HEVC files they are dark when played back

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

When Plex plays back my HEVC files they are dark. Has anyone else had this issue?
I have tried it with “Use hardware acceleration when available” enabled and then disabled. It did not fix the problem. I have a Lifetime Plex Pass.

When I play the file using VLC or Microsoft Movies & TV, the display is not dark.

Installed I have the latest versions of K-Lite Codec, VLC, and I have purchased the Microsoft HEVC Video Extensions.

The PC is connected to the TV using an HDMI cable. The TV is a monitor for the PC
I open the Plex Server app and start the movie from there.

File Name: Road to Perdition (2002).mkv
STATISTICS_WRITING_APP mkvmerge v20.0.0 (‘I Am The Sun’) 64-bit
Codec: MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hevc)
Frame rate: 23.976024
Video resolution: 1918x816

Here are the system specs

Plex
Server Version#: 1.31.2.6810
Player Version#: 4.100.1

Processor Intel(R) Core™ i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB
Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
OS build 19045.2728
Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0

Boot Drive: 256GB SSD
Storage Drive: Seagate Exos X16 14TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Data Center HDD Enterprise Hard Drive (ST14000NM001G)

Display Adapter: GEFORCE GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64-Bit Video Graphics Card GPU PCIe 3.0 DirectX 12 ITX HDCP DVI HDMI
Driver: GeForce Game Ready Driver 531.29

Any idea what I can do to improve this?

Dark Playback issue
Dark Playback issue582×859 58.3 KB

2

The 1030 doesn’t have a video encoder and pretty sure that cpu would choke on hdr. It isn’t clear what client you are using?

3

I had a similar issue when using Plex HTPC.

I changed from YCbCr to RGB 8 bit in the Radeon settings for my card (AMD RX580X).

I was told by one or two on here that would not make a difference - well it did.

4

See this …

Out of interest, what HDMI black level do you have set on the display (if using RGB) ?

Personally, I’d use a dedicated client like Plex HTPC as opposed to the web client. The web client introduces various possible issues in a set up like yours.

Edit - wow, accidentally hovered over my profile and it is 2 days away from 10 years on this forum (I ran Plex for some time prior to joining the forum).

5

Thanks John. That’s awesome on the 10 years! I think I have been using it for about 5-6 years. I used something else before, but I have forgotten what it was,

I tried the Plec HTPC and the picture is good. Not dark at all. However, the HTPC needs a keyboard to work it fully, I would like to just use my mouse as I do when using the Server interface.

As for my Black setting, I do not see an option for black in the NVIDIA Control Panel. It is setup as RGB with Output Color Depth 8 bpc the Desktop Color Depth is Highest 32-bit. It is still dark with that setting, I tried playing with the YCbCr settings but no improvement.

6

That will be on your display/monitor settings.

Plex for Windows client uses a mouse.

Given Plex HTPC is not dark, it is your browser settings with the issue (the server uses the Web app to play media via your browser)). As I said, using the browser to play media has shortcomings.

I may be wrong but generally most browsers can’t play HEVC files, causing the media to be transcoded to AVC, which also involves HDR->SDR conversion. That may be the issue as tone mapping leads to darker content with some older Intel gear (specifically 3D-LUT). OpenCL tone-mapping is much better.

7

Thanks again John, you really know your stuff! I was using Edge for my browser. I then tried it in Chrome and it works fine.

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