Topic: Zelda BoTW: HDMI to TV (looks great) vs computer monitor (washed out)

Hi all,

I'm having some trouble with HDMI lighting / color quality, when running my Nintendo Switch through my computer monitor (ViewSonic VX2770 IPS monitor). It looks really washed out. Zelda BoTW is the only game I currently own. I spent some time going through the settings on the ViewSonic monitor, but nothing produced an enjoyable image. I normally do not use HDMI on this monitor, my computer is always connected via DVI, which has never been a problem.

Nintendo Switch HDMI output to my Panasonic Viera 50" Plasma looks fantastic. Good color balance, light/dark, I'm happy.

I did find the display settings in the switch, for limited/full range color. It did help a bit, but still isn't cutting the mustard.

I'd prefer the Switch be hooked up in my computer office. I'll be streaming some content / recording sessions, so I have a routing system for video content. I have connected HDMI directly to the TV / monitor during my tests, without involving the additional equipment as a potential cause.

Does anyone else use a computer monitor that they are happy with?

This may be a case where the monitor settings are wack compared to what it should be. I'd suggest looking up your monitor settings and tweak as it goes along.

I say this because I play my Switch, Wii U, and PC on a monitor as well, and when I got my most recent monitor the colors out of the box were garbage.

@Winsyrstrife If your monitor works fine with PC or other devices, I'd suspect it's a settings issue. I've used the Switch and Wii U with my ASUS PC monitor and it worked very nicely.

Same here changed my HDTV color setting to gaming and it looks fine and my Asus monitor look just fine when adjusted. So you need to check your settings.

@Winsyrstrife

I play on a Panasonic Plasma too and let me tell you that WE ARE SPOILED !

What I mean by that is pretty simple. Zelda BOTW looks washed out on your monitor BECAUSE ZELDA BOTW IS WASHED OUT actually.
The only difference is that the plasma brings so deep colours and contrast with a fantastic black level that when I compare how my games look on it and on another screen, goddd it's night and day.

Dunno what type of plasma you have (I have a VT personally) but I saw the ST, the GT and even a ZT and they were all great in terms of quality picture.

Now, the only way to get that kind of image quality right now, is to go with an OLED TV.
Basically, Panasonic and Pioneer plasma TVs are the direct ancestors of today's OLED TVs.

I have a TH-50PZ80U (2008). I think that might be it, expecting something that the ViewSonic can't deliver, in comparison to the Panasonic.

Still trying to find a sweet spot with the PC monitor settings, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

@Winsyrstrife the problem is your monitor's OSD is probably rather limited to the extent of which you can adjust the color, whereas utilizing your GPU control panel within Windows allows total control to achieve the full spectrum of color your monitor can produce.... so when you run through HDMI you don't have the ability to reach the full potential of your monitor like you do inside the Windows environment.

TV's are designed quite differently offering full control within the OSD.

I have been using my Switch on my monitor for about a year, and although my monitor has quite excellent color out of the box through HDMI with great balance and saturation.... It still has been bothering me all this time that I cant adjust it to have maximum vibrancy like I do in Windows.

I discovered that using a video capture card would allow me to display the Switch inside Windows so I've started looking into them. I want to get an Elgato HD60 Pro... the other benefit of this is not only displaying the image in Windows, but now the Switch sound will play through Windows, allowing equalizer control through Creative control panel, whereas now the sound is rather flat being fed straight into the speakers.

My only concern is the inevitable latency / input lag, but I'm hoping the HD60 Pro being a PCI card that it will be minimized to the point of not being very distinguishable.

@misanthrope I think that may be part of the problem. Thanks for bringing that to my mind.

RE: Capture cards - I'm currently using a Hauppage HD- PVR2, which is a dedicated external device. Due to the USB interface, it has significant lag (about 3 seconds). There is an internal solution, the Hauppauge Colossus 2. I have no experience in that product; Amazon reviews are all over the board. There was a comment on a 5 second delay...

The HD60 looks impressive. There seems to be an HD60S, that is reported to have less latency than the HD60. I'm not sure any "capture card as primary display" solution would be a good fit for certain situations in Zelda, that require a near-twitch response.