The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update
by Brett Howse on May 25, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Display Updates: HDR and High DPI
HDR Updates
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is definitely the new buzzword in the display industry, with displays that offer a wider range of brightness levels. There’s more steps between brightness levels, and proper HDR monitors should offer a much higher maximum brightness level as well.
The requirements for HDR haven’t changed very much since the Fall Creators Update, but there’s a couple of small tweaks. If you’re using a laptop, the device manufacturer has to provide a panel that is at least 300 nits or more, but new for the April Update is that the panel is also required to be at least 1920x1080. The laptop will also need to have an integrated GPU that supports PlayReady hardware DRM for protected HDR content, and have the codecs installed for 10-bit video decoding, which is only the latest CPUs. Since you can’t buy a laptop and add HDR, this is all something that has to be handled by the OEM of course.
For external displays, the system and display both need to support HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.4, as well as HDR10. There’s no support for DolbyVision in Windows yet.
Your display HDR support is shown here
The GPU must support PlayReady 3.0 hardware DROM for protected HDR content, which is right now a short list of GPUs: AMD Radeon RX 400 or higher, Intel UHD 600 series iGPUs, or NVIDIA GeForce 1000 series cards. All of these cards support the 10-bit video decoding required for HDR.
The PC must have the HEVC or VP9 codec installed as well, and the latest drivers should be used.
HDR is currently only supported for video playback. We’re not yet at a point where the entire OS can be done in HDR.
If you’re using a laptop, Microsoft now has an HDR calibration tool built-in which lets you adjust balance between detail in the dark part of a scene with the brighter parts, and to set if you want HDR to increase display brightness when on battery or not.
High DPI Updates
Using apps created for 96 DPI displays on displays with 200, 300, or more DPI can be a challenge, and over the years, improvements have been made in Windows to better support this. UWP was a possible solution, but with its limited traction it didn’t turn out to be much of a solution, so Microsoft has been fixing both built-in apps to work better on higher resolution displays, as well as fixing issues with using different DPI levels on different displays connected to the system, which is a big issue if you have a new laptop with a high-resolution display, and also dock it with an older 96 DPI monitor.
Microsoft has no real solution to this issue, other than have a dev update their app for HiDPI, but with the April Update Windows 10 will now prompt you to automatically try and fix an app if it think it’s opened with blurry text. You’ll get a notification asking if you’d like to try and fix it, and you can say yes. Then close the app, and hopefully it’s fixed.
Windows was built around 96 DPI as a staple, and with the legacy baggage, this issue will likely never be completely resolved, but luckily most apps work fine now. Some are not perfect, but most of the big name apps now work correctly, which isn’t something you could have said even a couple of years ago.
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Chad - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Been running it fine. Installed fine and everything works good. shrug1_rick - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Control Panel's still there. As they add features to Settings, they tend to remove them from Control Panel. At the rate they're going it'll be years before CP goes away completely.ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Control Panel is still there where it has always been. Somethings are being moved over. This update I personally have not noticed much gone. New menu has grown on me though. As for Command Prompt it is still there. I haven't noticed anything missing from it.Gunbuster - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Wish Microsoft would stop calling it an update when they do a complete fresh install and migrate your apps (if they feel like it)Off to Linux Land - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Perhaps using the word "refined" in association with consistently damaging Windows 10 updates is a stretch?This last update (1803) locked my pc up ...again. This time with some weird white screen with Cortana info and that annoying Cortana voice. That was probably fixable -- but, like an idiot, I put my money on Microsoft's "help" lines. After several so-called 'techs' (including one with such a heavy Indian accent that I had to politely ask for someone else), they caused me to 'inadvertently' wipe my hard drive clean. So, no more Windows anything for me. I donated my "new" pc to a local needy family. Going to Linux now, and forever.
Maybe Microsoft could use a little 'refinement' in their help department by contracting their online and phone techs in the USA and Canada... and not India?
damianrobertjones - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Haa haa haa. You made me laugh. If you couldn't fix windows then have fun with Linux.P.s. Ensure you have a backup at all times.
Zingam - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
I installed Linux last week. I wasted several hours trying to set grub to hide the boot menu without any success the best I could do it to set the timeout to 1 sec. The second thing was I installed the proprietary driver and Good bye Linux - it wouldn't pass after the loading screen. It even locked up while navigating the grub boot menu to safe mode. Sorry but Linux as a desktop has always been a trash even compared to Win95.PeachNCream - Monday, May 28, 2018 - link
I've been straddling between Linux and Windows since 8 was released. Dual boot or, more recently, using Linux on my primary PC while an older box runs Win7 just in case I need a MS OS for something. It's been a long and slow transition, but at this point, I've found that I barely turn a PC on these days since my phone I good enough for most chores and I'm already carrying it. However, when 7 is no longer getting updates, I will just walk away from Windows altogether since Linux Mint is perfectly adequate for those few times that I still need a conventional PC for something.ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
If you rarely need to use your PC just keep Windows 7 on it. By the point you need a new PC chances are you will be an entire phone user.Mikey Wiz - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
I updated and have had all kinds of problem. Lost connection to WHS, had to reinstall connector. Wifi keeps dropping. Several games deleted. Lost saved passwords. Very annoying to say the least.