PS5 has option to enable HDR only with games that support it

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The PlayStation 5 has received a new setting that allows users to switch the console between an SDR and HDR display for games and apps. This is to prevent an HDR display from being forced if the content does not support it.

This addition is part of the larger system update for the PS5 that has been available since Wednesday. Including HDR expert Adam Fairclough reports that there is a new setting option called ‘HDR On when supported’. This option is disabled by default and must first be enabled in the console settings.

The FlatpanelsHD website shows the new options under the HDR heading in the settings menu. Users now have two options: the ‘Always On’ setting will display everything in HDR, including the interface and games that are only released in SDR. In addition, you can now also choose to disable HDR output if there is a game or app that does not support HDR, whereby an HDR signal is only sent to the television if the content also supports it.

Works well with games, less so with apps

According to the website, this new option seems to work well with games, at least during game startup. That is also the moment when the television normally immediately switches to HDR if that is the case with a game. For example, a used television appeared to display games such as Crash Bandicoot or WRC9 in SDR during an initial test, but the screen automatically switched to an HDR mode as soon as HDR-compatible games such as Astro’s Playroom or Spider-Man were started.

With apps, the experience is less consistent, FlatpanelsHD writes. For example, the Apple TV and Netflix app were still forced to display everything in HDR, so that SDR content is also displayed in an HDR container. The Disney+ app did not work when choosing the new HDR setting and YouTube also has problems with HDR playback if the option ‘HDR On when supported’ is selected. Incidentally, it is not uncommon with Netflix specifically that an HDR display is forced. This is also the case with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Response to previous issues

This new HDR setting is probably a response from Sony to the criticism that the PlayStation 5 does not display sdr games correctly. According to Digital Foundry, among others, details could be lost in dark or black areas if HDR was turned off in the PS5 settings. The advice was therefore to leave HDR enabled in the settings of the PS5, because displaying an SDR game in the HDR container led to better results. This is remarkable, because rendering an SDR game in an HDR container should logically lead to lesser results, while the original SDR rendering should look better. These problems may have been reduced or resolved by the new setting.

These issues are related to the fact that until now the PlayStation 5 basically displayed everything in HDR when switching on HDR, and therefore also SDR games. So now the new setting has been added to dynamically switch between HDR and SDR. This is different with the Xbox Series X. On this console, the interface is not displayed in HDR and an HDR signal is only forwarded to the television if the content also supports it. However, SDR games can also be provided with an HDR display on the new Microsoft console. This is done via the Auto HDR function, which uses an algorithm to calculate at the console level how more variation in brightness can be applied and deeper colors can be achieved. In most cases, this leads to an improvement that is reminiscent of a native HDR display.

Users now seem to indicate that another, unrelated problem of the PS5 in combination with Samsung TVs with HDMI 2.1 has still not been solved. This issue involves the situation where a 4k120 display is not compatible with HDR on Samsung TVs such as the Q90T, Q80T and Q900R. At the beginning of this year, Samsung announced via a moderator that Sony will come up with a solution for this issue, so that owners of high-end Samsung TVs can count on 4k images with 120Hz in combination with HDR.

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