LLDV or VS10 for DV content first (but not exclusive)?

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering to what extent I have the optimal settings to make the most of the Z9X Pro connected directly to my Panasonic 65JZ1500 (OLED 2021).

General expectations

Like everyone else here, of course, I want to get the best picture of possible from my TV. This whether it's SDR, HDR, HDR10+ or DV content, and even if it means having to change settings frequently if necessary depending of the source quality content to watch. Knowing that I'm not an video expert, but just an informed user curious and eager to improve their experience.

Context

My priority set for my current use are mainly DV content, with HDR10+, else HDR, and SDR as a last resort:

• SDR content: I really appreciate SDR processing via the VS10 engine: the result is just spectacular, and I'd like to be able to continue converting SDR content to DV on the fly (regardless HDR mode to choose).
  
• HDR content: I rarely play this type of content anymore, preferring DV when possible (and it's almost always possible today). So I'm not going to focus on this format.
  
• DV content: I favor profiles in what seems to me - on paper (correct what I say if I'm wrong) - to be the most faithful to the least faithful rendering : P7 (MEL, FEL) first, else P5, else P8 as last.

HDR playback mode: so far, I like LLDV mode, as content ranging from SDR to DV offers a global good result. It's also advantageous from a practical PoV, as there's no need to readjust settings manually depending of the source quality content to watch.

Problematic

Although overall DV rendering is good via LLDV mode, I sometimes have doubts as to the right configuration to get the best out of my TV, especially when using native DV content... And I'm not talking about display bugs (like artifacts or something like that), but the general rendering in terms of colorimetry, contrast, gamma, etc. For typical example, some DV videos may appear darker than others, with the difference sometimes being significant.
I don't know how to verify this without more information...

My theoretical analysis

Everyone knows that “Panasonic is renowned for its good image processing and calibration right out of the box” (on its 1500 and 2000 range of OLED TVs, anyway), so they say... But I suppose though that for optimum results it would be preferable to favour the power of the Z9X Pro's more modern chipset over that of the TV?

The Z9X Pro's processor decodes the video upstream, okay. What I'm having trouble understanding is how the Z9X and the TV divide up the roles in DV layer processing? Perhaps this would help me better understand the difference between LLDV and VS10... If I've understood correctly, LLDV is likely to degrade/loss the picture quality of content (including DV), while VS10 would prioritize absolute quality/rendering?

My practical analysis

Having tried out both LLDV and VS10 modes for all types of content, I can't quite decide whether the LLDV mode I'm currently using is the most suitable for all circumstances without loss quality of native DV content, or whether I should switch to VS10 mode instead. I can't see any visible difference in static pictures or micro scenes with native DV content (on the same videos and different types of scenes).
Despite the absence of any visual difference, I have noticed that the same native DV video shows different output parameters depending on the HDR mode:

• In Auto & LLDV mode: YUV422 12 Bits BT2020 DV
• In VS10 mode: RGB 8 Bits DV(TV-LED)

I don't understand how VS10 output seems "weaker" if it's supposed to be the best theoretically?


I'm sorry if my speech was a bit long...
Hoping for constructive feedback, thanks in advance

 

Not entirely sure what the question is.

Because Panasonic supports all HDR modes, including DV and HDR10+, a purest would probably say use HDR > Auto and watch everything natively.

I kind of agree with that with one caveat - trust your eyes.

If you think one mode looks better than another then that's the correct choice.

But my starting point with that TV would be HDR > Auto and DV Compatibility Mode > TV Led.

Unfortunately the VS10 modes for the Pro series is somewhat restrictive - by comparison the AML SOC in the new models allows fully agile selection of HDR mode and VS10 mode both for the UI and content.

 

It's normal for TV-Led DV to show as RGB 8bit, that's how the data is packaged for "proper" Dolby Vision.

The technical breakdown is an RGB 4:4:4 8bit stream is constructed that contains all the YUV4:2:2 12bit data encoded into it, it's the same number of bits effectively.