# 30 bit and 48 bit color in windows 7



## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

how do you enable the use of 30 bit and 48 bit color in windows 7?


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Interesting bit of info on it:
http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/477074-30-bit-48-bit-color-depth.html


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

My question would be, what monitor would you view it on? I understand the benefits in image processing, because math errors would be reduced through multiple math iterations, but in truth 24-bit color does a fine job of accurately showing the color space that people can actually perceive and monitors can accurately show. 

Adobe Photoshop, for example, can pre-process in 16 bits per channel (48-bit RGB) but I'd defy anyone to be able to tell me the difference in a finished image between 8 bits per channel and 16. 

Sorry, don't mean to "thread crap." If you want to use this feature I wish you well. I just feel like it's "the myth of megapixels" all over again.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

right now I can only select 16 or 32 bit color but I would like to know how to use 30 bit or 48 bit color.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

My suspicion is, if the card supports it, the selection would be there alongside 16 and 32. Perhaps at this point there is no card that supports 48-bit.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> My suspicion is, if the card supports it, the selection would be there alongside 16 and 32. Perhaps at this point there is no card that supports 48-bit.


I have a nivda geforce 9400 gt.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

The other thing is your display, I doubt your monitor supports it. I dont think many do at this point from what I understand of it.

Really there will be very little advantage, you probably will not be able to tell a difference at all. As it is most monitors are crap even for 32bit until you get into the very good editing and photo critical monitors that are quite pricey.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Grentz said:


> The other thing is your display, I doubt your monitor supports it. I dont think many do at this point from what I understand of it.
> 
> Really there will be very little advantage, you probably will not be able to tell a difference at all. As it is most monitors are crap even for 32bit until you get into the very good editing and photo critical monitors that are quite pricey.


Exactly. As with anything "video", all devices in your video chain must support whatever resolution/refresh/color depth you select. By default, Windows hides any mode that isn't supported by all devices in the chain.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

BattleZone said:


> Exactly. As with anything "video", all devices in your video chain must support whatever resolution/refresh/color depth you select. By default, Windows hides any mode that isn't supported by all devices in the chain.


I did not ask if my hardware was compatible. I asked how to enabled the 30 bit and 48 bit color mode


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

The human eye cannot distinguish differences in colors beyond about 10 million colors, so anything over 24 bit is a complete waste on the human eye. The likelihood that an nVidia 9400 card could support that is slim based on the specs they have publishes.

I could not locate a monitor that could support 48 bit color... and I did find rumors about Samsung and others working on sets that would be capable of it but that was all.

Larry


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

LarryFlowers said:


> The human eye cannot distinguish differences in colors beyond about 10 million colors, so anything over 24 bit is a complete waste on the human eye. The likelihood that an nVidia 9400 card could support that is slim based on the specs they have publishes.
> 
> I could not locate a monitor that could support 48 bit color... and I did find rumors about Samsung and others working on sets that would be capable of it but that was all.
> 
> Larry


How come I can select 16 bit or 32 bit color but not 24 bit color.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

dorfd1 said:


> How come I can select 16 bit or 32 bit color but not 24 bit color.


Because you can't select options that aren't available on your hardware. The options only appear when your hardware supports them.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

BattleZone said:


> Because you can't select options that aren't available on your hardware. The options only appear when your hardware supports them.


I had a computer with a matrox card in it. If I used windows 2000 pro I could use 8 bit 15 bit 16 bit 24 bit or 32 bit color but if I used windows xp on the same machine windows would not let me select 15 bit color only 8 bit 16 bit 24 bit and 32 bit were aviable.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Three factors will enter into what you see as choices...

Assuming you have the most up to date drivers installed...

1. What your monitor is capable of...
2. What your video card is capable of...
3. What the OS can do with the hardware you have.

As I said, assuming you have the latest driver for your video card installed (and also for your monitor, if the monitor has drivers) what you see is what you get... you don't get to turn it on or off...



dorfd1 said:


> I had a computer with a matrox card in it. If I used windows 2000 pro I could use 8 bit 15 bit 16 bit 24 bit or 32 bit color but if I used windows xp on the same machine windows would not let me select 15 bit color only 8 bit 16 bit 24 bit and 32 bit were aviable.


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## dorfd1 (Jul 16, 2008)

LarryFlowers said:


> Three factors will enter into what you see as choices...
> 
> Assuming you have the most up to date drivers installed...
> 
> ...


why does windows 2000 allow the use of 15 bit color with a matrox video carf but windows xp does not allow the use of 15 bit color with the same matrox video card?


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

For whatever reason the combination of monitor OS and video card doesn't like it... why would you want to run it in the first place if 16 or 32 bit color is available to you...

I am unsure why you are asking these questions or what it is you are trying to get at... today's PC's use 16 and 32 bit color... anything lower is only used on servers (very few anymore) or old PC's. 48 bit color is also irrelevant the way things are today... so what is it you are trying to get to or accomplish?



dorfd1 said:


> why does windows 2000 allow the use of 15 bit color with a matrox video carf but windows xp does not allow the use of 15 bit color with the same matrox video card?


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## dhowie315 (May 21, 2009)

Support for color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit is included, along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB. It wont come up under your video setting unless you have it hooked up to a hdmi 1.3 compliant television, as of this moment, any hdmi 1.3 tv supports 48-bit scRGB. you wont really notice much of a difference though unless you have a large display and ultra quality high def content, maybe some blu-rays. Don't listen to the other guys telling nothing supports it. Go out and buy almost any new hdtv and you are set xD


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## Zellio (Mar 8, 2009)

LarryFlowers said:


> The human eye cannot distinguish differences in colors beyond about 10 million colors, so anything over 24 bit is a complete waste on the human eye. The likelihood that an nVidia 9400 card could support that is slim based on the specs they have publishes.
> 
> I could not locate a monitor that could support 48 bit color... and I did find rumors about Samsung and others working on sets that would be capable of it but that was all.
> 
> Larry


And who figured this out? The same type of people who say that 'the human eye can only see 30 fps', or maybe the ones who said 'the human eye can only see 500:1 contrast on a hdtv'?

I HATE hearing stuff that starts with 'the human eye can only BLAH BLAH BLAH'

I hate to be rude, but either show your vast scientific research that brought you to this conclusion, or stop being a pretend expert. We already have way too many fake experts running around the internet acting like they actually know something.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Zellio said:


> I hate to be rude, but either show your vast scientific research that brought you to this conclusion, or stop being a pretend expert. We already have way too many fake experts running around the internet acting like they actually know something.


A person doesn't have to do the (actual) research in order to be an expert in the information. There is information available to you to look at and make a determination yourself without flaming the guys who're presenting what they know. That is what DBSTalk.com is all about people helping one another understand the technology. This technology includes a human interface and part of that understanding is understanding the (average) human's capabilities. I for one appluad people willing to give information they have digested and regurgitated. 

EDIT: Here's a decent reference with references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I apologize, perhaps you are a color expert. I did what any reasonable person would do... I did the research and while there are as many opinions as there are colors, the general consensus seems to be a) that women can see more colors than men, perhaps as high as 11 million colors and men see at least 7 million and as high as 10 million colors.

I don't pretend to be an expert, I simply did some research that anyone can do and I am sorry if that offends you.

A question was asked by the OP... enabling those color bit rates in Windows 7 seems to be a property of the video card and its drivers. He has a nVidia 9400 card... nothing I can locate indicates support for either 30 or 48 bit. Perhaps nVidia will supply a driver for that chipset when and if monitors exist that support it. A simple Google search for Monitors/TV's that support either seems to indicate that they don't exist but that serveral manufacturers are working on them, including Samsung.

I did a little research to help the OP out. I don't see any effort on your part to assist him with any information whatsoever. If I am incorrect in the information I supplied him, please feel free to correct me... ask anyone around here who knows me I have no problems with being corrected.

Larry



Zellio said:


> And who figured this out? The same type of people who say that 'the human eye can only see 30 fps', or maybe the ones who said 'the human eye can only see 500:1 contrast on a hdtv'?
> 
> I HATE hearing stuff that starts with 'the human eye can only BLAH BLAH BLAH'
> 
> I hate to be rude, but either show your vast scientific research that brought you to this conclusion, or stop being a pretend expert. We already have way too many fake experts running around the internet acting like they actually know something.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> [deleted] I have no problems with being corrected.
> 
> Larry


Hey Larry, your bow tie is crooked, please fix it.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Color theory is a funny thing. A lot of it depends on what you call a "color." Most of modern color theory is based on a theoretical "reference observer." This person who never existed defines several key characteristics, such as luminance, which is sort of the brightness or darkness of a thing within the combination of the item's ability to reflect it or shine it, the lighting of the place in which it is, and your ability to perceive it. Kind of, but not exactly, because there's a lot of other stuff involved.

Then there is hue, which is what most people think of as "a color" like red or blue. Hue can exist independently of brightness, so in this theory, a green apple is still green if the lights are off. (In other color theories it's not.)

Another key measure is delta-E, (∆_e_) which boils down to the smallest amount that two colors can be different and have you realize that they are different. This would account for about 4 million individual colors using the "Lab" measurement system.

Now, the true number of different colors any given individual can see, that's measured partly by how well a person can see in the dark and how color-blind he is. Everyone is different.

In my experience I find that untrained observers can only identify about 30 colors as being unique and different and that the average person will rarely complain of pixelation in single-color images that have more than 4,096 colors. Of course, DBSTalk members are certainly above average.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I straightened it, and my pocket protector fell out!:eek2:



smiddy said:


> Hey Larry, your bow tie is crooked, please fix it.


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