NVIDIA users - How to improve in-game colours

[orangiey]

I have just discovered something which improves the colours in Elite and all games.

I'm probably late to the party as usual and all you nvidia users already know this but...

..apparently, by default nvidia drivers output a limited RGB range from 16 to 235 which gives a washed-out effect.

To resolve this issue go to the nvida control panel and select Change Resolution.

In the bottom right is the option Output dynamic range - in the drop down menu select FULL and voila! - deeper blacks and more vivid, rich colours bringing new life to my TN monitor

I hope you find this helpful

As Fluffa points out below, this only applies to HDMI

 

[fluffa]

This is for HDMI, there is no option for DVI

 

[Tony.W]

Many thanks for this tip
I was beginning to think my £300 graphics card had worse colour than my old one.

 

[MINDWIPE]

i didnt know about this and yup it certainly does make a huge difference . have some rep

 

[orangiey]

Thanks Fluffa! - I forgot to mention that - I've added this info to the original post

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

Old news but good to tell people about it. This can also be done with AMD cards too via the Crimson interface, under display select Adavanced, this will open the old CCC panel, in the flat panel display stuff you will find the colour range settings.

 

[Lasse B.]

It seems that both AMD and Nvidia handle all screens connected via HDMI as if they were TVs and default to a reduced set of colors for those. It looks to be only an HDMI "thing" though, so if you're using displayport or DVI you should be good.

AMD users should have similar settings via "My digital flat panels" -> "Pixel Format". Just change "YCbCr 4:4:4 Pixel Format" to "RGB 4:4:4 Pixel Format PC Standard (Full RGB)".

 

[Macca]

Wil I get better results if I use a HDMI to HDMI cable between my PC and monitor instead of DVI to DVI? I run 2560x1440 Dell 27 inches. Or will there be no change at all?

 

[Arubeto]

Wow, I didn't know about this and it makes a hell of a difference! Thanks a lot for sharing, orangiey, and have some rep!

 

[Greyhawk]

Using HD TV here. Wont work with that sadly. Stuck with 4:2:0 Limited range over HDMI 2.0 on a 4k TV if you want to refresh in 60Hz.

 

[Rob Falcon]

Using HD TV here. Wont work with that sadly. Stuck with 4:2:0 Limited range over HDMI 2.0 on a 4k TV if you want to refresh in 60Hz.

You are not stuck with a "limited range". Your TV input might work with another color space (e.g. REC 709) than a PC Monitor. So your colours would be perfectly fine.

In most cases the problem is a missunderstanding between the grafic card and the PC Monitor if you use a HDMI, because the signal sent over an HMDI is quite often a REC 709 Signal (16-235=legal range), at least if it has anything to do with HD television.

Edit: Forgot to mention that this is the same for 4k signals even if these signals are in 8, 10 or 12bit. There is always a smaller legal range than the full possible range as long as we are talking about TV or signals we use for tv broadcast.

 

[Commander Debic]

Just a quick note to add, do not forget if you have recently purchased a 4K monitor to set the bit colour depth on the Nvidia card for the monitor to 10bpc as it defaults to 8 bpc, gives you lots more colour pixels millions in fact. = so much more colourful and sharper image.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

Great tip, I did not know this.. Have some rep

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Achilles7]

Wow man! Can't believe I missed that..I've experimented with everything in the control panel and this change allied to my recent o/c and 4k DSR tweaks has really made a massive difference! Consider yourself repped!

 

[bladerunner900]

This might be old news to some but I certainly didn't know about it. Then again, I am old myself so perhaps that has something to do with it.

Now I have to balance my HDMI screen with my other two DVI screens, again.

 

[JughedJones]

Thanks so much, op. I knew about this, but I just got a new card, and I completely forgot to check if it was set.

It's like a whole new game now.

 

[Enderby]

Any disadvantages to doing this?

 

[violator666]

Just a quick note to add, do not forget if you have recently purchased a 4K monitor to set the bit colour depth on the Nvidia card for the monitor to 10bpc as it defaults to 8 bpc, gives you lots more colour pixels millions in fact. = so much more colourful and sharper image.

does 10 bit makes a difference for 1080p then>?
why only for 4k:?

and does this note comes to monitors only
or HDMI TV panels too>?

 

[Shintai]

Any disadvantages to doing this?

Some TVs may have some small issues with it. But its no more trouble than just disabling it again.

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does 10 bit makes a difference for 1080p then>?
why only for 4k:?

Monitor needs to support 10bit, very few does. So sounds like a hogwash post

 

[Enderby]

Some TVs may have some small issues with it. But its no more trouble than just disabling it again.

Great - I'll change it. Didn't know this was even a 'thing'. Thanks!