AW3423DWF and switching between SDR and HDR modes

Question

Windows 11 user here. Just got this Dell Alienware monitor and it is incredible.

I calibrated it with an i1 Display Pro in the custom SDR picture setting and let DisplayCal manage the profile association (have an Nvidia 3070 GPU). To support the high refresh rate of the monitor, I must create a custom resolution in the Nvidia Control Panel and bump the refresh to 144Hz and color bit depth to 10bit. The question I have is that I would like to switch between SDR and HDR modes but every time I swap to HDR then back to SDR, all my settings get cleared. I must recreate the custom resolution, set desktop scaling to 125%, reenable the DisplayCAL ICC profile, etc. as if it was the first time I setup the monitor in Windows.

This could quite possibly be a Microsoft or Nvidia question, but does anyone have a suggestion to allow swapping between picture modes (SDR to HDR and back) without wiping the SDR color and resolution settings in Windows? Windows does have a shortcut to do this.

Thanks!

PSUHammer · Accepted Answer

Thanks!  I think I found the way to retain settings.  Using the 'Win+ALT+B' shortcut in Windows 11 to flip from HDR to SDR, the monitor honors my default settings and properly swaps between my vibrated Custom SDR preset and True Black 400 HDR.  Looks like I am all set!

crimsom · Answer

Hi @PSUHammer welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.

QD-OLED Gets Cheaper - Alienware AW3423DWF vs AW3423DW - YouTube

Hi @DELL-Chris M seemingly this AW3423DWF, RTX 3070 toggle SDR between HDR thread should be posted in Monitors - Dell Community. Please move. Thank you.

Similar thread Solved: S3221QS, RTX 3070, cannot enable HDR? - Dell Community.

PSUHammer · Answer

For some reason, I didn't see the option to pick a specific forum.  It asked what product it was and when I entered 'Alienware' it must of defaulted to laptops.  If I could move it, I would.

crimsom · Answer

Hi @PSUHammer thank you for sharing clarification, no problem, a forum moderator has been asked to move this thread for you.

Vanadiel · Answer

I have this exact same monitor and calibrator. The monitor should have come with a factory calibration report.

Since this monitor is factory calibrated with a photo spectrometer rather than a colorimeter, there's little to no point calibrating it for better performance. You would need equipment that would cost well over $30,000 to be able to try and get a "better" calibration.

This is the probe they use at the factory to calibrate each of these monitors: Konica CA-410

The De of the monitor comes from the factory with an average De below 3, meaning any adjustments to get a lower average De are not visible to the human eye.

This monitor can display a very wide color gamut and has very high color accuracy in both SDR and HDR modes. I find the best HDR mode to be True Black 400, with Dark Stabilizer set to 1. In SDR the full gamut (default setting), or DCI-P3 both cover their full spectrum without any noticeable errors.

Chances are high any calibration with the Display Pro will make it actually less accurate and likely will mess up the almost perfect gamma curve.

The True Black 400 mode is VESA certified.

Forgot to add this monitor supports up to 165 Hz, so I am not sure why you need to set a custom display resolution. The default refresh rates supported should be 100, 144 and 165 Hz. Anything over 100 Hz is 8 bit with color dithering. You will not see a difference between 10 bit and 8 bit color modes.

PSUHammer · Answer

Thanks for the response. Couple items:

Yes, I could probably stick with the default picture modes but I am not sure which ones they calibrated in the factory. I am assuming the Creator (PCI-D3 and sRGB) modes? If SDR "Standard" is calibrated, I will run through a validation with that mode.
I understand what calibration is and what my meter is capable of. My colorimeter was profiled on this monitor against a spectrophotometer (i1 Pro 2). I have also had many stories from manufacturuers about factory calibration...only to find them wrong. I am looking at you, LG.
So, I always like to validate...if for nothing else, the hobbiest in me.
The limiation of DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b ports does not support full 10bit color at full resolution at 165Hz. You have to bump down to 8bit. The workaround is to create a custom resolution in the Nvidia panel, matching the native resolution but choosing the maximum allowed refresh rate for these port versions and choosing 10bit. Plus...I don't do anything that would show a difference between 144Hz and 165Hz so the difference is a good comprimise for me. Do you need 10 bit? Not really in most scenarios. But why not utilize that wide color gamut if it's there?!

Happy New Year!

Do you know what SDR presets were calibrated? When you say the "default Full Gamut" mode, do you mean "Standard"?

Vanadiel · Answer

The calibrated modes are sRGB and DCI-P3 as per the calibration sheet. You can validate any color mode you like, but be aware this OLED does not use WRGB but instead uses a triangular RGB sub pixel layout.

You would likely benefit from a correction profile. I don't know if they have one available for that meter and this panel yet. They are usually available from other users on the DisplayCal forum.

You can validate and see how yours compares to other tests with different equipment:

Tomshardware

RTINGS same panel DW

As for 8 versus 10 bits, it affects color depth and provides more shades of color to decrease the banding effect. However, this monitor has no banding effect to speak of.

You can check for banding online: Gradient check

crimsom · Answer

Hi @PSUHammer thank you for sharing the 'Windows + ALT + B' key combination shortcut in Windows 11 to toggle from HDR to SDR.

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AW3423DWF and switching between SDR and HDR modes

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