Is it me, or is the show LITERALLY insanely dark?
- Thread starter Mage
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Tried episode 3 on my tablet last night and surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. (There have been other shows where the dark sections were unwatchable - but they were also using other programmes such as flixter, vlc or mx. The netflix app seems ok).
I did get one blue streak across the screen at one point (while on the Glenn) but it was watchable for me.
I did get one blue streak across the screen at one point (while on the Glenn) but it was watchable for me.
It's just following the trends of using more cinematic lighting and set design.
Honestly, the producers are probably confused as hell with Trek fans (what else is new)? You get a bright and upbeat bridge set for the JJ movies and everyone throws feces at that comparing it to an Apple Store. You go with dark/moody/realistic in Discovery, and everyone thinks they're watching Bladerunner on a TV with no backlight.
Can't win.
Honestly, the producers are probably confused as hell with Trek fans (what else is new)? You get a bright and upbeat bridge set for the JJ movies and everyone throws feces at that comparing it to an Apple Store. You go with dark/moody/realistic in Discovery, and everyone thinks they're watching Bladerunner on a TV with no backlight.
Can't win.
I do find that some of the scenes are poorly lit particularly the exterior ship shots. I have to say they need to fire the company that is doing the CGI ships for the show, they look incredibly fake. Voyager had better CGI modeling and that was 20 years ago.
It's probably done for the same reason you get lots of lens flares in JJ-Trek. HD + "normal" lighting can make a lot of sci-fi props look very cheap and it's expensive to add all the necessary detail etc to make it look good. It's also why the new Doctor Who TARDIS set was a lot darker (and why when it was a brighter set, it looked rubbish).
One of the reasons a lot of 80's sci-fi movies still look great today is because they don't look great. Seriously, film grain really helps Wrath of Khan and other special effects heavy movies.
That could very well be, yes. I was also talking with a buddy of mine who's quite into screens and such, and explained that since I have a tv with local dimming (makes black really black) they also tend to look darker than tvs without local dimming. So, a show that's already filmed somewhat darker will look even darker on my screen appereantly
It is one of my main complaints so far, sometimes it looks fine, like when they were walking the corridors or in their cabin.
Then the science room and the ready room are just dark as hell. I guess it is just cinematic lighting, remember how the Enterprise-D looked in Generations?
Then the science room and the ready room are just dark as hell. I guess it is just cinematic lighting, remember how the Enterprise-D looked in Generations?
What TV do you have?
You mention HDR, which can cause a lot of problems on TVs that can't properly handle HDR. "Movies/shows/games are too dark" is a big one for people watching on cheaper sets.
Local dimming is there to improve contrast, not make everything darker. The Sony ZD9 has some of the heaviest use of local dimming of any set, and yet it can get brighter than pretty much any other TV on the market.
A Samsung UE49KU6470sxxn. It has HDR. I do have all enhancements turned off though. And yes, local dimming does enhance contrast. It also, as in the name, has more specific dimming of LEDs to make dark areas in the screen actually dark, instead of darkgrey.
Yeah, this is a very similar set, and going by those specs, I'd strongly recommend just sticking with SDR.
The problem with HDR at the moment is that manufacturers are shoving it out the door when a lot of sets just aren't fully capable of displaying it properly. It's HDR-compatible, but because HDR is all about bright highlights and dark blacks, and is measured on an absolute luminance scale, trying to get it to look good on a 240-nit display just won't work. It'll have to take the brightest areas of the image (sometimes exceeding 1000/4000-nits) and get them to display at 240-nits, which will make everything else in the scene look darker.
Not very many TVs can hit those peaks right now. And some do it better than others.
Are you sure it's feeding a HDR signal to your display in the first place?
EDIT: Your set only has edge local-dimming (same as mine), which is quite different (and inferior) to full-array local dimming.
WEll, according to Netflix the show is HDR, so I asume it's feeding a HDR signal, yes. But like I said, I have all of that turned down. The annoying thing about this set is, I have all the settings done, and even apply to all sources. But, when I watched a 4K show on Netflix for the first time, I still needed to adjust for that, because it's a different type then the normal HD stuff Netflix has. I guess the same when for the HDR that is Discovery. The first time I watched something on Netflix in 4K, I was shocked at how fake all the enhancements made it look!!
Thankfully, because the HDR thing is seperate, I can simply fiddle with it without it affecting the rest of the settings.
I actually just watched some Discovery with the HDR settings on, it was awfull.
Style over realism. It is quite a trend on "peak tv" era.
They think with the specific lighting they are creating a certain mood.
it was really surreal to watch a Starfleet court-martial with a spotlight over the accused and the rest of the room in darkness. So dramatic (not)!
But my biggest question is.. how on earth the crew in STD do not have serious sight issues by having to work with so poor lighting ????
They think with the specific lighting they are creating a certain mood.
it was really surreal to watch a Starfleet court-martial with a spotlight over the accused and the rest of the room in darkness. So dramatic (not)!
But my biggest question is.. how on earth the crew in STD do not have serious sight issues by having to work with so poor lighting ????
HDR isn't a "digital enhancement". It's a very different technology and likely the future of television. Like the jump from black-and-white to colour, or mono to stereo to surround sound, or SD to HD.WEll, according to Netflix the show is HDR, so I asume it's feeding a HDR signal, yes. But like I said, I have all of that turned down. The annoying thing about this set is, I have all the settings done, and even apply to all sources. But, when I watched a 4K show on Netflix for the first time, I still needed to adjust for that, because it's a different type then the normal HD stuff Netflix has. I guess the same when for the HDR that is Discovery. The first time I watched something on Netflix in 4K, I was shocked at how fake all the enhancements made it look!!
Thankfully, because the HDR thing is seperate, I can simply fiddle with it without it affecting the rest of the settings.
I actually just watched some Discovery with the HDR settings on, it was awfull.
But, yeah, if you're able to turn off HDR on Netflix, I'd recommend it. The fake "HDR+" enhancements in your TV's settings won't change that, you'd have to look at HDMI settings and make sure it's only allowed to receive SDR signals.
Your TV's a great SDR set, so put it to good use!
I find the lighting more cinematic than dark, really. Doesn't detract from the show at all.
I do miss the lens flares from the first episode though.
I do miss the lens flares from the first episode though.
You basically have to watch it in complete darkness to see almost everything.
HDR isn't a "digital enhancement". It's a very different technology and likely the future of television. Like the jump from black-and-white to colour, or mono to stereo to surround sound, or SD to HD.
But, yeah, if you're able to turn off HDR on Netflix, I'd recommend it. The fake "HDR+" enhancements in your TV's settings won't change that, you'd have to look at HDMI settings and make sure it's only allowed to receive SDR signals.
Your TV's a great SDR set, so put it to good use!
It is only Discovery that my girlfriend and I find incredibly dark, so I'll look around at the settings a bit more.
What I ment with enhancements was, if I turn HDR+ on, all those enhancements these modenr tv's have are turned to up, you know what I mean? And I hate those. THe settings that are supposed to minimize jutter but give it that soap opera effect, stuff like that.
Other then that, for bluray and Netflix HD it's an awesome tv. Only thing that sometimes sucks a bit is edgebleeding, but that's something we just have to live with these days. Acceptable design flaws are what they're called.
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