Samsung and Amazon Announce Next Gen HDR Standard: HDR10+
SamsungOne of the biggest buzzwords in the video world has been HDR (otherwise known as High Dynamic Range), and it’s being pumped by nearly every television manufacturer on the planet. Truth be told, HDR is everything it’s said to be (and more), and when paired with wide color gamut consumers are finding a viewing experience that far eclipses the simple presence of more pixels on 4K televisions.
That’s a rosy picture to paint, but not everything is well in paradise. The good news is that manufacturers have proven they can support all available HDR standards on a single product. The bad news, however, is that average consumers are slowly being buried by a heap of terms that most likely make little sense and are rapidly evolving. We haven’t quite reached the ridiculous number of confusing Hi-Res audio formats available for consumption, but the display industry did exit CES 2017 with four different HDR standards.
HDR10 and Dolby Vision are the top two competing standards, and are the most widely recognized across the enthusiast landscape. HDR10 is an open standard that allows for content mastered with 1,000 nits of peak brightness and 10-bit color. Dolby Vision offers more performance (up to 10,000 nits of brightness and 12-bit color), but is a closed standard requiring licensing fees and a special hardware chip embedded within equipment. The other two standards (HLG and Advanced HDR) are more broadcast television focused.
Yesterday, Samsung and Amazon announced a fifth standard for high dynamic range called HDR10+. Much like HDR10, HDR10+ is an open standard; it’s due to be released later this year.
HDR10+ is essentially a new iteration of HDR10 that allows for “Dynamic Tone Mapping” through the inclusion of metadata. That gives HDR10+ the ability to shift brightness levels from scene to scene, something that HDR10 isn’t able to achieve (causing brief bright scenes in an HDR10 presentation to look significantly darker than intended). This addition brings its performance capabilities closer to Dolby Vision’s (but doesn’t change the fact that Dolby still holds the edge in peak brightness and total color).
“As an advanced HDR10 technology, HDR10+ offers an unparalleled HDR viewing experience — vivid picture, better contrast and accurate colors — that brings HDR video to life,” said Kyoungwon Lim, Vice President of Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics. “We’re excited to work with world-class industry partners, including Amazon Video, to bring more amazing HDR content directly to our 2017 UHD TVs, including our QLED TV lineup.”
Tapping the power of HDR10+ most likely won’t require new equipment. Samsung says that HDR10+ is supported by all 2017 Samsung TVs, and that older (2016) HDR10 compatible TVs are eligible for a future HDR10+ firmware update (later this year). That leads one to believe that other manufacturers shipping HDR10 televisions will likely offer HDR10+ updates, too.
On most every measureable level this announcement is exciting, especially considering that HDR10+ has the potential to play nicely with older displays. If the industry can continue making single devices carrying broad HDR compatibility, then consumers will avoid the nightmare of understanding industry technologies and being forced to make specific hardware choices.
HDR10+ content will begin appearing on Amazon Prime later this year.
Last edited by a moderator:
).
. But as soon as I order, the next new TV coming on the market will have 4000 nits. Just can't keep up.
