OBS Not Capturing HDR Game Capture With Lossless Scaling Enabled

[GreatScots]

https://obsproject.com/logs/FwPJlg8AjqnogehY

I use the Lossless Scaling app the increase framegen in video games that I record and upload. I can see the game pre-LS in a Display Capture Scene in OBS. HDR is on the game and I can even record OBS capturing it in HDR at the lower framerate (pre-LS treatment). However, when I switch to the game capture scene, which applies LS's framegen, the HDR is not captured, but the higher frames and other aspects of LS are. "HDR Support" is on in LS.

Something that seems odd to me is that OBS only records the HDR Display Capture scene when I check the "Force SDR" box, which as I read it, makes it sound like it's not HDR.

Otherwise, the codec in OBS can do HDR and I think I've changed all the color properties in OBS to capture HDR.

You'd see it in the log anyways, but I don't know if it matters that a second monitor I have does not support HDR, but the monitor (I think) OBS is trying to capture does support HDR.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[rockbottom]

The Gigabyte monitor isn't true HDR.

21:21:13.667: name=G27Q
21:21:13.667: pos={0, 0}
21:21:13.667: size={2560, 1440}
21:21:13.667: attached=true
21:21:13.667: refresh=144
21:21:13.667: bits_per_color=8
21:21:13.667: space=RGB_FULL_G2084_NONE_P2020

G27Q Gaming Monitor Specification | Monitor - GIGABYTE Global

Features 8-bit IPS-Grade Display, 92% DCI-P3 / 120% sRGB QHD, 144Hz with 1ms Response Time & HDR400 GIGABYTE Classic Tactical Features GIGABYTE Auto-Update ...

www.gigabyte.com

https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/why-your-hdr-monitor-is-probably-not-hdr-at-all-and-why-displayhdr-400-needs-to-go

 

[Suslik V]

I think mentioned application is not compatible with Game Capture source of OBS.

Anyway, from the log:

21:40:58.919: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC:
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Width: 2560
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Height: 1440
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Numerator: 0
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Denominator: 1
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Format: 10

Here the BufferDesc.Format: 10 -> DXGI_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_FLOAT ( see for details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dxgiformat/ne-dxgiformat-dxgi_format ) that can store precise data (it seems this is default format for Windows compositing of HDR desktops).

So, what do you mean by "the HDR is not captured"? Empty/black/static Game Capture source of OBS or what?

 

[GreatScots]

The Gigabyte monitor isn't true HDR.

21:21:13.667: name=G27Q
21:21:13.667: pos={0, 0}
21:21:13.667: size={2560, 1440}
21:21:13.667: attached=true
21:21:13.667: refresh=144
21:21:13.667: bits_per_color=8
21:21:13.667: space=RGB_FULL_G2084_NONE_P2020

G27Q Gaming Monitor Specification | Monitor - GIGABYTE Global

Features 8-bit IPS-Grade Display, 92% DCI-P3 / 120% sRGB QHD, 144Hz with 1ms Response Time & HDR400 GIGABYTE Classic Tactical Features GIGABYTE Auto-Update ...

www.gigabyte.com

https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/why-your-hdr-monitor-is-probably-not-hdr-at-all-and-why-displayhdr-400-needs-to-go

That's interesting, but I cannot figure out why Windows believes this monitor (but not the 1080) is HDR, and I don't understand why OBS captures/ records games in HDR when it's set to Capture Display and the games are playing. This is all new to me. Thanks, though.

 

[GreatScots]

I think mentioned application is not compatible with Game Capture source of OBS.

Anyway, from the log:

21:40:58.919: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC:
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Width: 2560
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Height: 1440
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Numerator: 0
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Denominator: 1
21:40:58.919:     BufferDesc.Format: 10

Here the BufferDesc.Format: 10 -> DXGI_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_FLOAT ( see for details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dxgiformat/ne-dxgiformat-dxgi_format ) that can store precise data (it seems this is default format for Windows compositing of HDR desktops).

So, what do you mean by "the HDR is not captured"? Empty/black/static Game Capture source of OBS or what?

The Game Capture appears to be captured as SDR, darker than the game is displaying to me on screen in HDR.

 

[rockbottom]

The article explains why your monitor is detected as HDR capable & it also explains why it doesn't perform as true HDR.

When you replace it don't waste $$$ on a 144 or 165HZ monitor either. Upgrade to a true HDR10 monitor that supports 240/360HZ.

 

[Suslik V]

@rockbottom there is downside of the high Hz. Fast fading LEDs is not always perfect for pictures in comparison to TFT. Backlight at minimum not always perfect for eyes too (may has almost unnoticeable flicker).

 

[rockbottom]

Agreed but that really depends on the monitor. Research before buying. 144 & 165 were created when monitors couldn't do any better. That's not the case anymore. 30, 60, 120, 240, 360...

 

[GreatScots]

The article explains why your monitor is detected as HDR capable & it also explains why it doesn't perform as true HDR.

When you replace it don't waste $$$ on a 144 or 165HZ monitor either. Upgrade to a true HDR10 monitor that supports 240/360HZ.

The article was interesting. Too bad their link to their more in depth article is broken. I would have liked to read it.

In any case, I don't see any answer in it to what I've experienced and what I'm trying to do. OBS does record HDR (or at least a brighter screen, if not "true" HDR) when it is in Display Capture. OBS also records "HDR" Game Capture when I do not pass the game play through LS. When I move to a different Game Capture screen to capture the LS-enhanced version of the game (which is rendered as HDR to my eyes), OBS records it as noticeably darker, and it appears as it does when I disable "HDR" in Windows.

 

[rockbottom]

The entire workflow needs to be HDR, HDR requires 10-bit color, your monitor is only 8-bit. A quick look at some info for LS, HDR should work, although it may not be what you expect. Probably the bad source or the app itself.

Lossless Scaling General Discussions :: Steam Community

Lossless Scaling - Lossless Scaling allows you to scale windowed games to full screen using the state-of-the-art scaling algorithms, as well as use ML based proprietary scaling and frame generation.Frame generation options: LSFGScaling options: LS1 AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution NVIDIA Image...

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[Suslik V]

The Game Capture appears to be captured as SDR, darker than the game is displaying to me on screen in HDR.

You want to say that you are running originally SDR rendered game in Windows (where HDR desktop enabled) scaling up its dimensions by external program and you are expecting that it should turn into HDR when captured?

I may be wrong here, but as far as I understand, OS doing the job of scaling 8-bit pictures from old programs to view them on HDR screens. So, you wanna grab this "final" scaled up to 10-bits picture?

I hope somebody will write right explanation if rendering and capturing works completely different. HDR is hard...