[brazen1]

Justkidding, I also have a HTPC (Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITX HDMI 2.0 &DP, i7-7700 cpu) connected to a 1080P projector. My motherboard's data port to HDMI is directly connected to the projector and the HDMI out to Marantz 8802 for lossless audio processing. I have no video cards attached in my HTPC.

All my 1080p MKV/M2ts files are played through Kodi 17.6, but 4K HDR files appear dull with washed out colors. I tried Kodi 18 nightly builds without much success (same with JRiverMC and PowerDVD 17). Power DVD 17 will only work on a PC if a 4K HDR display is attached to the system along with 1709 creators edition and HDMI 2.0 motherboard. It is not doing the HDR to SDR conversion in my 1080P display.

I have been successfully playing 4K files using the windows "movies & TV app". Windows 10 creators fall edition 1709 update has removed the inbuilt support for HEVC Codec, which (HEVC Video Extension) can be downloaded free from the Microsoft app store.

I wanted to see if you can clarify about your HTPC set up and the file playback to see the differences. I see you have a graphics card, but you are using a single HDMI out to your AVR then to the projector. I use separate paths for video and audio to avoid handshakes and sync delays. As long as 4K files are playing with "movies and TV" app, I don't see the need to go through all the additional software downloads. I read in the Anandtech forum about not using movies&TV app for 4K HDR playback, but it looks great in my set up.

I am going to try and see if this Kodi XDR project software allows me to play 4K HDR files in the same manner as movies & TV app. 

P

No idea how you are successfully playing 2160p HDR titles on your 1080p projector that look great?  Makes no sense?  The Windows & TV app is the most basic player there is.  Not one setting and it looks terrible imo even with a 4k display.  This isn't a success story.  That primitive app has been working since day one.  When you convert HDR to SDR, you lose everything HDR is all about and fake it enough to see something palatable.  PDVD only works using specific SGX enabled motherboards, UHD ROM, and Kaby lake processors.  Otherwise, it will not render.  The reason to use other hardware and software speaks for itself, detailed in this guide.  Without an actual UHD display to compare to a SDR projector, one might think they have a great result.  BTW, this guide has nothing to do with the Kodi XDR project which is for HDR desires using only a 1080p display.  This too tries to replicate what an actual UHD HDR display does by boosting contrast, hue, and brightness settings but achieving far less than an actual HDR displays nit values.  However, for some it might provide further enhancement for 1080p and lower resolution playback but each title needs to be manually adjusted.  I prefer the methods and software provided here for simplicity, automation, versatility, reliability, and quality.