Xbox Series X does not allow HDR10:on with Screen resolutions below 4K

Hi,

Unfortunately the Asus ROG Strix XG279Q is limited to 60Hz with HDR, it's a limitation of the monitor hardware. It will either be HDR on or off I'm afraid. 

A lot of gaming monitors have quite poor HDR, with low peak brightness. The "HDR" feature on a lot of monitors is a selling point that customers expect to see, rather than it being actually good. Also this monitor has a lot more input lag at 60Hz with HDR enabled.

I would drop HDR and enjoy 1440P at 120Hz as a better option. Making sure you also enable Variable Refresh Rate.

Hi,

Unfortunately the Asus ROG Strix XG279Q is limited to 60Hz with HDR, it's a limitation of the monitor hardware. It will either be HDR on or off I'm afraid. 

A lot of gaming monitors have quite poor HDR, with low peak brightness. The "HDR" feature on a lot of monitors is a selling point that customers expect to see, rather than it being actually good. Also this monitor has a lot more input lag at 60Hz with HDR enabled.

I would drop HDR and enjoy 1440P at 120Hz as a better option. Making sure you also enable Variable Refresh Rate.

Hi,

thank you for your fast reply and your explanation. Where did you find this info?

As I just bought this monitor because I thought it is a very good choice for the new Series X and the RTX 3070 as well, I can still change it to another Monitor - do you have any better suggestion for 27" and the Series X? 

Thank you,

Günther

The information was found from the Rtings.com website here

I must point out, the 60Hz limitation with HDR is via HDMI on this monitor. There is no limitation on a PC via Display Port. A very good monitor for a PC armed with an RTX 3070.

Xbox consoles are very fussy when it comes to refresh rates over HDMI. Rather than use the preferred refresh rate that the monitor will tell the console it can use over E-EDID, Microsoft have chosen to only accept timings from the official VESA standard (Video Electronics Standards Association). If your chosen monitor doesn't have these timings, it won't be able to use all its features on an Xbox console.

This means you can't just go with what the marketing says on box, you have to dig deeper and look at the monitor manual and review sites to see what refresh rates are supported and, more importantly, if they are VESA.  

Some monitor manuals actually state VESA and others put these other timings in a separate column called 'HDMI Video Timing'.

Wow - thank you - very detailed answer! Really thank you for your efforts. 

I will investigate a little deeper and as Display-Port is no option for the Series X it probably would make anyway sense to wait for the upcoming HDMI 2.1 Monitors. 

My first summary:  Basically, I have luck, that my Asus monitor is capable of a 4K signal, although the panel scale it down to 1440p. But on the other hand side - with this setting -  I can not use my monitor's very fast panel with 120 or 140hz when I want to use HDR, which of course looks way better than SDR. 

It seems that I have to decide between 120 Hz without HDR or 60 Hz with HDR. I would love to change the settings to 1440p @ 120 Hz with HDR on. I am really wondering why this is not possible/allowed. 

Screenshot don't allow 4K:

Hi 

This has been bugging me too! I also got the xg279q for the xbox Series S.

1440p 120hz console with a 1440p 144hz HDR capable monitor (HDR being a selling point for console and monitor)

Whats also confusing me is

While the "allow 4K" and "allow HDR10" is checked, going into games the screen will blink off then on displaying "HDR on" sometimes when coming out or going into games the monitor blinks off out of HDR mode the monitor will not come back on unless I turn the monitor off then on again. 

If HDR only works on 4K then levels in games that are not at 4K will not be HDR. GEARS 5 for example act 1 HDR on act 2 no HDR.

My point is do I keep a better looking but seemingly unstable HDR experience or turn it off?

Is HDR that big of a deal?

Thanks.

Is HDR that big of a deal?

Thanks.

Depends on the display, its 'peak brightness' rated in Nits and whether it has local dimming or not. Most mid range monitors lack true HDR. Most are only HDR400 and even many of these can't quite get there. Clever, misleading marketing.  Generally anything below 600 Nits isn't worth enabling. 

My LG 27GL850 has HDR but while it's rated as HDR400 it doesn't really get there. Black look like dark greys and whites don't get white enough for my eyes. It doesn't matter how much I've tried to calibrate it, it just looks bad on this monitor, so I've turn it off. SDR looks better.

It's not much better for the XG279Q. Rtings.com review site says:

The ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q is decent for HDR gaming. It offers a ton of gaming perks like VRR support, a remarkable response time, and a Black Frame Insertion feature. HDR content looks good because it displays a wide color gamut, but it has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks appear gray, black uniformity is bad, and the input lag is quite high when gaming in HDR.

Test it yourself. If dark areas appear dark enough and light areas are bright enough, great. But to do this test, you need to do it in a dark room. My tests with my monitor weren't great, so I turned it off.

Hi,

Unfortunately the Asus ROG Strix XG279Q is limited to 60Hz with HDR, it's a limitation of the monitor hardware. It will either be HDR on or off I'm afraid. 

A lot of gaming monitors have quite poor HDR, with low peak brightness. The "HDR" feature on a lot of monitors is a selling point that customers expect to see, rather than it being actually good. Also this monitor has a lot more input lag at 60Hz with HDR enabled.

I would drop HDR and enjoy 1440P at 120Hz as a better option. Making sure you also enable Variable Refresh Rate.

Hi,

thank you for your fast reply and your explanation. Where did you find this info?

As I just bought this monitor because I thought it is a very good choice for the new Series X and the RTX 3070 as well, I can still change it to another Monitor - do you have any better suggestion for 27" and the Series X? 

Thank you,

Günther

Since the xbox one x and s support hdr it only works in 4k, it was thought that with the new GENERATION it would be fixed but no please solve this