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Galaxy S8 HDR Compatibility

I

Izuna

Banned
I'm hoping this thread becomes something more in the near future, as of right now the implementation of HDR is not all that great (as in, the content just isn't there and there are a few issues).


Here are some things to learn about the Galaxy S8's HDR compatibility:

  • Only .mp4 works (and has to be via Samsung's Native Video Player)
  • Weird behaviour such as needing to rename files back and forth to get HDR detected
  • HDR isn't working unless the video playback says so
  • HDR via YouTube is NOT supported as of yet (14/10/2017)
  • Amazon Prime Video supports HDR, but since videos are limited to 1080p the bitrate is low enough that you get a lot of artefacts (streaming woes)
  • Netflix HDR is not supported as of yet (14/10/2017 -- currently works on LG G6 and Sony ZX Premium)
  • When HDR is detected, it will change your Screen Mode to AMOLED Cinema (DCI P3) [so you can leave it on Basic if you want accurate colour in Rec.709 and not worry about HDR videos displaying currectly]
  • Brightness is increased when HDR content is detected, but you can lower it if you want to (why would you?)
  • notifications or anything that brings up the notification panel will disable HDR, at least briefly
  • S8 and S8+ are 8-bit displays, which means almost all of the HDR content you view will have significant colour banding in bright areas.


Step One, download this app:
bQSjYC2.png
Click to expand...

via xda-developers.com, there are 13 found videos that work on the S8 that are encoded for you. You can follow the link and download them but I'll link to the only two that seem to consistently work:

(via mega.nz -- if anyone wants me to re-upload I will)
Sony_4K_HDR_Camp.mp4
Sony_BRAVIA_OLED_HDR.mp4

I vastly recommend the latter. It's fantastic and specifically made to show you is far more enjoyable in HDR.

If you want to compare Sony_BRAVIA_OLED_HDR.mp4 to what it looks like on SDR check here: YouTube -- it has gone through automatic HDR to SDR conversion but it still looks decent in SDR, so it makes for a good side-by-side comparison.


-----

I don't yet have .mkv to .mp4 conversion down, but when I do I hope to make more content available. I'd happily watch Planet Earth II like this if I could rip the UHD BluRay.

-: Regarding Video Enhancer. It isn't required for HDR and does nothing to HDR content anyways. Unless you like oversaturated video playback.
 
C

Chopper

Member
Thanks for this. I had no idea how limited my options were for HDR playback. I assumed the YouTube stuff worked as advertised. Those two videos really are quite something.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
I'm still trying to kick the tires and figure out why, but some of those clips look very, very bad on my S8. The HDR is great, but there's huge amounts of banding in the sky that should not be happening with 10 bit colour. I'm not sure if the panel or app are doing some crack handed colour space conversation, or of the encoding metadata is broken.
 
C

Chopper

Member
Mindwipe said:
I'm still trying to kick the tires and figure out why, but some of those clips look very, very bad on my S8. The HDR is great, but there's huge amounts of banding in the sky that should not be happening with 10 bit colour. I'm not sure if the panel or app are doing some crack handed colour space conversation, or of the encoding metadata is broken.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I noticed the banding. I wondered if it was because I had Video Enhancer on.

Edit: Nope.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
Mindwipe said:
I'm still trying to kick the tires and figure out why, but some of those clips look very, very bad on my S8. The HDR is great, but there's huge amounts of banding in the sky that should not be happening with 10 bit colour. I'm not sure if the panel or app are doing some crack handed colour space conversation, or of the encoding metadata is broken.
Click to expand...

That's just a fact of compression ;( (some of the ones converted from .mkv come from pirated video samples and converted by who tf knows)

FWIW, I really enjoyed my IPS laptop panel I calibrated up until I saw one of these videos.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_forza_7_in_hdr_on_gamersyde_-19287_en.html

Looks like the Forza 7 HDR demos from Gamersyde also work.

(holy shit it looks amazing)

EDIT: Yeah you're right, it isn't compression, there's something wrong that is introducing a lot of banding. I don't have an HDR TV to test, would be nice to have some confirmation if it's just borked (might be why we don't have Netflix yet?)

~~

might be worth testing these out http://www.gamersyde.com/news_ps4_pro_4k_hdr_videos-19292_en.html (unconfirmed)
 
I

Izuna

Banned
I didn't realise how provailant the belief that S8 could play HDR videos on YouTube was.

The screen is good enough that people probably think it's doing someone, but it goes to show how little people are aware of the purpose of HDR even when they chase it.

I really hope we get HDR Netflix soon and it allows us to stream the 4K quality for supersampling or just higher bitrates in general.
 
P

Paganmoon

Member
Izuna said:
I didn't realise how provailant the belief that S8 could play HDR videos on YouTube was.

The screen is good enough that people probably think it's doing someone, but it goes to show how little people are aware of the purpose of HDR even when they chase it.

I really hope we get HDR Netflix soon and it allows us to stream the 4K quality for supersampling or just higher bitrates in general.
Click to expand...

Honestly didn't know it couldn't do Youtube HDR until this thread, haven't thought about it much though, as there doesn't seem to be a lot of 4K HDR uploaded anyway.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
Holy shit guys, watch this video http://4kmedia.org/sony-swordsmith-hdr-uhd-4k-demo/

This looks so fucking incredible.


In other news, we still don't have YouTube HDR and it's such a shame because everyone keeps reporting that it does work. Real HDR isn't comparable.

Also, if you wanted an answer as to why a lot of the above videos have colour banding in the skies etc. It's because the videos are encoded in 8bit from original 10bit footage. I'm not sure why this is done, it might be a limitation of the codec or whomever did the encode for us.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
Good news, figured out how to convert .MKV videos to playable .MP4

--

Using ffmpeg, run: ffmpeg -i video.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy video.mp4

This means that almost anything HDR from www.4kmedia.org should now work. Even say, for example, full HDR BluRay rips if you have any.
 
MultiCore

MultiCore

Member
I just wanted to say thanks for this thread. I'm on a note 8, and I had no idea it did HDR video.

Now I'm angry the support is weak, lol.
 
B

bennywhatever

Member
You should clarify this is for HDR video. I came in thinking this was about taking HDR photos and multi-exposure bracket shooting, not video playback.
Got super confused when reading lol.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
The YouTube version of the Sony demo video looks better than the version I downloaded from your link. Way better. And I don't see any indication that the download version is playing in hdr. What am I doing wrong?
 
I

Izuna

Banned
VanMardigan said:
The YouTube version of the Sony demo video looks better than the version I downloaded from your link. Way better. And I don't see any indication that the download version is playing in hdr. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

That's VERY strange.

However, do you have the Samsung Video Player installed? You need that to view HDR. (otherwise, you will see all the colours kinda grey because it's in the wrong colour space during playback).

You will know it is working because it will say HDR during playback.


--


Those of you willing to try converting a .MKV to .MP4 yourselves, try it with this video: http://4kmedia.org/lg-colors-of-journey-demo/

It might be my second favourite HDR video I've seen so far.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
VanMardigan said:
Yeah I'm playing the video with the native app. No indication of hdr and it looks worse than the yt version.
Click to expand...

If HDR isn't activating, it would look way worse.

Does the file look like this on your phone?

3jaXfGu.png


With the Samsung native video app installed, I play either from the video app or Samsung's Gallery.

It's strange this one isn't working because on xda-developers and reddit this was one of the two videos that worked for everyone.

When you hit the play button, it should say HDR like this:

OfZhyVW.png
 
X

X05

Upside, inside out he's livin la vida loca, He'll push and pull you down, livin la vida loca
This'll come in handy.

Also, YouTube *does* support HDR, I tested it on my dad's phone a few days ago with this video.
Yes, the brightness and color automatically changed, and it said was playing in HDR. I also compared it to the video running in SDR in another phone for good measure.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
X05 said:
This'll come in handy.

Also, YouTube *does* support HDR, I tested it on my dad's phone a few days ago with this video.
Yes, the brightness and color automatically changed, and it said was playing in HDR. I also compared it to the video running in SDR in another phone for good measure.
Click to expand...

As stated earlier, the brightness capping but being unchangeable, along with no cropping has nothing to do with HDR. It isn't working correctly. For example:

https://imgur.com/a/JzDyZ

Both of those screenshots show up tonemapped to Rec. 709 and is exactly how it appears during the video. It definitely shouldn't be possible to have the same colours in multiview.

The only exception to this is if you're using Video Enhancer, which doesn't have anything to do with HDR activating. But it may be why you noticed a difference with the other phone. It is kinda like fake HDR.

Also, you can find this very video on 4kmedia.org, convert to. MP4 and it will look very different when HDR properly plays.



But anyway, if it was in HDR, then the screen shot would show with muted colours since all screenshots are in Rec. 709. It would look like this: https://imgur.com/hK6e974


Whatever the update did, it merely says HDR when choosing the resolution and breaks the brightness control. But it doesn't display it.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
georaldc said:
Is this the case with the Note 8 as well (HDR youtube not working as expected)?
Click to expand...

I don't know, I won't make any guesses. Netflix does.

I wasn't able to test with any store Note 8s because they wouldn't let me update the YouTube app.

--

Updating OP with new news

S8 and S8+ are 8-bit displays, which means almost all of the HDR content you view will have significant colour banding in bright areas.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
Some people have been saying that the HDR videos aren't playing in proper HDR for them. The reason could be this: https://imgur.com/bQSjYC2 <-- You need the native Video Player from the Galaxy Apps store. I don't know of any other player that does HDR.

With this app installed, it doesn't show up as an icon. You can even use the Gallery app to launch HDR video.

You can also get the Samsung Video Library from the PlayStore if you want but it isn't necessary.
 
L

LyleLanley

Banned
Do movies from the Google Play store play in HDR on this thing or is it only Amazon streaming and videos I manually transfer and watch using the Samsung Video app?
 
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