PC HDR – HGiG vs Filmmaker Mode (peak brightness nits) HELP
I’m trying to understand the correct way to handle HDR calibration on PC
There seem to be conflicting recommendations:
1. Calibrate Windows in HGiG, using the TV’s actual HGiG clipping point and than put your games on the value you see there.
2. Calibrate Windows directly in Filmmaker Mode + DTM Off, if that is the mode you actually use, and follow the clipping point shown by the Windows HDR Calibration app. (4000 nits)
Ignore the clipping points when using HGIG and use the measured peak brightness in a 10% window by for example R things. (How do they test their games? Do they use the hdr calibration tool in windows? Where do they clip it on ? Hgig ? Dtm off? (4000 nits) etc etc.
Here’s what confuses me.
Imagine:
HGiG clips at 1500 nits
Filmmaker Mode can physically reach around 1800–2000 nits
FMM + DTM Off doesn’t clip the Windows calibration pattern until around the 4000-nit range
If I calibrate Windows to 1500 in HGiG and then switch to FMM, wouldn’t games that actually use the Windows HDR calibration metadata potentially tone-map to 1500 and therefore never make use of the additional brightness available in FMM?
But if I calibrate Windows directly in FMM + DTM Off, should I follow the calibration pattern all the way to ~4000, use the measured physical peak of 1800–2000, or still use the 1500-nit HGiG clipping point?
And then there is the in-game HDR setting, which makes it even more confusing.
Let’s say I am actually playing in Filmmaker Mode + DTM Off and the game has its own Peak Brightness/Max Luminance slider.
What should I enter there?
4000 nits, because FMM + DTM Off appears to tone-map a signal up to around 4000 nits?
1800–2000 nits, because that’s approximately what the panel can physically produce in that mode?
Or 1500 nits, because that’s the HGiG/Windows calibration value I originally calibrated Windows to?
For example, if Windows is calibrated to 1500 in HGiG but I then play in FMM + DTM Off and set the game’s HDR slider to 4000, does the game actually output highlights up to 4000 for the TV to tone-map? Or can the 1500-nit Windows HDR profile still affect/limit what the game outputs?
And if a game completely ignores the Windows HDR profile and only uses its own HDR slider, wouldn’t setting that game to the HGiG value potentially waste the additional tone-mapping/headroom available in FMM?
It’s surprisingly difficult to find a clear answer to this. Different calibrators seem to recommend different approaches, and these methods can result in massively different values.