PG32UCDM Console Mode HDR issue

[FallenDeity]

My and other's PG32UCDM monitors have a clipping issue on PC when using the console HDR mode in Windows 11. Currently, the monitor clips at 450 nits in the Maximum Luminance window but it clips correctly in the Max Full Frame Luminance window. Is there a firmware update in the works for this or is this an RMA issue?

[EthanJL721]

I just get an Update Scaler Firmware Fail when trying to install.

[silverbolt81]

I tested many games so far and i found only in the Division 2 that the blown out sky is most intrusive.

I am really enjoying the new Console Hdr but sure it needs further tweaking..

[Rogex47]

I have run some more testing and this time I have tried to measure overall monitor brightness instead of isolated small areas.
To do so I have placed a Luxmeter, usually used to measure how much light plants get, 50cm in front of the monitor in line with the bottom part of the display and measured the luminance in Lux. The numbers themselve are not relevant, important is only the comparison between Console HDR FW102 and FW104.

Here are the numbers:

Console HDR - Lux at 50cm distance
Scene	FW_102	FW_104
Winterfox	29	57	197%
GR: Breakpoint Snow	33	57	173%
Horizon FW	27	49	181%
Full White 100% APL	147	150	102%
Jazz Blue Smoke	79	97	123%
Jazz Speaker	21	33	157%
Sunrise	39	62	159%
Sun over building	45	69	153%
White circular ceiling	40	79	198%
Light shining on ceiling	66	100	152%
Sun over sunflower	49	70	143%
Avatar Sun	18	24	133%
Avatar Sun Above the Water	16	24	150%
Average	47	67	143%

In the winterfox video from YouTube for example the overall display luminance was almost twice as high with FW104 vs FW102.
In TB400 I have measured around 61 Lux, meaning in this scene TB400 is only sllightly brighter than Console HDR FW104.
For fullscreen white on the otherhand nothing has changed because with both firmwares the display should be outputting 250nits, I only measured to doublecheck.

As impressive as the numbers might be there is a downside as people have pointed out already.
At High APL this mode starts to clip at 450nits. It then looks like having 1.000nit content viewed in TB400 mode, it is bright but clearly overexposured. For example in Forza Motorsport when setting up HDR Console Mode now clips at 450nits instead of 1.000 like in FW102. The Sunflower in Samsung's demo video loses all the shadows and so on.

At Middle APL it is possible to have higher overall brightness without clipping. In Horizon Forbidden West right at the begging you can look at the clouds and switch between HDR modes. Console HDR is 80% brighter than both other modes while I wasn't able to notice any clipping. 

At Low APL this mode should behave similar to Console HDR mode in the previous firmware.

I have taken some screenshots which you can download and open with HDR + WCG Image Viewer (thanks to @silverbolt81 ).
Then you can cycle through the different HDR presets. Take a look at the Horizon Forbidden West one especially, as I said I only noticed an increase in brightness but without clipping.

Link to screenshots: https://file.io/L3NYfSm9fqbz

[silverbolt81]

@Rogex47  Ι did some further testing in Cyberpynk 2077 as you correctly pointed out that due to the max ccl result it was clipping.

I found out that in order to have the specular highlights shown properly at about 1000-1050 nits i had to drop down the in game peak brightness to 800 nits.

This is with Console Hdr mode of the 104 beta.

[Arhat1984]

https://file.io/3F3JeZTxXqxY

In this tone mapping test video ConsoleHDR clips the whole dress at 600 nits while CinemaHDR can successfully tone map up to 1000-1500 nits. Is this the tradeoff for having higher brightness on ConsoleHDR beta? I wish ConsoleHDR could do tone mapping as good as CinemaHDR without the brightness loss.

[Kundica]

It actually clips a bit sooner and is similar to FW 103. ConsoleHDR doesn't tonemap like the other two modes, making it do so would defeat the purpose of having an HGIG mode.

[janis_]

I know, it' s heresy, but having spent a bit more time with beta update... im starting to feel that its actually too bright. I mean the average brightness level, not just highlights, is way above tb400 even in dark scenes, to the point I have to turn down paper-white levels in all games that have it.

My expectation was for average brightness to remain in ballpark of tb400 mode, except with brighter highlights in low APL scenes. Now its just losing ton of contrast in darker scenes and burning retinas.

[silverbolt81]

It's too bright?

You are joking,right?

[DonDOOM]

I think he's saying that it currently might over brighten some scenes that are supposed to be darker.

Haven't noticed this myself in the Dead Space Remake, which is a very dark game with mostly dark scenes.

The GB FO32U2P for example has very inaccurate PQ tracking, which apparently causes night scenes to look like overcast daytime scenes.

Ideally the HDR fix would mean that the ABL algorithm gets toned down a lot, whilst maintaining accurate HDR PQ tracking.

[Richu6]

i think not. I feel the same. For me it is a bit too bright, i would like something between Firmware 103 and 104. I have to set the "SDR Brightness Slider" in windows settings to 0, that the SDR content is there i would like it to be.