[NUC] Tips for Playing 4K, HDR or 3D Content on NUC

Make sure your NUC and the display both support 4K/HDR content.

See the High Dynamic Range (HDR) on Intel Graphics white paper. This document explains HDR technologies and provides details on HDR support on Intel graphics platforms running Windows® 10.

To play HEVC/H.265 encoded media in the Windows application, Movies & TV, install the Windows HEVC Codec. Go to the HEVC Video Extensions page to get the HEVC codec. There is a $0.99 fee.

Another alternative is the VLC* media player application, available from VideoLAN. It is free to download and includes a decoder to play back HEVC/H.265 files.

Some versions of the NUC NUC7i5BNx and NUC7i7BNx series may need a firmware update for HDR to work.

Any device with the below SA# or greater, already has the update.

To enable 4K at 60 Hertz:

1. Right-click the Windows logo on the bottom left of the screen, and select Settings.
2. Select System > Display.
3. Change the Resolution to 3840x2160.

1. Select Advanced display settings and set the refresh rate to 60Hz.  
   

Use premium high-speed HDMI or premium high-speed HDMI with Ethernet cables (sometimes called Category 2). Asus successfully tested the following cables with 4K/HDR content.

Atevon*   High-Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet   (ATEVON-HDC01)
BlueRigger*   High-Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet
Panasonic*   High-Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet   (RP-CHKX30-K)
Plugable*   USB 3.1 Type-C to HDMI 2.0   (USBC-HDMI-CABLE) 4K only, no HDR support

Asus successfully tested the following adapters with 4K/HDR content.

Plugable*   USB 3.1 Type-C to HDMI 2.0   (USBC-HDMI) 4K only, no HDR support
Plugable*   Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt to HDMI 2.0 Active Adapter   (MDP-HDMI) 4K only, no HDR support

Intel Graphics

The Intel graphics driver will automatically output at the highest color bit depth and chroma subsampling rate the display will support. At this time, there is no way to change either value.

When outputting at 4K with a 60 Hz refresh rate, the maximum supported bit depth, when using the RGB color model, is 8-bit.

If you want to use the YCbCr color space, open the Graphics Command Center, select: Display -> Color and turn on YCbCr.

The maximum supported bit depth is still 8-bit (when outputting at 4K with a 60 Hz refresh rate), but it will show as YCbCr444 instead of RGB. 

Third-Party Graphics

If you're using a NUC with third-party graphics, you can choose both the Pixel Format and the color depth. For example, the below screenshot shows the options available on the NUCs that use AMD Radeon™ Graphics.

Unless using an NUC with third-party graphics, at this time, there is no way to change the Pixel Format or the Color Depth. Both will be chosen automatically by the display that is connected.

The table below shows how the chroma subsampling changes based off of different bit depths and refresh rates when using HDMI 2.0, 2.0a and 2.0b.

Check if the television or monitor has the option to change the resolution of each HDMI port. It could be that the television or monitor has a default setting which only enables a specific maximum resolution. For example, this setting could be located at Settings > External Inputs > HDMI Signal Format > Enhanced Format. Contact your television or monitor manufacturer for further support.

Graphics does not support stereo 3D content from devices that implement HDMI 2.x outputs using an LSPCON chip when connected to HDMI 2.x displays. To play stereo 3D content you need to connect to an HDMI 1.4 display.

Unless the NUC is using third-party graphics, all the HDMI ports, on NUC Kits and Mini PCs 7th Generation through 11th generation are HDMI 2.0 or greater, and all use a LSPCON chip.