Disney has established a new animation studio called 20th Television Animation that’s focused on maintaining current and developing new adult animation shows.
The studio, a rebranding of the Fox Television Animation unit which was consolidated when Disney and Fox merged in 2019, will be led by veteran Fox employee Marci Proietto. 20th Television Animation will be responsible for currently airing shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons, according to Deadline.
This also means that shows produced by 20th Television, including American Dad and Bob’s Burgers, will now come out of the 20th Television Animation unit.
The team has 11 series in production right now. Alongside Hulu’s Koala Man, Solar Opposites, and the aforementioned shows, the unit is in charge of Bless The Harts, Central Park, Duncanville, The Great North, and The Prince.
Disney said 20th Television Animation also has “dozens” of additional adult animation projects in development for a range of platforms. What shows these are and where they will land has yet to be clarified.
In other Disney news, the company recently raised the prices of the Disney+ streaming service. It will now cost $8 per month to subscribe.
This week’s episode of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, ominously titled “Power Broker,” had not one, but three major MCU character returns, two of them from Captain America: Civil War, and one from Black Panther. The latter was a member of the Dora Milaje, while the former were Zemo, the man partially responsible for pulling the strings that led to the collapse of the Avengers, and Sharon Carter, who was last seen giving Steve Rogers a little post-treason smooch and then, apparently, driving off into the sunset.
That last one requires some serious unpacking, so let’s handle Zemo first.
As we learned last week, Zemo’s been spending his time since Civil War in a maximum security German prison where he’s being treated with some seriously Hannibal Lecter-like care. Not for long, though–because Bucky doesn’t even bother consulting with Sam before hatching a scheme to break Zemo out and force him to help them. The gambit here is that Zemo is the only other person with HYDRA knowledge that rivals Bucky’s, so he’s their best bet at tracking down the origin of the knock-off super soldier serum, a project HYDRA had been working on for decades.
Of course, springing an international terrorist from jail doesn’t necessarily go over well at first, but all things considered the plan actually does pay off. Zemo probably shouldn’t be trusted at face value but he does provide enough intel to get them all to Madripoor and face to face with the scientist who developed the knock off serum.
Oh, and Zemo’s apparently been a Baron this whole time, meaning he’s completely filthy rich and has his own butler and private jet–just something to keep in mind.
In Madripoor, the three of them wind up inadvertently stumbling into Sharon Carter, who reveals that she was branded a traitor after Civil War and forced to go on the run, which landed her in Madripoor where she now makes a living as a dealer of stolen art. Naturally, she’s a little pissed at both Sam and Bucky who, along with every other Avenger, apparently just left her to rot after they were sprung from The Raft and began galivanting around the globe as fugitives themselves. Now, even someone with a rap sheet as extensive as Bucky’s has been pardoned and she’s still left out in the cold.
Awkward.
Sharon’s baggage gets even more complicated when, as she parts ways with the boys, she surreptitiously meets with a stranger saying that things have gotten more complicated–so it’s safe to say we definitely haven’t seen the last of her. It’s even worth noting that despite being namechecked time and time again, we still don’t actually know who the MCU’s Power Broker is, and right now, Sharon is definitely a possibility. She certainly has a list of good reasons to be mad at superheroes, and has shown plenty of aptitude for secrecy.
After their brief stopover in Madripoor, Sam, Bucky, and Zemo continue following the trail of clues to hunt down the Flag-Smashers and their store of knock-off serum, which takes them to Latvia. Unfortunately, it turns out they’ve been followed. Ayo of the Wakandan Dora Milaje is also in town, though she’s not interested in the serum–she’s here for Zemo. This makes sense, given that Zemo was the man responsible for killing King T’Chaka in his attack on the United Nations, a point that Sam brought up earlier when Bucky first decided to spring him from his cell. It’s unlikely that this is something the Wakandans are just going to let go, even if Zemo is providing useful information for the time being, so we’ll have to see how this particular conflict pans out next week. Chances are it’s going to get messy.
Things to remember:
Sharon and her unknown colleague apparently have some plan in the works that Bucky and Sam might be complicating.
Zemo is anything but redeemed, but he’s making an effort to be at least a little trustworthy. In the comics, Zemo is an on-again-off-again anti-hero with his own team of “reformed” villains, the Thunderbolts. This could be the start of their MCU development.
John Walker and Lamar are also still working on tracking the Flag-Smashers down, but they’re not having the best luck. John’s professional persona is starting to crack under the stress.
The identity and the motives of the Power Broker are still unknown.
Actor Regé-Jean Page has announced he will not be returning for Season 2 of Bridgerton, Netflix’s hit TV show from Shonda Rhimes. Earlier this year, the streaming service had confirmed the show had been renewed for another season, and Page, one of the show’s breakout stars, has confirmed via Twitter he will not be a part of those episodes.
Pleasure and a privilege! An honour to be a member of the family – on and off screen, cast, crew and incredible fans – the love is real and will just keep growing ❤️💫 https://t.co/YBk4RvKNpx
News first came from the official Bridgerton Twitter account, which in part said, “Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest to find a Viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings.” The announcement, stylized as a printed note on Lady Whistledown’s stationary (Bridgerton’s scandalous newsletter columnist), promised that “the upcoming social season” will have “more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear.”
A previous, similar announcement indicated that the next season will focus on the character Anthony Bridgerton, who is played by Jonathan Bailey. Netflix said Anthony will “dominate” the season, but no further specifics or elaborations were divulged. Production on Season 2 is expected to begin sometime in the spring.
Bridgerton is a period piece based on the Julia Quinn Bridgerton novel series, and is the first project from Grey’s Anatomy veteran Shonda Rhimes after she signed a nine-figure deal with Netflix.
Godzilla vs. Kong is the latest entry in the MonsterVerse movie series featuring Godzilla and King Kong. Here is the complete timeline, outlining the events from all four movies: Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).
2014’s Godzilla was the second Godzilla movie fully produced by a Hollywood studio. The first was the 1998 Godzilla that “re-imaged” the character as a small, iguana-like creature that ran scared from the military. Toho, the Japanese studio that created Godzilla, weren’t fans and named this character “zilla” saying there was nothing god-like about him. And in the 1998 Final Wars movie, they killed him.
Sixteen years later director Gareth Edwards rebooted the American Godzilla franchise with a much more god-like King of Monsters. This has led to a MonsterVerse trilogy, featuring Godzilla and King Kong. Here’s the MonsterVerse Timeline Explained.
The series tells the story of the first Black samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga. While it’s a historical retelling of a real ronin, Yasuke leans into the fantastical by combining various elements like magic and mechs.
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A six-episode series, Yasuke is produced by Jujutsu Kaisen animator Mappa. It is directed by Cannon Busters originator LeSean Thomas, with the titular character voiced by Judas and the Black Messiah actor LaKeith Stanfield.
Other talent involved with Yasuke include electronic DJ Flying Lotus producing the music and Redline director Takeshi Koike providing character designs.
Outriders, the new shooter/RPG hybrid from developer People Can Fly and publisher Square Enix, is out now. If you’re just picking up the game, you’ll likely notice that it’s fairly straightforward and there isn’t too much complexity to grapple with. That said, there are a few features and mechanics that the game quickly glosses over or never explains, and they’re quite helpful. So, we’ve outlined nine tips below to help you become a top-tier Outrider.
Alongside these tips, we’ve put together plenty of other Outriders guides. Be sure to check them out if you’re looking for more information on Outriders, which is available for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Stadia. (The game is also playable via Xbox Game Pass.)
Outriders Guides
Lead With A Punch
Sure, you have plenty of incredible superpowers in Outriders, but each class has a pretty devastating melee attack too. All the melee attacks carry a secondary effect: the Devastator’s causes bleed, the Pyromancer’s causes burn, the Trickster’s causes slow, and the Technomancer’s causes frost. In a pinch, these melee attacks can save you when you’re backed against a wall and waiting for one of your abilities to recharge, but their primary use is offense. And sometimes there’s no better way of beginning your attack than running straight at the enemy encampment.
When you use a melee attack while sprinting, your character will leap into the air and slam down on the ground to deliver an area-of-effect explosion–a powerful opening move to any attack, especially if you’re playing as the tank-like Devastator or rogue-like Trickster and are looking to get up close and personal anyway.
There’s Always A Better Gun
In Outriders, you’ll find loot all the time and the game does a really good job of constantly drip-feeding you better and better firearms and armor. Early on, just keep selling old gear and equipping the more powerful. This will not only help you take on the early-game mini-bosses and bosses with the ideal power level, but allow you to experiment with a lot of different types of weapons. Don’t grow too attached to anything–trust us, there’s nothing you’ll find in the early game that you’ll want 10 hours in.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
After the intro chapters of Outriders, you’ll unlock crafting. Here is where you should start paying a little bit of attention to what you loot. Keep upgrading to the best you have, but whenever you find Rare or Epic items (or, if you’re really lucky, Legendary items), take the time to look at the mods they have. When those weapons and armor are no longer up to snuff, dismantle them instead of selling them. This will give you the mods on those items, which you can then craft onto any Rare or Epic weapon or armor you find.
Loot Is Good, But It Could Be Better
Be sure to mod your gear often. Though some mods have general benefits like getting health back on kill shots or adding burn damage to your guns, many of them are geared towards benefiting specific builds. You don’t have to wait until the endgame to start forming your preferred playstyle. Every time you ditch an old piece of gear for something new (which, again, you should be doing all the time), take the opportunity to craft your favorite mods onto your new gear so that you can continue to dominate with your ideal playstyle.
If you’re a Trickster and prefer using Temporal Blade over Cyclone Slice, for example, it makes no sense to equip gloves with the Healing Slice mod (receive health for each enemy killed with Cyclone Slice) over gloves with the Slasher mod (Temporal Blade can be used twice before cooldown) regardless of whether the former is a higher power level than the latter. But through crafting, you can transfer the mod on the second pair of gloves to the first pair–now you have the best of both worlds, more powerful armor and a mod that will actually benefit you. Provided you keep selling all the gear you don’t need and taking a few seconds to mine for resources as you come across them in missions, you’ll be swimming in crafting materials. Just keep modding your gear.
Torment & Agony are powerful legendary pistols that ideally fit the Trickster’s hit-and-run playstyle.
Slide To The Loot
If you’re at all worried about missing out on loot, turn on Outriders’ auto-loot feature. Open the options menu and navigate to the gameplay tab, where you should see a slider that you can adjust in order to determine what type of weapons and armor you want to auto-loot.
Maintain Your Privacy
By default, Outriders will allow any and all players to join your game. If you don’t want folks randomly jumping into your game, you’ll need to adjust your privacy options. Open the options menu and go to the gameplay tab. From here, you should see an option to change your game privacy. You can adjust it so that only your friends on your chosen hardware can join your game or close your game off entirely, requiring folks to get an invite from you in order to join.
Respec Yourself
As you level up, you’ll unlock points that you can invest into a three-pronged skill tree. You won’t be able to unlock enough points to buy every skill across all three branches, but don’t sweat things too much. Not only can you respec your skill points whenever you want, you can do so freely. So experiment with different skills and see what might work best for your chosen build.
On top of that, you can respec your skill tree in order to help out your loot game when you’re farming for better gear. Certain skills in each classes’ skill tree make your character better with certain weapons and allow them to more easily find those weapons. For example, the Trickster’s Assassin tree is filled with skills that increase the class’ effectiveness at close-range and help the Trickster more easily find the guns in order to wreck shop up close, like Shotgun Master (increase shotgun damage by 15%, increase shotgun weapons drop chance by 12%).
Considering how well the Technomancer excels at long-range, you should unlock the class’ Sniper Master skill as soon as possible.
If you’re curious, all four classes feature a skill that helps them farm for assault guns (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Submachine Guns, and Double Guns). However, only the Devastator and Trickster have a skill to help them farm for shotguns (Pump Action Shotguns and Automatic Shotguns), and only the Pyromancer and Technomancer have a skill for helping them farm for rifles and snipers (Marksman Rifles, Automatic Sniper Rifles, and Bolt Action Rifles).
Change The World, Tear S**t Up
Just because you unlock a new World Tier doesn’t mean you always have to play at that World Tier. You should play on the highest World Tier you’ve unlocked as often as possible just to ensure you’re still getting loot drops that will boost your power level. However, if you’re stuck on one fight, just lower your World Tier, get past it, and then raise the World Tier again afterwards. There’s no penalty for doing so, and it’s better than frustratingly throwing yourself at the same section of the game for longer than you have to.
Claim Your Worldly Rewards
Every time you unlock a new World Tier, you’ll get a new reward. In order to accept the reward, you need to open the World Tier menu–it won’t unlock automatically. Early on, your rewards aren’t much to write home about, as they’re largely rare gear or resources. However, you’ll eventually start to get Epic and Legendary loot. So don’t forget to claim those rewards in order to unlock some powerful mid- and late-game gear.
The optimal PC gaming resolution and refresh rate is a divine meeting between 1440p and 144Hz. Graphics cards keep getting stronger, capable of pushing even higher and faster, but with new tech like ray tracing, sticking with 1440p allows you to crank up the settings and keep that frame rate high. The LG 27GL850 gaming monitor provides those perks so you can enjoy that impressive visual experience while still backing it up with a speedy frame rate that’s both smooth and responsive. It sports a gorgeous image that pops with beautifully vibrant colors, and it’s relatively affordable for a monitor of its class.
Display and performance
Competitive shooters excel on the LG 27GL850’s IPS display thanks to the fluid movements and twitch aiming accuracy that the 144Hz refresh rate provides. Jumping from 60Hz to 144Hz, I noticed a jump in my K/D in Rainbow Six Siege immediately. I was able to catch enemies peeking around corners more effectively, picking them off before they could get an eye on me–and when an enemy would rush the objective, I was able to react more quickly and take action accordingly.
This performance boost extends to PC games locked at 60fps as well. The monitor’s response time is quick, getting as low as 1ms when set to its “Faster” mode. That 1ms response time is nice, though you may notice some very noticeable ghosting while using it–the slightly slower “Fast” setting works well, and I never found myself wanting for more. The 27GL850 is a great gaming monitor for both multiplayer and single-player experiences because of this adept blend of responsiveness and smoothness. In games that demand the utmost accuracy from its players, such as Sekiro, this gaming display handles it deftly. I noticed a big increase in my performance when I switched from my LG CX OLED TV to the 27GL850 monitor, easily parrying samurai swords and monkey arms as well as dispatching enemies that were previously kicking my butt handily.
LG 27GL850 gaming monitor
As for its colors, the 27GL850 is a beautiful display, producing a vibrant mix of bright colors. Sekiro’s red pagodas clash with the winter atmosphere nicely, while the autumn breeze of the Senpou Temple delights with lovely browns and oranges–not to mention Sekiro’s orange clothes grappling around feudal Japan. Black and white images also look quite good, though they do tend to be a little grayer than is preferred in certain scenes–though that’s typical of most IPS displays.
The SDR presentation looks quite nice, but if you’re looking at this monitor for its HDR support, you’ll be disappointed. Enabling HDR in a compatible game delivers a weak, washed-out image. The 27GL850 just doesn’t boast a high enough contrast ratio or level of brightness to make its HDR support something worth buying the monitor for. If you snag one of these displays, it’s not worth turning on the HDR at all.
The LG 27GL850 features a near-borderless display with a thin bezel. The display is made mostly of plastic, and while not as sturdy as other options on the market, it doesn’t feel delicate. It’s held up by a very solid stand made of both plastic and metal, giving it a strong base to stay put on your desk. The stand is adjustable, allowing you to move the display up, down, left, and right. Because of its plastic shell, the adjustable neck looks flimsy at first, but upon using it, the sturdy metal innards made me feel confident in its design and security. The screen can also be turned clockwise from its 16:9 orientation to a portrait 9:16 if you want to use the monitor for livestream chat, vertical-scrolling shooters, or any other reason.
Value
The LG 27GL850 almost matches the more expensive Razer Raptor 27 gaming monitor in performance, providing a nearly identical experience to that of the premium Razer display while costing $200 less. However, there are several monitors cheaper than the LG 27GL850 that perform well in the 1440p and 144Hz space. The MSI Optix MAG274QRF and Gigabyte M27Q are both solid options in the $350-400 range.
The bottom line
LG makes beautiful screens, and the 27GL850 is no exception to that rule. Its excellent colors paired with fast, fluid action makes the 27GL850 an excellent gaming monitor that does not disappoint–as long as you’re not looking for HDR. And while this experience is truly great, it was only one of the best when it first released. It’s still a superb gaming display, but since its release, several monitors have stepped in and provided comparable experiences for cheaper. If you can find the 27GL850 on sale, though, it’s absolutely worth picking up.
The Good
Fast refresh rate works wonders with competitive shooters and more
Sturdy stand belies its otherwise cheap look
Beautiful SDR presentation…
The Bad
…but its HDR performance is severely lacking
About the author:Mat Paget has used the LG 27GL850 as his primary gaming monitor for the last eight months. He purchased the monitor himself for personal use.
If you’re in the market for a new gaming monitor, there’s a high chance that most listings you’ll be looking at will have three recognizable letters listed as a feature: HDR. High-dynamic range is a relatively new display technology that has gone through numerous iterations on TVs. Gaming monitors are far behind what is capable on living room displays, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be considering it when shopping for a monitor.
We’ve put together a guide on everything you need to know about HDR on PC monitors, including exactly what HDR is, all the different specifications, and what to look out for when buying a display, especially a gaming monitor. While we will touch on HDR in TVs, this won’t be the primary focus of this guide.
What is HDR?
High-dynamic range (HDR) is a specification that determines whether a display can render an image that has deeper contrast, a wider color gamut, and generally better representation of brightness than that of a standard-dynamic range (SDR) display. This means that with content that supports HDR and a correctly calibrated display, you will often be able to spot more details in both brighter and darker scenes while also enjoying an image that can look slightly more saturated or color-accurate, depending on the implementation.
“Often” is an important distinction here, though, because good HDR production relies on two key factors: the display and the content. It is possible for a monitor to have an HDR specification but display HDR content poorly, while some HDR content can be badly implemented and end up looking worse than SDR (Red Dead Redemption 2 at launch on consoles was a good example of this).
Since you can’t control the HDR implementation in a game or film, the best you can do is pick a display that is equipped to show HDR content in its best light. For that, you must look out for three important features: overall peak brightness, quality of local dimming, and support for a wide color gamut. Peak brightness will determine the overall contrast ratio your display can produce, highlighting bright areas of an image with an intensity that SDR is not capable of. Similarly, local dimming and how it’s implemented greatly affects your display’s ability to keep dark areas suitably dark when a bright source is also being displayed, ensuring a high contrast ratio and an image that isn’t washed out. A wide color gamut means that your display can produce more colors with its RGB pixels than an SDR one, which can be important for accurate colors in both gaming and productivity.
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Bloom, HDR, And HDR Displays – PC Graphics Settings Explained
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When it comes to the different degrees of HDR, this differs drastically from TVs to monitors. HDR started on TVs with standard HDR (or HDR10), which was meant to specify support for a wide color gamut, some form of local dimming, and brightness levels up to 1,000 nits. Since then, this specification has been stretched and redefined by TV manufacturers, including terms such as Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG, and more. However, none of these are important to monitors right now, so we won’t be going into depth on those here.
Monitors started out on the same path, with many supporting HDR10. Unlike TVs, however, there was no regulation on what monitors had to support in order to slap this label on the box, which did lead to many products that used the specification more as a marketing term as opposed to an indication of correctly implemented support. Instead, any monitor with some semblance of good HDR support today is regulated by VESA’s HDR standards, starting from VESA DisplayHDR 400 and going all the way up to VESA DisplayHDR 1400.
The easiest way to tell the difference between all the different specifications is by the number, which correlates with a display’s maximum advertised brightness. DisplayHDR 400, for example, will have a maximum brightness of 400 nits, while DisplayHDR 1000 will peak at 1,000 nits. If you recall from TVs, many introductory HDR panels peaked at 1,000 nits, which is widely regarded as the sweet spot for HDR content (this differs between LCD and OLED panels, but that’s another discussion altogether). That means that while a monitor might have an official DisplayHDR 400 specification, it doesn’t mean you’re getting the best HDR experience on the market.
In addition to the maximum brightness, each level of DisplayHDR also has auxiliary standards that need to be met for specification. DisplayHDR 400, for example, can still be used on monitors without any local dimming and emulated wide color gamut, both of which aren’t true representations of HDR. DisplayHDR 600 tightens this up, requiring some form of local dimming and a wide, 10-bit color gamut. Each step upwards ensures a better HDR experience, which explains why you can find a large range of DisplayHDR 400 displays at varying price ranges but fewer, more expensive monitors with higher specifications.
Perhaps one of the most important features of better HDR specifications is the inclusion of local dimming, which ensures that parts of your screen that are displaying bright objects don’t inadvertently wash out darker areas. At DisplayHDR 600, simple edge-lit local dimming is required, which means that the display can be divided into strips that can have brightness individually adjusted. This works in some cases but can result in a big portion of the image lighting up if even just one pixel is meant to be at the peak brightness of the display, which can be distracting in HDR content.
From DisplayHDR 1000 and up, FALD (full-array local dimming) is required. This can split the display into hundreds, if not thousands, of zones that can be individually adjusted in terms of brightness, producing a more contrast-accurate image. On LCD TVs, this is as close as you can get to an OLED display (where individual pixels can turn on and off, making it the most desirable panel for HDR), but monitors are still far behind in this regard. Although DisplayHDR 1000 requires FALD, the specification doesn’t ensure that there are enough zones to make it as useful as implementations on TVs. It’s still a head above edge-lit locally dimming, so aim for it if you can.
You can check out the full breakdown of all DisplayHDR specifications below. Note that DisplayHDR True Black is restricted to OLED panels, which generally have lower overall brightness but make up for this with perfect contrast levels. There are also almost no gaming monitors using OLED currently, so it might be a while before this specification factors into your purchasing decision.
Specification
Brightness (nits)
Color gamut
Local dimming
DisplayHDR 400
400
8-bit, sRGB
None/ Display Level
DisplayHDR 500
500
10-bit, 90% DCI-P3
Edge-Lit
DisplayHDR 600
600
10-bit, 90% DCI-P3
Edge-Lit
DisplayHDR 1000
1,000
10-bit, 90% DCI-P3
Full-Array
DisplayHDR 1400
1,400
10-bit, 95% DCI-P3
Full-Array
DisplayHDR 400 True Black
400
10-bit, 95% DCI-P3
Full-Array/OLED
DisplayHDR 500 True Black
500
10-bit, 95% DCI-P3
Full-Array/OLED
What you need for HDR
So now that you understand what HDR is in its many different forms, you might be wondering what you need to get everything up and running. HDR needs to be compatible through all your hardware chains, including your monitor, graphics card, display cable, and, lastly, the game you’re playing.
HDR-compatible displays
There are literally hundreds of displays that support HDR, but for the most part, you’ll want to stick to ones that fall under the VESA DisplayHDR specification. If you see a monitor just saying “HDR” or “HDR10,” that just means it can accept an HDR signal, but not really do anything with it. In those cases, just stick to SDR.
Below are some suggestions for monitors that fall under the DisplayHDR 400, 600, and 1000 ranges. As you might expect, the better the HDR implementation, the more expensive the monitor. You can find a comprehensive list of all HDR monitors and laptops that are VESA certified here.
Display cables
HDR is supported on most display cables you probably already have, but if you’re using a high refresh rate monitor, you might want to make sure you’re using the best output on your GPU. For 4K at 60Hz, you can get away with a traditional high-speed HDMI cable, while you’ll need an ultra high-speed one for any refresh rates higher than that (HDMI 2.1, which is new in the monitor space). Normal HDMI 1.4 will also likely require you to change from a full RGB output to YCbCr442 to display HDR at 4K without issues, which you can change in your Nvidia and AMD control panels (both the PS4 and Xbox One do this when displaying HDR content). If you’re using a DisplayPort cable, you’re good to go for high refresh rates and HDR.
HDR-compatible graphics cards
Thankfully you don’t need the most up-to-date GPU to enjoy HDR (although more horsepower does help). On Nvidia’s side, any GPU from the GTX 950 onward supports HDR, while all AMD cards newer than the R9 380 will work too. Intel integrated GPUs from 7th-generation CPUs and onwards support HDR, too, which is why many modern laptops support the feature as well. The latest cards from Nvidia and AMD also support HDMI 2.1, which can be useful if you’re forking out for the most premium monitors on the market today.
Turning on HDR in Windows 10
The final step is to activate HDR in Windows 10, which can be surprisingly well-hidden if you haven’t used it before. Just head to Settings > Apps > Video Playback and toggle on “Play HDR games and apps” to activate it. This will cause your screen to quickly flicker on and off to toggle from SDR to HDR. If your desktop looks a bit weird (potentially washed out) don’t worry–this is a common complaint with HDR on Windows 10, but games that use HDR will display correctly. Sadly, not all games can turn HDR on by themselves, which means you’ll have to learn to check your settings before playing.
Speaking of games, supported software and how it deals with HDR will be different across the board. Some will need Windows 10 HDR to be on, while others will potentially break if it is. Others turn HDR on automatically if detected when started, while others will need you to manually turn it on in the settings. There’s no easy way to differentiate between all these permutations, so just be sure to experiment a bit when trying a new game.
There’s no question–setting up HDR is a big investment. You need a great monitor, a capable GPU, and games that support it to really see the benefits. But once you do, it will be difficult to go back. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with SDR content, the added fidelity of good HDR implementations backed up by hardware that is up to the task of displaying it is a drastic improvement. There’s still a long way to go for a base standard that can make HDR content sing, but there’s certainly a lot you can achieve with it today.
A Soviet-era TV adaptation of The Lord of the Rings has suddenly, and quite delightfully, popped up on YouTube thanks to Russia’s Channel 5. Titled Keepers, this version of the famous Lord of the Rings saga was filmed at a Leningrad television studio 30 years ago, and then believed to have only been broadcast once before disappearing until recently.
Keepers is perhaps best viewed with an understanding that it will vary considerably from Peter Jackson’s polished version with incredible production values and effects. Newsweek, translating Russian fantasy and sci-fi website World of Fantasy, is indicating that this version was based on a Russian translation of the original text by Vladimir Muravyov and Andrey Kistyakovsky. It also starred Viktor Kostetsky as the wizard Gandalf, Georgy Shtil as Bilbo Baggins, and Valery Dyachenko as Frodo–World of Fantasy also notes that this adaptation, unlike Jackson’s, features the enigmatic and memorable Tom Bombadil. Thankfully, it is watchable with YouTube auto-translating subtitles.
