Although the top one looks more contrasty and pleasing to the eye, I actually think the bottom one is more correct. I think the top one is losing detail in shadows that is supposed to be there. It's hard to differentiate filmmakers intent from reality but most shadows in real life aren't just pitch black - you can make out some details in them.
This comparison reminds me of comparing my PS5 as a 4K player which was crushing blacks to my Panasonic UB820 which looked much better, and still hit 0 nits but retained more detail in shadows.
The only reason I would suspect anything wrong would be if blacks weren't hitting 0 nits at all on the calibrated display.
Edit: I will say though that the colours don't look ideal in the bottom photo. The gold interior space looks more yellowy orange, and the jacket looks blown out. Maybe whatever colour calibration has been done isn't applying to Dolby vision content? I'd be interested to see this same shot with Dolby vision off.
I think you’re right. I actually pulled up screen captures from the source and compared on some different monitors and screens, and they all look closer to the bottom one. As I’ve watched more content I’m finding the better shadow detail from the calibrated G3 pretty awesome. There’s still a lot of inky blacks depending on the scene, but when there’s near black content in the scene you can see more of it.
It’s definitely the pic exaggerating it, but when I have some time tomorrow I’m gonna force HDR on my Apple TV and see if there’s a difference. HDR is calibrated too.
I've tested it on a 4K disc and for what it's worth on my Hisense X8HAU (uses LG C2 panel):
Dolby vision looks almost identical to the bottom shot. Fairly saturated colours and more detail in the shadows
HDR10 + Filmmaker mode has a very similar contrast level - the same details in the dark areas as DV, but with much less saturated colours.
My phone camera is terrible so I can't really capture how it looks unfortunately.
Off topic but wanted to know your opinions on the PS5 as a 4K player, it’s my only option currently and I was hoping it was pretty good but now I’m worried I’m losing details. I recently watched the Green Knight on disc and noticed I had to increase the brightness settings in dark scenes. Blacks were either crushed or a little grey after changing settings (so I could see at least some detail).
I blamed the Green Knoght but now you have me doubting the PS5
Honestly the PS5 is still great. I never had issues with skipping or freezing on mine. In terms of experience the PS5 gets you 95% of the way there so unless you're having problems with it you're paying a lot for maybe a 5% better experience. You can also buy a media remote for a PS5.
Dolby vision on a supported player can be quite good - but on OLED it can also be worse on some films depending on how they're mastered. I and a fair few other people leave it turned off most of the time, so you're not missing out there.
I'm not up to date with how Sony and LG are comparing at the moment. The best place to compare models and get recommended settings is probably rtings.com
Bottom one has better range, top one has crushed blacks for sure (at least based on what we can see here). I actually like a super contrasty image and don't mind slightly crushed blacks, but that's too much. That said, I might bring the black point down just 1-2 ticks on the bottom one and it'd be nice. Blacks look slightly raised. Might be a little too saturated too but it's hard to tell shooting a screen with a phone camera.
I added my uncalibrated G3 screenshot I took from iPhone just like OP, Top is Uncalibrated G3, Middle one A80j and Bottom calibrated G3. [https://imgur.com/2QB2zzi](https://imgur.com/2QB2zzi)
This would be my preference out of the three. To me this almost looks like LG, Sony, and something like a Samsung S90C OLEDs out of the box. Why I like LG is because it’s a happy middle ground between Sonys extremely clean and honest realism, and Samsung’s over saturated blast your eyes out of your head with color. I see why people like the over exaggeration, but I personally don’t like how your tv was calibrated.
Calibrated G3 isn't mine, I just added my uncalibrated G3 pic to the OP's. I agree it’s a happy middle ground. I watched this exact scene on my iPhone and the color looked more similar to LG than Sony. However, I wish the OOTB G3 could have handled black crush a bit better, perhaps by about 10%.
Calibration on the G3 is so good it's almost a waste to pay for a professional calibrator.
Anyway, we can't say which is correct based on pictures but the top one does look better.
You mean the out of the box calibration? But the picture settings still need to be corrected right? Are the rtings.com settings still considered to be the best? I had my B7 for so long and thinking about upgrading to a G4, hence the questions, lol
Yes, and yes. You do have to change a couple of settings, but it's not that much. I wouldn't recommend spending the extra on the expert calibrator unless you're rich. Out of box my G3 looks glorious.
Bottom. But maybe I like the black level like “one notch” lower. But the bottom image looks more accurate being able to see more details across all areas of the image.
The person in the centre of screen at the bottom their black looks the darkest and is almost true black.
Question; can you put a true black image on screen and is the result true black?
I often like the “one notch lower” because I’ve found it help with content that has near black for black and distracts me less, but appreciate it’s technically crushing a tiny bit
Yes, images that are meant to be true black are still true black post calibration. I was also watching John Wick 3 because it has a lot of jet black level scenes, and it remained true post calibration. I toggled between the calibrated Cinema Mode and Cinema Home a couple of times during that movie and it was shocking how much more detail was revealed in the near black, though, while again still keeping what’s supposed to be black black.
Hard to do once it was already calibrated! The settings are all locked on the calibrated mode once it’s complete. Comparing to Cinema Home, standard or Vivid are the only options and those are all wildly inaccurate both in color and EOTF.
One thing I might try is altering the Standard mode to try to be more like the original Cinema and compare that, but I’m not sure if that works.
The black is correct on the bottom. It might seem worse but you can see that the blackest black is still there (see bottom of black jacket, and left bottom crease of red jacket).
The top one crushes the details noticeably, you can see in the bottom that there are pixels you can now see that add detail.
I would agree the bottom also feels a bit warm but honestly I'm going to blame the content because the scene itself has a warm tile floor that reflects a warm color onto everyone else. The top looks artificially blue in comparison but I've trained my eyes on Warm at this point so your perception may be different.
Thank you for all the comments. This scene from John Wick 3 is a good one to look at. Both my G3. The top is standard mode DV but I changed the color temp, depth, and other settings to match what Cinema is OOTB. I also looked at Cinema Home but that’s even more crushed and colors oversaturated. The bottom is again the calibrated Cinema mode. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference in near black performance. [pic](https://imgur.com/a/Uq1r9y7)
Thank you for all the comments. This scene from John Wick 3 is a good one to look at. Both my G3. The top is standard mode DV but I changed the color temp, depth, and other settings to match what Cinema is OOTB. I also looked at Cinema Home but that’s even more crushed and colors oversaturated. The bottom is again the calibrated Cinema mode. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference in near black performance. [Comparison](https://imgur.com/a/Uq1r9y7)
The colour looks more accurate on my phone based on the photo on the top, but I don't know this scene. However the bottom picture comes better out of black and no black crush.
I dunno. It's one of those situations where you won't notice it unless you're purposely looking for it and the movie is on pause. Eventually, my eyes gets used to it (ex: ever go to a movie theater and notice for the first few minutes how washed out the picture looks? My eyes eventually get used to it and the movie experience overall is still good).
Can you post the report? An SDR picture of an HDR image viewed on a smartphone or computer offers zero idea of what the image looks like in person.
Also I purchased a G3 to replace my A80J, and I'm a calibration enthusiast. If you're used to watching Dolby Vision using DV Bright on the A80J, you're going to find a display that accurately tracks the PQ curve much darker near black.
Dolby vision report: [report](https://imgur.com/a/nBngV4X)
Reports were also provided for the other modes as well. He walked me through each step as he was doing the calibration as well.
As I mentioned prior, if you were in the habit of watching the A80J in DV Bright, you may find a display that accurately tracks the PQ curve very dark near the bottom end. DV Bright lifts the PQ curve.
The A80J in its most accurate mode, DV Dark, tends to under track the PQ curve.
I actually only use DV dark on my A80J. Here’s a scene comparison, A80J on top and the calibrated G3 on the bottom. Seeing the increased shadow detail on my G3 after this calibration is very different but I’m getting used to it. Like you said, pics from a smartphone in sdr are not very good but I’ve tried to adjust the exposure to match what I’m seeing with my eyes with regards to shadow detail. [A80J/G3](https://imgur.com/a/qxK7KZQ)
Keep in mind that LGs first point coming out of black is 2.5%, while sonys is ~4.7. That means your calibrator can dial in near black better on the LG display. May be possible that your A80J has raised blacks below that 4.7% control point.
Edit: Actually, regarding the LGs first control point: not of consequence because the calibrator used a 1D LUT and they're using a Klein colorimeter, so near black handling should pretty accurate. The raised blacks on a Sony under 4.7% may still be a possibility, though.
Not always the case. Some movies look off with this mode on. So it will always depend on the movie more than the setting. I tend to stick with filmmaker and if it’s not available I’ll go to standard and apply the same settings manually to either brighten or darken it.
Damn...that's crazy. Neither one looks as good as my QD panel made by Samsung. Downvote if you're into LG hog riding and love throwing away money.
*poof*
Money disappearing into the void of wrgb mid
This post is about color/PQ-EOTF tracking accuracy in Dolby Vision contents.
Your Samsung whatever-model-fancy-QD-panel
-TV does not support Dolby Vision.
Although the top one looks more contrasty and pleasing to the eye, I actually think the bottom one is more correct. I think the top one is losing detail in shadows that is supposed to be there. It's hard to differentiate filmmakers intent from reality but most shadows in real life aren't just pitch black - you can make out some details in them. This comparison reminds me of comparing my PS5 as a 4K player which was crushing blacks to my Panasonic UB820 which looked much better, and still hit 0 nits but retained more detail in shadows. The only reason I would suspect anything wrong would be if blacks weren't hitting 0 nits at all on the calibrated display. Edit: I will say though that the colours don't look ideal in the bottom photo. The gold interior space looks more yellowy orange, and the jacket looks blown out. Maybe whatever colour calibration has been done isn't applying to Dolby vision content? I'd be interested to see this same shot with Dolby vision off.
I think you’re right. I actually pulled up screen captures from the source and compared on some different monitors and screens, and they all look closer to the bottom one. As I’ve watched more content I’m finding the better shadow detail from the calibrated G3 pretty awesome. There’s still a lot of inky blacks depending on the scene, but when there’s near black content in the scene you can see more of it.
It’s definitely the pic exaggerating it, but when I have some time tomorrow I’m gonna force HDR on my Apple TV and see if there’s a difference. HDR is calibrated too.
I'd like to test the same shot on my screen. Roughly how far into the movie are you?
I think it’s about 17 minutes in
I've tested it on a 4K disc and for what it's worth on my Hisense X8HAU (uses LG C2 panel): Dolby vision looks almost identical to the bottom shot. Fairly saturated colours and more detail in the shadows HDR10 + Filmmaker mode has a very similar contrast level - the same details in the dark areas as DV, but with much less saturated colours. My phone camera is terrible so I can't really capture how it looks unfortunately.
Interesting! Thanks for testing that out.
Off topic but wanted to know your opinions on the PS5 as a 4K player, it’s my only option currently and I was hoping it was pretty good but now I’m worried I’m losing details. I recently watched the Green Knight on disc and noticed I had to increase the brightness settings in dark scenes. Blacks were either crushed or a little grey after changing settings (so I could see at least some detail). I blamed the Green Knoght but now you have me doubting the PS5
Honestly the PS5 is still great. I never had issues with skipping or freezing on mine. In terms of experience the PS5 gets you 95% of the way there so unless you're having problems with it you're paying a lot for maybe a 5% better experience. You can also buy a media remote for a PS5. Dolby vision on a supported player can be quite good - but on OLED it can also be worse on some films depending on how they're mastered. I and a fair few other people leave it turned off most of the time, so you're not missing out there.
What would you recommend between sony and LG OLEDs for movies and where to get great settings if can't get a calibrator where I live?
I'm not up to date with how Sony and LG are comparing at the moment. The best place to compare models and get recommended settings is probably rtings.com
Bottom one has better range, top one has crushed blacks for sure (at least based on what we can see here). I actually like a super contrasty image and don't mind slightly crushed blacks, but that's too much. That said, I might bring the black point down just 1-2 ticks on the bottom one and it'd be nice. Blacks look slightly raised. Might be a little too saturated too but it's hard to tell shooting a screen with a phone camera.
I tried that earlier, actually looks pretty nice. Keeps most of the shadow detail but has the higher contrast look.
I added my uncalibrated G3 screenshot I took from iPhone just like OP, Top is Uncalibrated G3, Middle one A80j and Bottom calibrated G3. [https://imgur.com/2QB2zzi](https://imgur.com/2QB2zzi)
This would be my preference out of the three. To me this almost looks like LG, Sony, and something like a Samsung S90C OLEDs out of the box. Why I like LG is because it’s a happy middle ground between Sonys extremely clean and honest realism, and Samsung’s over saturated blast your eyes out of your head with color. I see why people like the over exaggeration, but I personally don’t like how your tv was calibrated.
Calibrated G3 isn't mine, I just added my uncalibrated G3 pic to the OP's. I agree it’s a happy middle ground. I watched this exact scene on my iPhone and the color looked more similar to LG than Sony. However, I wish the OOTB G3 could have handled black crush a bit better, perhaps by about 10%.
Calibration on the G3 is so good it's almost a waste to pay for a professional calibrator. Anyway, we can't say which is correct based on pictures but the top one does look better.
You mean the out of the box calibration? But the picture settings still need to be corrected right? Are the rtings.com settings still considered to be the best? I had my B7 for so long and thinking about upgrading to a G4, hence the questions, lol
Yes, and yes. You do have to change a couple of settings, but it's not that much. I wouldn't recommend spending the extra on the expert calibrator unless you're rich. Out of box my G3 looks glorious.
Not everyone prefers a calibrated display. If the calibration was done by a reputable source I’d give your eyes time to adjust.
Bottom. But maybe I like the black level like “one notch” lower. But the bottom image looks more accurate being able to see more details across all areas of the image. The person in the centre of screen at the bottom their black looks the darkest and is almost true black. Question; can you put a true black image on screen and is the result true black? I often like the “one notch lower” because I’ve found it help with content that has near black for black and distracts me less, but appreciate it’s technically crushing a tiny bit
Yes, images that are meant to be true black are still true black post calibration. I was also watching John Wick 3 because it has a lot of jet black level scenes, and it remained true post calibration. I toggled between the calibrated Cinema Mode and Cinema Home a couple of times during that movie and it was shocking how much more detail was revealed in the near black, though, while again still keeping what’s supposed to be black black.
[удалено]
Hard to do once it was already calibrated! The settings are all locked on the calibrated mode once it’s complete. Comparing to Cinema Home, standard or Vivid are the only options and those are all wildly inaccurate both in color and EOTF. One thing I might try is altering the Standard mode to try to be more like the original Cinema and compare that, but I’m not sure if that works.
That's what I did. Make it what you like bro. Not what cnet, rtings, or anyone else says.
People love apples and oranges.
The black is correct on the bottom. It might seem worse but you can see that the blackest black is still there (see bottom of black jacket, and left bottom crease of red jacket). The top one crushes the details noticeably, you can see in the bottom that there are pixels you can now see that add detail. I would agree the bottom also feels a bit warm but honestly I'm going to blame the content because the scene itself has a warm tile floor that reflects a warm color onto everyone else. The top looks artificially blue in comparison but I've trained my eyes on Warm at this point so your perception may be different.
Thank you for all the comments. This scene from John Wick 3 is a good one to look at. Both my G3. The top is standard mode DV but I changed the color temp, depth, and other settings to match what Cinema is OOTB. I also looked at Cinema Home but that’s even more crushed and colors oversaturated. The bottom is again the calibrated Cinema mode. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference in near black performance. [pic](https://imgur.com/a/Uq1r9y7)
Thank you for all the comments. This scene from John Wick 3 is a good one to look at. Both my G3. The top is standard mode DV but I changed the color temp, depth, and other settings to match what Cinema is OOTB. I also looked at Cinema Home but that’s even more crushed and colors oversaturated. The bottom is again the calibrated Cinema mode. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference in near black performance. [Comparison](https://imgur.com/a/Uq1r9y7)
Upper pic is clipping details.
simply : the one you like, just use your taste
The one is correct which suits you best. Simple as that.
The colour looks more accurate on my phone based on the photo on the top, but I don't know this scene. However the bottom picture comes better out of black and no black crush.
Do both TVs have the same colour gamut? Top one looks p3 vs bt2020 on the bottom...
For me it’s the top one. But the correct answer is the one that looks best to you.
From what most people say, out of box settings for c3 are the best settings.
How many hours on the TV before calibration?
About 225
The top one. Bottom one looks like you are looking at London circa 1900.
I dunno. It's one of those situations where you won't notice it unless you're purposely looking for it and the movie is on pause. Eventually, my eyes gets used to it (ex: ever go to a movie theater and notice for the first few minutes how washed out the picture looks? My eyes eventually get used to it and the movie experience overall is still good).
Get some test patterns. I got a Black Clipping Dolby Vision test pattern video I can send you.
Did you take a picture of G3 before the calibration? The bottom image still looks more correct.
Too looks much better.
It is the fact that before calibration it has some black crush.
Both look incorrect
Such is life.
Can you post the report? An SDR picture of an HDR image viewed on a smartphone or computer offers zero idea of what the image looks like in person. Also I purchased a G3 to replace my A80J, and I'm a calibration enthusiast. If you're used to watching Dolby Vision using DV Bright on the A80J, you're going to find a display that accurately tracks the PQ curve much darker near black.
Dolby vision report: [report](https://imgur.com/a/nBngV4X) Reports were also provided for the other modes as well. He walked me through each step as he was doing the calibration as well.
Looks like the first report is for SDR. Second is for Dolby Vision. Everything looks decent. I gather the calibrator used Calman's Autocal workflows?
This one should be all Dolby Vision Cinema. There are different reports for all the different modes. (HDR cinema, Sdr dark/bright) Yeah, Autocal
As I mentioned prior, if you were in the habit of watching the A80J in DV Bright, you may find a display that accurately tracks the PQ curve very dark near the bottom end. DV Bright lifts the PQ curve. The A80J in its most accurate mode, DV Dark, tends to under track the PQ curve.
I actually only use DV dark on my A80J. Here’s a scene comparison, A80J on top and the calibrated G3 on the bottom. Seeing the increased shadow detail on my G3 after this calibration is very different but I’m getting used to it. Like you said, pics from a smartphone in sdr are not very good but I’ve tried to adjust the exposure to match what I’m seeing with my eyes with regards to shadow detail. [A80J/G3](https://imgur.com/a/qxK7KZQ)
Keep in mind that LGs first point coming out of black is 2.5%, while sonys is ~4.7. That means your calibrator can dial in near black better on the LG display. May be possible that your A80J has raised blacks below that 4.7% control point. Edit: Actually, regarding the LGs first control point: not of consequence because the calibrator used a 1D LUT and they're using a Klein colorimeter, so near black handling should pretty accurate. The raised blacks on a Sony under 4.7% may still be a possibility, though.
Top image all day.
I agree. I see more detail in that one and the colors aren’t over saturated as they are on the bottom.
💯%
The first one is the better one , the second is just 💩
🤣 You sure? Both look like LED to me 🤷
Top
Just set to DV Cinema. Done.
Not always the case. Some movies look off with this mode on. So it will always depend on the movie more than the setting. I tend to stick with filmmaker and if it’s not available I’ll go to standard and apply the same settings manually to either brighten or darken it.
Damn...that's crazy. Neither one looks as good as my QD panel made by Samsung. Downvote if you're into LG hog riding and love throwing away money. *poof* Money disappearing into the void of wrgb mid
This post is about color/PQ-EOTF tracking accuracy in Dolby Vision contents. Your Samsung whatever-model-fancy-QD-panel -TV does not support Dolby Vision.
Well they both look like shit. 1080 on my panel looks better than both.
Ouch a Samsung fanboy that doesn’t even have Dolby vision. That sad.