This article describes how to use the HDR capabilities of an Apple MacBook or iMac built-in display when using BlackMagic Design DaVinci Resolve version 16 or later.  It also applies to selected external HDR compatible displays, like the Apple Pro Display XDR, that may be connected via HDMI, DisplayPort or similar interfaces. This feature enables you to preview HDR content directly via the Resolve viewer on the built-in display. The peak luminance and gamut will depend on the display characteristics but many models are available with >400 nit peak luminance as well as covering more than 95% of the P3 color space. Care should be taken when connecting to external monitors via the different interface types. Please refer to this Apple Support article for more info on supported Apple Mac models as well as external displays.

 

Note:

The use of an in-built or non-SDI connected external display can be a very cost effective way of creating and previewing Dolby Vision content.  However some use cases and clients may require the use of SDI connected displays with certain characteristics.  For more info on selecting a monitor please refer to this article FAQ: What monitor should I use for creating Dolby Vision?

DaVinci Resolve settings to enable HDR on viewers

Setting the Apple Mac Display profile

As with using any monitor for professional content review purposes, it is recommended to first calibrate the display. In order to do this, you may need to create a new display profile first. Please refer to this Apple Support article on how to calibrate and set a color profile for your Apple Mac screen.

Enable the feature on Resolve

Please note that the "Display HDR on viewers if available" is a Resolve feature that is only available on MacOS. The MacOS version must be 10.14.6 or above and the Resolve version must be 16 or above.

Please follow the following steps to enable this feature in Resolve:

1. Go to DaVinci Resolve Preferences…-> System -> General
2. enable “Use 10bit precision in viewers if available” and enable “Use Mac Display Color Profiles for Viewers”
3. Go to Project Settings -> Color Management and enable “Display HDR on viewers if available”
4. Restart Resolve to make above settings effective
5. For Intel-based Mac, go to your MacOS System Preferences -> Display and disable “True Tone”. Disable “Automatically adjust brightness” and set the brightness of your screen to 80% - 90%

• The brightness levels are relative. Thus, don’t set the brightness to maximum as this will clip the highlights.

6. For Apple silicon Macs with an XDR display,  go to System Settings -> Display, and set the Preset to HDR Video(P3-ST 2084). This will set the display to HDR reference mode.

 
The screenshot on the left side shows a simulated PQ HDR image on an SDR Gamma calibrated display.  The image looks very gray and dull.  The picture on the right side shows the same PQ HDR image with the feature “Display HDR on viewers if available” enabled. You will see the correct HDR image representation.

Further notes

In order to have a correct representation of HDR images using this feature, Resolve needs to be set to the correct output color space and EOTF. Therefore, in a color managed project, the output color space should be set to P3 and the EOTF (labelled as Gamma in Resolve) should be set to ST2084.  When working in a non-color managed project, you must set the timeline settings according to the above-mentioned settings in order to get a correct image representation.  The other key setting to remember is the “display HDR on viewers if available” in color management.

If using the preview window alongside other UI elements on a single display, it's also useful to know the shortcut “Command+F” which will quickly switch to and from a full screen preview.