madvr hdr fullscreen not working

Hi all.

Got a new HDR display today. Having some issues with madVR playing back some remuxs.

HDR works

if windows HDR is disabled. HDR gets enabled by madVR when I load up the file. But only works in windowed mode or in full screen if I right click or have the bar at the bottom open.

The monitor tells me HDR is enabled both when in fullscreen and not.

If I enable windows HDR settings first, the display looks like how it does in fullscreen.

TLDR: If HDR enabled looks washed out, if HDR is disabled and fullscreen looks washed out, if HDR is disabled and windowed, looks awesome....

I've tried a bunch of stuff. Any help?

This unfortunately an issue with how madvr interacts with the graphics driver. madvr uses the driver API to enable HDR and not the global Windows API. This used to work properly in the past, but got broken after driver updates.

As a workaround you can use MPC Video Renderer, which does use the Windows API.

Admin wrote:This unfortunately an issue with how madvr interacts with the graphics driver. madvr uses the driver API to enable HDR and not the global Windows API. This used to work properly in the past, but got broken after driver updates.

As a workaround you can use MPC Video Renderer, which does use the Windows API.

Thank you. So when in fullscreen it uses MadVR API, windowed mode it uses windows HDR API? If that's the case than windows HDR API is 100000x better than MadVRs...

I enabled MPC Video Renderer but just outputs in SDR.

It is not a problem with the NVIDIA API itself, but with the driver not implementing it correctly like it did in the past.

MPC Video Renderer should be able to enable HDR mode in Windows 10. Are you perhaps using an older version of Windows? Also make sure that you are using latest version of the codec pack (=16.0.2).

Win 10 20H2

And 16.0.2 Codec pack

I think disabling "send hdr metadata to the display" and leaving windows HDR on is helping a lot

I am getting an awful amount of crushed blacks. Less so with this. But I think that's my display

Which version of the NVIDIA driver do you use? Updating it may solve your problems.

Here is a topic with a list of know HDR issues for driver versions:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176013

461.51

You can try exclusive fullscreen in madvr.
madvr settings > rendering > general

[I've edited my original post, the info below should now be correct!]

I was having the same issues with HDR windowed vs full screen mode. I came up with a solution for my HDR-capable monitor, haven't tested it on an HDR TV, but principle should work the same.

Software/hardware setup:
MPC-HC (v1.9.18)
madVR (v0.92.17)
Windows 10 (v21H2)
HDR-capable monitor (Dell S2721DGF, HDR400)
AMD Radeon video card with HDR support

Software settings:
MPC-HC->Options->Playback->Output->DirectShow Video->madVR [enabled]
madVR->devices->[HDR device]->properties->the native display bitdepth is: [10 bit (or higher)]
madVR->devices->[HDR device]->hdr->tone map HDR using pixel shaders->target peak nits: [enter your HDR device's peak nits], (NOTE: the peak nits value can be found under '[HDR device]->identification->desired max luminance)
madVR->devices->[HDR device]->hdr->tone map HDR using pixel shaders->tone mapping curve: [BT.2390]
madVR->devices->[HDR device]->hdr->output video in HDR format [enabled]
madVR->rendering->general settings->enable automatic fullscreen exclusive mode [enabled] (NOTE: can also be set to disabled, with same result)

Windows 10 settings:
Settings->System->Display->Use HDR [Set to On]

A few things are going on here to fix the windowed vs full screen mode issue.

1) Windowed mode
- Normally when you toggle to full screen mode, you are seeing an incorrect map of luminance values from your source HDR material (with different peak values between source and destination device), which is manifesting as "washed out" in full screen mode
- In windowed mode, Windows 10 is doing an approximate map of the peak nits values, aligned to your HDR device's peak nit value. However, in the case of an HDR1000 mastered movie (or higher) mapped to an HDR400 monitor, you'll notice the "bright" areas of the video are almost too bright, and it is clipping at the upper end of the luminance range.
- In full screen mode, madVR is passing the HDR info directly to your screen, including the meta data, without tone mapping of the luminance. In this example, HDR1000 content going to a HDR400 monitor, it causes it to look washed out, and not have proper peak luminance values.
- By using "tone map HDR using pixel shaders", you are fixing the issue in windowed and full screen mode by properly mapping the HDR1000 content luminance values to a narrower HDR400 luminance range (but still aligning peak values properly). Changing between "windowed full screen" vs "full screen" will now yield the correct result.