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What is HDR, anyway?

(www.lux.camera)
791 points _kush | 1 comments | 14 May 25 12:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.203s | source
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the__alchemist ◴[14 May 25 13:43 UTC] No.43984458[source]▶
So, HN, are HDR monitors worth it? I remember ~10 years ago delaying my monitor purchase for the HDR one that was right around the corner, but never (in my purchasing scope) became available. Time for another look?

The utility of HDR (as described in the article) is without question. It's amazing looking at an outdoors (or indoors with windows) scene with your Mk-1 eyeballs, then taking a photo and looking at it on a phone or PC screen. The pic fails to capture what your eyes see for lighting range.

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1. pornel ◴[15 May 25 01:10 UTC] No.43990837[source]▶
HDR when it works properly is nice, but nearly all HDR LCD monitors are so bad, they're basically a scam.

The high-end LCD monitors (with full-array local dimming) barely make any difference, while you'll get a lot of downsides from bad HDR software implementations that struggle to get the correct brightness/gamma and saturation.

IMHO HDR is only worth viewing on OLED screens, and requires a dimly lit environment. Otherwise either the hardware is not capable enough, or the content is mastered for wrong brightness levels, and the software trying to fix that makes it look even worse.