HD4000 hdmi Black level not black enough. Gradient Banding too

[idata]

Intel, please fix the hdmi output!

I am bumping this topic because my laptop's Intel HD4000 hdmi port does not display black color.

it's dark gray.

Also, the hdmi port cannot display black to white gradient smoothly. It shows major banding.

My laptop has only a vga and hdmi port.

HOWEVER,

HD4000 via VGA port displays very dark black just fine, and gradients are smooth with no banding.

HD4000 with HDMI-DVI adapter displays dark black and gradients just fine when connected to monitor dvi port. 

Intel's driver is messed up!

There's no problem with the hdmi cable, because when I plug the cable into my AMD laptop, it displays dark blacks and smooth gradients on the same monitor.

My external monitor is an Asus VH238h, with vga, dvi, and hdmi inputs.

It has built-in speakers.

You say that switchable graphics does not use generic intel drivers, but that is not true.

Even in new Nvidia Optimus laptops, the main driver is a generic Intel driver.

I am using the latest generic Intel driver.

Here's a weird clue-

*Intel graphics driver sees my external Asus monitor as a "digital television" when plugged into the hdmi port, and shows gray blacks and banding.

*It sees the same external Asus monitor as "Monitor" when plugged into VGA port, shows dark blacks and no banding. 

*It sees the asus monitor as "Digital Display" when plugged into the DVI port via an hdmi-dvi adapter, shows dark blacks and no banding.

The common thing among all the complaints in this forum is that "Digital Television" hdmi color output is broken.

Maybe you Intel guys should look into that, since my "Monitor" and "Digital Display" outputs are 100% ok, but my "Digital TV" output is not.

So, in summary,

HD4000 HDMI = half broken.

HD4000 VGA = fully functional

Please fix it, Intel.

It doesn't make sense that VGA works, but HDMI only half-works.

Please make it work with "digital televisions".

Here's my report-

Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

Report Date: 9/30/2012

Report Time[hh:mm:ss]: 04:34:14

Driver Version: 8.15.10.2761

Operating System: Windows 7 Service Pack 1(6.1.7601)

Default Language: English (United States)

DirectX* Version: 11.0

Physical Memory: 8094 MB

Minimum Graphics Memory: 64 MB

Maximum Graphics Memory: 1696 MB

Graphics Memory in Use: 75 MB

Processor: Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9

Processor Speed: 2294 MHz

Vendor ID: 8086

Device ID: 0166

Device Revision: 09

* Processor Graphics Information *

Processor Graphics in Use: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

Video BIOS: 2132.0

Current Graphics Mode: 1920 by 1080

* Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator *

Active Digital Televisions: 1

Active Notebook Displays: 1

Non Active Monitors: 1

* Monitor *

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor

Display Type: Analog

Gamma Value: 2.2

DDC2 Protocol: Supported

Maximum Image Size:

Horizontal: 20.08 inches

Vertical: 11.42 inches

Monitor Supported Modes:

640 by 480 (67 Hz)

640 by 480 (75 Hz)

640 by 480 (72 Hz)

640 by 480 (60 Hz)

720 by 400 (70 Hz)

800 by 600 (72 Hz)

800 by 600 (75 Hz)

800 by 600 (56 Hz)

800 by 600 (60 Hz)

832 by 624 (75 Hz)

1024 by 768 (75 Hz)

1024 by 768 (70 Hz)

1024 by 768 (60 Hz)

1152 by 864 (75 Hz)

1152 by 870 (75 Hz)

1280 by 1024 (60 Hz)

1280 by 960 (60 Hz)

1280 by 1024 (75 Hz)

1400 by 1050 (60 Hz)

1440 by 900 (60 Hz)

1600 by 1200 (60 Hz)

1680 by 1050 (60 Hz)

1920 by 1080 (60 Hz)

Display Power Management Support:

Standby Mode: Not Supported

Suspend Mode: Not Supported

Active Off Mode: Supported

* Digital Television *

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor

Display Type: Digital

Gamma Value: 2.2

DDC2 Protocol: Supported

Maximum Image Size:

Horizontal: 20.08 inches

Vertical: 11.42 inches

Monitor Supported Modes:

640 by 480 (67 Hz)

640 by 480 (75 Hz)

640 by 480 (72 Hz)

640 by 480 (60 Hz)

720 by 400 (70 Hz)

800 by 600 (72 Hz)

800 by 600 (75 Hz)

800 by 600 (56 Hz)

800 by 600 (60 Hz)

832 by 624 (75 Hz)

1024 by 768 (75 Hz)

1024 by 768 (70 Hz)

1024 by 768 (60 Hz)

1152 by 864 (75 Hz)

1152 by 870 (75 Hz)

1280 by 1024 (60 Hz)

1280 by 960 (60 Hz)

1280 by 1024 (75 Hz)

1400 by 1050 (60 Hz)

1440 by 900 (60 Hz)

1600 by 1200 (60 Hz)

1680 by 1050 (60 Hz)

1920 by 1080 (60 Hz)

Display Power Management Support:

Standby Mode: Not Supported

Suspend Mode: Not Supported

Active Off Mode: Supported

Raw EDID:

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 04 69 F9 23 01 01 01 01

03 15 01 03 80 33 1D 78 2E DC 55 A3 59 48 9E 24

11 50 54 BF EF 80 D1 C0 B3 00 A9 40 95 00 90 40

81 80 81 40 71 4F 02 3A 80 18 71 38 2D 40 58 2C

45 00 FD 1E 11 00 00 1F 00 00 00 FF 00 42 31 4C

4D 49 5A 30 38 34 37 38 38 0A 00 00 00 FD 00 37

4B 1E 55 13 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC

00 41 53 55 53 20 56 48 32 33 38 0A 20 20 01 13

02 03 25 F1 52 90 05 04 03 02 07 06 0F 0E 1F 14

1E 1D 13 ...

[KLill2]

Looks like yet another report for the problem I posted here:

/thread/29420?start=0&tstart=0 http://communities.intel.com/thread/29420?start=0&tstart=0

It's a well known and old problem (+1 year, if ever) that Intel HD Graphics is unable to display proper black levels on certain HDTVs. Intel appears to ignore the problem. The only known solution is to use a discrete graphics card, ATI or NVIDIA.

[idata]

updated with more clues and info

[idata]

The same problem on X1 Carbon with Intel® HD Graphics 4000 on board. Mini DigitalPort to HDMi port - incorrect black level on extended Philips screen.

I am using the latest generic Intel driver too.

[idata]

Any progress on the RGB levels issue? HD 4000 works great except for this.

[idata]

I've heard nothing. I tried to raise this issue with Intel via folks I know in the industry with direct contacts. The results were zero. They just don't care. Enthusiasts with HTPCs and Intel graphics don't sell a million laptops.

Too bad. I've got a great rig here in an Atech Fabrication case that is in all other ways super awesome. But video looks like poo on due to the levels conversions and banding that induces. I might just give it to my folks. They'd never notice.

[ROBERT_U_Intel]

Thanks Pman for the information. We have replicated the issue and working to resolve it. I will post updates as more information becomes available.

[idata]

Of course, it could be the Asus HDMI device that's misbehaving. 🙂 (but probably not)

The monitor is undoubtedly calibrated out of the box to PC levels (black == 0, VGA and DVI looks fine). But when the Intel HDMI output scales PC levels to TV levels assuming a consumer display calibrated to TV levels it's going to look gray and washed out.

What Intel needs to do is provide a driver that allows the user to specify how they want HDMI output to be processed/handled rather than just asuming the device is a laptop and that it's plugged into a TV. Stop trying to be "smart" becuase it FAILS every time.

In my case I don't need ANY processing. My display is calibrated to TV levels, the video I am rendering is at TV levels and I don't care about black levels in photos or the desktop. I don't need any levels conversion. But Intel forces it which is why I don't use Intel GPUs in media PCs. I might if this issue was ever addressed.

Edit: so I looked at this some more. The driver is borked. There are registry settings avaiable for Windows Media Center that will allow you to force the black levels it uses. By default Media Center goes with the driver default. But you can force 0-255 or 16-235. When this reg key is present Media Center will explicitly set the black level. Unlike other GPU vendors, Intel completely ignores this setting. That's pretty bad. But the worst part is the driver has an option to prefer the "application settings" giving you the impresion that application has a say in the matter. It does not.This option does nothing.

So, as I've come to expect from Intel GPUs, the black level story is pretty messed up out of the box and the driver does not provide users with the tools to fix it, compounding the problem is the fact that the driver ignores settings exposed via its own control panel.

Overall this is quite disappointing. The GPU settings are obviously optimized for the laptop scenario where Intel dominates. It is unfortnate that for their desktop "media" boards they lack the ability to integrate with consumer displays while not clipping levels.

[idata]

On laptops there is also color banding and horrible dithering artifacts. Not just me, tested on some of my friends laptops. I've posted on this forum about it last summer when I got my new laptop with Intel graphics, an employee said they were working on it and absolutely NOTHING has been done since then. I've given up hope that this will ever get fixed.

F U intel, you guys have no respect for your customers, so why should we have any for you...

[idata]

I'm also experiencing this problem, given that I purchased the laptop to use a HTPC, this is hugely disappointing. Hoping for a fix from Intel but it seems that may be wishful thinking...

[idata]

I don't want to start new topic so I just reply here.

I have Intel processor with HD4000 graphics and I have motherboard with two HDMI ports so I can use two TVs as monitors. I choosed HDMI because it carry audio which is desirable. Both TVs are capable of Full RGB range (0-255) in PC mode but I can't get Full RGB on both HDMI outs, one is Full RGB but second is always limited to video levels (16-235) even though I have IT content in driver control panel checked on both monitors (TV/monitor settings tab).

Conclusion is that the driver ignores settings exposed via its own control panel which should be fixed and it shouldn't be that big problem. As I read this suppot forum this problem is few months old already which is disappointment and I would expect more from company like Intel.

[idata]

Here's the other thread on this:

/thread/29420?start=0&tstart=0 http://communities.intel.com/thread/29420?start=0&tstart=0