In the resetera thread where EvilBoris posted it people are saying things like "HDR is the single biggest upgrade I ever saw in gaming", I really really really really wish people would stop saying that. It hypes it up too much and most people will not think this when they see it for a few reasons:
* You need to spend £900+ (For a 55") to actually get
good HDR, let alone great HDR.
* They have their TV settings set so that most of the image enhancementa that should only ever really be on during HDR content are on for SDR all the time, so when they switch to HDR it doesn't look much different to them. (Even if it is different, reality is most people don't understand why its different and they don't care to, they just evaluate it at face value)
* They run their TV in Vivid or Dynamic mode which is meant for the shop floor only, it maxes out the backlight (brightness of screen) for SDR so when they switch to HDR it looks "dull" to them, because HDR tries to show the "proper" luminance of a pixel/scene it might be really dark if the content of the scene calls for it.
So from now on I propose to say this: "HDR is amazing"***
I tried to engage with them over on RE about their Ori 2 HDR implementation, (EvilBoris helped with it) about the problems I had with it and how I think it overall didn't look as good as the SDR in every way, had crushed shadows, blown out highlights/worse highlight gradients and
awful default contrast settings (seriously I don't know what TV default was made for, something with a 100:1 contrast ratio lol) when you first turn it on.
The Lead Engineer on Ori 2 gave me some super basic information, along the lines of "if you want to increase the contrast then move the contast slider to the right",
I felt like replying and saying "Have you played Fallout 4? If you want to make your nose bigger then move the nose slider to the right" lmao. I know he can't know what my technical level is regarding this stuff but I did write an in-depth report of my experience to him with screenshots, it wasn't like "HDR no good! i can haz help?".
The concensus is "Most people said the HDR was great", is that the same people that thinks this looks good...
...compared to this
The top one literally looks like I turned on every dynamic contrast enhancer + settings that made the colours more vibrant (read:inaccurate) in the TV , I can do that myself for any SDR signal but I never would because it looks like poo lol its like every shitty reshade contrast enhancement I see for GTA V, bar maybe one or two good ones.
I think the implementation of HDR in Ori 2 is the
definition of HDR that will confuse people, they are like "I guess this looks better because everything is really contrasty now and the pinks are brighter?", then they start moving the sliders in the settings but don't know what they are even trying to achieve without having basic understanding of how an image should be presented under the circumstances of their specific sets capabilities. I don't blame them ofc, its fucking complicated! lol
EvilBoris replied while I was writing this, here is what he said:
"These are the settings I use
https://www.patreon.com/posts/37146471
Some of the things are seeing are things I recognise through the testing.
The shadow detail option is to help solve the apparent loss of detail in lighter rooms , or simply through displays crushing black such, which is common in even the most popular game displays.
This increases near black without moving the black point.
You can move the black point a little higher , by increasing “brightness” which will make some of that detail more easily visible (it’s always there).
I always played with HDR contrast” on the Lowest value,
this helps to reduce the appearance of the clipping and harshness that you describe. You’ll probably notice that this varies a little by scene by scene anyway."
So, you forced HDR into it when the source material doesn't really have the "dynamic range" to do it. The same issues that exist in the SDR imagery are amplified in the HDR mode.
Man, most HDR SUCKS imo. I wish I hadn't waited a month for that
wccftech.com
