[robardin]

As indicated in my signature line, I have a JVC RS520 projector, Panasonic BD900 player, and a Denon AVR-S720W receiver.

In the one month or so I've had this setup, I have used it to view three different UHD/HDR titles: "Planet Earth II", "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", and "Pacific Rim", all of which have looked stunning (particularly "Planet Earth II"). (Most of my viewing time is done over a Roku Premiere.)

But this past weekend, I received "Cars 3" in UHD/HDR, and found the image to look washed out. But both the player and projector both indicate a BT.2020 HDR image - exactly the same as happens if I pop in "Planet Earth II".

Below are some iPhone pics of the images produced, first with "Planet Earth II", then a hot swapping in of "Cars 3", and finally, "Cars 3" in the SDR Blu-Ray disc (in 1080p instead of UHD).

I have gone through all the player configuration and I can't see anything set funny, besides which, the other three titles I have in HDR all look amazing. I would guess that means the disc itself is faulty, but how is that even possible?

The other possibility is that this is just how "Cars 3" is actually supposed to look in HDR, but that seems even LESS possible?!

So... First, can anyone with "Cars 3" in 4K/HDR tell me this if this is normal?

Second, can anyone suggest any course of action other than trying to get an exchange of this disc with Amazon?

March of the red crabs from "Planet Earth II":

A red eyed chameleon (same disc session):

Then switching to "Cars 3" in 4K/HDR:

And then "Cars 3" with a regular 1080p Blu-Ray in SDR:

 

[proufo]

Maybe you are a victim of tone mapping.

You may have to upgrade to a 10,000 nits display. If you don't have 6 stops of highlights available, HDR will mess with the normal range of the image.

And that's what they want to sell us.

 

[robardin]

Maybe you are a victim of tone mapping.

You may have to upgrade to a 10,000 nits display. If you don't have 6 stops of highlights available, HDR will mess with the normal range of the image.

And that's what they want to sell us.

The 10,000 nits thing is related to DolbyVision requirements, isn't it? Which my projector doesn't support, only HDR10.

But the display is able to detect DV and not go into HDR mode from other DV only sources, like some movies on Vudu... And as far as I know, UHD discs with HDR are all compatible with both HDR10 and DV, no?

Plus other HDR10 encoded discs looks just fine. So it's not like the player and projector can't get together and display some HDR images.

 

[proufo]

As you said, robardin, maybe another member with Cars 3 can chip in and shed more light (as if you hadn't enough) in this matter.

 

[robardin]

I figured it out! Two words: "gamma curve." It had gotten whacked out, a factory reset of the HDR(ST.2084) gamma curve in the auto-switched HDR picture mode did the trick. I had a bit of tweaking to do afterward but something had gotten way blitzed somehow.

 

[proufo]

I figured it out! Two words: "gamma curve." It had gotten whacked out, a factory reset of the HDR(ST.2084) gamma curve in the auto-switched HDR picture mode did the trick. I had a bit of tweaking to do afterward but something had gotten way blitzed somehow.

Everything still OK with the Planet Earth disc?

 

[robardin]

Everything still OK with the Planet Earth disc?

Yeah, I spent a few hours tweaking contrast, brightness, and dialing DOWN the color intensity just a tad (-3), but now all my HDR material look good!

 

[bearcat2002]

I ran into the same issues but don't know how to get it resolved. I'm using an Oppo 203 through a Marantz SR7010 to a Sony VW600ES. That image is the one on the left...the one on the right is streaming from an Apple TV, which looks way better in color. Help please.

BTW, there is no HDR on my projector so that is turned off on the Oppo.

 

[EvLee]

I ran into the same issues but don't know how to get it resolved. I'm using an Oppo 203 through a Marantz SR7010 to a Sony VW600ES. That image is the one on the left...the one on the right is streaming from an Apple TV, which looks way better in color. Help please.

BTW, there is no HDR on my projector so that is turned off on the Oppo.

Since your projector does not support HDR, Apple TV will stream you the approved Rec 709 version of the movie. So that should look correct.

Even though you have HDR turned off on the Oppo, it still has to convert the Rec 2020 HDR version of the movie that is on the disc to SDR Rec 709 for your projector. Potentially you have something misconfigured or the Oppo just isn't doing a good job with its conversion. In any case, you can't expect the result of any HDR-to-SDR conversion to match the approved Rec 709 master.

IMO you are better off just watching the Rec 709 version of the movie if your display is not HDR compatible.

 

[bearcat2002]

I guess this is the perfect case to get a Radiance Pro so the player can output HDR through it to the projector. I've heard that with proper calibration through the radiance pro, it can give virtually identical picture through 'pseudo HDR'.

 

[redwolf4k]

I am finding this is the case with mixed content. Sometimes it looks washed out, then other times it looks correct (in HDR). It is not a source to source issue, but content to content. It is almost like there is an issue with the video range vs pc/rgb range.