Monitor check

Dark scenes losing detail?

Your monitor may be turning several near-black shades into one flat black.

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The symptom

Shadow texture disappears

Hair, clothing, caves and night scenes merge into featureless black. That is black crush.

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Before you test

Use normal SDR settings

Dim the room, avoid glare and let your eyes adapt for 30 to 60 seconds.

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The test

Look for 32 near-black steps

Patch 1 is darkest. Patch 32 is easiest. Use fullscreen and do not expect the low steps to glow.

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4

Read the result

Find the first visible patch

It should be barely separate from the black background. Note its number.

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1-32All steps visible

Excellent

You can see 1 through 32

Your display is preserving very dark shadow steps. Subtle is correct.

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4First visible step

Mild crushing

Visibility starts near 4

Brightness may be too low, or gamma may be hiding the first few steps.

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8 / 16Check range and black level

Moderate to severe

Visibility starts at 8 or 16

Check the monitor black-level setting and whether the GPU is sending Full or Limited RGB.

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Brightness CheckRGB range FullGamma Retest

Fix one variable at a time

Brightness. Range. Gamma.

Retest after each change. Establish a clean SDR result before troubleshooting HDR.

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See what your display keeps

Run all 32 shadow steps

The live tool is the proper diagnostic surface; compressed story images are only a guide.

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 Run the test