Spears & Munsil: HDR setup guide (2019 disc)

Test patterns help you check black level, sharpness and cropping, and identify problems in HDR playback. This guide takes you through the key steps for TVs and projectors without prescribing settings that may not suit your display.

1. Prepare the playback chain and room

Use an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and an HDR-capable TV or projector. Any AV receiver between them and the HDMI connection must also support the intended format. Record the picture mode and starting settings so that you can compare and reverse changes.

Check the picture under the lighting conditions in which you watch films. Avoid direct reflections and keep room lighting consistent during a comparison. Separate daytime and evening settings may be useful.

Start with a neutral picture mode

Movie, Cinema or a similar mode is often a useful starting point, but the behaviour of the particular display matters. Select the mode for the signal type: SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision can store separate settings.

Examine noise filtering, extra sharpening and dynamic contrast individually. Local dimming and HDR tone mapping are part of normal HDR playback on many displays; do not disable them indiscriminately. Compare patterns and film footage using the intended settings. Assess motion interpolation separately.

Navigate the disc

On many patterns, the left and right arrow keys move to the previous or next pattern. OK/Enter or Top Menu returns to the menu. Depending on the pattern, the up arrow opens configuration. Follow the instructions for the edition you are using.

Configuration menu from the 2019 UHD HDR Benchmark.

Understand the test levels

Configuration offers signal variants with peak levels of 600, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000 and 10,000 cd/m². These describe the test signal; they are not a measurement of your display or instructions to set it to that brightness. Keep the chosen level fixed during a comparison, then change it deliberately to investigate tone mapping.

Selecting peak luminance and colour gamut for the test signal.

2. Check black level and bright detail

Brightness: black level

A control called Brightness may adjust black level or overall light output, depending on the display. For this step, use the control that adjusts black level. The Brightness pattern contains bars below and above reference black. In a 10-bit video-range signal, reference black is code value 64.

Bars above black should remain distinguishable; bars below black should merge into the background. Change the control only as much as necessary. If the results conflict, first check that the player and display use matching signal ranges. Missing below-black bars alone do not prove an HDMI fault: a device may already clip those values.

Brightness pattern: compare dark bars with reference black.

Contrast: white and tone mapping

The Contrast pattern reveals bright gradations and clipping. In HDR, their appearance also depends on the selected test level, metadata and the display’s tone mapping. A display cannot physically reproduce every luminance level in a PQ signal. This differs from an incorrectly set white level.

Start with the manufacturer’s intended HDR contrast setting. Do not reduce it simply to make every test field visible: that can unnecessarily lower HDR brightness or alter the response. Compare several signal levels and real highlight scenes instead. Accurate assessment requires measurements of the response, peak luminance and clipping under defined conditions.

Contrast pattern from the 2019 edition: assess bright gradations.

3. Check sharpness, colour and framing

Sharpness: detail without added outlines

Examine fine lines, circles and pixel grids from your normal seating position and, if useful, close up. Extra bright or dark halos, double outlines and flickering lines can indicate excessive sharpening. The neutral setting may be zero or another value, depending on the manufacturer. Then check the effect on natural subjects.

Sharpness pattern: check lines and circle edges for halos and double outlines.

Colour and white point

Start with a neutral picture mode and an appropriate colour-temperature preset. D65 is a defined white point with a correlated colour temperature of approximately 6,500 K; the Kelvin value alone does not fully describe it. Greyscale should appear without obvious colour casts.

Do not adjust RGB white balance or gamut controls by guesswork. These require suitable instruments and test conditions. Coloured filter sheets are not a generally reliable method for HDR displays: their spectral characteristics may be poorly matched to the display primaries.

Greyscale pattern for visually checking neutrality and smooth transitions.

Framing and overscan

The thin border helps reveal cropping. Select a mode without overscan if the display supports it. For projectors, the Framing pattern can also help set up screen masking. A missing border can originate in the player, display or a zoom setting.

Framing pattern: check the outer border, cropping and screen masking.

4. Check playback, motion and sound synchronisation

Room lighting and picture appearance

Reflections and strong room lighting make dark details harder to see. Restrained, neutral-white bias lighting can make viewing comfortable. Examine the room and picture mode before lifting black level to compensate. A brighter daytime mode may help, but it is not a reference for viewing films in a dark room.

Keep PQ and metadata distinct

HDR10 uses the PQ transfer function specified by SMPTE ST 2084. SMPTE ST 2086 describes static mastering-display metadata; it is not another PQ curve. MaxCLL and MaxFALL describe content light levels. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision add dynamic metadata. HLG is a separate HDR approach specified in ITU-R BT.2100, particularly relevant to broadcast workflows.

A/V Sync

Use the A/V Sync sequence to compare the visual event with its accompanying sound. Check the actual playback chain, including an AV receiver or soundbar. Picture and sound processing can introduce different delays. Change one setting at a time and repeat the test.

Motion and local dimming

Moving patterns and the starfield sequence help compare trailing, detail loss and brightness control. Switch motion interpolation deliberately between off and available settings. Assess smoothness, artefacts and the film character you want. For local dimming, look for halos and small bright details disappearing against a dark background.

Starfield: observe small bright details and brightness control in motion.

Motion sequence for assessing interpolation and motion artefacts.

5. Assess SDR and demonstration footage separately

SDR BT.709, HDR10 and any other HDR formats use different signal and playback settings. Repeat basic checks for every signal type you use. A good HDR setup does not automatically establish the correct SDR black level or preferred SDR white luminance.

Demonstration footage helps check the result with real subjects. Compare the same scene at a defined signal level and gamut. Look at skin tones, dark detail, bright structures and motion. A higher signal-level variant need not look better on your display; different tone-mapping decisions can change the picture.

The separate SDR BT.709 chapter on the 2019 disc.

Demonstration footage: choose defined versions and compare the same scene.

6. Record the result and choose the next step

Record the disc edition, player, display, signal type, picture mode, controls changed and observations. Judge a change with more than one scene. If a problem occurs only through one signal path, compare it with a second, simpler connection where possible.

Precise white balance, greyscale and gamut adjustment, or hard-to-explain HDR mismatches, benefit from measurement under defined conditions. FF Pictures offers display calibration and testing, calibration training and HDR workflow consulting.

Discuss picture quality or calibration

Further reading: Understanding HDR metadata · HDR and picture-quality articles