Okay, thanks for the explanation. I guess people mostly don't appreciate what they're getting, since they don't see side by side comparisons.

Still gaming on a 1080p monitor with no HDR.

It's 75hz though so I'm part of the high refresh rate master race. *kind of*

That was a common refresh rate for CRT monitors, which are still superior to 4K HDR and OLED displays.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-modern-games-look-beautiful-on-crt-monitors

Real gamers play on CRT.

Thanks! I remember messing with the SDR slider initially and not liking the results, so I completely forgot about its existence :D (just clicked HDR for Streaming Video and went). However, that was when I first got my HDR TV sometime in the latter half of last year, so I'll have check it out again, as it's probably been improved since then.

Also, didn't know about the volume slider issue (my PC's volume on my TV is always at 100, and I just control game/video/music volume via my A/V Receiver), but I'll bear it in mind if I ever get an HDR monitor as well.

As for the games, I just haven't played any PC games that support HDR yet (according to the PC Gaming Wiki link I posted). Most of my modern games have been on consoles, but that'll eventually change so I look forward to it then.

...How did you know where I got my TV?!? Who told?!

I've had a 4K Sony Bravia with HDR since like 2017. I thought it looked great.

THEN, I got a 4k Samsung with HDR about a month ago. Didn't expect it to be anything special. Just got it for the living room since I wanted a bigger TV for the family.

The Samsung blew away my Sony.

After that, I've been going into the settings of both and tweaking them and the consoles connected (PS4 Pro and XBO X on the Sony/Standard PS4 and Xbox One on the Samsung). I honestly think the Samsung makes the regular consoles look better than the upgraded consoles. However, I did manage to change settings on the Sony that made my games look spectacular.

Since then, I've been playing and replaying older games and being impressed by what I see on both. And the HDR is nice. I just wonder if it's real. Like I can't see certain colors with HDR turned off but I can't understand why.

In my (albeit limited) experience, one of the strengths of Sony TVs is the level of audio and video customization in the settings if you want to spend the time there, digging through the menus. Most other TVs that I've encountered seem to try to limit how many settings the consumer can tweak. I suppose I fancy myself a sort of "power" user, so I tend toward custom Android roms, Linux, and devices with as many options/toggles/sliders as possible. Typically, automated settings are nice for me only as a starting point. Almost all of my friends, however, are definitely in the "whatever's default, I just want to use the remote for on and off and nothing else" camp. So, everyone's mileage may vary.

As to the bolded part, HDR expands the luminance range, so you're definitely seeing more shades of light and dark. If I recall correctly, the Wide Color Gamut standard is also present in the HDR profiles that the consoles use (it's definitely present in Windows 10 as well), so you would, in fact, be seeing additional colors.

I own a PS4 Pro and an LG 65 inches HDR 4K tv and i always enable HDR whenever the game supports it and i love how it enhances the depth regarding visuals, colors and lights.

My TV and PS4Pro are always set to HDR, so whenever a game offer it I use and always look at the adjustment for every game. Also depending on the ligh condition I may increase or lower the brightness during the day.