RTX HDR Tested – The Ultimate Game Changer

HDR Vs RTX HDR

Now before we get into the nitty-gritty of RTX HDR, let’s take a quick look at what HDR actually is. High Dynamic Range, or HDR, is a technology that allows for a wider range of colors and brightness levels in digital images and videos. It aims to reproduce a more realistic and vibrant image by expanding the contrast ratio and color palette beyond what Standard Dynamic Range or SDR can offer.

Traditional HDR in gaming has been around for several years, with various implementations like HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision. These form ats work by using metadata to map a wider range of colors and brightness levels to what your display can actually show and they’ve become increasingly common in modern games, offering more vivid and lifelike visuals when viewed on compatible displays.

But here’s where RTX HDR differs. Unlike these traditional HDR formats, NVIDIA’s RTX HDR is not actually a new HDR format. Instead, it’s an AI-enhanced SDR to HDR tone mapping technology designed to convert SDR games to HDR in real-time. This is particularly useful for enhancing the visual quality of older or non-HDR games on HDR displays. This approach sets RTX HDR apart from both traditional HDR implementations and other SDR-to-HDR conversion methods. While standard HDR relies on games being developed with HDR support from the start, and basic SDR-to-HDR conversion applies a simple tone map, RTX HDR uses advanced machine learning algorithms to make more intelligent decisions about how to expand the color space and contrast of SDR games.

The result is a technology that promises to breathe new life into older SDR games, potentially making your entire game library look better on HDR displays. It’s a unique approach that leverages NVIDIA’s expertise in both graphics processing and AI, aiming to bridge the gap between the vast amount of existing SDR games and the capabilities of modern HDR displays.