Does MadVR process HDR better than HDR Device?

[MalickT]

I have Sony VPL-VW285ES 4K HDR projector.

When I "send HDR metadata to the display" on MadVR the projector acknowledges that input is HDR and then processes the HDR. The colors are pretty good and contrast is good BUT there are some noticeable light-blue-ish/green-ish squares visible in some scenes like in outdoor scenes in the sky. Also noticeable on peoples faces. It shows "white" as "light-blue". Sometimes it just feels like there is something wrong with the colors. I have tried all options/tweaks on my projector and I cannot fully get rid of the issue when HDR is displayed. Some movies have this issue, some not so much. Like in movie "Gold" when Zach Effron is crawling on the desert - the scene has "light-blue squarers" all over the ground and the HDR was so bad on the projector.

Then again when I let the MadVR "tone map HDR using picel shaders" the projector does not show that input is HDR but colors are pretty much the same as before or even more colorful/brighter and there is no blue/green square issues.

So I cannot decide :)

When I let the projector process the HDR I KNOW that this is HDR but if I let MadVR process the HDR it feels Fake-HDR. Or is it?

[huhn]

both do the same thing in the end.

a PJ simply can't display HDR so the results is SDR "like".
you can not take a 500 nits HDR image and display it at 100 and call it HDR.
even TVs can't do without tone mapping it's just far less aggressive and needed because more of the high range can be displayed as intended.

if you like the tone mapping of madVR or your PJ more that for you to figure out.

[Alexkral]

When I let the projector process the HDR I KNOW that this is HDR but if I let MadVR process the HDR it feels Fake-HDR. Or is it?

But it's fake HDR anyway. There is no way to tone map to 100 nits without totally changing the PQ EOTF. The issues you're seeing are probably due to your PJ doing something wrong with the saturation correction, or even with the gamut mapping.

EDIT: Wow, I just saw that this is quite an expensive device. Maybe you can fix it with the calibration settings, but in this context completely forget about getting accurate colors. Any solution will be different and equally valid, so just choose the one you like best.

[.m4jX]

In the most basic form, madVR does the same thing as your projector is supposed to do, only better ("better" with the all subjectivity that entails) with more powerful/accurate/better looking algorithms. madVR should look better especially on projectors, there aren't ~15000 posts over 4 years on the "Improving Madvr HDR to SDR mapping for projector" thread for nothing.

Only reason to pass HDR would be if you projector has some setting you need locked behind a HDR signal or if it goes brighter in HDR or something (which it shouldn't given projectors low brightness in the first place), otherwise just tonemap to SDR. Though even if you need to pass HDR you can still tonemap with madVR, e.g. Movie is 1000nits, projector 150nits, you tonemap with madVR to 150nits but still send in HDR and disable tonemapping on projector.

madVR isn't going to magically make your projector brighter, but it's tonemapping is going to handle things like saturation, highlight/shadow recovery, etc. better. The issues you mention are pretty much exactly why people with projectors use madVR. (Get the beta though)

So a 150nit projector is still only go up to 150nits, but it's going to have fewer issues in problem areas and with dynamic tonemapping the "HDR effect" can look more pronounced. If you wanna call that "fake HDR" you can but what your projector does isn't any more "real", 150 nits is 150 nits.