U2723QE, when to enable Smart HDR?

Spent more time experimenting with the U2723QE's HDR modes and the worst part is absolutely the blown highlights. Bright scenes / bright areas like skies suffering from a near total loss of detail. I've never seen an issue like this before on a premium product like this.

Is this complete loss of highlight detail when viewing HDR content expected behavior fir this monitor (and possibly all monitors using "ips black" panels)? Or is this something that could be fixed by a settings tweak, firmware upgrade, or product recall?

Non-HDR content like the Windows desktop, Windows backgrounds, Windows basic applications, will always look faded or washed out if HDR is turned On. Only dedicated HDR movies and HDR games will utilize/show the HDR. Which is why when you go back to the non-HDR Windows, you have to turn HDR Off.

When using non-HDR content like the standard Windows Desktop, HDR should be Off in the monitors Menu and in Windows Display Settings
* If applicable for your monitor model, change the monitor Menu- Color- Preset Modes to any non-HDR mode
* If applicable for your monitor model, change the monitor Menu- Display- Smart HDR to Off
* Right click on Windows Display Settings
* Switch HDR and advanced colors to Off

When using an HDR compatible Game or HDR compatible Movie, HDR should be On in the monitors Menu and in Windows Display Settings
* If applicable for your monitor model, change the monitor Menu- Color- Preset Modes to Game HDR or Movie HDR
* If applicable for your monitor model, change the monitor Menu- Display- Smart HDR to On, Normal REC 2020, or Vivid DCI-P3
* Right click on Windows Display Settings
* Switch HDR and advanced colors to On

The problem with blown highlights / loss of highlight detail on the U2723EQ is specific to streaming HDR content (and affects all Smart HDR modes). Bright scenes / bright areas like skies in HDR content suffer from a near total loss of detail. Here's a scene that really highlights this problem well: https://youtu.be/onVhbeY7nLM

From Ratings review - "The EOTF follows the target PQ curve perfectly until there's a sharp roll-off at the peak brightness, causing a loss of fine details in bright scenes."

HDR content on the U2723QE suffers from extreme backlight flickering during dark scenes. It's especially noticeable when watching HDR content with subtitles where all 4x backlights get cranked up to full brightness at the beginning and end of each subtitle card. It's hard to understand how Dell's implementation of HDR local dimming zone control could be so completely broken. Here is a video someone else shot demonstrating that the flickering issue in an HDR game is present on the U2723QE but not on the U2720Q https://photos.app.goo.gl/qePyKQ8WZoTkuWn7A.

I expected the U2723QE to be a great productivity monitor with the ability to stream the occasional movie in basic HDR 400 quality HDR.  Unfortunately, all Smart HDR modes are broken due to the backlight flickering issues.

Can local dimming be disabled entirely on this unit to make Smart HDR modes usable?

Is Dell working on a firmware fix for the backlight flickering issue?

Thank you for messaging us. To ensure the privacy of your information, we recommend that you continue chatting with us through direct message. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I have been chatting with Dell via direct message. I've submitted detailed information about the issue via direct message and the responses I've received so far (1) avoid acknowledging or responding directly to the issue as described in any way and (2) assign the support ticket back to me without doing any investigation.

ferris-aquatic,

Following up to see if the issue was resolved through our chat service?  Let us know.