madVR 10-bit Display Support Test [Archive] - Page 4

huhn

1st June 2015, 19:06

some screens say what signal they got.

i got a sony w800 and this screen tells me what the GPU send as a signal but the screen is has a serious issue so i have to wait until it is replace to test this.

i did this test already for amd.

so everyone with a sony Tv should be able to to the same test.

and i'm pretty sure nvidia is sending high bit deep why shouldn't they.

nikola

3rd June 2015, 16:26

I'm a bit puzzled by this investigation.

Yesterday I connected my AMD 7790 to my Denon X2000 over HDMI, then connected the Denon to my TV over HDMI. The TV was set to expect full-range RGB, and the 7790 was set to output RGB 4:4:4 full-range. I confirmed with madshi's test pattern that the TV set was indeed receiving 4:4:4-sampled video. I setup madVR to output 10-bit, configured the 7790 in AMD's Control Center to output 10-bit, and disabled AMD's HDMI-bound dithering in the registry (then restarted the machine). Then I played back a movie, verified in madVR's OSD that it's outputting 10-bit, and verified in the Denon receiver's menu that the HDMI signal is actually 10-bit.

Does any of this prove that the TV set is displaying 10-bit?

No.

All it proves is that the HDMI receiver in the TV set is receiving a 10-bit signal. And given the fact that my TV set does not advertise 10-bit capability anywhere (I'm pretty sure their marketing dept. would be shouting from high roofs if the TV had 10-bit support), and that it's a mid-range consumer product, I find it highly probable that the TV set itself is dithering the 10-bit input to its native bit-depth, i.e. to 8-bit or even lower.

So what exactly is the purpose of this investigation? The workflow that has been shown here does in no way prove or disprove the actual bit-depth of the panel.

FWIW, I also did the same test with my Dell 2713HM (which, unlike it's sister model, the 2713H, is an 8-bit panel), and the same workflow did produce a picture. If the GPU isn't dithering, there's still the panel itself that does.

nevcairiel

3rd June 2015, 16:32

There is indeed no conclusive way to determine that. All you can do is judge if it looks good, or maybe even looks better than 8-bit output. Even with a 8-bit panel, 10-bit output might be beneficial, as the TV will do processing on the video first, motion interpolation, color changes through a built-in LUT or similar, and whatnot.

huhn

3rd June 2015, 16:37

that's correct nearly all TV are 8 bit these days. but you can easily check with AMD if your TV is dithering.

take the test picture.
make sure 16 bit RGB is checked in lavfilter.
make sure you can send 10 bit to the TV.
disable dithering in madVR.
make sure you see a ton of banding with 8 bit window mode.
go FSE and send 10 bit to the TV.

now you can check if the TV still hows banding if not it is dithering and unlikely 10 bit. if it shows banding than it doesn't dither and should never be feed with 10 bit.

in the end the TV does "stuff" with the picture so giving them a 10 bit picture should help in the end even for 8 bit panels.

nikola

3rd June 2015, 22:12

That's all assuming that by sending a 10-bit signal you'd be triggering a "10-bit processing mode" in the TV's processing pipeline. There is zero evidence to support the belief that TV sets are actually capable of applying color management or motion interpolation to 10-bit signals.

In fact, considering that the vast majority of TV sets already make tons of picture quality compromises to hit a certain price point it'd be much more realistic to assume that a 10-bit signal is first being downgraded to 8-bit, then processed further. I don't see the benefit of this approach. Why not just let madVR dither to 8-bit when we already know that the panel itself can't display 10-bit per channel?

The fact is that madVR's processing pipeline is much more sophisticated than any TV set could offer today. By introducing an unknown parameter to the processing pipeline, i.e. the TV set's 10-bit to 8-bit conversion, you are basically re-introducing what madVR tried to circumvent in the first place, i.e. the GPU driver's implicit mutilation of frames behind the user's back.

nevcairiel

3rd June 2015, 23:16

There is a lot of speculation in there, and the short answer is: We just do not know. If the TV processes in 10-bit, it can result in higher quality, even if it dithers to 8-bit at the end of it. The simple point here is to keep the signal as high a quality as possible for as long as possible.
What if the TV does this processing anyway, and re-dithers, even on 8-bit input? Having a higher precision from the get-go and not introducing extra dithering noise could reduce the final noise, improving the image.

At the end of the day however, the only thing you can do is judge with your eyes, or possibly with some measurement instruments to measure effective bitdepth.
Its an optional setting, anyway.

baii

3rd June 2015, 23:30

Well, there are monitor users, and the test had been pretty much spot on for them.

Sent from my 306SH

kolak

7th June 2015, 20:25

If I find time I may do some tests on Sony professional OLED monitors over HDMI (or Eizo over DP). I know for 100% that these panels are 10bit and HDMI supports passing 10bit.
I've done testing with some pro software, RV and Scratch which supports 10bit with Quadro cards and I was easily able to tell the difference between 8 and 10bit. 8bit dithered was more tricky, but still distinguishable.

When you do these tests it's good to have some reference pipe, which you know for 100% is 10bit capable.

iSunrise

7th June 2015, 23:05

@nikola:
I agree with everything, you kinda feed a black box, therefore I did my own test for my Eizo CG 243W like I already explained in the madVR thread some time ago. I chose a grey ramp from LightIllusion's available 16bit per component test patterns (TGA files) and disabled dithering in madVR. When madVR was set at 8bit I still could see tiny steps between the gradients, with 10bit activated the steps completely disappeared.

The funny thing is that I didn't expect this to happen at all, since I am pretty sure that my panel is 8bit+FRC and not native 10bit. Also, the second surprise is that I am still connected via DVI-I on this display. I didn't even know that DVI supports 10bit output.

So, since everyone has a black box and even additional software in between, it should be pretty safe to send 10bit anyway, when someone isn't completely sure and compare it themselves to 8bit with test patterns. Since even when 10bit might not be accepted correctly, you would probably find something worth your time, like I did. And if not, you at least know that 10bit is out of the question, which should be pretty rare, though.

huhn

7th June 2015, 23:18

you compared 8 bit undithered vs 10 bit dithered to 8 bit of cause the dithered 8 bit wins clearly.

iSunrise

7th June 2015, 23:53

you compared 8 bit undithered vs 10 bit dithered to 8 bit of cause the dithered 8 bit wins clearly.
Which still was a surprise to me, because from then on I knew I can run 10bit to the display and the display doesn't have any problems accepting it, which nikola was talking about. You just have to come to the right conclusions, which a test will mostly solve. Just guessing, because a manufacturer claims it is not ideal.

For an Eizo CG you would expect it, but some other monitors might also work.

huhn

8th June 2015, 00:00

but you can send 10 bit to the GPU driver for an 8 bit or lower screen and it will dithered too by the GPU.

but the most important question is madVR dither better or the GPU/display dither?

so you can always use it.

kiwijunglist

13th June 2015, 06:37

Hi

I can confirm that a Samsung ua60hu6400 (2014 model 1080P) TV displays 10bit using Win7x64, AMD HD7750 (Driver 14.2), MPV-HCx86. I confirmed this by seeing banding in windowed mode and no banding in fullscreen exclusive mode, when I toggle the mode with right clicking. Also confirmed that there is no upstream dithering because the banding dissapears in windowed mode when I toggle dither on/off in madvr.

I can get 10bit output with Pixel format set to RGB Full+Limited and YbCrCb 4:4:4. When I set to YbCbCr 4:2:0 in CCC then I get banding. This is with AMD CC set to "preferred colour depth: 10 and ITC processing enabled". There are options for 8/10/12 preferred colour depth in CCC, but I've left it set to 10. ITC processing set to enabled (I don't actually know what it does).

Given that I am using a TV for display and only using my TV for movies (8bit NV12 4:2:0 mkv) with MadVR and nothing else what would you recommend for:

1. LAV Video: Output untouched vs 0-255 vs 16-235?
2. MadVR Device properties: 0-255 vs 16-235?
3. AMD CCC Pixel format: RGB Full vs RGB Limited vs YCbCr4:4:4 vs YCbCr4:2:2(8bit only)

4. Is there any test that I can use to see if my TV displays 0-255 or if it just accepts 0-255 and then crushes it down to 16-235.

5. Given that movies are always encoded as 16-235 8bit and the confusion as to whether my TV is truely 8bit vs 10bit it be best to have everything operate at 16-235 level 8bit?

Thanks
Kiwi

Asmodian

13th June 2015, 09:56

1. LAV Video: Output untouched vs 0-255 vs 16-235?

It doesn't matter, that setting is only used for YUV->RGB conversion in LAV (which isn't being done).

2. MadVR Device properties: 0-255 vs 16-235?

0-255

3. AMD CCC Pixel format: RGB Full vs RGB Limited vs YCbCr4:4:4 vs YCbCr4:2:2(8bit only)

RGB Full

4. Is there any test that I can use to see if my TV displays 0-255 or if it just accepts 0-255 and then crushes it down to 16-235.

I doubt this is happening, TVs usually down sample the color to 4:2:2 but they don't compress the range. You would need to change a setting or calibrate your TV differently for full/limited range input. Only if your TV cannot be setup for full range should you use limited. To use limited set madVR to limited but leave the AMD CCC Pixel format on RGB Full.

AVS HD Test Patterns (http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/948496-avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.html)

5. Given that movies are always encoded as 16-235 8bit and the confusion as to whether my TV is truely 8bit vs 10bit it be best to have everything operate at 16-235 level 8bit?

I suggest, if in doubt, set madVR and the GPU to 8-bit. By the time madVR is displaying a frame it is 16-bit RGB data but with its quality dithering madVR's 8-bit output is very good.

Even 8-bit YUV -> RGB results in >8-bit RGB, scaling has a similar effect, you need more bit-depth to keep all the precision so 10-bit display is beneficial for 8-bit sources. However, with all the bad ways madVR's 10-bit output could be converted to 8-bit (at best a second dithering step) sending good 8-bit in the first place is better. Never turn off madVR's dithering (except for testing, of course).

Qaq

13th June 2015, 11:20

Kiwi,
madVR: 0-255, 10 bit allow to keep source data as much as possible.
AMD Catalyst: RGB Full (0-255), 10 bit, with dithering (and all Video enhancements) disabled should help madVR to keep "pixel perfect".
TV: to expect RGB input (and prevent internal conversion to YCbCr, sometimes even to 4:2:2) you have to set it to "PC mode". In most TVs "PC mode" only works with 60Hz refresh rate, unfortunately. To except 0-255 range you have to set Black level to High. After that you can try some 0-255 and 4:4:4 patterns to make sure everything works as expected.
Notes: my OLED only switches to PC mode on 60Hz. MadVR works smooth enough on 60Hz, so I can stand it. With RGB Full (black level High) there is no dead black on my OLED anymore, so I have to keep RGB in Limited range for the whole setup.

kiwijunglist

14th June 2015, 07:33

feelingblue

14th June 2015, 08:27

Unfortunately those suggested settings are really bad for my situation, I think they are good for PC.

with the following settings
LAV: 0-255
MadVR: 0-255
CCC: 0-255
TV HDMI Black: Low or Normal

I get clipped black levels, I can't see 16-25 black level on test patterns on the TV, no matter how high I turn up the brightness. I think with this setting my madVR is expanding 16-235 to 0-255 and then my tv is discarding 0-16 information.

If I change MadVR to 16-235 then I can see 16-25 levels.

There is nothing wrong.
with all settings to 0-255 is normal that you cut BTB and WTW.

With a normal stand alone player the situation is a little different and spears and munsill reccomand to set player in limited and TV in expanded.

Qaq

14th June 2015, 08:31

So you either didn't set HDMI input to PC mode or its impossible to expand RGB from 16-235 to 0-255 after that. The latter looks weird to me. But ok, as I said, I use RGB limited myself.
Note: you shouldn't touch LAV colour format settings, its madVR's job to convert source colour format to RGB. LAV's default settings are perfectly matched with madVR.

huhn

14th June 2015, 12:22

sadly fullrange RGB is not possible with all TVs.

i will never understand why full range RGB support at all refreshrate isn't default for all TVs. when one mode can do it why can't all modes do it?

kiwijunglist

15th June 2015, 07:24

yeah i like to run my tv at 23.976 rather than use interpolation/repeated/dropped frames or re-sampling the audio (reclock).

the TV/GPU is pretty good in that regard, my refresh rate without custom timings or mods is 23.9766 which is pretty close to 23.976

huhn

15th June 2015, 19:06

not sure way people think you get a good clock when it is at 23.976hz. this whole topic is way more complicated and a perfect GPU clock is pretty meaningless.

kiwijunglist

18th June 2015, 04:50

I doubt this is happening, TVs usually down sample the color to 4:2:2 but they don't compress the range. You would need to change a setting or calibrate your TV differently for full/limited range input. Only if your TV cannot be setup for full range should you use limited. To use limited set madVR to limited but leave the AMD CCC Pixel format on RGB Full.

AVS HD Test Patterns (http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/948496-avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.html)

Thanks, I figured out what was happening. My pioneer avr can't tell the difference between rgb full and rgb limited when all video processing is set to off (passthrough). If it gets an RGB Full signal it disgards 0-16 and 235-255 and then passes the signal off as RGB Limited. It's very weird.

ryrynz

18th June 2015, 05:58

Removed.

XMonarchY

18th June 2015, 21:22

So 10bit+ only works with Direct3D 11?

XMonarchY

18th June 2015, 21:53

Wow, my Eizo Foris FG2421 is 8bit+FRC, but nVidia drivers only allow me to select 8bit. HOWEVER, FG2421 does pass the 10bit test and shows perfectly smooth gradient with FSE + D3D11 + 10bit in madVR + no madVR dithering, one much smoother than with FSE + D3D11 + 8bit in madVR + no madVR dithering. It looks no worse than true 10/12bit on my HDTV. I guess FRC does make a big difference!

huhn

18th June 2015, 21:57

Zachs

19th June 2015, 00:29

So 10bit+ only works with Direct3D 11?
No. The support started with Direct 3D 10.

James Freeman

19th June 2015, 08:56

huhn

19th June 2015, 12:47

My monitor (Dell U2410) switches to true 10bit mode when I select 10bit in nvidia control panel.
Also when madVR calls for 10bit my monitor switches to 10bit even if it was set to 8bit in nvidia control panel.

that's interesting AMD doesn't do that. but it's the correct choice of nvidia but makes the option to choice the output pretty much useless like i guessed before.

nevcairiel

19th June 2015, 12:55

that's interesting AMD doesn't do that. but it's the correct choice of nvidia but makes the option to choice the output pretty much useless like i guessed before.

You can force a higher mode even for desktop use, which avoids this switch and makes a window -> FSE switch faster. In this, its quite useful.

huhn

19th June 2015, 13:25

You can force a higher mode even for desktop use, which avoids this switch and makes a window -> FSE switch faster. In this, its quite useful.

that doesn't work for me. even with 12 bit it take the same time to enter FSE. same with AMD which never switches mode it just takes a long time switching modes.

nevcairiel

19th June 2015, 13:28

Its noticeably faster for me when I force 12-bit on my HTPC. If its set to 8-bit and I use 10-bit out in madVR, the switch is much slower.

Qaq

19th June 2015, 13:46

I experienced several crashes after exiting from madVR 10 bit to 8 bit desktop. Obviously it's better to keep display in same input bitdepth all the time.

XMonarchY

19th June 2015, 16:34

@XMonarchY

We assume/guess that if NVidia driver does not let you select 10bit in the control panel, when you switch to true 10bit in madVR, the driver dithers to 8bit.
But if the driver lets you select 10bit in control panel, we assume/guess that the GPU sends true 10bit if madVR/Directx11 calls for it.

My monitor (Dell U2410) switches to true 10bit mode when I select 10bit in nvidia control panel.
Also when madVR calls for 10bit my monitor switches to 10bit even if it was set to 8bit in nvidia control panel.

The Dell monitor shows that it switches inputs (small icon) when going to 10bit or back to 8bit.
By that I can tell that the GPU actually sends 10bit to the monitor and does not dither.
Maybe other monitors have clearer indicators that they switched to true 10bit mode like in the info menu?

I do not think so. I can see FCR dithering OUTSIDE of madVR when I view grayscale gradients, even though only 8bit option is selectable in NVidia CP. I use an ArgyllCMS 1DLUT and 8bit setting (no FCR dithering) on my HDTV shows some obvious banding (on picture tests, outside of madVR) , while my 8bit + FRC monitor does not, using the same 8bit setting.

I am not sure if all FCR monitors dither the same. I remember my 6bit + FCR ASUS VG248QE and dithering it had was very slow. On FG2421, dithering is extremely fast.

huhn

19th June 2015, 16:39

what is fast and what is slow dithering?

and how do you get more than 8 bit outside from madVR d3d11 FSE mode?

nevcairiel

19th June 2015, 16:52

I do not think so. I can see FCR dithering OUTSIDE of madVR when I view grayscale gradients, even though only 8bit option is selectable in NVidia CP.

Then the color processing in your monitor adds dithering. Every monitor does processing of some sort to map sRGB to its display panel.

James Freeman

19th June 2015, 17:08

I can see FCR dithering OUTSIDE of madVR when I view grayscale gradients.
Do you mean you can see the actual pixels move to create dithering in your true 8-bit lcd monitor? if so you are blessed with super vision.
...my HDTV shows some obvious banding (on picture tests, outside of madVR) , while my 8bit + FRC monitor does not, using the same 8bit setting.
That has nothing to do with dithering. Your TV just has poorer gradient management than you monitor.

Eizo Foris FG2421 is an 8bit monitor at the input, even though it does processing in "higher" 8bit+FRC.
Again, your monitor does not allow 10bit input, and its FRC most probably for internal processing only.
In your case, nvidia dithers down to 8bit when you switch to FSE 10bit no-dithering.

XMonarchY

20th June 2015, 13:49

Do you mean you can see the actual pixels move to create dithering in your true 8-bit lcd monitor? if so you are blessed with super vision.

That has nothing to do with dithering. Your TV just has poorer gradient management than you monitor.

Eizo Foris FG2421 is an 8bit monitor at the input, even though it does processing in "higher" 8bit+FRC.
Again, your monitor does not allow 10bit input, and its FRC most probably for internal processing only.
In your case, nvidia dithers down to 8bit when you switch to FSE 10bit no-dithering.

Yes, I can actually see pixels moving when I get real close to the monitor. I do agree that it is the monitor doing FSE dithering as a part of processing. The point I was trying to make is that good 8bit + FRC is almost as good as true 10bit when it comes down to grayscale gradient banding.

I also think that 10bit/12bit or at least 8bit + FRC dithering has a rather drastic impact on playback quality, at least with madVR processing. Gradients are tremendously smoother. However, I am not sure whether using 12bit setting in NVidia CP and 10bit setting in madVR makes the image look better with Error Diffusion.

I wonder whether selecting 12bit for my HDTV makes GPU work harder or affects performance.

huhn

20th June 2015, 13:50

Yes, I can actually see pixels moving when I get real close to the monitor. I do agree that it is the monitor doing FSE dithering as a part of processing. The point I was trying to make is that good 8bit + FRC is almost as good as true 10bit when it comes down to grayscale gradient banding.

but you are only sending the display 8 bit how can that be as good as 10 bit ?

XMonarchY

20th June 2015, 14:49

but you are only sending the display 8 bit how can that be as good as 10 bit ?

The effect on gradient banding is just as good when monitor uses FCR as true 10bit. Well, ALMOST as good. There is no banding visible with 8bit + FRC and with 10/12bit+.

huhn

20th June 2015, 15:18

but your monitor isn't getting 10 bit for it's 8bit+FRC is is just getting dithered 8 bit which should be about the same as 8 bit madVr output with enabled dither.

James Freeman

20th June 2015, 16:00

Yes, I can actually see pixels moving when I get real close to the monitor. I do agree that it is the monitor doing FSE dithering as a part of processing.
I think you have missed the part where I said your monitor does NOT use FRC to generate more gradients like other 8+FRC monitors.
Therefor if you see dithering grain when in 10bit mode in madVR you actually see Nvidia GPU dithering down to 8bit, not FRC.

You monitor clearly specifies:
16.77 million from a palette of 1.06 billion
Meaning 8bit out of 8bit+FRC internal processing.

AGAIN,
If nvidia CP does not let you select 10bit, then your monitor does NOT use 8bit+FRC to generate gradients.

The point I was trying to make is that good 8bit + FRC is almost as good as true 10bit when it comes down to grayscale gradient banding.
We can assume that because no one actually can see the difference.
Furthermore, 8+dithering/FRC might even look more like 12bit than 10bit...

codemaster

21st June 2015, 05:51

Hi,

Could someone please summarize state of findings regarding Panasonic ST60? I tried to search and find a definitive answer, but couldn't.

My own experiments using nVidia 970 directly connected to Panasonic ST60 with different cables were the following:

- Any resolution less than 1080p supports 12bpc even at 60Hz, such as 1080i@60Hz / RGB Full, 720p@60Hz / RGB Full, etc...

- I can get 12bpc on 1080p only when refresh rate is less than 50Hz, so 1080p@24Hz / RGB Full supports 12bpc.

- Changing RGB Full to Limited or YCrCb does not enable 12bpc with 1080p@60Hz.

Does someone have an idea why it's impossible to get 1080p@60Hz 12bpc on the TV? TV limitation?

Thanks!

James Freeman

21st June 2015, 06:39

I have a Panasonic ST60.
I see interesting results regarding Nvidia bid depth, range, and madVR.

I can select 12bpc in nvidia CP even in 60Hz 1080p, but there is visible banding.
When madVR changes to 10bit (FSE DX11) there are some change for the worse... can't exactly remember.

I ALWAYS use RGB so that the GPU will not do the conversion to YCbCr because the conversion effects color too much.
The gradient is smooth in RGB only in standard (16-235) mode and 8bit.

I'm currently at work so this info is from memory, I will report later when I'm home.
I will map the behavior of the ST60 in all bit depths.

ryrynz

21st June 2015, 06:39

Hi,

Could someone please summarize state of findings regarding Panasonic ST60? I tried to search and find a definitive answer, but couldn't.

Yes all of the above are limitations of your plasma. Personally I prefer to run yCbCr444 using TV range output on my VT50 because it offers overall better image quality (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1614315&postcount=17361) than outputting via RGB and only getting 4:2:0.

10/12 bit output is basically indistinguishable from 8 bit on our sets, so don't worry about it. My recommendation would be to do what I have done, unless you prefer full range output..

Apparently Nvidia hasn't exposed a way for software to change the color format, I'll post about that in the Nvidia forum as it would be nice to have the renderer change modes automatically so colors are accurate for the desktop/games without having to change it manually.

XMonarchY

21st June 2015, 16:05

I think you have missed the part where I said your monitor does NOT use FRC to generate more gradients like other 8+FRC monitors.
Therefor if you see dithering grain when in 10bit mode in madVR you actually see Nvidia GPU dithering down to 8bit, not FRC.

You monitor clearly specifies:
16.77 million from a palette of 1.06 billion
Meaning 8bit out of 8bit+FRC internal processing.

AGAIN,
If nvidia CP does not let you select 10bit, then your monitor does NOT use 8bit+FRC to generate gradients.

We can assume that because no one actually can see the difference.
Furthermore, 8+dithering/FRC might even look more like 12bit than 10bit...

Yes, and I disagree with that. I think FRC can come from monitor processing itself, not NVidia driver. Dithering OUTSIDE of madVR, like on JPG/PNG grayscale gradients (viewed normally as a picture, not through madVR/MPC-HC), IS visible and gradients are much smoother on my monitor with 8bit NVidia CP setting than they are on my HDTV with 8bit NVidia CP setting, and ALMOST as smooth as on my HDTV with 12bit NVidia CP setting.

NVidia CP does not have FRC settings and NVidia drivers do not control FRC either. 10bit settings is NOT the same as 8bit+FRC. 10bit setting is true 10bit. 8bit is true 8bit, but FRC can come from displays themselves. I mean its SO obvious when you look at grayscale gradients (again, OUTSIDE of MPC-HC/madVR, in normal Windows Photo Viewer, Internet sites, and even on desktop).

James Freeman

21st June 2015, 16:11

gradients are much smoother on my monitor with 8bit NVidia CP setting than they are on my HDTV with 8bit NVidia setting, and ALMOST as smooth as on my HDTV with 12bit NVidia setting.

It means that you Eizo monitor is better than your TV at gamma curve processing thus generating less banding.
Some monitors/tvs do it better than others, It is still only 8bit.

Cheers

XMonarchY

21st June 2015, 18:17

It means that you Eizo monitor is better than your TV at gamma curve processing thus generating less banding.
Some monitors/tvs do it better than others, It is still only 8bit.

Cheers

Except I can see obvious FRC dithering. Besides, 8bit + FRC dithering on monitors has been out there for quite some time and monitor review sites have long ago noticed FRC and talked about it. Thing is, back then, NVidia CP did not have 10bit setting, but only 8bit default. YET, FRC dithering was still noticed.

Again, NVidia CP and drivers do not control FRC dithering - it is done via the monitor's processing.