Main monitor color format in RGB, but 2nd monitor in YCbCr422

[vett93]

My PC has a Nvidia 3080Ti card and I am trying to set both monitors in RGB mode. But the 2nd monitor keeps changing back to YCbCr422 mode. Any suggestions on how I can set both to RGB mode? The color looks different even after I use iProfiler to calibrate them.

The main monitor is a BenQ PD3200U. Its settings on Win 11 Pro are shown below:



The 2nd monitor is a Dell P4317Q. Its settings are as below:



I have looked in several places in Display settings but can't find a place to change Dell from YCbCr422 to RGB.

--
"Keep calm and take photos"
Photography enthusiast, from 12mm to 600mm

 

[Billiam29]

Page 34 of the user guide for your Dell monitor shows an 'Input Color Format' entry in the OSD. I can't really tell though if it's something you can change or just informational. Regardless, something to check.

An additional thought is how are each of the monitors connected to your GPU? If the Dell is on HDMI, can you move it to a DisplayPort connection? Justified or not, I just always have suspicions of something or other basically going "Oh, that's on HDMI so it must be a TV."

 

[vett93]

Page 34 of the user guide for your Dell monitor shows an 'Input Color Format' entry in the OSD. I can't really tell though if it's something you can change or just informational. Regardless, something to check.

An additional thought is how are each of the monitors connected to your GPU? If the Dell is on HDMI, can you move it to a DisplayPort connection? Justified or not, I just always have suspicions of something or other basically going "Oh, that's on HDMI so it must be a TV."

Thanks. I did consult with the Dell user guide and changed the "input color format" to RGB. After I changed the setting to RGB, the screen color was completely off. Then I rebooted the PC, it reset the color format back to YCbCr422.

I already use DisplayPort cables for both monitors already.

 

[BobKnDP]

I'm a one monitor person.

However, there are settings for output color format in the nVidia control panel.





This is part of the "change resolution" screen. The image I captured was with the output color format pulled down.

May have nothing to do with your problem, but it's the only thing I can think of.

 

[vett93]

Thanks, Bob. I did try to change that setting. But it got reversed back.

 

[BobKnDP]

A stupid (?) experiment suggestion:

Swap the monitor connections.

 

[vett93]

A stupid (?) experiment suggestion:

Swap the monitor connections.

You are absolutely right. I had a new cable ordered and it came today. Now it works perfectly! Thanks, Bob.

 

[vett93]

After I put a new DisplayPort cable on the Dell monitor, it now shows RGB! Great!!

However, the two monitors still look slightly different. The BenQ monitor is a bit more contrasty. So I looked at their profiles in Nvidia Control Panel. The BenQ monitor is in "Enhanced" mode, while the Dell monitor is in "Accurate" mode.





How do I adjust the color accuracy mode?

--
"Keep calm and take photos"
Photography enthusiast, from 12mm to 600mm

 

[BobKnDP]

With my single-monitor system, I was in Accurate mode. Moving any of the sliders in the control panel page you show causes it to switch to Enhanced mode. Restoring the defaults (upper right corner) doesn't cause it to switch back to Accurate. As far as I know, the nVidia CP will not switch back. A little bizarre.

Verifying with DisplayCal seemed to show a slight change in white point. (All of the other delta Es were good.) I re-profiled, and the new .icm profile had its white point nearer nominal.

A Web search suggests that uninstalling the nVidia package with DDU (display driver uninstaller) will restore Accurate mode. It's not clear that Accurate mode is supposed to be different from Enhanced, if all the settings are at default, and an .icm profile is present.

I am unfamiliar with using separate .icm profiles for multiple monitors.

 

[vett93]

With my single-monitor system, I was in Accurate mode. Moving any of the sliders in the control panel page you show causes it to switch to Enhanced mode. Restoring the defaults (upper right corner) doesn't cause it to switch back to Accurate. As far as I know, the nVidia CP will not switch back. A little bizarre.

Verifying with DisplayCal seemed to show a slight change in white point. (All of the other delta Es were good.) I re-profiled, and the new .icm profile had its white point nearer nominal.

A Web search suggests that uninstalling the nVidia package with DDU (display driver uninstaller) will restore Accurate mode. It's not clear that Accurate mode is supposed to be different from Enhanced, if all the settings are at default, and an .icm profile is present.

I am unfamiliar with using separate .icm profiles for multiple monitors.

I used Nvidia GeForce Experience app to reinstall the Nvidia driver. Both monitors are in "accurate" mode.

Thanks all!