Server Version#: 1.30.0.6406
Player Version#:1.30.1
Windows 11 Pro 22H2.
Ryzen 2700X. RX580X.
Samsung NU8000
AVR Denon X1500H
Video playback using Plex HTPC is very dark (SD and HD content). I’ve tried various settings in Plex HTPC without an impact.
Playing same content via Roku or iOS devices via the same AVR and display and playback is fine.
Any suggestions ?
Edit - well, found the answer via Reddit. Changed from YCbCr to RGB. Colours better too. May be peculiar to my setup but it worked.
Always thought YCbCr was the way to go with media.
This sounds like a graphics driver bug or a misconfiguration on your TV setup. Changing the output color mode shouldn’t have an impact on how the image is presented on screen - it should look the same. With RGB the problem is, that they are two modes. Limited and Full RGB, both can be set in the graphics control panel. The problem with this is, the mode whether it is limited or full is not transmitted to the display (in this case it needs to be set on the TV) and therefore it can easily be wrong, although the result might look better. YCbCr is always limited.
YCbCr → RGB, depending on how the TV is set, the change yields a brighter image.
Can you please retest YCbCr and RGB with the standalone mpv? Is the result the same as with Plex HTPC? Can you also please share your Plex HTPC logs?
I don’t need to test. I have a solution as I mentioned in my edit.
Having found plenty of resources (from a number of SME’s) on the subject, RGB full is the correct choice, for us at least. The TV is set up correctly and fully calibrated professionally. HDMI black level is on Auto and working as expected with RGB Full.
Thanks for your interest however and your comments. Greatly appreciated.
YMMV.
YCbCr is often what the media is encoded in but that doesn’t really make it better for a display. Most displays have to translate the content to RGB at some point because the display elements have separate R, G, and B emitters or filters. Now if you were using 422 or 420 YCbCr, then you will definitely have a degradation in color over RGB because those formats have 1/2 or 1/4 the chroma resolution.
Likely your issue was the limited vs full and by changing to RGB that corrected your issue.
Thanks for the reply.
I changed from RGB Full to YCbCr 4:2:2 not long ago after being told by a few folks it was the ‘best choice’ for our setup. I considered those that told me were right so kept that setting and tried looking for other issues that might cause the dark content via Plex HTPC. Using YCbCr 4:4:4 did not resolve the issue.
This wasn’t a color issue but a luminance issue.
The TV has been calibrated 3 times now (for various reasons). All HDMI cables updated. All drivers updated etc.
The issue was more pronounced with Plex HTPC so tried various settings within Plex HTPC without luck.
Was not a content issue.
Anyway, RGB Full would appear to resolve the issue. The Samsung correctly sets HDMI black level on Auto.
I acknowledge that the gear I am using is rather dated so there is that (holiday house so good enough).
