HDR content darker and washed out

[Pucker---Up]

I've been watching some videos on my 55XE9005 using the SmartYoutubeTV app as discussed in the other large thread.

This is my first HDR experience but I'm sure something isn't right. When I load up the HDR stream and the TV changes to HDR mode (as indicated in the picture settings) it appears like the brightness drops and everything looks LESS contrasty and washed out. When I switch the stream over to the SDR 4k option and the TV drops out of HDR, the overall brightness is noticeably higher and everything appears more contrasty.

I have brightness set to max for both modes and am using the Cinema Home picture mode.

This behaviour is basically the opposite of what I expected from the HDR stream, I thought the whole point was it should be brighter, higher contrast and more colour pop than the SDR equivalent but that doesn't seem to be the case

[Jecht_Sin]

@Pucker---Up It has been discussed in this page of the main "HDR on YouTube" thread. Simply S-YouTube TV, when playing HDR content, uses the colour space BT.709 instead of BT.2020. Try to manually switch the Colour Extension in your settings from AUTO to BT.2020 and you should see the real deal.

I personally believe this is one of the reasons why the official YouTube app fails to show HDR content. The issue has been reported to the S-YouTube TV developer in Github, but it may not be fixed on the app, it should be the VP9.2 decoder broken. I get the same issue when playing with Plex downloaded HDR videos from YouTube.

[marcobremb]

After the update I found out that TV doesn't change automatically picture settings between SDR and HDR channels using the internal tuner

With HDMI no problems, but with digital tv there is now this bug

[Pucker---Up]

Yes, I did make the change manually but it still seems worse than the SDR content, which can't be right. Switching manually to 2020 does help with the colours, but not the brightness. I can tell when the TV flickers as it switches between SDR and HDR the brightness (as in backlight strength) just seems lower for HDR despite it definitely being set to Max for both modes.

Admittedly when watching HDR content on Netflix (which does automatically switch to BT.2020) it doesn't seem as bad, but then I'm not able to immediately switch to the SDR stream like I could in SmartYoutubeTV to compare like for like.

[MiCal1967]

Same thing for SES UHD DEMO Satellite CHANNEL.

Picture is washed out, fade and cannot be adjusted.

Picture settings from Action Menu:

Picture mode: HDR Video(fade and cannot be adjusted)

Brightness: Max

Contrast: Max

Gamma: Max

Light sensor: fade and cannot be adjusted

All Advanced settings affect almost nothing in picture except from Clearness which has a better picture in Min instead of default 2.

Does this happen to all ATV1 or ATV2 or later too? Or it is a transmittion issue? Don't remember this picture before Nougat

KD-55X8508C

[stormyuk]

1.  

@Pucker---Up wrote:

I have brightness set to max for both modes and am using the Cinema Home picture mode.

---

That's your problem I think, SDR content on these XEs should be between 10 and 20 for brightness. If you are viewing SDR content at max brightness you will get the behaviour you describe .

The whole pop to max brightness settings in HDR to max is the point. The TVs got nowhere to go with your settings in terms of brightness.

I am very happy with HDR content on my XE90.

[Yuanunsin007]

Your issue might be that gamma is set too high. It needs to be set to the middle setting. 

Try these settings. Might not be your model but good starting point 

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sony-xbr-65x900f-lcd-ultra-hdtv-review-settings

[Kontiki1977]

MY SONY KD49XG9005B HDR TV HAS WASHED OUT RESOLUTION IN HDR MODE AS WELL

AS DOLBY VISION WHEN WATCHING 4KUHD MOVIES BUT SUPERB IMAGES WATCHING ORDINARY BLU-RAYS 

WHATS THE REMEDY?

[Kontiki1977]

MY KD49XG9005B TV GOES MISTY GREY WHEN SWITCHING TO

HDR MODE 4 UHD 4K MOVIES ALSO COLOURS FADE AND SHARPNESS DETERIOATES AND DOLBY VISION ASWELL

 HAS THE SAME EFFECT BUT BRAVIA MODE SEEMS TO BE ALRIGHT

ANY IDEAS??