Apple TV 4K - No automatic SDR/HDR switching

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Level 1

54 points

Apple TV 4K - No automatic SDR/HDR switching

Why on earth didn't Apple include automatic SDR/HDR switching (based on content) on the Apple TV 4K?

My Sony TV automatically changes the brightness level of the TV depending on whether it is receiving SDR or HDR content. When it detects HDR signal, the Sony sets its brightness to MAX.

The Apple TV 4K, when set to an HDR mode, output HDR all of the time. Even when the content you are watching isn't in HDR. My TV sees the HDR flag and sends brightness to the MAX. That means some old TV show that I might want to watch via the Hulu app is FAR too bright.

The only workaround is to manually go into the Apple TV 4K's settings and select an SDR resolution setting. But once I want to view HDR content via my Apple TV 4K again, I have to go back into settings and select an HDR setting. EXTREMELY annoying!

My Panasonic UB900 4K Blu-ray player only outputs HDR when the disc that it is actually playing is encoded in HDR. If I play a standard 1080p Blu-ray in my UB900 the output is SDR.

Why on earth can't Apple do the same thing? Switch to HDR for the screen savers (they look awesome), switch back to SDR for the menus (HDR not needed there), keep it in SDR mode automatically when using non HDR apps or viewing non HDR content, and automatically switch to HDR mode when watching an HDR movie.

This seems like a very basic way to handle this. What am I missing? Why on earth does Apple seem to think the best way for me to watch The Rifleman via Hulu is with my TV in "torch" mode? It's SDR content, for gosh sakes, output it as SDR content.

It's so annoying that I've mostly stopped using the Apple TV 4K. I went ahead and set up Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, Plex, and Vudu in my Sony TV. (The irony, I'm now an Android user because my Sony 940E TV is an Android TV). I'll only use the Apple TV 4K when I actually want to watch 4K content from iTunes.

Really questioning my reasoning for buying the Apple TV 4K. Had I known about this lack of automatic SDR/HDR output switching I wouldn't have pulled the trigger.

Mark

Posted on Oct 12, 2017 11:09 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 24, 2017 2:49 PM in response to Mark Booth2

I also hate that it doesn't switch automatically. The color is very messed up when your watching something that isn't in HDR. Very red tint. Had Tv calibrated because i thought maybe my settings were off. If I turn HDR off on apple tv the picture is awesome. And on HDR signals the apple tv does a great job with that to. This box could be so awesome. Playing my 4k files with MRMC app the picture is unbelievable. Hope enough people complain about this so that maybe they could change it. Doubt its a hardware issue. Hopefully could be fixed with software update.

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Answer 2

Anthrow

Level 1

8 points

Oct 27, 2017 2:47 PM in response to mikealvey

Indeed very annoying. Because of this I am also questioning my purchase of the new Apple TV. The device should automatically switch to the correct video output settings depending on the file it will play. Another important factor is Dolby Vision. My oled only outputs Dolby Vision in 30 hz @4k. So when I want to experience Dolby Vision content I have to manually set the Apple tv’s output to 4K Dolby Vision 30hz, which renders the complete interface in slow, lagging 30 hz. Completely unacceptable!

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