"HDR and advanced color" setting automatically switches back to "Off" when turned "On".

Question

The option "HDR and advanced color" under Settings > System > Display is available for my display.  When I click the toggle to turn it on, the screen flashes black and the "Keep these display settings?" ribbon shows up with a 15 second countdown.  But, behind the ribbon, the On/Off toggle automatically switches back to the "Off" position, and there seems to be no effect resulting from the toggle.

I have went through the steps here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4040263/windows-10-hdr-advanced-color-settings

I noticed that, in my dxdiag, the "AdvancedColorEnabled" flag is not present on the "Monitor Advanced Color Capabilities" line.  I am assuming the "HDR and advanced color" toggle is what is supposed to enable that flag.  Is there any way to force this flag to be on, or is there a fix/registry edit that will allow me to toggle the setting on?

Here's some more information (including some details from dxdiag):

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (10.0, Build 16299) (16299.rs3_release.170928-1534)

GPU: nVidia GTX 1080ti (Driver 388.13)

The display is a Samsung KS8000 TV (model number UN55KS8000FXZA, latest software/firmware update)

Current Mode: 3840 x 2160 (32 bit) (60Hz)

HDR Support: Supported

Display Color Space: DXGI_COLOR_SPACE_RGB_FULL_G22_NONE_P709

Color Primaries: Red(0.659680,0.340344), Green(0.244641,0.670422), Blue(0.130383,0.040539), White Point(0.313000,0.329602)

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor

Monitor Model: SAMSUNG

Monitor Id: SAM0D3B

Native Mode: 3840 x 2160(p) (60.000Hz)

Output Type: HDMI

Monitor Advanced Color Capabilities: BT2020RGB BT2020YCC Eotf2084Supported AdvancedColorSupported 

Display Pixel Format: DISPLAYCONFIG_PIXELFORMAT_32BPP

Edit: I thought it might be useful to mention the display settings in the nvidia control panel, so here they are:

Color Depth: Highest (32-bit)

Output Color Depth: 8bpc

Output Color Format: RGB

Output Dynamic Range: Full

Answer 1

Could you try lowering the screen resolution to recommended and change the screen refresh rate to 30 hertz? Try again, then see if it works.

Reduce the frame rate

Select Settings  > System  > Display , and then select Display adapter properties.

In the display’s Properties box, select the Monitor tab, select 30 Hertz for the Screen refresh rate, and then select OK.

• OR -

Reduce the resolution

Select Settings  > System  > Display  > Display adapter properties.

On the Adapter tab, select List All Modes.

In List All Modes, select the setting that includes 1920 by 1080, 60 Hertz, then select OK.

Answer 2

Just tried 4k@30hz, 1080p@60hz, and 1080p@30hz, and the "HDR and advanced color" toggle is still bouncing back to "off" when I toggle it.

Answer 3

I think I found the issue.

In the NVIDIA Control Panel under "Display > Change resolution > 3. Apply the following settings", if you select "Use NVIDIA color settings" instead of "Use default color settings", then the issue with the "HDR and advanced color" toggle bouncing back to the "Off" position occurs.  If you leave the "Use default color settings" radio button selected, it will allow the toggle to be set to "On" or "Off" like one would expect.

Which really brings up the question: What exactly is the "HDR and advanced color" setting doing when it is "On"?

Is it changing the same settings as in the NVIDIA Control Panel (like setting the color depth, format, and dynamic range)?  If these settings are already set to non-default in the NVIDIA Control Panel, is the "HDR and advanced color" toggle just redundant?  I think there should be more of an explanation (at least on the support page that I linked) describing what this setting actually does.

Edit: Just to note, I am not able to leave the "Use default color settings" option selected in the NVIDIA Control Panel, since the text is very blurry without selecting the settings specified in my original post's edit.

Edit 2: I've been playing around with this, and I think I know what the "HDR and advanced color" toggle does now - in case anyone is interested and finds this.  All of this was done while "Use default color settings" is selected in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

If the toggle is set to "Off", when I click the "HDR and advanced color settings" link, right under the toggle, it states that the color bit depth is 8-bit, and the color format is RGB.  Just by eye, it seems like the dynamic range is similar to the "limited" option in the NVIDIA control panel.

If I toggle it "On", the color bit depth changes to 10-bit, and the color format changes to YCbCr422.  Colors look washed out, and everything is dimmer.  I'm not sure if this is because my setup just cannot handle 10-bit color, or if the dynamic range was changed in some way.  Due to the change to YCbCr422, the text looks really bad (sort of like ClearType was turned up to 11 - blurry blue and orange mess).

Either way, the display looks much better using the custom NVIDIA color settings (8-bit color depth, RGB color format, Full dynamic range).

Answer 4

Glad to know you were able to resolve. I am going to copy your notes for reference. Thanks.

Answer 5

The implementation of HDR isn't very good.  Windows 10 doesn't use dynamic HDR switching, so if you toggle it on, that means SDR content will have HDR applied to it (like the desktop).  This means your desktop will look dim, washed out and text will have artifacts around it, even though the color space is 10-bit YCC422.  Microsoft needs to either have HDR switch dynamically to content that uses HDR, or have some sort of conversion that applies 10-bit YCC422 rec. 2020 color space to the 709 color space, so the desktop and SDR content looks normal.

You can reduce the resolution to 4k@30 hz which might help the text artifacts, but it won't help the dim and washed out colors for SDR content (like your desktop).

Most people turn the HDR toggle off and only turn it on when they are going to play a game or watch content that's HDR enabled.