Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely’s HDR playback ruined motion pictures for me

He Samsung Galaxy S24 collection It packs arguably the most effective {hardware} specs within the enterprise, from a quick processor to stable construct high quality. The splendid AMOLED show, particularly, is a spotlight of the long-running collection, however after spending just a few hours watching HDR motion pictures on my new Galaxy S24 Extremely, I am left a bit of dissatisfied.

At first, I assumed it had one thing to do with my film file, so I went on YouTube and located some HDR movies to check out as effectively. Whereas watching SDR content material, all the pieces appeared as I anticipated. Nonetheless, with HDR, the picture seems dim and the lights aren’t even that vibrant, regardless of Samsung’s claims of 2600 nits of most brightness. General, the presentation appeared uninteresting and boring.

So, I examined it towards myself. Google Pixel 8 Professional and Apple iPhone 15 ProfessionalLo and behold, the S24 Extremely confirmed persistently decrease most brightness figures than each units. In reality, considerably decrease. Nearly 40% much less brightness than iPhone when displayed in most white, masking 50% of the display screen. Simply to present you an concept, even in comparison with an older iPhone 11 Professional Max, a telephone that claims to have just one,200 nits of most brightness, the Galaxy S24 nonetheless appeared dimmer and supplied much less distinction when displaying real-world content material.

I re-ran my exams greater than 4 instances (I misplaced depend at that time); I went into settings to allow excessive brightness mode, made certain to check the telephone with and with out adaptive brightness, and checked vivid mode and pure mode. I even ran HDR10 and HDR10+ movies, simply to ensure they’d nothing to do with HDR10+ dynamic metadata, however nothing appeared to make a distinction.

That was till I began enjoying with the brightness of the ambient gentle and the issue grew to become clear as day. There’s at all times a type of adaptive brightness enabled for HDR content material on the S24 collection. Within the video above, you’ll be able to see how the display screen brightness will increase in clear steps as I enhance the room brightness, though adaptive brightness is disabled and mustn’t intrude with the brightness in such a drastic method when displaying content material. HDR.

This produces some annoying results. In case you’re watching HDR content material indoors in oblique gentle solely, Samsung’s software program reduces the display screen brightness it doesn’t matter what settings you could have. Not solely does this create photos that lack the brilliant highlights that OLEDs are so good at reproducing, nevertheless it additionally makes the darkest components of the picture darker than they need to be.

That’s an error. The purpose of HDR is to regulate distinction as a lot as potential, so shows mustn’t intrude with the distinction ratio meant by the creator for a selected scene.

The exception could be to extend the brightness for accessibility causes. I suppose in the event you’re watching a film or TV present outside, in vibrant, direct gentle, it is higher to see an enhanced picture than no picture in any respect. Nonetheless, I solely see it as an accessibility function that must be turned on and off, not the default possibility utilized in all show eventualities.

Maybe worse nonetheless, you too can see how the display screen modifications shade barely, turning extra refined blues into extra vibrant and intense hues. It appears that evidently Samsung is attempting to trick my eyes into preferring it, to the detriment of the accuracy and respect of the unique picture.

We have reached out to Samsung for a proof concerning the habits and whether or not it is intentional or not. That is what Samsung mentioned:

“Adaptive brightness drives display screen changes primarily based on ambient gentle stage. Samsung Galaxy units course of HDR movies to adaptively modify display screen luminance primarily based not solely on the present display screen brightness but additionally on viewing circumstances. “That is to offer improved visibility and a extra immersive viewing expertise to customers, higher showcasing the excessive dynamic vary of HDR video property.”

So that is intentional, as Samsung’s software program compensates for ambient viewing circumstances to attempt to enhance the look of HDR movies. I am not satisfied it really works very effectively.

The entire Samsung units we examined, together with the Galaxy S24, S24 Extremely, and S23 Extremely, carried out very equally. With no change to show it on and off, adaptive brightness is how Samsung appears to deal with HDR video on all of its flagship telephones.

On the optimistic aspect, environmental adaptability may also help enhance visibility, particularly outside the place daylight could make the display screen troublesome to view. The truth that Samsung’s display screen will not be as vibrant as telephones that declare absurd numbers like 4000 nits most brightness It’s not essentially an issue by itself. The essential factor is to take care of a continuing distinction together with excessive brightness. Nonetheless, that requires adaptability to deal with it the suitable method.

Sadly, Samsung’s method produces visible artifacts. For one factor, you’ll be able to usually see the brightness enhance with modifications in ambient gentle. That is fairly distracting midway by means of the film, particularly in the event you’re on public transportation and enter a tunnel that quickly modifications the ambient lighting. It is annoying that the transition is not as easy because the default auto-brightness which scales it in a a lot nicer method. It is fairly abrupt.

That is on prime of the comparatively dim, shadow-crushing, color-distorting, interior-lit presentation that detracts from the standard (and goal) of the HDR video. In the end, a change to show HDR adaptive brightness on and off would match each worlds. Given the quite a few show choices on the market, it would not take a lot so as to add a “filmmaker mode” for HDR. Do it like this, Samsung?