When viewing HDR content there are five HDR picture presets (Vivid, Standard, Cinema Home, Game, and Cinema). These presets are different then the SDR options and offer adjustment settings which are also independent of the SDR versions.
Only HDR Game and HDR Cinema modes offer full access to the CMS and WB adjustments. For my Best HDR Mode calibration I chose HDR Cinema mode. Pre-calibration HDR white balance was very similar to SDR Expert Bright Room Mode with a heavy blue cast pushing the white balance to the 8300K range. DeltaE (including Luminance errors) ranged from near 18 on the bright end down to 3 at the low end.
I left Sharpness along with Color and Tint at their defaults. Just like with SDR when viewing HDR prior to calibration the HU70LA white balance was low on Green, high on Blue (green decreasing and blue increasing with brightness).
After setting the Color Temp to Medium and using the HU70LA projector’s 2-Point and 10-Point adjustments, I was able to quickly achieve a DeltaE average of less than 1. The projector also has a 21-Point adjustment which would have allowed me to fine tune the white balance even further, but it wasn’t necessary. Post-HDR calibration, the white balance was very good with a 6,500K average.
The LG HU70LA did a good job tracking the HDR EOTF right out of the box.
The Dynamic Tone Mapping and Contrast settings can be used to adjust HDR EOTF tracking. When Dynamic Tone Mapping is engaged, the EOTF curve is automatically adjusted (depending on how bright the content/scene was mastered) to provide the best balance of picture brightness and highlight detail. With the HU70LA’s Dynamic Tone Mapping set to ON, to achieve the best compromise between overall brightness and highlight clipping I set Contrast to 41 and Brightness to 53. When fed HDR content mastered at 1,000 nits, the HU70LA’s EOTF tracked well in Auto mode.
Overall based on the HU70LA price point, I was pleased with the 4K/HDR white balance and EOTF performance after calibration. The projector’s measured onscreen brightness was 27fL on a 90” screen which is more than bright enough for a good HDR picture.