CCC display color depth setting (bpc)?

[Frag_Maniac]

Hey guys, need a bit of advice from you display and CCC tech heads. I was answering a thread on another forum asking about display settings when I noticed CCC defaults to 10 bpc on my Panasonic TC-L32U3, which I'm pretty sure has an 8 bit panel. It's driving me nuts though because I can't actually verify that with any of the sources for this TV I've checked.

One thread I read in my search though indicated CCC shows 10 or 12 bpc greyed out if your display panel is not 10 or 12 bit color depth capable, and now I'm not so sure. Or maybe it's supposed to be greyed out, but for some reason isn't.

So to my questions.

1. Is there a simple software tool I can use that will detect what bit color depth my display is?
2. Will having had it set on 10 bpc if it's an 8 bit panel cause any harm or performance issues?
3. Is it possible for CCC to upscale color depth, similar to the way DSR works for texture detail?

I appreciate any knowledgeable input. I'm really baffled here. I'm seriously doubting this is a 10 bit panel.

 

[Xzibit]

1.) Try this if you have Photoshop CS6 or newer (software/viewer has to support 10bit)
10 bit test ramp.zip

2.) No, AMD default is 10-bit / 10bpc. I believe your seeing the default and your panel is IPS so its likely a 10bit could be 8bit

3.) No.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Why would CCC even have a "default" color depth vs detecting your display's color depth? Doesn't make sense. And as I stated, I'm willing to bet mine is just 8. Being IPS doesn't automatically mean a display is 10 bit.

As I also stated, I've seen posts from people saying they couldn't change it to 10 when CCC first had 10 support, because it was greyed out. I see 8, 10, and 12 options, and none of them are greyed out.

 

[kn00tcn]

some IPS are 6bit too

the thing is, monitors arent that dumb, they will accept higher quality images, process them, then display a worse image (aka all those 6 bit panels, it's not like users are changing a setting & no such setting exists on consoles)

i would just do some image tests & not care if everything looks correct (nothing crushed, no banding)

 

[AsRock]

Been though this crap so many times i just gave in, my A/V and TV support 10bit how ever CCC will only show 8bit so i would love to have your issue .

I had enough of checking around the web as most hits were about 16bit\24bit\32bit which is not the same thing.

Maybe you should get in touch with the manufacture as i did and TOSHIBA just said it was a compatibility issue which would not be solved.

 

[DinaAngel]

only professional cards supports 10bit atm, its driver locked. but however nvidia has it as passive active, so alien isolation tht supports 10bit with directX should be able to do it just fine. it will turn on it by itself thru direct3d. but opengl 10bit is locked to pro series

i belive the 290x and so those top amd cards got it passive active too

10bit "30bit" same thing

also 10bit "30bit" is also named something else called deepcolor

32bit is not higher than 30bit

it can be confusing

 

[AsRock]

BTW @Mussels did a thread on this too.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/12-bit-hdmi-color-output-in-cat-14-6.202188/

 

[Xzibit]

Why would CCC even have a "default" color depth vs detecting your display's color depth? Doesn't make sense. And as I stated, I'm willing to bet mine is just 8. Being IPS doesn't automatically mean a display is 10 bit.

As I also stated, I've seen posts from people saying they couldn't change it to 10 when CCC first had 10 support, because it was greyed out. I see 8, 10, and 12 options, and none of them are greyed out.

Panels/TV have there own processors as well. Samsung has Wide Color Enhancer Plus, Sony has Live Color Technology and so on.

only professional cards supports 10bit atm, its driver locked. but however nvidia has it as passive active, so alien isolation tht supports 10bit with directX should be able to do it just fine. it will turn on it by itself thru direct3d. but opengl 10bit is locked to pro series
i belive the 290x and so those top amd cards got it passive active too
10bit "30bit" same thing
also 10bit "30bit" is also named something else called deepcolor
32bit is not higher than 30bit
it can be confusing

No GeForce supports native 10bit, You need a Quadro card or a Tegra X1 for 10bit support on Nvidia side.

AMDs support native 10bit as far back as X1K series 2004.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

...monitors arent that dumb, they will accept higher quality images, process them, then display a worse image...

Of course I know this, like the sets that are deceptively advertised as 1080p ready, but they only accept a 1080 signal and down convert it.

The thing is though, no gamer in their right mind wants extra, unnecessary processing going on if it can be avoided, and it also just adds wear and tear to the set over time.

For now I have CCC set to 8 bpc. I'll check Mussels' thread out.

Also, I would not trust most manufacturer's phone or email staff to even know what bit rating the color depth of their panels are., unless you were lucky enough to get an email back from their engineers, which is unlikely because most are overseas.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Well, my suspicions regarding Panasonic support were not only confirmed, it's worse than I anticipated. Definitely going with another brand next time. Their TV dept is tanking due to poor decisions on their part, and now their CS is sinking with it. The ironic thing is, despite their TV dept losing so much money they had to stop making their own LCD panels (buying them from LG now), from what I've read they've invested heavily in OLED/PLED and partnered with a big panel manufacturer in Japan to mass produce them. This is insane since they're already hurting financially, and OLED/PLED is not even proven in the mainstream market yet due to high prices and low lifespan.

The call
Nothing but an automated voice that eventually tells you you have to pay to talk to someone, due to your TV being past Panasonic's warranty period, and having no extended warranty coverage.

The live chat
I'm told Panasonic no longer has the specs on this set, then she clarifies that it's just the spec I'm looking for that is not available. When asked if I could get an email response from the engineers, she tells me even they would not have such specs. Before I could even respond as to my opinion on that, and Panasonic's TV dept going south in general, I got disconnected.

 

[kn00tcn]

while yes you want as little processing as possible, at the end of the day, what you see with your eyes has the final say

if the image is perceptually fine or no different when testing various settings, then it's probably fine

(i say perceptually since if you look at the earliest FCAT reviews, it was noted that amd cards had a very small amount of noise which confused the software when it was trying to detect each of those solid colors, but examples like this only appear when doing precise mathematical measurements)