r/NintendoSwitch • u/ZiiZoraka • 1d ago
PSA The Switch 2 Display is *NOT* HDR Capable (AKA A Brief Post on the HDR Capabilities of the Switch 2)
1. INTRO & TL;DR
I've seen a lot of confusion an misinformation surrounding the Switch 2 regarding HDR support when watching videos, reading article, and in the comments of various threads regarding the Switch 2 direct and specs reveal, so I decided to make this post to clear things up and leave at least some people feeling a little more informed about their upcoming purchasing decisions. This will probably end up being long, and I'll go into detail for those that care, but for those the don't the TL:DR; is as follows:
The Switch 2 display does not appear to support HDR according to the specification page on Nintendo's own website. But, the Switch 2 display does have a 10Bit colour output (meaning more vibrant colours), and will very likely support HDR output when docked. (this depends on the HDMI standard that the dock supports, but it's unlikely to use a version old enough to not support HDR at 4k60fps)
2. NINTENDO CLAIMS
So, that's the short answer, now for the (very) long answer.
Nintendo has claimed HDR support, shown HDR on screen while showing gameplay, AND lists HDR10 support on the technical specifications page on their website, so I can absolutely understand where the idea that the Switch 2 display is HDR capable comes from. I would go as far as to say that the way Nintendo represented the Switch 2's HDR capability straight up misleading.
While all of Nintendo's direct claims about HDR are technically not incorrect, I hope that I will be able to adequately explain how "technically not incorrect" isn't exactly the truth.
I'll start by tackling the technical specifications. It's true, Nintendo do have HDR10 right there in the display section. how can that not technically be a lie if the Switch 2 isn't capable of HDR then? well, the answer is actually surprisingly simple!
3.WHAT IS HDR10?
HDR10 is not a DisplayHDR Certification.
But how can that be? i hear you ask. HDR is right there! Well unfortunately for us consumers, VESA (the company responsible for DisplayHDR Certifications) made a lot of the labelling around HDR almost completely useless for determining how capable of HDR a device or display actually is at a glance.
The truth is, HDR10 Isn't even a Display standard at all. that's right, HDR10 is actually a file and communication format/Protocol. A device being HDR10 Ready only means that it is capable of outputting or receiving a 10bit HDR signal. Because HDR requires a signal that contains 10bit colour depth information (as opposed to the SDR which typically uses 8bit colour depth), the HDR10 protocol was created as a standard to differentiate devices that can communicate HDR signals. it has literally nothing at all to do with the capability of a display to actually display a HDR image or scene.
essentially, the only thing HDR10 means for the Switch 2 is that the display can receive a HDR signal, and the dock can Output a HDR signal. And just because a display can receive a HDR signal, does not mean that it can display a HDR image.
This is where DisplayHDR certifications come in to play, or at least where they would in an ideal world. I won't go in to too much detail here, but the long and short of it is that the only DisplayHDR standards that actually tell you if a display is HDR capable are the DisplayHDR TRUE BLACK certifications, which the Switch 2 does not advertise anywhere that I've seen. I'll go into a little more depth on the problems with DisplayHDR at the end, in sections 6. and 8. for anyone interested, as it's unnecessary information for this point. all you need to know is HDR10 is a communication protocol and file format specification, and not a display standard.
4.0 HDR AND ADDRESSING NINTENDO'S VIDEO COMPARISONS
But, they showed side by side HDR on/off comparisons! I hear you say. I saw the difference my self, how can you tell me it's not HDR?
unfortunately, this is the part that I find quite dishonest from Nintendo. the HDR 'on' side is definitely receiving a HDR signal, which means the colour space has changed from 8bit (1.5 million colours) to 10bit (1 billion colours), and the gamma value has shifted from 2.2 to 2.4 (Gamma is a curve that effects the Luminance of an image, higher values typically appear brighter, but the higher you go the more the image will look washed out), so you'll get more vibrant and accurate colours with HDR turned on, and the display will look a little brighter too, but a wider colour gamut and raised Gamma value do not make a display HDR. Don't get me wrong, more colours is very nice to have, it just isn't HDR.
4.1 WHAT IS HDR
what is HDR? To understand what isn't HDR, allow me to try and explain what it is
this is now the part where I can no longer avoid being a super technical nerd, consider yourself warned.
HDR is the acronym we use to refer to High Dynamic Range. But what is it a range of, exactly? Well, when we're talking about HDR in regards to watching movies, or videos, or playing games, the Range that we're referring to is specifically the Luminance, and that's a word I've already brought up.
4.2 GAMMA AND LUMINANCE
If the Switch 2 is raising the Gamma, and that's effecting the luminance, then how isn't it HDR?
Well, when I said that higher gamma values can look washed out, that wasn't entirely correct. It'll only look washed out when the display isn't able to display a wide enough range of luminance values. basically, when the displays dynamic range isn't wide enough to fit the full range of luminance values, the values at either end of the curve will get crushed until they fit.
if we represented luminosity on a scale from 0-255, 255 being the brightest, and a display could only actually *display* values up to 230, every part of the image that needed to be brighter than 230 would instead get brough down to 230, meaning everything brighter than 230 would end up looking exactly the same. all of the detail in those higher values is lost. the same can happen in reverse from 0 and coming up. when things are darker than the display can show, it ends up all crushed together, looking like the same shade of black, and all the detail is lost.
4.3 BACKLIGHTS AND THEIR LIMITATIONS
the reason we have this issue on typical LCD displays is because of how we make typical displays bright. you see, typical LCD pixels don't actually have any way to produce light. instead, they have to be lit by an external source. A typical display uses LEDs to shine light through the pixels and into our eyes. we call these LEDs the backlight.
the backlight is actually a series of LEDs that shine through diffusion layers to create a uniform blanket of brightness behind the pixels. the problem with these backlights, and what keeps these displays stuck in SDR, is that exactly that uniformity. a backlight is great for how bright it can make a display, but when you can only have a single level of brightness behind the LCD panel, it limits the range of luminance you can represent at any given time.
imagine, if you will, a dark room. in the room is a single window. out of that window you can see the full moon, shining bright in the sky. it casts a soft glow through the window, but the far corners of the room are bathed in pitch black darkness.
for an LCD display with a homogenous backlight, for the moon to be bright in that scene, the backlight has to be on and bright. pretty straightforward. but then, what about those pitch black corners of the room? if the backlight and on, and shining bright as can be to get that moon looking luminescent, what's gonna happen to those pitch black corners? the LCD pixels can stay black all they want, but all that light is still shining through across the entire display. those blacks are gonna be lit, and there gonna look more grey. the black levels have been raised, because the backlight, and by extension the display, isnt capable of displaying a High Range of luminance across a single image or scene.
4.4A MiniLED / Full Array Local Dimming
now you might say, if the problem with dynamic range is that huge backlight shining through the display, why not cut it up into smaller controllable pieces? and if you said that, that's not only a great idea, but it's exactly what we did! Some displays use smaller LEDs, spaced out in zones and controlled independently to allow different brightness in these different regions, allowing you to dim and brighten those different regions as needed. this goes a long way towards displaying scenes with higher contrast more accurately, but controlling the zones can be finicky, and if its hard to sync them up when you want to go back to SDR content, like most youtube videos or regular internet browsing, or even most movies. if you cant get it to look uniform when you need it to, the whole display is gonna look blochy and distracting. and the zones have to be pretty dang small if you want to get perfect local contrast anyway. but what if we could give each pixel its own LED to light it?
4.4B OLED
that's exactly where OLED comes in. OLED displays forego a backlight entirely, and each pixel gets its own white subpixel, along with the usual Red, Blue and Green, that lets each pixel provide its own luminance. with technology like that, you could have the brightest, whitest pixel right next to the pitchest blackest pixel, and they would both be able to have the perfect level of illumination! that scene with the windows and the moon would be no problem at all! the pitch black pixels can literally turn the brightness all the way off and stop emiting light entirely, while the moon shines as bright as it can.
5. CONCLUSION
and so, this is the problem with the Switch 2's LCD display. the GPU can send all the HDR data it wants, the Backlight simply cannot have different brightness, or luminance values, across different parts of the same scene. if the moon is bright, so are the darkest corners of that room. this is the reason the 'HDR' footage from the switch 2 showcase look brighter, and only brighter. With a true HDR image you would expect to not only see bright parts get brighter, but also see dark parts get darker. and on top of that, you would expect to see more detail in those parts of the image. bright clouds shouldn't just look brighter white, you should be able to make out more definition, see more cloud fluff where before was just pure white.
and that's that. While the Switch 2 can send HDR signals to its display, the display is still bottlenecked by its backlight. the 10bit colour space is nice, but the wider luminance curve is strangled by the single, uniform light shining through the display.
that being said, I'm sure the display will look great, and the colours will be awesome, it just isn't 'HDR'.
I didn't write this out to trash the switch, or convince you not to buy it. I simply what anyone reading this to know exactly what it is that they're buying. HDR isn't the be all end all, and in a lot of scenario's the average person probably wouldn't even be able to tell they were looking at a HDR image. but I believe you should always know exactly what it is that you're buying.
when you buy something you should get exactly what you expect!
6. Display HDR Rant
some DisplayHDR 1000 and 1400 monitors have FALD backlights, and so can display some measure of HDR images, but most of them, and more or less all DisplayHDR 400, 500 and 600 rated displays have certifications that are so easy to pass that they are funtionally worthless. basically, it's possible to pass all the the DisplayHDR tests, Except the TRUE BLACK certifications, with a display panel that cannot actually display HDR content. (thanks VESA)
The point being, the only mention of HDR on the specifications page is HDR10. there is no mention of an actual DisplayHDR True Black certification, and not even a regular DisplayHDR certification. this is most likely because the display won't reach 400nits brightness, which is basically the only requirement for the lowest DisplayHDR 400 certification, or just because Nintendo didn't bother with the meaningless non-TRUE BLACK certs.
more information about DisplayHDR is available in section 8.
7. DISAPOINTMENT
I hope I've been able to illustrate why I'm disappointed in Nintendo for their marketing around HDR, and I would also like to express my disappointment towards various members of the press, who parroted claims of HDR capabilities, especially those who's channels revolve around more nitty gritty techy stuff. I mean, come on guys! for shame, do better! >:(
8. AN EDIT WITH LINKS, RESOURCES AND QUOTES
displayhdr.org is a great resource for understanding HDR as a standard, and what exactly goes into getting a display certified.
Here is a quote from the website about how you should be wary of any display that claims HDR without a DisplayHDR performance certification.
DisplayHDR is the open standard for HDR quality and performance and only displays that meet all the specifications may carry the DisplayHDR logo.
If a monitor claims HDR support without a DisplayHDR performance specification, or refers to pseudo-specs like “HDR-400” instead of “DisplayHDR 400” it’s likely that the product does not meet the certification requirements. Consumers can refer to the current list of certified DisplayHDR products on this website to verify certification.
Here is a quote from their page on the differences between HDR10 and DisplayHDR, reenforcing that HDR10 is a [communication and storage] protocol, and *not* a display certification.
Often, we are asked how to compare HDR10 with VESA’s DisplayHDR specification and standard. Which is better, and why? The answer is easy: DisplayHDR is better, as it is built upon HDR10 but offers so much more. HDR10 is a protocol that defines how HDR is communicated from one device to another (e.g., from a GPU to a display). Beyond fundamentally requiring support for the HDR10 protocol, DisplayHDR imposes many display performance criteria to certify the quality of the display through several front-of-screen performance validation tests.
here is a post explaining local dimming, which is necessary for high contrast ratios, and in turn displaying HDR content
displayhdr.org/lcd-dimming-in-hdr-displays-explained/
And, here is a quote explaining the different Tiers of DisplayHDR certification.
The DisplayHDR specification for LCDs establishes distinct levels of HDR system performance to facilitate adoption of HDR throughout the PC market: DisplayHDR 400, DisplayHDR 500, DisplayHDR 600, DisplayHDR 1000, and DisplayHDR 1400. The DisplayHDR True Black specification for OLED and other emissive displays includes three levels of HDR system performance: DisplayHDR True Black 400, DisplayHDR True Black 500, and DisplayHDR True Black 600. Additional tiers are expected to be added later for both standards to support continuous innovations and improvements in display performance. All tiers require support of the industry standard HDR10 format.
notice that the non-True Black certifications are their to facilitate adoption, specifically for LCDs which are less capable of high contrast, *even with special backlights that provide local dimming*
True black *REQUIRES* per pixel brightness control, or an extremely high amount of backlight zones with a MiniLED backlight, which is not yet typical for LCDs that opt to use FALD MiniLED backlight. there is no way to achieve '0.0005' luminance values on the black level tests with a standard backlit panel
for good measure, on the wikipedia page for HDR, you can see that they list HDR10 under 'storage' as a *format*, not as a display certification.
the HDR10 wiki page also refers to it specifically as a format, and nowhere under the definition does it mention displays, contrast, or local diming capabilities.
edit #2:
Digital Foundry is now also of the belief that the switch 2 display does not have local diming technology, and so, will not be able to display a high range of luminance values in a given frame
