If you're like me, there is something about the HDR in RDR2 that just doesn't seem right when compared to other games. It just doesn't "pop" like it should and it's a real shame. There's been some expert analysis done and the conclusion is that you should play the game in SDR to get proper contrast, shadows, etc. I hope Rockstar will be able to patch this problem soon.

Here's a good video explaining the problem on Xbox One X. I expect the same problem exists on PS4 Pro.

I’m going to have to disagree on this one. The HDR looks very naturalistic in this game. It’s not going for extreme saturation and pop like in a lot of games. It looks like what an actual western vista would look like. When I turn off HDR all it does is add in a lot of black crush and some areas where the lighting causes the foliage to be a very subtle sagey green with HDR on it just ends up looking gray with it off. That’s not what real life looks like. You wouldn’t be seeing dark, inky black shadows in the foliage of trees during a bright day in real life.

We may not be getting the true specular highlights like you should in HDR and I do hope they fix it but for now it still looks better than with HDR off, as long as you don’t crank that luminance setting.

@haneybd87: I agree with you too, as the HDR in RDR2 seems to go for more natural highlights and saturation, and I can't imagine playing it in SDR. I guess if it bothers others, then they can adjust their television settings.

@drzing: I have my tv calibrated using Rtings settings and while I don’t have the best tv for HDR, I’ve only ever had positive experiences with it in games. Red dead on the other hand, I could never get to look right even after hours of messing with settings. I just turned it off and it looks incredible so I really don’t mind. It’s just a shame.

I also read a digital Foundry article about exactly how the hdr is messed up in this game, so it’s definitely not just you.

haha.. mr zing i just game to BG to put this same video. :)

well done zir :)

@people that think it looks better: the HDR is just broken and makes the image worse. That said, if you like a brighter picture with less detail...

It is just making it brighter, including the darks.

I suspected something like this was going on. I tinkered with the TV and in-game settings for an hour last night trying to get it to look right, and it simply just looks flatter and more washed-out than it should no matter what. Forza Horizon 3 had a similar issue, FWIW, and Destiny 2 is noticeably too dark unless you overbrighten the black levels to where it kinda defeats the purpose.

Meanwhile, games like HITMAN, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza 7, Forza Horizon 4, etc. look mind-blowing in HDR, which makes it all the more frustrating when you know what HDR is supposed to look like and a game falls short.

Unfortunately, the implementation of HDR in games has been somewhat hit-or-miss as devs work to master the new technology. There's obviously going to be a little variation in trying to optimize things for varying TV sets, but for the higher-end stuff like OLEDs and high-contrast LCDs with full local dimming, the white/black range of the display is waayyyy beyond the limited portion of the HDR spectrum that games tend to utilize.

I hope that they patch RDR2 to fix this. It certainly isn't a bad-looking game, but it should and could look far better.

@zurv: Did you watch the video? It’s only making it brighter if you increase the luminance from 100. You’re also getting the expanded range of color, people forget that HDR isn’t just about brightness. It’s not completely broken it’s just doesn’t have the specular highlights like it should. So as long as you leave luminance at 100 it looks fine, better than with no HDR at all.

@haneybd87: I realise that it might be my tv (I have a mid range Sony Bravia) but if I set it to 100 it’s far too dark and doesn’t look right at all. Like I said, it might be my tv but I’ve never had this problem with any other game so I’m not sure.

It looks like washed out shit with it on.

@casepb: With HDR off the colors look washed out. HDR on the blacks look a bit washed out. HDR off the blacks are black but too prevalent. So I just stuck with on at 100 to get the full range of color since the blacks aren’t perfect either way.

I messed with my tv settings for a while the other day with this game and I got it to a place that looks real good, so I went and fired up the Witcher 3 to see how that looked cuz I was never able to get it right when playing it (was playing it before this game came out) and it looked better than it ever did before. So idk, I think RD2 looks amazing with HDR now that I dialed in my tv and it made Witcher 3 look better for me.

@sloppydetective: I had my tv professionally calibrated and it looks good with almost everything. Here and there I come across things that just weren’t mastered correctly and the black levels are raised or some other problem. There’s no way I’m going to mess with the settings each time I come across one of these things though. Especially if I’m going back and forth with different content on that input.

@haneybd87: For me turning HDR on results in a big drop in contrast and saturation in this game. I'm keeping it off.

HDR as usual adds nothing of value, I have a HDR10 display and can't say I've never really thought "this HDR looks nice". 4k was a nice boost in IQ at least

To people saying you can't imagine playing without HDR in this game, drop the saturation and contrast in SDR mode and boom you're playing like in HDR. Wow what a great implementation...

@ibmer: I don’t see what you’re saying about the saturation in this game. HDR off looks significantly less saturated in RDR2. There are some spots that straight up look gray instead of green with HDR off.

Anyways it’s strange that you haven’t seen anything that makes you think HDR looks great. What TV do you have? I frequently watch things or play games that are like oh yeah this looks amazing. Maybe you don’t have your settings right? God of War comes to mind for a game that really pushes the HDR.

Idk looks fine to me.

@ibmer: Definitely check out God of War as the best example of mind-blowing HDR, in particular the extreme colors and light shafts in the Alfeim area. And of course the Blu-ray version of Planet Earth II. The latest Star Trek movie is also extremely good visually.

Yeah, I am conflicted about it (I was also going to make a thread about it last night asking what others' thoughts were on its implementation). I am okay with it (as in, it's not ruining the experience), but the washed out brightness/contrast at the recommended 100 seems off. It's like a layer of greyness is over the entire screen, as if the backlight needs to be put up even more or something. That said, I am curious if it was intentional? To get the atmosphere down or something... On the Xbox One X, there is no option to turn it off either, but from what I understand it's not as bad as on the PS4. Mafia 3 has the same 'issue'. While I would change it to something different if I could, it's not so bad that it's ruining my experience. It still looks great. Nice video though. I hope digital foundry can talk about the issue.

Edit - I checked this issue last night on my phone, and I was totally surprised to see so many others have the same issue, but I probably shouldn't have been surprised I guess. I hope it gets fixed. Eurogamer actually talked about it.

Here it is.

@haneybd87: @drzing: God of War looked all right, but it didn't blow me away. I think HDR is just overrated I guess. The best part in GoW was when you go in and out of the cabin early game, that did make me think "oh, nice HDR!"

It's not my TV being weird (using a mid-high end Toshiba Regza), RDR2 has much less saturation in HDR. Maybe your TV has separate colour settings for HDR mode and that's why, for me it uses the same settings and HDR mode just drops a lot of saturation and contrast, usually the opposite happens with HDR!

They should add saturation options like MHW perhaps

@ibmer: HDR isn’t overrated though. In content that does it right it’s a night and day difference between SDR and HDR. Like in god of war whenever you go up against the lightning dudes, that crazy bright lightning just pops like you’d never get in SDR, it’s not even close to subtle. Just one example of many great uses of HDR in that game. I’m thinking your settings aren’t right somehow or the TV just isn’t particularly good at HDR. (Not referring to RDR2 in this post, just HDR in general.)

@haneybd87: It is subjective and it's overrated in my opinion. What you describe in GoW is just a minor upgrade for me. It's not my TV, which is highly regarded and reviewed very well, with true HDR 10 and my settings are fine.

And Rockstar just stated they're working on a HDR fix. Knew it was broken.

How do you turn off hdr? Is it in a game settings menu or on a system level?

@ibmer: Well that’s what I’m saying. If that’s just minor to you I think something isn’t right.

@haneybd87: I’ve been lurking here as I plan on getting RDR2 for Xbox One X once I have time to play it, but I had to chime in that good HDR is the biggest visual game-changer for me since the jump to 720p/1080i (I think I got my first HD display about 16 years ago).

Playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War 4, and Witcher 3...the difference is staggering. Watching The Revenant or Blade Runner 2049, the color and lighting looks AMAZING when done right.

I’m less sold on Marvel’s Netflix shows, but it’s still a dramatic improvment over SDR.

I’m doing my viewing on Xbox One X (I don’t quite want to spring for a standalone Blu-Ray player to get disc-based Dolby Vision) with an LG C7.

It took some messing with settings to remove black crushes, washed-out greys, and a general sense of “It CAN look really nice sometimes.” I’m at a place now where I’m thrilled with picture quality, largely due to the OLED panel paired with HDR.

A real revelation was learning that HDR10 configurations should have an OLED brightness setting of 100 (Dolby Vision is set to 50). Once I reconfigured around that, everything fell into place beautifully.

Anyhow, I love HDR and will be curious to see where this goes...

@nutter: Yeah my Samsung TV automatically pushes backlight and contrast to max when it gets an HDR signal but I know a lot of TVs don’t do that. A lot of people probably aren’t seeing what HDR can really be like because of that.

@haneybd87: On my TV, there are maybe 4 or so HDR10, SDR, and Dolby Vision pre-sets each. They can be modified or saved as a user edit. When a source changes from one range to another, the display toggles to the last used config for whatever type of content you’re watching (HDR10, DV, SDR).

I do watch in a well-lit room (lots of natural light), so I do manually change between my bright and dark presets for each range based on the time of day.

I have an X-rite i1Display Pro that lets you automatically calibrate your PC/Mac monitors and can also be used to calibrate a TV, if you're willing to learn the process. It requires some open source software, a calibration disc, and a tripod but the results are well worth it. I now no longer feel the need to tweak my TV settings or have that nagging feeling something might not be set correctly.

Software I used was ColorHCFR. I don't remember the exact guide I used but you can search for some. Here is an article I found about the general process.

That video is pretty damming evidence.

Can I turn off HDR from an in-game menu on Xbox One X? I’m hoping to be able to do that so I don’t have to keep switching it on and off when I want to use Netflix and 4K Blu-rays.

@esdeib: Unfortunately, you can't. It also says in the video that you can't, but I am playing the game on the X and I can't do it but have seen the PS4 menu in which you can. Frankly, while them fixing it would be nice, the game otherwise looks fantastic and you just kind of get used to it where it almost becomes a negligible issue. Them fixing it would just make an amazing game look even greater. Trust me, over some time with the game you won't be super bummed by it and there's not a whole lot of reason to go through the few hoops to turn HDR off and on from the system. Just keep it on and deal with it and hope for a fix.

Edit - Oh, and try not to mess with the HDR setting in the game, just keep it at 100 or 300 depending on if you have an OLED or LCD/LED (100 for LCD/LED, 300 for OLED). If you raise it too high, there is a chance, from what I hear, that you can risk burn-in on some TVs. That said, you can just turn it off from the system settings if you'd like which is really simple, and I probably don't need to tell you how to do it. I find it too inconvenient and will just wait for some kind of fix if there ever is any, but again, it looks fine enough for me where it's never really ruining the experience.

This just goes to show that people won't notice if it's faked or not. It's pretty much the same story with checkerboard 4K or up-scaling. People will claim its true and think it looks amazing, even though the hard facts tell you that it's not implemented properly.

Holy crap. I just did this and it's a massive difference. I dunno if my HDR is just shit or something but the game looks way more vibrant and a lot more detail with HDR off. I turned it back on and everything is really washed out and much of the detail in the shadows of even the grass just looks not as apparent.

Guess I'll be playing with it off for this game. Maybe I should try other games as well. I thought Assassin's Creed Origins was the best looking HDR I've seen. Odyssey doesn't look as good for some reason.

Edit: ehhhh the more I play it with HDR off the more I think it has TOO much contrast. It's kind of hard to see some stuff.

Ended up disabling the HDR through the Xbox system settings and yeah this game looks better now. People that say it looks better reminds me of the people who think DVD quality movies look better on an HDTV just because the output signal says 720-1080p.

This is the same concept in that the game is SDR in an HDR shell to make your TV say it's HDR compliant while also muddying up the image quality. No thanks.

@colourful_hippie: I just did this as well. The improvement is astounding. Will keep it like this until I’m done with the game.

Yep, that's exactly one of the issues HDR is supposed to fix. It's unfortunate but colors do look better.

Walking out of dark indoors into bright outdoors sucks though. They need to patch the HDR soon

Originally the HDR setting was horrible for me but now I can't play without it because if I switch over to SDR it hurts my eyes.

I basically had to spend about an hour adjusting my TV settings to make it look less saturated and not have such a bad "film" look on it. So I highly recommend anyone having issues with HDR to mess with their TV settings, it's worth it.

I switched it back and forth a bunch of times yesterday and for the life of me could not tell a difference. Playing on a base PS4 though, so maybe it's not as noticeable at a lower resolution? I'm new to the 4k/hdr game

@flatblack: base PS4 can't do HDR so if you don't have a PS4 pro you wouldn't see a difference

Base PS4 does support HDR. Just need a display (1080p or 4K) that supports HDR10 and running on a Premium Certified HDMI cable.

@thephantomnaut: I just upgraded to a 4k HDR recently and am fairly new to this stuff so apologies for my ignorance but i Had no idea the base does it to. So what really is the difference in a pro? Thought the whole point was it could do 4k HDR but if the base can do it to

why get one?

@punisherkaos: the PS4 Pro and Xbox one X display games in up to 4K resolution and many games also have much higher framerate.

God of War for example has a performance mode or a quality mode. Performance mode targets 60 frames a second at 1080p resolution. Quality mode stays at 30 frames a second in 4K resolution. Base console users don't have these options. they must play the game at regular HD at 30fps.

HDR simply provides more vibrant colors. I had no idea the base system could do HDR either though! Assuming that dude above is correct, that is.

@frostyryan: My understanding is that the PS4 vanilla can do HDR games and Netflix. It just won’t push 4k.

Personally, while 4k is noticably sharper to me (while wearing my glasses, without them, it’s MAYBE slightly sharper than 1080p), I can far more about HDR itself.