with non-OLED displays though - I'll admit I never thought of that. I think that the article would benefit from clarifying that some displays, in particular LG OLED TVs, will do a perfectly good job displaying SDR content in Windows HDR mode, and in such cases it's perfectly fine (and more convenient) to leave Windows HDR enabled all the time. I think it's also worth clarifying that Windows is not really at fault here - its automatic SDR to HDR conversion is correct and lossless, it's the monitors that are doing a poor job handling this specific case.

TFTCentral
>>109717402

Thanks for the feedback Etienne. The article was more focused on monitors than TV's, but you're right, some screens handle that SDR conversion quite well and can look visually pretty decent in HDR mode, viewing SDR content. I think that tends to be the exception rather than the norm though. While some also look fairly good, some of the underlying measurements reveal problems, although at least you've been able to verify performance yourself to check it's not way off. There is still a power consumption issue to consider here though. With HDR mode enabled, the OLED light level will be set at 100, therefore driving a higher power consumption than would otherwise be likely in SDR mode, where you had turned down OLED light to something lower. While you can use Windows HDR brightness slider to lower actual visual luminance, that's still only adjusting digital white level and still leaving the OLED light on max on the display. So it's "faking" the lower luminance in another way, without the power saving benefit of actually lowering the OLED light level. While it won't cause you the same issues with contrast that LCD's have, the power consumption is still going to be higher. Agreed it's the monitors and the way they are handling HDR sources and converting SDR that's the problem, not Windows

Anonymous
>>109717402

I don't understand your point about power consumption. OLED is a purely emissive technology. My understanding is that OLED power consumption is purely a function of the actual pixel luminance on the screen and is not affected by any settings. That is, power consumption is purely determined by what's actually being displayed on the screen, regardless of settings. This is the first time I hear someone claim that the LG "OLED Light" setting would affect power consumption *even while keeping effective luminance equal*. I'm struggling to see how that makes sense from a physical perspective - are you saying the settings affect the *power efficiency* of the panel itself? How? (For reference: the power consumption of my 77" LG G1 in HDR mode, which I measured myself at the wall plug, is 56 W when displaying full screen black, 190 W when displaying full screen 140 cd/m² white, and 323 W when displaying maximum luminance full screen white. I wouldn't expect these measurements to be affected by settings in any way but I'll admit I haven't actually checked - maybe I should.)

TFTCentral
>>109717402

I stand corrected, and my apologies, you are quite right. I've just re-measured my LG CX OLED setting both modes to the same luminance. SDR via OLED light level, and HDR mode left with OLED light at 100, but using the slider to lower effective luminance. And the power consumption was the same. in which case the only drawback of using HDR mode in your instance, and assuming accuracy is good as you've validated, all the time might be the lack of some OSD settings. but on an OLED it's probably not a major issue as long as the way the screen handles HDR mode for SDR content is decent. in the monitor space, so far this is pretty bad, and the OSD settings are severely restricted

Lasse Hansen

You write "A handy shortcut for Windows HDR on/off = Win + Alt + B". If I go to the Xbox Game Bar settings, it says that the DEFAULT shortcut for Start/pause broadcast is Win + Alt + B. You can't both be right? Where do you have that shortcut from? I use Win10 22H2.

TFTCentral
>>110072184

Hmmn. I’ve never changed any settings in Xbox Game Bar and that shortcut works for me for HDR on/off. Try it and see what it actually does?

Lasse Hansen

On my LG 38GL950G SDR content looks the same with HDR enabled in Win10. Transparency on Window Terminal windows is vastly better in HDR mode. HDR mode on this screen gives me headaches though, so I'm not really using it.

TFTCentral

While the appearance is not too bad on that particular screen (I use the same day to day as well), the parts about crushing contrast, high power usage etc still def apply. Plus the screens actual HDR capabilities are very limited anyway. But if you’re not using it anyway it’s of no concern 😀

Lasse Hansen
>>110072184

Ahahaha, Microsoft! When enabling Game Bar, they have a What's New window that lists this as a new HDR shortcut, but they still have the SAME shortcut as default for Start/pause broadcast. And you cannot reconfigure the HDR one. Priceless. Thanks for the heads up, it works.