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  • Do we want bands when we disable dithering?

Hello all,

I have installed the ditherig tool, and chosen to disable dithering on my Dell 3520 running Windows 11 with Intel Iris Xe Graphics. I believe I am sensitive to how Windows expands the colors (ex. taking 6bit and making it like having more). When I test using this site with dithering turned off, I see bands across the grayscale…

Gradient (banding) - Lagom LCD test

If I select Spatial from the dithering menu, the grayscale does not have bands. Which setting do we want… Does having bands mean we are getting the more natural/non emulated colors and its better for not having dizzying/headaches (ex. higher resolution)? It's hard for me to know the difference in which one is better as I already had a headache from setting things up on the laptop before I installed and configured the ditherig tool.

Thank you.

    The bands are a sure-fire indicator the tool is working.

    Spatial is fine. That's just a cross-hatch pattern, it's not moving. When people complain about dithering here, they are referring to FRC/temporal where there is continuous movement.

      Sunspark thank you for clarifying! I will try spatial perhaps. When it says default, is that the default of Windows or the dithering tool?

        Dizzy usually people seem to disable all dithering algorithms

            jordan thanks. That is what I have currently. On a better graphics card that has more colors, do they not require dithering or do all video cards have dithering?

                Dizzy the thing is that even higher end cards seem to dither too. For example someone was telling me that the Quadro rtx 4000 doesn't but the rtx a4000 does. I think it's a driver issue because when set to disable it should be off but some cards still will dither regardless. Almost need someone to modify a driver and remove dithering from it. Supposedly the Intel arc a770 does not dither on default settings. One other thing is you want to avoid frc, I think 8+2frc is ok if you don't enable HDR But I think it's the 6+2frc(fake 8 bit) that is more problematic? Me personally I would stick to no frc. True 6, true 8, or true 10 bit monitors only

                  Thanks a ton for this info. How do I know which monitors are true 6, 8, or 10 including laptop panels? Is this buried in their documentation? Do I search for non FRC monitors?

                    Dizzy of course! You can use displayspecifications.com and search a monitor model number and it should say 8 bits or 6+2 bits. For laptops you would need to figure out the panel model number which I believe can be found through device manager or using Aida.

                        Dizzy

                        Of course! Good sites to check monitors for pwm and such is notebookcheck and rtings.

                        Couple monitors off the top of my head without frc/pwm would be;

                        True 10 bit: dell up2720q

                        True 8 bit: HP omen 27q 2023 model (LG panel revision best)

                          Looking up specs is no guarantee.. not just because stuff changes, but because they all play games.

                          Mine is 6 bit+FRC but advertises the same number of colours as a true 8-bit.

                          The panel itself doing work is not too bad, but when it's both the panel and the driver at the same time I don't like.

                          dev