Direct Play and Tone Mapping

[LaCocoRoco 2]

I've observed that tone mapping isn't activated when a video is played directly. However, when the quality is reduced to below the source quality, transcoding is triggered, and consequently, tone mapping is applied. Is it possible to force transcoding as a workaround? Or is there another solution to this issue?

[RanmaCanada 494]

The best way is to get hardware that doesn't need tone mapping. AFAIK Direct Play means that the device should be able to handle the content as is (either your box or your TV), so no tone mapping is required. What type of devices are you using to playback on? It is possible your box is not reporting the capabilities of your tv properly.

Logs will more than likely be required for proper troubleshooting as per the wiki.

[LaCocoRoco 2]

I am using an LG C1 TV. I disabled HDR, otherwise True Motion can't be used (Many Movies look like a Slide Show on this TV without True Motion). I use Brave on Windows with HDR disabled (Windows has some issues in daily use with HDR). Consequently Emby should use Tone Mapping.

embyserver.txt

Edited August 26, 2025 by LaCocoRoco

[brothom 177]

2 hours ago, LaCocoRoco said:

I am using an LG C1 TV. I disabled HDR, otherwise True Motion can't be used (Many Movies look like a Slide Show on this TV without True Motion). I use Brave on Windows with HDR disabled (Windows has some issues in daily use with HDR). Consequently Emby should use Tone Mapping.

This might sound weird, but the darker display is probably intended as it's the unaltered source material. If you think a movie is "too dark" without it being transcoded, you might want to re-encode it anyway.

Can you provide the timestamp of your screenshot so I can compare it?

[LaCocoRoco 2]

7 minutes ago, brothom said:

This might sound weird, but the darker display is probably intended as it's the unaltered source material. If you think a movie is "too dark" without it being transcoded, you might want to re-encode it anyway.

Can you provide the timestamp of your screenshot so I can compare it?

Did you mean the timestamp of the movie? Movie - Warfare | Timestamp - 4:30
Or did you mean the timestamp (Time of Day) when I watched the movie so you can compare it with the logs?
In addition, the movie is unwatchable when Tone Mapping is not active. You can't see much of the first few minutes.

 

Edited August 26, 2025 by LaCocoRoco

[brothom 177]

13 minutes ago, LaCocoRoco said:

Did you mean the timestamp of the movie? Movie - Warfare | Timestamp - 4:30

 

The in-video timestamp. Your version seems A LOT darker than mine: 

The above is a screenshot at 03:57 (maybe mine is a different version with intros and whatnot) but my version seems a lot more watchable than yours to be honest.

I think your version might have something wrong with it. Maybe encoding issues, who knows. 

-- extra screenshot within Emby's player: 

Edited August 26, 2025 by brothom

[LaCocoRoco 2]

I have the same problem with the movie Trap.

[brothom 177]

27 minutes ago, LaCocoRoco said:

I have the same problem with the movie Trap.

I can't check that one for you but it almost looks to me like the source of your media files isn't all that well. Did you rip these yourself from somewhere? You might want to try re-ripping them in that case.

[LaCocoRoco 2]

I think the format should be fine.

I read through some topics regards dark videos, hdr and sdr. It could be a general problem with browsers and recognizing sdr content.
I increased the remote bitrate and tried to watch the hdr content on the mobile phone where it automatically got transcoded with tone mapping.

[Luke 42077]

On 8/25/2025 at 9:02 AM, LaCocoRoco said:

Is it possible to force transcoding as a workaround?

Hi, yes this is something that we need to look at. Thanks.