The update of the TV set was very fast. Just after spending money on a new TV, another more advanced one appeared. The beginning was 3D, and later 4K, interspersed with OLEDs and quantum dots, then cheap 4K and OLED. This year is no exception. The advent of a new technology has made consumers ready to go. It is "HDR", the so-called "high dynamic range." Today, I will give you a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and prospects of HDR technology and HDR TV.
What is HDR?
Do you think the acronym "HDR" looks familiar? That's because people often see it in the smart phone camera settings.
Still photography captures details by capturing multiple images of the subject in different exposures. The problem is that photographs under static photography are often distorted and look like counterfeit, and HDR precisely solves this problem.
Unlike HDR, it looks very realistic, and gray levels and details are almost a reduction of real life. It can simulate light reflections, making light and dark look natural. What is important is that in both cases, it still shows exquisite details and subtle hues.
HDR and stupid filters, strange glow effects are different. The new panel technology it uses has a wider palette and special-encoded video. For this reason, HDR video works only on specific types of TVs. If a TV supports HDR video, it must have more realistic colors and lifelike lighting effects.
HDR advantages
HDR does not depend on the display technology of a certain characteristic, but HDR has several commonalities. Vizio, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, TCL, and Hisense all have HDR-enabled TVs. The performance of these TVs is on LCD 4K TVs.
We can understand what "bright" means on HDR TV. For example, if there is a sun or explosion on the screen, the screen will be bright so you can't open your eyes. It should be noted that the backlight system of HDR TV panels may exceed 1000 nits (LCD HDTV is generally 300 or 400 nis). Why is it so bright? At such high brightness, the contrast between light and dark in the scene becomes more pronounced.
In addition, most HDR televisions do not use OLEDs but LCD panels because LCD panels can be brighter than OLEDs. However, because the OLED panels do not have a backlight system, the black they present will be darker. Earlier this month, both LG and Panasonic introduced new 4K OLED TVs that support HDR video.
What is the color of HDR TV? Is it better?
The answer is obviously yes, HDR TV can show more colors than high-end 4K TVs. This is because the color space and color depth of HDR TV and HDR TV content are far better than traditional HDTV. In the case of display colors, for example, the HDTV supports the Rec. 709 color standard. This standard is the 8-bit color space proposed by a television industry organization 25 years ago, just as old as Windows 3.0 and the Simpsons.
The Rec.709 standard runs through the entire HDTV era. But now the new standard has emerged, 4K TV and content target is 10-12 Rec.2020 color space. The color of Rec.2020 color space is 60 times that of Rec. 709, a total of more than one billion. Rec.2020's color range is even wider than the DCI-P3 standard for professional digital projection.
From shooting to mastering to distribution to broadcast, this end-to-end channel guarantees a better picture. TV content takes advantage of the wider color space and additional metadata will be sent to HDR television to redefine the picture. In addition, color adjustment techniques such as quantum dots can also help. With 4K resolution, 4 extreme brightness, improved contrast, and more colors, HDR TVs can deliver spectacular picture effects.
HDR TV Standards and Prospects
UHD Alliance, a TV manufacturer, content provider, and distributor, has set a series of standards for HDR television so that its implementation can be standardized. These standards include minimum lumen levels, color depth, bandwidth requirements, encoding and decoding requirements, and energy consumption.
To get a “passâ€, a TV show must have 3840×2160 (which is 4K) resolution, 10-bit color support, content that handles the Rec. 2020 color space standard, and at least 90% DCI-P3 color space. .
HDR TV supports LCD and OLED panels. LCD panel, the screen brightness must exceed 1000nits, darkness must be less than 0.05nits. In an OLED panel, the brightness must be at least 540 nits and the darkness should be less than 0.0005 nits.
How can I enjoy HDR?
As you might expect, 4K HDR video is very rare. Even if 4K HDR content is found, there will be cases where the format is not supported. The most common HDR format is Dolby Vision, which is supported only by a TV with a built-in Dolby Vision decoder. But then again, Dolby Vision is truly amazing. It can handle 12-bit color depth and supports four times the backlighting system for HDR TVs.
Vizio was the first company to market a Dolby Vision compatible TV. This year's CES, LG, Philips, TCL also showed support for Dolby Vision TV.
On streaming media service Vudu, you can already find Dolby Vision compatible content. Netflix has announced that it will soon launch a similar service. Another familiar format for everyone is HDR 10. Almost all 4K Blu-ray Discs support this format. HDR 10 supports 10-bit color, and by the end of the year everyone will see more HDR 10 content.
Some TV products support both formats, and LG, Philips, and TCL have already confirmed this.
Is it right now?
HDR is still a new technology, and new technologies are always particularly attractive. But here I would also like to urge you to calm down, because it is still far from most of us.
Although HDR has had official definitions and standards, TV manufacturers and content providers have also vowed to demonstrate their strength in this area. But just like 4K, it takes a long process to emerge from the emergence of new technologies. Although the combination of 4K and HDR will give us an unimaginable viewing experience, now we still have to wait and see.