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Possible Fix for Too-Dark Netflix Videos on Samsung TVs

(Topic created on: 02-05-2020 11:47 AM)
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Sadly, the answer is to switch your device to SDR. You can sit in a pitch black room and mess with settings all you want - that won’t fix it. 

This means that you have to notice, or know, that the video you want to watch will be streamed  in Dolby Vision HDR and change a setting every time (then change it back - what a pain!) to accommodate this. 

 

a) *EDIT* THE INFORMATION IN a) BELOW IS WRONG. I HAVE LEFT IT IN PLACE SO AS NOT TO CONFUSE PEOPLE WHO SUBSEQUENTLY RE-READ IT.  IT APPEARS THAT, FOR MORE MODERN TELLYS AT LEAST, THE OPTION ("INPUT SIGNAL PLUS" IN SETTINGS/ GENERAL/ EXTERNAL DEVICE MANAGER) FOR TOGGLING BETWEEN HDR AND SDR ONLY FUNCTIONS IF YOU ARE WATCHING VIA AN EXTERNAL DEVICE SUCH AS AN APPLE-TV OR A FIRESTICK.  IF YOU ARE USING THE TELLY'S OWN SMART NETFLIX APP THERE APPEARS TO BE NO OPTION TO TOGGLE BETWEEN HDR AND SDR. 

a) If watching via the Netflix smart app on the Samsung HDR telly itself, turn off the HDR settings in the telly’s General/ External Device Manager settings which set the input ports for HDR. Usually called HDMI UHD Colour or Input Signal Plus. (EDIT: NO, THAT WON'T WORK. )

Now the Netflix Dolby Vision HDR video will still play in 4k/UHD but only in SDR. (And only in 8-bit) But, at least, you can see it without having to sit in the coal cellar. 

 (May cause unwanted changes to other devices connected to the TV)

Remember to turn those settings back on again for non-HDR Netflix videos and for all Amazon etc. videos.

 

b) If watching via an AppleTV 4k connected to a Samsung HDR TV the following are usually the best Video settings in the AppeTV for everything except Netflix HDR videos. I recommend using them all the time:

- 4K SDR (Yes, SDR!) in 50Hz (UK) or 60Hz

- Chroma 420 (To enable 10-bit on most, not-super-expensive, Samsung tellys)

- Match Content > Range and Frame Rate both turned on. 

 

Now, to watch a Netflix Dolby Vision HDR video in SDR on a Samsung HDR TV, simply turn off Match Dynamic Range (only) in the Match Content setting referred to above. EDIT :SO LONG AS YOU HAVE SET YOUR APPLE-TV TO SDR AS I HAVE RECOMMENDED ABOVE. 

Now the Netflix Dolby Vision HDR video which you want to watch will still play in 4k/UHD but only in SDR. (And only in 8-bit)

Remember to turn that Range setting back on again for non-HDR Netflix videos and for all Amazon etc. videos.

EDIT: NOTE THAT, IF YOU ALTERNATIVELY ELECT TO TURN OFF HDR WHEN USING AN APPLE-TV BY USING THE "INPUT SIGNAL PLUS" SETTING IN YOUR SAMSUNG TV SETTINGS, THAT WILL WORK BUT THEN YOUR APPLE TV WILL SENSE THAT IT IS NO LONGER CONNECTED TO AN HDR TV AND WILL PROBABLY ALTER SEVERAL OF IT'S OWN SETTINGS. 

 

EXPLANATIONS:

Firstly, the “best” AppleTV settings shown above will allow SDR Videos and the Home Screen to display correctly and then, when you start to play any HDR video, the AppleTV automatically switches itself to output HDR ( and automatically back to SDR again, when done.) EDIT: UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU HAVE TURNED OFF THE "MATCH RANGE" OPTION IN ORDER TO WATCH A NETFLIX DOLBY VISION VIDEO. 

 

Netflix outputs it’s HDR videos in Dolby Vision HDR format. Many brands of  telly display this OK but Samsung tellys are designed to use the rival HDR10+ format. Dolby Vision formatted videos display badly on Samsung TVs. Full stop!

Amazon Prime output their HDR videos in HDR10+ format so they display nicely on Samsung tellys. 

 

Netflix claim to output HDR in both Dolby Vision format and in vanilla HDR10 (without a +) format. Presumably, if we could get them to send HRD10 (without a +) format videos to our Samsung TVs that would fix the problem. But, I rang Netflix, and it seems (in a very vague conversation) that this is not possible unless our AppleTVs could somehow request it. 

 

Dolby Vision vs HDR10+. Who will win the battle to become the industry standard?

 

Note that this correct AFAIK on 08/10/2019 and may change in future. Those of us who just bought new Samsung TV sets will be keeping our fingers crossed!

EDIT: MY APOLOGIES FOR THE EDITS!

 

368 REPLIES 368
ikramkhasim
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@LetMeTurnOffHDR wrote:
Thats because thats not the isdue, autodimming is not turning off HDR.

It's part of the issue for me. Auto dimming makes dark scenes in HDR even worse. It's not a solution to all HDR problems but it works for me. 

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ikramkhasim
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Also I do not want to turn off HDR. When it works well, it is better than SDR. 

LetMeTurnOffHDR
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It hasnt worked once for me
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Kettyo
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Every HDR material i have look awesome on my Sony, only most Dolby Vision stuff from Netflix is too dim.

 

BTW the Netflix / Dolby Vision issue isn't related to auto local dimming. Actually a more aggressive ALD is generally recommended for HDR :smiling-face:

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ikramkhasim
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@Kettyo wrote:

Every HDR material i have look awesome on my Sony, only most Dolby Vision stuff from Netflix is too dim.

 

BTW the Netflix / Dolby Vision issue isn't related to auto local dimming. Actually a more aggressive ALD is generally recommended for HDR :smiling-face:


Not sure why you're mentioning Sony since the issue here is on Samsung TVs. My next TV would definitely be a Sony or Sharp Android TV but currently I have to make do with my bad choice.

 

I don't agree with ALD being recommended in this case. I had ALD on and I was miserable until I turned it off. At least HDR content now is bearable. Perhaps it works better on higher end Samsung TVs, but not on my NU7100. In NU7100 the ALD dims the TV on dark scenes in HDR so much you can't see anything. 

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Kettyo
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@ikramkhasim wrote:


Not sure why you're mentioning Sony since the issue here is on Samsung TVs. My next TV would definitely be a Sony or Sharp Android TV but currently I have to make do with my bad choice.

 

I don't agree with ALD being recommended in this case. I had ALD on and I was miserable until I turned it off. At least HDR content now is bearable. Perhaps it works better on higher end Samsung TVs, but not on my NU7100. In NU7100 the ALD dims the TV on dark scenes in HDR so much you can't see anything. 


I mention Sony since i have it now. I used to have a Samsung.

 

But the Netflix issue is there with any brands.

 

My current Sony is the first ALD set i have and here it works very well. Perceived contrast is much better and with medium setting there's no noticeable loss of dark details. With high setting perceived contrast is even higher but dark detail loss is noticeable so i use medium. No need to go into service menu to set it here thankfully.

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LetMeTurnOffHDR
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The Service menu option mentioned earlier with PWM and what not does not work, HDR still kicks in and dimms the image awfully.
The issue might really be only with Netflix but the receiver Device must be able to ignore this metadata.

I went through all options in all my tvs and found no way of turning the HDR off.
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Kettyo
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The TV can't convert HDR data to SDR data. The source must be SDR, in this case Netflix has to stream SDR to achieve what you want. 

LetMeTurnOffHDR
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This is incorrect in so many levels.

HDR is simply metadata added to the video being streamed. The TV uses this metadata to apply different brightness levels to the TV pixels configuration.

Whereas converting video is complete nonsense.

The only thing that SAMSUNG and all other TVs have to do is ignore the additional information and that is it. As simple as that.

So, of course the TV cannot convert HDR to SDR, because its not a conversion. To be honest Netflix does not have to do anything.

To make it even more simple, think of a TV processing HDR as how you see the world when taking sun glasses on or off. This means that the content is SDR (no sunglasses), when you put them on you are seeing the same content through a filter (HDR).

That said. This awful issue is like always wearing very dark sunglasses on the night in a confined and closed room.

I will be making a lawsuit.

Magpie90
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Replying to @televore re changing expert setting.

 

Whilst I can see the BT.1886 setting in my 2019 Samsung 43 inch, it is greyed out. Trying to change the setting returns a " this function is not available" response.

I've had the same "too dark " issue on a Sony tested at Nunawading Sony Centre.

 

Will check out the PWM   ( Pulse Width Modulation )  approach and post an update.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting.

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