Avatar HDR Making Faces Look Strange
Many people watching Avatar on modern TVs notice something odd. Faces in the movie look unnatural. Skin tones turn too bright, orange-red, or pinkish. Eyes appear overly blue. Lips look unnaturally peach-colored. This happens especially with HDR versions of the film. It makes characters seem fake or like cartoons.
This problem shows up on high-end TVs like the Samsung QN65S95F. Users report it starts suddenly after a few weeks. It affects all inputs, apps, and picture modes. One viewer first saw it in Avatar. Then it spread to shows like Stranger Things. Facial tones got oversaturated and matte. SDR content looked grayish by comparison.https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/LED-and-OLED-TVs/QN65S95F-Oversaturation/td-p/3429707
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It aims to show brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and more colors than old SDR video. SDR tops out at about 100 nits of brightness. Real sunlight hits over 10,000 nits. HDR handles this better. But it has issues. Traditional gamma curves from the 1950s cause crushed blacks and clipped highlights in SDR conversions. HDR tries to fix this with dynamic adjustments.https://www.oreateai.com/blog/indepth-analysis-of-hdr10-hdr10-and-dolby-vision-technology-standards/da91cb6a604e6e6589cb6f5ed13c3479
In Avatar, complex scenes push HDR limits. Bright Pandora lights mix with dark forests. TVs struggle to map colors right. Oversaturation hits faces hardest because skin has subtle tones. AI picture modes can make it worse by over-boosting colors. Turning off AI or switching to standard mode helps some, but not always.
PC users see it too. HDR glitches in games need toggling HDR on and off each time.https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/578689/geforce-grd-59144-feedback-thread-released-12425/?commentPage=2 Graphics drivers or Windows settings play a role. Reinstalling drivers or changing HDMI ports fixes it temporarily for some.
AI tools promise fixes. They upscale video, reduce noise, and restore details. Tests show they keep faces natural while sharpening textures. But results vary by tool.https://unifab.ai/resource/best-ai-video-enhancer-mac
Workarounds include factory resets, firmware updates, or calibrating the TV. Check HDMI cables and ports. For Avatar fans, playing in SDR avoids the issue entirely.
Sources
https://www.oreateai.com/blog/indepth-analysis-of-hdr10-hdr10-and-dolby-vision-technology-standards/da91cb6a604e6e6589cb6f5ed13c3479
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/LED-and-OLED-TVs/QN65S95F-Oversaturation/td-p/3429707
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/578689/geforce-grd-59144-feedback-thread-released-12425/?commentPage=2
https://unifab.ai/resource/best-ai-video-enhancer-mac
