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"Black crush" in HDR content, any solution?

DeeLuXe
Visitor

"Black crush" in HDR content, any solution?

Hi my friends. From the first day I have noticed that this phone suffers from black crush in HDR content. Playing from (internal) SONY player, VLC or Kodi, does not matter.

I've done a comparison with the Spiderman trailer that has the phone in internal memory with the same trailer on YouTube (at 1080p without HDR).

Image config: Aut. brightness off / Brightness at 50% / Image mode 'standard'.

This is the result:

Spiderman trailer 4K HDR:

Spiderman trailer 1080p (without HDR):

Spiderman trailer 4K HDR:

Spiderman trailer 1080p (without HDR):

Down or up the brightness does not affect. It is not a problem of brightness and contrasts. It is Gama problem. A bad implementation of the HDR content. The phone does not allow to modify the Gama range, the video players neither.

This is a software problem. I have contacted other people with the same phone and the same thing happens to them.

Will SONY solve it with any firmware update?

(Sorry for my english, i'm spanish)

30 REPLIES 30
profile.country.GB.title
RottenFoxBreath
Enthusiast

Can't see an issue with hdr content to be honest, 4k or not. I use creator mode, auto brightness so you get that extra brightness when needed, and a calibrated display.

All movies look fine to me with standout ones being both blade runners.

DeeLuXe
Visitor

How have you calibrated the screen?. Creator mode only reduce the color saturation, does not touch the gama range.

Could you upload any images to the phone screen? (remember: aut. brightness off / brighnetss at 50% and Standard image mode)

Compare the same HDR clip (Spiderman 4K included in phone) with another without HDR.

Here the trailer in 1080p (not HDR): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt9L1jCKGnE

(in spanish forum, another user has the same problem with the HDR: https://www.htcmania.com/showthread.php?t=1520374)

....

What is "Black Crush"?

profile.country.PT.title
NunoSEN2
Hero

Hi @DeeLuXe;

Have you tried when watching the 4K HDR trailer making pause on the video player and take a screenshot (volume down and power buttons at the same time).

Do you see any difference in the paused image of player and the picture of the screenshot? Because I can see the screenshot being much more black then the played video, and this does not happen in non HDR content.

You can also see it briefly when changing the played HDR video from landscape to portrait mode and vice-versa.

DeeLuXe
Visitor

Thumbs_up

Exact. It happens the same with the screenshots.


Screenshot 4K HDR trailer:

b1940ebf521c5d2f0f.jpg


Photo to screen (1º post). Here is not much difference, but it shows the same problem:

freeman1k.jpg

Screenshot 1080p clip (Youtube) without HDR:

b2.jpg


There is a problem with HDR content playback. Pouting_Face

DeeLuXe
Visitor

SONY SUPPORT any solution for this problem with HDR content?

profile.country.PT.title
NunoSEN2
Hero

Hi again @DeeLuXe;

What happens in my case, as I described, is that when I take a screenshot of the 4K HDR trailer it looks like your screenshot, but when playing the trailer the actual image while playing is somehow brighter and more close to your last screenshot (YouTube without HDR), like there is some kind of conversion when playing the video. I watched the YouTube trailer and it is similar to the video I have recorded as demo, maybe the 4K HDR version is not so bright but the difference is not very big, I can actually see some "Black Crush" like you say but nothing so serious as when taking a screenshot of the same image.

DeeLuXe
Visitor

@NunoSEN2

You have set the manual brightness at 50%? (off brightness automatic)

Do you use internal sony player or vlc? VLC player defines its own brightness, different from the system.

You can upload images (photos) from the screen playing the clips (with and without HDR)? ... NO SCREENSHOTS (the screenshots differ from what our eyes see)

profile.country.PT.title
NunoSEN2
Hero

@DeeLuXe;

Here is a picture taken with the demo trailer 4K HDR in 50% Brightness using the Album app player, next I used the YouTube trailer without HDR and same Brightness, don't know why but the demo trailer in dark scenes shows also some yellow tint. Also used the Standard image mode. Demo Trailer 4k HDRDemo Trailer 4k HDR

Youtube trailer not HDRYoutube trailer not HDR

DeeLuXe
Visitor

@NunoSEN2 can't see the images. Upload here https://gifyu.com/ , copy the HMTL image code and insert using the HTML edit in post reply.