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Possible Fix for Too-Dark Netflix Videos on Samsung TVs

(Topic created on: 12-05-2020 10:01 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
Kettyo
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@Magpie90 wrote:

 

Christmas in The Wild I couldn't find on Netflix. 


Probably it's region dependent then.

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Kettyo
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@ikramkhasim wrote:

Yes both devices I have are capable of HDR. The app will display the HDR icon. I'm using a 4K Microsoft Surface Pro with Windows HD Color turned on. And Samsung Galaxy S9+ is HDR capable. 

Daamn, i didn't really think about it. The screens of the Surface and the S9+ might support HDR10 but most probably don't support Dolby Vision so the Netflix app sends a common HDR10 signal to them. Problem is always with Dolby Vision so it is perfectly understandable why they don't have this problem.

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Kettyo
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The best interpretation of the problem i've found so far is in the following discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bravia/comments/9hiv6p/x900f_dolby_vision_is_terrible/

 

1 point·1 year ago
 

I know what you mean, I have experienced the same problem, especially with the Netflix show Sabrina, lots of blooming that makes the image look bright and almost unwatcable in some night scenes. No matter what settings you use, if you watch Dolby Vision via the TV app, it will most likely not be a pleasent experience at times. What I did, was watching Netflix via my Panasonic UB700 4K player, which do not support Dolby Vision. For me it is a lot better and no blooming problems or light blending through. I think Oled is the tvs to use on Dolby Vision, and untill Sony may release an update that could fix it,I will pass. Only show is DareDevil I can watch via the TV app which gives a lovely Dolby V picture, even in very datk scenes. But, this tv, and I think most out there, dose not support Dolby Vision in its internal hardware, and it should be a proper 12bits tv, before it can be really enjoyed as intended..The Sony and most Oled, if not all, are only 10bits"

 

So that we can conclude most advanced TV sets pretend supporting Dolby Vision since Dolby is such an influential company in the hifi industry but in reality very few of them do it properly.

 

Therefore i'd shift from demanding the ability to turn HDR off altogether to just disable Dolby Vision support if the user wishes so, just like how the Apple TV allows you to do it. After this Netflix and other streamers will send HDR10 data to the TV which usually they can handle perfectly.

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ikramkhasim
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@Kettyo wrote:

 

Daamn, i didn't really think about it. The screens of the Surface and the S9+ might support HDR10 but most probably don't support Dolby Vision so the Netflix app sends a common HDR10 signal to them. Problem is always with Dolby Vision so it is perfectly understandable why they don't have this problem.

Then why would the Neflix app on a Samsung TV running on Tizen OS send any sort of Dolby Vision signal if the hardware doesn't even support it?

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ikramkhasim
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@Kettyo wrote:

The best interpretation of the problem i've found so far is in the following discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bravia/comments/9hiv6p/x900f_dolby_vision_is_terrible/


Interesting. I guess it's not just us having issues, but also Dolby Vision TV owners. I hope manufacturers stick to HDR10 and scrap Dolby Vision altogether, which seems to be what's causing all these problems.

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Kettyo
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@ikramkhasim wrote:

Then why would the Neflix app on a Samsung TV running on Tizen OS send any sort of Dolby Vision signal if the hardware doesn't even support it?

The hardware tells it supports that, it's just a matter of fact it isn't done properly. And currently you can't get the TV to have DV support disabled.

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Kettyo
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@ikramkhasim wrote:

Interesting. I guess it's not just us having issues, but also Dolby Vision TV owners. I hope manufacturers stick to HDR10 and scrap Dolby Vision altogether, which seems to be what's causing all these problems.

There's certainly a lot of work and money of Dolby Laboratories behind Dolby Vision so it won't be scrapped for good.

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ikramkhasim
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@Kettyo wrote:


The hardware tells it supports that, it's just a matter of fact it isn't done properly. And currently you can't get the TV to have DV support disabled.


That's really strange. If the hardware supports DV, then the lable on the titles would say "Dolby Vision" instead of "HDR". It should be one or the other. And seeing that Samsung is one of the developers of HDR10, they would definitely not say their TVs are capable of Dolby Vision. Just mind-boggling.

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ikramkhasim
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@Kettyo wrote:


There's certainly a lot of work and money of Dolby Laboratories behind Dolby Vision so it won't be scrapped for good.


Not to mention licensing paid by Sony and LG to use the brand I bet! But really if it doesn't work for the rest of us, then it's a PR nightmare.

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Kettyo
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@ikramkhasim wrote:

@Kettyo wrote:


The hardware tells it supports that, it's just a matter of fact it isn't done properly. And currently you can't get the TV to have DV support disabled.


That's really strange. If the hardware supports DV, then the lable on the titles would say "Dolby Vision" instead of "HDR". It should be one or the other. And seeing that Samsung is one of the developers of HDR10, they would definitely not say their TVs are capable of Dolby Vision. Just mind-boggling.


HDR is the general technology.

 

HDR10 is the common HDR format, it is open source.

 

Dolby Vision is a closed source advanced HDR format developed by Dolby Labs.

 

HDR10+ is the open-source competitor to Dolby Vision.

 

I hope it helps and hope it's correct :smiling-face:

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