PS4 Firmware 7.0 Comes with System Level HDR Tuning Settings for Brightness and Darkness

The PS4 firmware 7.0 (beta) stealthily added a system level HDR tuning feature that lets you adjust brightness and darkness.

[Jackhass]

Interesting. Could definitely see this being useful!

[Jin_Sakai]

HDR Tuning at a system level. This is a game changer.

Some games don’t offer proper HDR tuning or at all for the matter.

[frostypants]

If a game doesn't support it, the system level setting won't do anything. It's just to tune for those games that can handle it.

[Jin_Sakai]

“If a game doesn't support it, the system level setting won't do anything.“

If a game supports HDR but doesn’t have proper tuning in game then yes, the new HDR system tuning will work properly.

[frostypants]

You can tune it on your TV. This isn't a game changer...cmon man. It's a nice little feature.

[ziggurcat]

Kind of useless since all of that can be adjusted in your TV.

[Gwiz]

It depends,some games might vary by themselves and forcing that from the system it plays from could give better results,after all you need the system to have HDR as well for it to work.It all depends on the level of tweaking that's available on your TV or even a game and TV's having various calibration differences it could still be different for a lot of people.I expect that is the use of this function,to have better calibration for games that have less HDR tweaking options.(See it as having the option of FULL RGB or Limited on your console having an overall effect regardless of your TV)

Edit:Just read the article and yup that was what I expected.

" However, as it turns out, there’s another major addition that testers have discovered. PlayStation 4 owners with an HDR display will now be able to tune brightness and darkness at the system level, which is great news as there are plenty of games lacking a proper tuning feature. Early reports also suggest this affects applications such as Netflix, too "

[rainslacker]

This is more like applying HDR brightness settings for non-HDR content. That's not something that can be done on TV's, as they adjust the entire brightness level. This would prevent whitewashing or black masses if you set it too high or low respetively and blacks wouldn't get as bright as other colors might.

[Gwiz]

No,did you even read the article?a lot of games do not have the ability to adjust HDR settings,this is not for non-HDR,The system (PS4) is now going to apply settings regardless of what your TV or game has to even out problems with games that do NOT have for instance have a nits peak setting or other calibration settings.

What's the point of applying brightness to non HDR content with HDR turned on?it will not display properly regardless because it's not using the peak whites and blacks.

[fr0sty]

Not all TVs allow you precise control over white and black levels.

[The Wood]

Options bro.....

[ziggurcat]

If more people properly colour-calibrated their TVs, there would be no need for these options.

[Teflon02]

My tv's HDR but to properly calibrate it to the best possible choice for gaming would be different that what I prefer for movies and such on Netflix etc. So a system level thing makes alot of sense

[ziggurcat]

@teflon there’s no need for different settings for games/movies/Netflix/etc...

[Cybermario]

hmm not bad

[Lexreborn2]

That would be great! I am not a fan of HDR as it is not universally handled the same and sometimes it make's it impossible to see. I had to turn it off on Horizon because night time was damn near pitch black.

[zumlauf14]

interesting. Sounds like your either not calibrating your tv correctly or it doesn't have good hdr output(brightness nits/gamut etc..). Horizon is still one of the best hdr games and it helped tremendously in darker scenes(very clear & great contrast). The opposite could be said when i enabled SDR.

[Lexreborn2]

I’m sure it’s the TV as it’s a 2013 4K HDR LG, and there aren’t any methods to calibrate on it besides turning it on and setting the type to warm, vivid etc.

So, implementing a HDR calibration at the system will work wonders for my set up. To be able to see HDR in better standings will be a great change for my overall experience.

[sprinterboy]

Agreed, unfortunatly 90% of 4k hdr tvs were bought by gamers over black friday with crap low end TV models, hell even my mum and dads Samsung @£799 is shite, especially with sports.
Its what makes me laugh about xbox one x and pro gamers using cheap tvs which doesnt even do the X or Pro justice lol.
My friend was disappointed with his pro and cheap 4k tv with hzd, but over Xmas he went to his brothers who owned a high end Sony bravia 2018 model (£3,000) and he said wow when he saw hzd, the difference was night and day and he was like shit I bought a crap 4ktv lol.

[KyRo]

Some games make better use of it than others. AC origins, God of War were beautiful but Black Ops 4, Ark and a few others were either look over saturated or had a foggy looking mist on my LG. Hdr seems hit and miss so these settings are welcomed

[rainslacker]

I'd suggest downloading AVR calibration tools. If your blacks are getting washed out that much, then your TV settings aren't right. Also, I've found that the brightness settings they usually put in games tends to be way too dark with a calibrated TV, so usually notch it up a couple levels.

The HDR itself shouldn't cause complete blackwashing.

HDR in general isn't supposed to be adjusted beyond the full or limited setting, as that information is done by the people creating the content, and the TV is supposed to display it to those specifications.

[sprinterboy]

Hzd and gts are the best examples this gen how hdr should be done.

[BrettAwesome]

Actually, don't forget Days Gone. That game has fantastic HDR! And Infamous. HDR did a lit for those games too! Amd what about God of War? Excellent HDR

[boing1]

Horizon looks stunning on my TV in HDR. Which HDR does your TV support?

[Braveheart_NZ]

And thats why HDR tuning is a great thing for what you just described that was happening to you with not being able to see in dark scenes & shadow areas. Your blacks in HDR were gettin crushed.The HDR tuning on a system level would allow you to fix that problem & then really enjoy the benefits of HDR. HDR set up properly is beautiful.

[Teflon02]

I did notice nights are darker with HDR but the light at night in horizon in HDR is unmatched. Looks a beautiful. It definitely is dark though I don't mind much

[BrettAwesome]

@Lex
Then it's not even a proper HDR tv. There was no such thing as a proper HDR tv back in 2013. All it does is change certain aspects of the standard dynamic range, to try and make colours and contrast pop a little more.

[Lexreborn2]

I’m aware of that... which is why I said I’m excited to have a system level update that improves it. I’m not knocking HDR I’m simply stating that my TV I predominantly use made it terrible for me. It can’t be universally the same if the devices aren’t all universally implementing it the same. So, again.... looking forward to a utility that gives me more control so I can properly experience it.

[BrettAwesome]

What I mean is it's fundamentally not supporting true HDR. HDR requires 10bit color depth. Your tv only supports 8. But who knows. Maybe those new settings will result in some meaningful changes for you :)

[2pacalypsenow]

They should add HDR to the menu, kind of a annoying how my TV goes dark for a second when turning off HDR.

[Firebird360]

Agreed

[Firebird360]

Curious how this will work since most games also have these settings in game. Seems like hdr settings would be better adjusted in game, per game.

[CobraKai]

I like this. Hopefully it’ll mean that games with ”broken” HDR can be adjusted to be more “fixed”

[terstomp]

I would like a master volume setting and a controller battery indicator next to the time display.
I am sure these two won't be that hard to do.

[Gwiz]

yeah it's one of those " features " you'd expect to be there since launch.

[Mylove1516]

This will come in handy with my new 4k HDR set up.

[Miacosa]

Nice to see this now my oled came shine even out of games.

[akurtz]

I just bought a Sony x800g, this is awesome. Though would love some insight on the beat settings for my tv.

[Vanfernal]

I'm really pumped for the HDR settings. Some games do HDR really well on the PS4 but others like Monster Hunter World look very washed out on my TV for some reason. Hopefully this let's me tweak them.

[LoneGaymer]

Awesome. Resident evil 2 hdr is atrocious. It looks like grey smoke in dark areas. Hope this fixes it

[paulust2002]

Bass level audio sync control next would be awesome.like Nvidia shield

[DaniMacYo]

Mmm interesting I’d like to see how this works. They’ll add this to PS5 to I reckon.