The Last of Us Part I (PC) HDR Analysis

[KoKlusz]

Technical Info:

• Custom Engine
• HDR available in the windowed mode
• Uncapped peak brightness
• No apparent sRGB/G2.2 EOTF mismatch in HDR

HDR Settings:

• Contrast - power gamma adjustment. Values range from -10 (gamma 1.4) to +10 (gamma 3.4) in the increments of 1 (0.1). The default value is 0, which corresponds to gamma 2.4, -2 is gamma 2.2
• Brightness - Scene brightness scaled linearly. Values range from -10 (100 nits) to +10 (500 nits) in the increments of 1 (20 nits). The default value is 0, which corresponds to 300 nits
• HUD Brightness - Seems to affect only very few parts of the UI, making the setting kinda useless IMO. Values range from 1 to 5, default is 5. Otherwise, UI brightness scales with the Brightness setting.

Review:

Easily one of the best HDR implementations you can find on the market, the only bad thing I can say about it is that the out of the box average brightness is a bit too much for my tastes, alas most people play HDR games in well lit rooms, so it's understandable.

I should technically ding it for the uncapped peak brightness, but the highlight detail is also fully uncapped, so attempting to tonemap it can result in a very flat look, with things like the sun looking like a tiny dot on the skybox. It's better to just leave it alone IMO.

Comparisons

Warning

In order to view them correctly on Windows, you must use a Chromium browser with Windows HDR enabled and the brightness slider set to the value of 31

SDR Defaults (300 nits, Gamma 2.4)
HDR Defaults

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SDR Defaults (300 nits, Gamma 2.2)
HDR Contrast -2

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SDR Defaults (120 nits, Gamma 2.4)
HDR Brightness -9

[Dokhi11]

thanks for the info! but is there any recommended settings? im on an lg c1 and so far i used -8 for 140 brightness but im unsure if i should change the contrast or just keep it at default 0

[KoKlusz]

Recommended settings are whatever you think looks good.

[khoa971996]

I usually adjust the brightness depends on the peak and it mostly looks correct to my eyes somehow, like if the peak is 1k then I'll aim for 100-120 brightness, peak 4k I go for 140-160 brightness, this game goes up to 10k so I go for -5 for 200 nits brightness, most recommendations I found it just to adjust it to taste but somehow I get better results by following those rules idk if it's placebo or is there any rational explanation behind it?

[KoKlusz]

Lower screen brightness is recommended with lower peaks to give highlights some headroom, but it isn't necessarily needed the other way around. A lot depends on the game's autoexposure system. Feel free to use whatever looks good to you.