X265 / HEVC darker than X264 with new S905X3 CE ng

Hello all and thanks so much to CE team for their fabulous work !

Just my 5 cents this post is not specifically about CE kodi 17, 18 or 19 but about X265/HEVC content played with it (actually 9.2.7 ng nightly S905X3 4/32)

There is no any issue …its just because I found X265 / HEVC very darker than X264. Where X264 have very good luminosity / contrast ratio I have to tweak CE to get the same.

This is even more obvious since I use the new box (S905X3 CE ng) compared to my old S912 …

Any clue about this will be appreciated

Check your TV settings for used HDMI input, because I don’t see any difference between H264/H265 videos on all existing CE versions on my X922, X905X3 or X905X boxes.
Never need to use/tweak any CE/Kodi video settings; I set all HDMI inputs on my TV to same values and never have to change them. All Chroma, Tint, Black and Contrast levels stay the same for all kinds of video codecs/resolutions…

In this case I speak about the same Box with same input and same TV but different movies X265 and X264. X265 are darker. Not all x265 but many.

If I use my Sony Android Matrix Kodi is a same X265 are darker, less than my Box but darker

In that case your x265 videos are HDR and your TV doesn’t support HDR.

Well I don’t think so its last HDTV Sony line, HDR from far away …

Rtings quote my TV as “Mediocre” for HDR content in same time this do not explain why x265 are darker : Okay HDR peak brightness. Small highlights flashing across the screen are somewhat less bright than other content, but overall, it keeps its brightness fairly consistent. (Rtings)

Its not perfect but supposed good one.

Fox both X265/264 my TV stay on “cinema” mode but If I want better x265 I have to put in “vivid HDR mode” …

Can you try your videos with the same box on another TV?
When properly decoded and displayed in proper format there should be no difference in color, black or contrast levels.
But if you are comparing H264 SDR material to H265 HDR, then you can expect all sorts of wrong levels that can be either box, transfer chain or TV related.

@sholander I do not have this issue with my other “old” sony TV / S912 box

@boot2k3 By talking about HDR you put me “la puce à l’oreille” (mean you give something to think about) and I am caving that there is a specific setting for the HDR content on this HDTV. We do not see this setting if the content is not HDR it is available only when viewing HDR content, once a set is good for all HDR content… Gamma HDR settings contents for what concerns me … I mark your post as solution because you help me to fix this annoying thing ! X265 / HDTV HDR content look good now.

Thanks to you all

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