Grey overlay when reading mp4 files in WMP

Question

For a few days, when I play a mp4 video in Windows Media Player (WMP), there is something like a grey filter/overlay. Thus, the whites are greyish and blacks lack depth. This problem is only encountered when playing the video with Windows Media Player. If I use VLC or the Windows movies & TV app, the rendering is as expected.

The picture below illustrates the problem well:

I have been suspecting an issue with the rendering dynamic range: 16-235 vs. 0-255, but:

• Video options in WPM are rather poor and there are no such parameters to be set;
• In my graphic-card setting panel, I was not able to find any relevant parameters (I am using the Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics of my laptop & AMD software Adrenalin edition. No HDMI cables).

It might be something else related to a Windows update (I am using Windows 10 21H2), but I don't really know what.

Any help is very welcome.

Answer 1

I think I found a solution to my problem.

The issue seemed to be in the Windows HD Color settings.

Thus, I reset the calibration of my built-in display for HDR content in Windows. The option is a bit tricky to find, because it is in a deep Windows graphics menu. However, you may find a comprehensive description of the process to follow at the following link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/calibrate-your-built-in-display-for-hdr-content-in-windows-de1c66fa-6cc0-b327-e73a-1bac6bd46bc0

I hope this is helpful for people facing the same issue.