[Updated] Exploring MSI’s Firmware Replace for the Peak 1000 HDR Mode for A lot of Their QD-OLED Displays

Initially printed 16 January 2025, final up to date 21 January 2025

Introduction

Just lately MSI gave us early entry to check their new firmware replace for a number of of their QD-OLED displays, an replace that’s designed to handle points with the brightness of the ‘Peak 1000’ HDR mode that has plagued many OLED displays available in the market up to now. We’ll clarify the historical past to this difficulty in a second, however these accustomed to trendy QD-OLED displays will in all probability perceive that these HDR modes had been darker than supposed in actual utilization, to the purpose the place they weren’t as shiny general as different modes on the monitor which weren’t even capable of attain anyplace close to the panels “peak brightness” potential.

Up to date: A number of producers have tried to beat this by way of completely different approaches and “fixes”, however none have managed to attain what we’d think about an correct repair. After we initially printed this text, our preliminary findings pointed in the direction of a correct repair from MSI for this downside, though it appears there are nonetheless challenges and points that should be addressed sadly. We’ve up to date this text now since our preliminary testing, as with the firmware now out there for a few of their QD-OLED displays, we’ve acquired some very helpful consumer suggestions, and we’ve been talking with Tim at Displays Unboxed this week about his personal testing as effectively. We’ll clarify what has occurred beneath and the place issues are as much as.

Should you already perceive the background to this difficulty, issues like EOTF monitoring, Peak 1000 vs True Black 400 and so forth then you possibly can skip previous the following couple of sections and go straight to our outcomes. Should you’re not accustomed to the background and what causes these issues within the first place then we’ve offered some element beneath for you. It’s in all probability effectively value a fast recap anyway.

Unique efficiency of MSI QD-OLED displays

MSI OLED displays have two HDR modes out there to pick out between within the OSD menu. We’ve beforehand printed an in depth research about why this difficulty arises and the variations between frequent ‘Peak 1000’ (P1000) and ‘True Black 400’ (TB400) modes. You may learn that right here if you would like masses extra info.

For the beneath testing we are going to use the MSI MPG 321URX, their 32″ 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitor.

Peak White Luminance Measurements

The easy peak white luminance measurements for the 2 HDR modes are proven above. You may see they’re each mainly the identical for bigger APL, however for <10% APL the P1000 mode can attain a lot brighter and will get as much as the panel’s full luminance potential of over 1000 nits. Primarily based on these measurements alone you may conclude the P1000 mode is brighter than the TB400 mode.

Nevertheless, this isn’t offering a full view of what’s taking place in HDR and doesn’t let you know how the 2 modes carry out when it comes to brightness general in actual utilization and in actual scenes past simply measuring white check patterns. For that we want…

EOTF Monitoring Measurements

These outcomes above had been taken from the 32″ 4K 240Hz MSI MPG 321URX utilizing the present FW.012 in its ‘Peak 1000’ mode for HDR (evaluation right here).

And as one other instance, these outcomes above are from the 34” 240Hz ultrawide MPG 341CQPX mannequin (evaluation right here).

Each screens present an identical behaviour which truly impacts all the present MSI QD-OLED displays and it’s the identical throughout different fashions too from many different producers. Within the Peak 1000 HDR mode, the EOTF monitoring is mostly good and correct for a ten% APL window dimension check and smaller. 10% APL is definitely the business customary for HDR measurements which is why in lots of customary testing situations this difficulty will not be instantly evident. Utilizing only a 10% APL check solely actually gives a part of the image with regards to evaluating HDR efficiency sadly.

As you possibly can see from the above EOTF examples, because the APL % space will increase the brightness rolls off considerably for mid to gentle gray shades as seen by the dip within the gray measurement line for the monitor in the midst of the graph. This causes these mid to gentle gray shades to be so much darker than supposed. In actual HDR content material that causes darker general scenes than supposed.

In distinction, above is the EOTF monitoring from the 32″ MSI MPG 321URX (FW.012) once more, however this time within the different TB400 mode. Right here you possibly can see the EOTF monitoring is extra constant and correct in any respect APLs with a far much less drastic dip in brightness of gray shades. As we examined in much more element in our earlier article, this EOTF monitoring variance is what causes the TB400 mode to look visually brighter in lots of HDR scenes than the P1000 mode, because the EOTF monitoring is rather more correct and there’s not a serious dip within the graph like there’s in that mode.

Common Greyscale Measurements

We are able to additionally “convert” these EOTF measurements and graphs in to a different strategy which is to measure the luminance of the greyscale for mid to gentle gray shades, these are the shades that are impacted by the poor EOTF monitoring and the dip within the graphs above. These mid to gentle gray shades are what are likely to impression “brighter” HDR scenes as effectively, and so have a direct impression on the general skilled brightness of the content material.

We are able to plot the typical of these luminance measurements for the greyscale in each modes like this:

You may see once more right here in a extra easy comparability graph that the luminance of the greyscale is larger within the TB400 mode than the P1000 mode, once more demonstrating why that mode seems to be visually brighter in lots of conditions.

How Different Producers Have Approached a “Repair”

This difficulty has usually utilized throughout all of the completely different QD-OLED monitor panels and sizes available in the market. For the needs of this text we’ll examine the 32″ 4K 240Hz QD-OLED displays supplied by a lot of main producers.

Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM

Asus dealt with the problem for his or her ROG Swift PG32UCDM 32″ monitor by introducing a brand new menu choice that allowed customers to pick out a ‘dynamic brightness enhance’ mode within the menu. We haven’t truly examined the up to date Asus PG32UCDM firmware ourselves, however our mates over at Displays Unboxed have and we’ve included their outcomes beneath for comparability and dialogue.

Asus’ newly added mode artificially brightens the display by adjusting the EOTF for the smaller APL areas, making mid-to-light gray shades now rather a lot brighter than supposed, to be able to make sure that bigger APL areas had been then not too darkish. That was how Asus addressed the problem with their display.

Gigabyte AORUS FO32U2P

Samsung Odyssey G80SD

We noticed this related strategy to HDR EOTF monitoring from Gigabyte even after they first launched their AORUS FO32U2P, and from Samsung with their Odyssey G80SD too. These modes had been offered within the menus on their screens too.

Artificially inflating brightness

All these producers tackled the issue by artificially brightening within the picture and it’s resulted in what we’d name a “brighter-than-intended” behaviour, as a substitute of the earlier “darker-than-intended” behaviour. You may see in all instances that the EOTF monitoring is fairly poor, particularly for smaller APL the place the brightness is usually so much larger than supposed. This strategy does assist make sure that because the APL will increase, the brightness doesn’t roll off for gentle to mid gray shades as drastically as earlier than, and the perceived dimming isn’t as aggressive. Nevertheless the trade-off is the over-brightening at decrease APL.

This over-brightening causes scenes which can be general darker (low APL %) to be so much brighter than supposed, typically impacting shadow element and darkness of the scene. It additionally causes lack of tonal values in mid and light-weight gray shades, getting crushed to white in lots of instances. You lose refined element in brighter scenes and brighter content material very often. The modes are “brighter” visually for certain, however they aren’t “correct” sadly.

To this point all producers have tried to discover a stability between overly shiny low APL scenes, and overly darkish excessive APL scenes. It has appeared like a sacrifice must be made someplace in these modes.

Some producers solely supply the “darker” mode

Another producers have left their screens solely with the “darker-than-intended” P1000 mode, most notably the Dell Alienware AW3225QF, for which Dell advised us that this was the “supposed configuration by Samsung Show” (the panel producer) and that they wouldn’t be offering any replace for his or her monitor. Considerably unusual when everybody else is attempting to supply different modes. Now we have reached out to Dell concerning the scenario and our contacts have handed on info to the Alienware product group for consideration. Right now although, we don’t know if something can be supplied for his or her QD-OLED displays.

Till now MSI haven’t made any modifications both though we all know they’ve been engaged on this for a very long time, the truth is we reported these points to them again on the finish of March 2024.

Some displays supply customers a selection

Some producers have supplied each modes – the unique Peak 1000 mode which is darker than supposed, after which another mode that’s brighter-than-intended. That is how Asus tried to repair the problem on their PG32UCDM by including the ‘dynamic brightness enhance’ mode. It’s additionally how Samsung Electronics dealt with it on their G80SD with two modes out there. We aren’t knocking their approaches, they clearly made these out there so much faster than it has taken MSI to offer an replace they usually’ve helped present a noticeably brighter HDR expertise which many individuals will choose and worth.

The issue is, it’s a considerably compromised resolution actually, but it surely’s higher to have a selection than solely supply just one mode for certain. We count on most common customers to choose the brighter mode for a extra impactful HDR expertise, but it surely’s not with out its points associated to accuracy and EOTF monitoring.

Our preliminary testing of the brand new MSI HDR firmware

After we acquired the brand new firmware for testing on the MSI MPG 321URX we had anticipated the MSI HDR efficiency to be up to date in an identical solution to how Asus dealt with it on their PG32UCDM. Given all these main show producers have all struggled with this HDR mode and determined simply to supply customers the selection between “too darkish” and “too shiny”, we assumed it was not doable to repair it correctly and really supply correct EOTF monitoring for all APL. We anticipated MSI to only launch an replace to supply the identical. Nevertheless, right here’s the brand new EOTF monitoring measurements following the identical strategy as earlier than:

Above are the new EOTF measurements within the Peak 1000 mode utilizing the brand new firmware. These customary measurements counsel that the display is correct now for all APL which we had been frankly amazed by. This steered that they’ve solved the roll-off issues from earlier than which was inflicting the display to be too darkish in HDR and now gives correct EOTF monitoring in all APL scenes. However simply as importantly, it had finished this with out having to make the display artificially shiny, and is due to this fact correct for all APL areas examined.

Peak white luminance stays as excessive because it was beforehand, so no change there. This mode continues to have the ability to supply the very best peak highlights in low APL scenes reaching as much as >1000 nits, whereas now avoiding aggressive dimming for bigger APL scenes.

In these assessments you possibly can see the huge distinction this makes to the typical greyscale luminance on this Peak 1000 mode in comparison with the outdated firmware efficiency. Common greyscale luminance, a proxy for real-scene brightness, is nearly twice as excessive in some scenes and bigger APL’s.

In these assessments the P1000 mode is now general brighter than the TB400 mode too, together with at bigger APL – represented right here by measurements of the typical greyscale luminance once more. It’s not considerably brighter in fact, but it surely’s not presupposed to be when the EOTF monitoring is correct. These assessments counsel that there ought to now not be conditions the place the TB400 mode seems to be brighter in actual use. This was our authentic conclusion to the testing.

Issues sadly stay (up to date 21 Jan 2025)

With the brand new firmware out there for a choice of MSI’s OLED displays we’ve began to see loads of consumer suggestions concerning the replace, and sadly this has pointed in the direction of some remaining issues with this P1000 mode and that’s led us to replace this text now. We additionally spoke to Tim at Displays Unboxed this week who has been doing his personal testing on the same MAG 321UPX mannequin (the MPG 321URX firmware has not been publicly launched but). He has since printed a really insightful video based mostly on some additional testing which you’ll find right here.

The issue appears to be that in real-world HDR content material, in video games and movies, most customers will not be seeing an enchancment in brightness in contrast with the earlier firmware. TB400 stays visually brighter in lots of situations as earlier than. This does appear to be somewhat combined, as some customers are reporting enhancements though there’s many various use instances and configurations and it’s arduous to pin down precisely what’s going on. There’s additionally a number of fashions which have acquired this firmware replace now (record in a while), and we are able to’t absolutely rule out variations between them at this stage. It’s possible the identical remaining issues apply throughout the vary, however consumer stories are conflicting.

What is going on?

Primarily based on the in depth testing from Displays Unboxed, it seems that the outcomes from customary check sample and measurement approaches is for some purpose not translating to precise real-world HDR content material. In brighter scenes (larger APL), dimming continues to be taking place prefer it was earlier than, and this ends in the TB400 mode trying visually brighter nonetheless in these conditions.

Tim discovered the identical accuracy for EOTF measurements that I did and people outcomes are appropriate. It seems that in numerous check sample situations (customary APL space, fixed APL, customized APL) every part seems to be appropriate and considerably improved. Nevertheless, in actual world utilization the ABL dimming continues to be as aggressive as earlier than, and there appears to be little or no change to actual scene brightness. Tim and several other customers additionally observed unusual dimming behaviour in Home windows desktop in some conditions (i.e. SDR functions inside HDR mode) which isn’t a state of affairs we examined. That use case may be very typically a large number anyway, and never a configuration we’d advocate for a lot of causes, however the observations there do appear to trace on the wider downside with the brand new firmware.

Tim’s hypotheses is that the display is indirectly “scanning” the content material being displayed, after which dynamically adjusting the EOTF to attempt to compensate for panel dimming. In check patterns, together with a number of atypical strategies, it seems to be like this works as supposed. However in real-world content material, the strategy will not be ample to compensate for the panel dimming and might’t dynamically alter the EOTF correctly. It looks as if a smart speculation though we should not have any official phrase from MSI on how issues had been arrange, or what has been launched. The internal workings of their firmware replace will not be identified at this stage.

What went improper with our testing?

We’ll maintain our fingers up right here, we must always have carried out extra thorough testing on the time, and I apologise that we missed this. We’ve been investigating this entire brightness difficulty on OLED displays for a very long time now, proper again to March 2024, and it’s gone by way of a number of revisions and updates throughout that point. Our intention has all the time been to offer as a lot perception and testing knowledge as we are able to for our readers, to assist perceive what the problems are and attempt to determine a root trigger for it. From there our intention has been to create repeatable testing approaches that permit us to determine issues and examine HDR efficiency as finest we are able to. HDR testing is a really sophisticated space and little or no of it’s standardised or agreed on throughout the business.

Now we have created a variety of various testing approaches during the last 10 months which have, till now, been very efficient at figuring out points and measuring efficiency. It goes past easy white luminance measurements of outdated – testing EOTF efficiency extensively in a variety of APL situations, contemplating greyscale luminance, luminance accuracy and a variety of different standards. We additionally use quite a lot of check patterns to attempt to keep away from situations the place particular actual APL areas might be “tricked”.

We had no purpose to doubt this strategy because it’s proved efficient for some time now, and that is truly the primary case we’ve seen the place EOTF measurements for some purpose don’t translate to real-world expertise. As Tim mentioned in his video, he noticed the identical efficiency and initially drew the identical conclusions I did. Tim additionally used “fixed APL” check patterns, that are one other strategy to measurements we’ve explored up to now however didn’t particularly use right here, which may determine points in EOTF efficiency, however didn’t choose up any oddities right here.

Our mistake sadly was not triple checking how these measurements would cross over to actual world content material and we must always have finished. That’s a mistake we received’t be making once more, and we’ll undoubtedly be seeking to see how we are able to increase our HDR testing additional. This entire space may be very advanced and there’s a variety of completely different approaches doable. The trick is to attempt to discover one thing that’s repeatable, permits comparisons correctly and reliably, and is straightforward sufficient for a median reader to know. We’ll proceed to research that, but when anybody has any ideas or has expertise on this space they’d wish to share please do get in contact.

We’ve fed this all again to MSI who’re investigating additional

I personally don’t imagine this can be a deliberate try by MSI to “trick” check patterns or benchmarks. I don’t assume you’d spend 10 months investigating it and dealing on it, solely to attempt to idiot folks. Particularly when that will in a short time be recognized anyway because it has been right here, though admittedly we must always have picked up on this ourselves and for that I apologise.

I count on that the tuning and improvement has been carried out utilizing customary check sample approaches, which is probably the most sensible solution to measure and tune efficiency throughout improvement in a repeatable and standardised approach. It ought to be represenative of actual efficiency, and as we mentioned earlier that is the primary time we’ve ever seen the measurements not translate in to real-world efficiency. This looks as if an sudden oversight. Nevertheless, the changes made to the HDR tuning, the ABL compensation, the brightness algorithm, or no matter you need to name it will not be being realised in real-world content material outdoors of these check patterns.

As quickly as we turned conscious of those remaining points, we fed every part again to MSI – thanks to those that offered constructive and thorough private testing too. We’ve confirmed that this has all been fed again to the product improvement groups for additional investigation and they’re trying in to it and what might be supplied by way of an extra replace and repair. We stay hopeful that one thing might be finished right here, a change has already been made and was working effectively throughout particular conditions, and we hope this may be adjusted to permit appropriate operation in different conditions, particularly real-world HDR content material. We are going to in fact present additional updates as quickly as now we have any.

Though this preliminary firmware replace hasn’t absolutely addressed the issues with HDR on these screens, we all know MSI are dedicated to offering updates and bettering these displays and I feel that’s been evident by the big selection of enhancements and updates they’ve supplied within the final yr in numerous areas, from color modes to enter lag enhancements. They’re clearly investing time, cash and energy to enhance these merchandise and handle consumer points and that’s nice to see. Let’s hope they’ll make some changes right here and utilise the work already accomplished to supply HDR enhancements.

The delay with some fashions is unrelated

On a facet observe we are able to put any conspiracy theories to mattress right here concerning the delays with the flagship MPG 321URX and MPG 271QRX fashions. We had already requested MSI about this and have been advised that there are some minor bugs with MSI OLED Care that should be addressed which was inflicting the extra couple of weeks delay with some fashions.

HDR Demo and Take a look at Video

Take a look at and demo the HDR in your show utilizing our useful compilation, highlighting black depth, distinction and peak brightness capabilities.
[View here]

Particulars and FAQ concerning the New MSI Firmware

[Updated] Which screens will obtain this new firmware replace?

The brand new firmware is already out there for the next QD-OLED displays:

These fashions are nonetheless pending. In keeping with a submit from MSI on Reddit the replace for these fashions ought to be out there in late Jan / early Feb. That date could change now with the extra findings:

• MEG 342C QD-OLED
• MAG 321UP
• MAG 321CUP
• MAG 271QPX QD-OLED E2

We’re ready to verify availability for these fashions with MSI. We had been initially advised they might be out there on 17 Jan, however that has not occurred. The MSI rep on Reddit didn’t embrace these fashions in any respect. They need to nonetheless be coming sooner or later.

Different fashions notable by their absence we’re ready to verify with MSI on:

This firmware launch will even apparently optimize the OSD consumer interface of the MSI OLED Care options. The place of messages will shift to backside facet they inform us. The boot-up brand will even be up to date.

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