AW3423DWF, crushing blacks

Use this test to check black levels: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php 

I have the same monitor, and in HDR true black I can distinguish each box in that test. If you can't, more than likely you have a hardware issue as the HDR true black mode complies to the VESA standard.

You can try setting the dark stabilizer to 1 and set both contrast and brightness to 75%.

In HDR True Black and HDR on in Windows with the Contrast at 67%, I can see all of those squares. Turning HDR off in Windows makes it so I can only see 8 and above, but I don't think that's how you're supposed to view this. However, you mention changing the Dark Stabilizer setting, but this is not allowed when the monitor is getting an HDR signal, only in SDR is it possible.So, turning off HDR in windows and viewing the same page, but this time with dark stabilizer at 1, I can see all the squares again. But this doesn't work with HDR.

I also found some other test patterns that are HDR video files to test black levels and those seemed fine to me as well.

Starting to think it might be related to how I ripped the movie, and my monitor/windows not reading the HDR information correctly.

I have HDR+ icon also in top right of the menu, and I can see all squares without any issue.

I have windows desktop set to HDR, and I can change the dark stabilizer setting with the monitor set to true black. I can see all patterns without an issue.

Another test pattern to use is this one: 0-10 

should see the numbers 0 and 10 in the boxes without them blending in the background or being invisible.

The Dark Stabilizer option is greyed out for me, and I have an HDR+ icon in the top right of the menu indicating the monitor is getting an HDR signal. The option to change the Dark Stabilizer is available in Dell Display Utility, but it has no effect when HDR content is showing.

Yes, I can see all the squares when I have an HDR+ icon, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I was saying that when that HDR+ icon is showing, the option to change the dark stabilizer is greyed out and unavailable.

As for the other test pattern you sent, that doesn't contain HDR data (indicated by the lack of an HDR symbol on the quality cog wheel). While I can see all the numbers with HDR on and off, it's not an HDR source so when HDR is on, the greys are very elevated.

After the latest firmware update (M3B104) this black crush issue still remains. It happens on all DWF models I have had other people test for me, but on the few DW models I have had people test for me, it does not. This is unacceptable and completely ruins certain scenes in movies and games. Rtings testing shows this issue in their EOTF testing, but have not commented on it. Neither has Monitors Unboxed.

Below I have posted two images, one of my DWF, and one of a DW playing the exact same file I am for comparison. Notice how crushed the blacks are in the fur, face, and wall. Disregard color saturation, as that's just the cameras.

AW3423DWF, Firmware M3B104

AW3423DW, from Conten on discord

I should also correct something in my original post: The DWF result from the discord user Sevaeron is inaccurate, as they were not playing the same file as I was. Once I sent them the same clip,  their results were the same as mine.

I hope someone from Dell can comment on this issue, because so far I am losing hope that this issue will ever be fixed.

I confirm I have the exact same issue with crushed blacks, bought my DWF 2 weeks ago and running on latest firmware.

Just out of curiosity, what cables are you using to connect the monitor?

I'm was using the included full sized DP to full sized DP cable included with the monitor, but I'm now using an Amazon basics DP to DP cable and it's still the same.

I have the same monitor, no issues with black levels for me.

I also have this problem on my monitor but only in the peak 1000 mode, i know there is alot of differences between the freesync pipeline and the normal one. Does this issue also happen on AMD GPUs? Most reports seem to come from Nvidia users including myself. The only thing that fixes the issue is increasing the NVCP brightness to 52% and making sure full rgb is activate leaving the rest on default. Main issue is this overbrightens it back to how it was in M3B103

I have used both a 3080 and a 7900XTX on this monitor and see no difference in black levels in HDR 1000 mode. The latest firmware does fix the EOTF issue in HDR 1000 mode, so be sure to update the firmware of the monitor when using HDR 1000 mode.

I have read from some other users that they seemed to have issues with AMD cards and HDR mode. But like I said, I experienced zero issues when I switched from AMD to NVIDIA.

I do know that DP cables can cause issues as I recently experienced that first hand when I tried to use a different DP cable. So maybe that could be contributing to the issue some are experiencing.

I know specifically that the latest 7000 AMD cards use DP 2.1, while the monitor is using DP 1.4. There are currently to my knowledge only a few DP 2.1 cables available that are VESA certified, and all of those that are are DP40 instead of DP80 certified. AMD is the only one that has DP 2.1 on their consumer cards, NVIDIA is all DP 1.4.

Like I said, I tried a DP 2.1 DP40 cable and had nothing but issues but that cable was not truly certified so I went back to my VESA certified DP 1.4 cable. I have another this time proper DP 2.1 DP40 cable VESA certified arriving today, so I am going to try that out.

I don't know at this point if the issue was truly with the cable, or if the issue was with the DP 1.4 to DP 2.1 connection. All I can say is be careful with purchasing cables on Amazon because many manufacturers make claims that are not exactly true. Always check the VESA certification database to make sure it's truly VESA certified: Product database 

Which black level file are you using from that test pattern collection?