In this guide, a step-by-step explanation of how to enable HDR technology for monitors and laptops supported on Windows 11. We have explained before What is HDR? In detail, you can view the article from the previous link, and now we show you how to activate HDR technology on Windows 11.
How to enable HDR on Windows 11
First, what is HDR: It is an abbreviation for the term High Dynamic Range, which in Arabic means “high dynamic range”. This technology is a dramatic visual experience full of lifelike colors and is a huge upgrade in brightness and contrast levels compared to standard SDR technology also known as Standard Dynamic Range.
Also read: A rich list is presented to you Best camera phones 2023The best mobiles in terms of camera and imaging accuracy.
HDR content always looks brighter, more vivid, full of color, and has superior detail quality when compared to traditional SDR content.
Without any doubt, you will notice an amazing difference when watching movies, TV shows, or video games that support HDR as long as your computer monitor, TV screen, or laptop screen supports HDR content.
HDR has become a very popular visual experience technology for its ability to boost productivity and give users a great visual experience by improving the overall picture quality of the content displayed on screen. HDR technology tries to bring you a new dimension of detail accuracy by enhancing the color quality, contrast levels, and screen brightness rates.
Support for HDR technology was introduced in Windows 11, as well as in Windows 11. But the technology is not enabled by default on either operating system, which means that you need to enable it manually in Windows settings to get the most out of your HDR-compatible device screen .
Also, if you are not sure if your device screen supports HDR technology, this guide will help you check whether your screen is ready to take advantage of this technology or not.
If your screen is compatible with HDR content, all you need to do is to search for HDR-supported content be it games or movies. But if it becomes clear to you that your screen is not supported, you will not find a way to enable HDR technology from Windows settings.
▼ Minimum requirements for HDR
These are the minimum requirements to enable and play HDR content on your monitor or laptop:
- The operating system: Windows 10, version 1803, April 2018 or later.
- central processor: Any central processor from Intel 7th generation or equivalent from AMD, provided that it supports 10-bit video decoding technology.
- Graphics processor: The graphics card is compatible with PlayReady technology to play HDR content.
- Display: Display panel with a resolution of 1820 x 1080 pixels or higher.
- screen brightness: Averaged at 300 lumens or higher.
- If you are not sure about the type of central processor or your version of Windows supports HDR technology, follow these steps:
- Open Settings by clicking on a shortcut Windows + I.
- Click on a tab System from the options bar to the left of the Settings window.
- Scroll down and tap on an option About.
- From the front Processor You can find out your processor type.
- Under the Windows Specifications section, look at the version in front of “Version“.
■ How to enable HDR on Windows
Follow the instructions below to enable HDR from Windows 11 settings:
- Click a shortcut Windows + I to open the Settings window Settings.
- Make sure you are in a tab System.
- On the right side of the window, click Option Display.
- Click an option HDR.
- Scroll down a bit and enable the indicator in front of the “Use HDR“.
■ Is your screen HDR, but the technology activation indicator is not present in the Windows settings?
If your screen supports HDR content and you make sure that you have the specifications of your device (processor, graphics card, and Windows version) that meet the requirements for activating the technology, yet the “Use HDR” activation indicator does not appear in the Windows settings only by performing the following steps:
- If you are using a laptop, connect the device to the mains charger.
- Turn the screen off and then back on again.
- If you are using a desktop computer, disconnect the display cable and then reinstall it.
- Try switching using the HDMI and Displayport cables you own.
- Make sure that Windows is up to date and that the graphics card driver is up to date.
- Look for an option to enable HDR content in the controls menu of the monitor itself.
■ Would you like to enable HDR on an external monitor?
If you have an external monitor that supports HDR technology and want to connect it to your laptop, you must make sure that the external monitor is compatible with HDR content.
Here are the minimum requirements to run HDR on external monitors:
- Screen supporting HDR10 visuals.
- Connect the monitor to HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.4.
- Ensure that the laptop contains a graphics processor that supports PlayReady 3.0 to play HDR content, for example, Intel integrated graphics processors Intel HD 600 Series or higher, NVIDIA GTX 10 Series cards, or AMD Radeon RX 400 Series cards.
- The platform is compatible with HEVC or VP9 codecs for decoding 10-bit content.
- WDDM 2.4 or later graphics card driver.
Also read: The best 4K 120Hz TV monitors for PS5 and XBOX Series X
Conclusion
What you should know about HDR technology in conclusion is that it is one of the things that drains a large amount of power because HDR content usually displays more colors and is able to push the limits of the screen to its peak brightness as well as put higher pressure on the CPU and graphical processing characteristics in the processes HDR video decoding and consuming more power resources.
Also, keep in mind that if you activate the “Battery Saver” mode, HDR will be automatically disabled to preserve battery life.
