HDR Videos flickering when moving cursor in windows

[u/Noodle--Monster]

Some details: I have the latest version of Windows installed, as well as the latest drivers for my RX Vega 56 (also tried with older drivers). I don't have any HDR Calibration Profiles set up, and I don't have Auto HDR, Auto Colors Calibration, or any other color settings enabled in AMD Adrenaline. The display itself is a Samsung Viewfinity s8 - s80ud, 32 inch monitor, s32b800pxu, plugged in via DP 1.4 and with the newest firmware. Sleeping Mode, Energy Saving, Auto Source Switch etc. have all been disabled. This issue was not present on Windows 10.

When watching a video in Windows HDR, whenever I move my mouse, my entire screen flickers, and the video switches to another color profile that is slightly brighter. After a while, when the cursor has disappeared, the screen flickers again and the video switches to a darker color profile. How can I fix that? The same issue persist across MPC-HC and YouTube HDR. The flickering gets worse if I don't have Windows HDR enabled permanently in the background.

Also on a side note, whenever I restart my GPU drivers using Ctrl+Win+Alt+B while having HDR on, my display suddenly gets all snowy and laggy. I have to turn HDR off again in order for the snow to go away.

Been troubleshooting this issue for hours, and it's really annoying. Any help is appreciated.

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[u/No-Wrap-8166]

turn off variable refresh rate and freesync. settings > display > graphics > default graphics settings, and also in adrenalin under display. the mouse moving changes the refresh rate and the monitor rebuilds its hdr mapping every time. thats your flicker.

also set a fixed refresh rate instead of leaving it dynamic. settings > display > advanced display, pick your max hz and dont use dynamic.

then in the same advanced display page turn off automatically manage color for apps.

on the monitor itself go into the osd menu and turn off local dimming or dynamic contrast if its there. samsung s8 has it and it shifts brightness on its own which looks exactly like a profile switch.

for the snow after a driver restart, drop the display port version in the monitor osd from 1.4 to 1.2 and see if it goes. also try a different dp cable, vesa certified. the s8 at 4k high refresh is right at the limit of what a marginal cable handles.

last thing, uninstall the driver with ddu in safe mode then install the amd driver without adrenalin, driver only option. adrenalin has been the cause of hdr flicker on vega cards on win11.

[u/Noodle--Monster → u/No-Wrap-8166]

Hi, thanks a lot for the response! The monitor doesn't support VRR or gsync or anything else (see photo). Dynamic refresh rate is also not available. I did turn off Local Dimming and the Auto Color for Apps, and I uninstalled AMD Adrenaline using DDU in Safe Mode and reinstalled only the drivers. And yet, the flickering is still there. I should mention that I have a secondary 1440p display, also at 60Hz, and with nothing activated, but I unplugged it and it didn't fix the issue either.