iOS Plex 8.39 (9244): HDR Content is somewhat muted when "Automatically adjust quality" is enabled

Plex Players Mobile Devices
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1

As the title says: I noticed that HDR content looks somewhat muted and washed out on a compatible HDR display (i.e.: iPhone 12 Pro), even with HDR tone mapping off. In the iOS app, I went to Settings > Quality and turned OFF the option to “Automatically Adjust Quality.” This immediately resolved the issue, and HDR content looks wonderful now.

HDR Tone Mapping is OFF on the Plex server.
Hardware encoding (both options) are turned ON.

Server Version#: 1.41.0.8930
Player Version#: 8.39 (9244)

Server type is a Mac mini M1. Video file is HDR10, colorspace BT.2020.

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Adjusting the quality requires transcoding. There is no way to do that without transcoding.
Transcoding will always output SDR, not HDR.
Therefore, if your source is HDR, you need to apply tone mapping. Otherwise the picture will look like it does now.

Don’t enable it. It never left the Beta stage and is deprecated.

3

Thanks! This is very useful information.

Do you have public-facing documentation that states the automatic quality adjustment is deprecated?

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