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MortenTG Author

Level 1

72 points

apple tv 4k hdr washed out colours

Hi, I have a Apple TV 4k, tried it on both my samsung tvs (2016 and 2017) and the picture is washed out with muted colors in HDR mode except for the screensavers, which look great. The SDR mode looks way better with more brightness than HDR mode for all menus and content except the screensavers.

The screensavers all look great like I'm used to from other HDR-sources.

This must be some kind of bug? Please dont tell me to adjust the TV settings, I've turned all enhancements off and the fact that the screensavers look great tells me this is an issue with the Apple TV and not my Samsung TVs.

Posted on Sep 23, 2017 2:49 AM

Top-ranking reply

MortenTG Author

Level 1

72 points

Posted on Oct 23, 2017 11:09 PM

HDR content (both HDR10 and DV) is delivered in a flat "log" picture profile with washed out colours and milky blacks. The TV is then supposed to add the required filter to make it look the way it's supposed to in HDR according to the metadata in the picture signal. There is clearly a problem with how Apple TV and Samsung TVs(as well as some Sony TVs I think) send and interpret the metadata so that HDR content does not get filtered correctly and ends up looking washed out. Adding dynamic contrast is just a poor fix that somewhat helps with the overall picture quality because the blacks are crushed and saturation is added, but it does NOT look the way it's supposed to in HDR. Especially the extra brightness of HDR will not be added this way. I have the same problem with Netflix in Tizen (samsung operating system) now, so this is not purely an Apple TV problem, it's a problem with how some tvs interpret HDR metadata.

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56 replies

Jan 9, 2018 3:17 PM in response to MortenTG

I have the exact same issue - now. When I initially hooked up the ATV 4k everything was working great (right after Christmas). Now everything in HDR looks washed out and it won't even switch to the HDR mode. This all happened with the newest update being able to match dynamic range and frame rate. SDR looks great. I have a Sony XBR 930D. Picture was beautiful when I first got it and was really excited. Any fix to this??? It's disappointing to watch content in SDR when it should be in HDR.

Feb 11, 2018 4:37 PM in response to MortenTG

For a while, it sort of worked well by setting ATV to SDR and on 11.2 setting to automatic match Dynamic range. That . way the menus looked ok and the content appeared to match its hdr when needed. however i recently discovered that some content that is supposed to come in hdr have this problem. I noticed this in WB content such as Inception, Dunkirk, etc.

I ended up adjusting the setting to SDR without matching the dynamic range . it is a total shame an a waste that we do not get proper hdr in this system.

Feb 26, 2018 9:38 PM in response to MortenTG

I have a 2017 Samsung UN55MU630D 55" TV and I'm experiencing much the same issue as the rest here. I've got it looking fairly good with Netflix content (did Netflix adjust its app?) but the Apple TV Shows and Movies from my new Apple TV 4K have blacks that are completely too black. When I watch Apple-streamed Videos, I need to turn up the Brightness, the Backlight, and the Gamma all the way on the TV to get it looking almost correct ...almost ...still a little dark in the blacks, often showing little to no detail in the blacks compared to other sources.

Mar 29, 2018 1:56 PM in response to MortenTG

Hi MortenTG - That washed out effect in menus is normal for HDR - SDR appears brighter

there, but switch back and forth to test and I think you'll find that color rendering's better

in HDR content. Good luck, Tom

Mar 29, 2018 2:04 PM in response to Tom Meade1

This is completely untrue. The colors are horrible as well as being "washed out", completely eradicating most of the dark details in all shots as if the contrast were turned up massively in a bad Photoshop JPG. This is not a normal effect.

Jmetyo

Level 1

9 points

Oct 11, 2017 7:59 AM in response to Jmetyo

To clarify, this affects everything including the main screen and all content.

Sep 28, 2017 10:36 AM in response to MortenTG

Same here with Samsung 2016 uhd hdr tv. Far to dark! All sdr content is dark. Please make a auto hdr mode, normal mode sdr > auto hdr with the right software.

Oct 4, 2017 6:45 AM in response to MortenTG

I also have the same issue, the previous generation looks brilliant but the current one looks really dark

Jmetyo

Level 1

9 points

Oct 8, 2017 5:15 PM in response to MortenTG

Same issue here, Sony X900E very muted colors while the previous generation ATV looked great.

montgome

Level 1

4 points

Oct 10, 2017 12:56 PM in response to MortenTG

I don’t see a response from Apple on this but I am having the same issue. HDR looks washed out while SDR looks great

vishb29

Level 1

8 points

Oct 17, 2017 8:01 AM in response to Jmetyo

yes this affects everything.

Jmetyo

Level 1

9 points

Oct 19, 2017 1:04 PM in response to Aaron Smith9

This whole thing is a debacle and frankly one that should have been corrected almost immediately, how bad was their testing that these issues were missed.

Oct 25, 2017 1:40 AM in response to MortenTG

I will test and look at it, if this really is the case, I don't see why switching would be that "ugly" as stated by apple during presentation of the ATV 4K concerning choice of HDR standards...

Thanks

Alex641

Level 1

4 points

Oct 26, 2017 8:20 PM in response to MortenTG

Having the same issue with my Sony 65 850e Which only supports HDR10. Very disappointed in Apple. Taking the ATV 4K back to Best Buy.

coaoac

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2017 10:38 AM in response to MortenTG

Good news the tvOS 11.2 beta release notes mention the following new feature:

Automatic mode switching to native frame rate and dynamic range of video content with Apple TV 4K

apple tv 4k hdr washed out colours