High Dynamic Range (HDR Mode) in macOS  

I was testing out Usb-C to displayport 1.4 adapters a week ago, partly for a dongle to take in my work bag, but also to see how HDR behaved on an external display connected directly to the Radeon 5500M in my MBPro16.  In MacOS 10.15.3, behavior was the same as using the Radeon VII, always starts in SDR mode, occasionally randomly switches to HDR mode if I change the resolution or refresh rate. 

I was having problems with artifacting on my CRG9, so I borrowed a 2018 iPad Pro, and used the same adapter to see if the artifacting was caused by my mac or the adapter.  Had the same artifacting problems, but the display consistently initialized in HDR mode.  I went into the settings app and under display, there was an external display setting that let you specify turning HDR or not, so looks like this functionality is being ported to MacOS.  I probably won't be installing the beta just for this but looking forward to this feature in the release version.  Curious to see if the TV app in 10.15.4 can output iTunes movies/TV Shows in HDR now.

If anyone cares the adapter that had issues with the CRG9 was:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F17ZHJY/

I replaced it, had the same issues with the replacement, spoke to Cable Matters support who were friendly and had me send it back to them for testing.

I ended up buying this one which works perfectly:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZT12Q41/

@ningauble77,  That says a lot about Apple's priorities these days. I checked with the 2019 13-in MacBook Pro Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 iGPU and it has HDR support too with compatible monitors.

Am looking forward to this

What version of HDR is supported?

I updated to 10.15.4. Beta 3 [] today and the HDR option has a small revision in System Preferences.

@itsage, this looks really exciting!

Does the monitor recognises it and how does it look?

If we are lucky next week we have the final as typically there is no beta 4

@massimo_franzese, Yes it seems more polished. Output quality would depend on the panels themselves. My Samsung CHG90 looks washed out in HDR mode while the Acer Predator XB3 looks amazing. Not to ignore your earlier question about HDR version but I'm not sure how to check for that besides the manufacturer specs. 

If it shows as HDR it recognises HLG otherwise only HDR-10

@itsage, The HDR option is only available if the display is HDR? My HP Z31x is not HDR but has a magnificent IPS Pro panel, the same of the Eizo CG319x. It would surely profit from some increased dynamic range, but it has no HDR certification per se.

Posted by: @itsage

@massimo_franzese, Yes it seems more polished. Output quality would depend on the panels themselves. My Samsung CHG90 looks washed out in HDR mode while the Acer Predator XB3 looks amazing. Not to ignore your earlier question about HDR version but I'm not sure how to check for that besides the manufacturer specs. 

 

No experience yet with HDR support in MacOS, but my CRG9 has similar issues in Windows with HDR content.  Some games look great/normal (No Man's Sky, Forza Horizon 4), others look washed out (Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice).  Can't make Netflix work in HDR mode, but youtube HDR content looks great in windows.  People have been complaining about this to Samsung since the CRG9 first came out but no real answers have been forthcoming.  When I plugged an iPad Pro into it, everything was washed out.