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Explainer: Difference between HDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision
Over the past few years, there have been significant advancements in television technology. From higher resolutions to improved panel technology, modern TVs can do more than their predecessors from 5-10 years ago.
One of the major advancements is High Dynamic Range (HDR) and its sub-formats. This explainer will answer key questions about HDR and demystify popular standards like HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. Before we dive into the explanation, we suggest exploring our in-depth television coverage. Now, let’s get to the fun stuff.
What is HDR?
Let’s start with the all-important question: What is HDR?
In simple terms, HDR is a content-mastering technique that offers more impressive picture quality than older-gen broadcast signals. HDR enhances color and contrast to improve the overall picture.
HDR-mastered content contains more data than SDR content and is capable of displaying a wider range of colors and greater contrast between dark and bright areas. This content is typically mastered to take advantage of wide color gamuts, high contrast, and bright highlights to stitch together striking videos.
For HDR to work, it needs support from both the television and HDR-mastered content. Fortunately, these are widely available now, with streaming services and gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox supporting HDR.
No matter the budget, modern-day TVs support HDR playback. If you want a TV for playing HDR content, you should understand that just having HDR support is not enough. The quality of HDR playback depends on the TV and its panel. HDR may not look as good on a budget TV because not all TVs are equal. Budget options may have panels that can’t cover wide color gamuts, achieve high contrast ratios, or reach dazzling brightness levels.
If you’re looking for a new TV that accurately displays HDR content, make sure the panel covers color containers like DCI-P3 and BT.2020. Additionally, ensure the TV has high contrast ratios and brightness levels above 1000 nits.
HDR10, HDR10+ and More: Decoding the sub-formats
In recent years, HDR content has been mastered in various formats. Content creators typically use HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision. Depending on the brand and budget, high-end TVs from Sony and LG usually support HDR10 and Dolby Vision, while Samsung uses HDR10 and HDR10+. Additionally, there is HLG, a format used by broadcasters for displaying HDR content, but it is not widely adopted yet.
Most mid-range and high-end TVs have already started supporting this format in preparation for its increasing popularity.
HDR10 vs HDR10+
HDR10 is the most widely used HDR sub-format. It was created in 2015 and is an open standard used by TV manufacturers and streaming services. If content is mastered in HDR, it is most likely available in HDR10.
To be HDR10 ready, content must meet basic standards including 4:2:0 color sub-sampling, maximum 10,000 nits brightness, 10-bit depth, and the use of BT.2020 color space.
HDR10+, on the other hand, was created in 2017. It uses 10-bit depth, maximum 10,000 nits brightness, and 4:2:0 color sub-sampling. However, it uses a more outdated color gamut profile, Rec. 2100.
HDR10+ is considered a more advanced HDR format than HDR10 because of its metadata type. HDR10 uses static metadata, while HDR10+ uses dynamic metadata. This dynamic metadata enables the mapping of dynamic color tones between frames, resulting in a more life-like and immersive visual experience. Overall, HDR10+ has a clear advantage over HDR10.
Dolby Vision: The Best HDR Sub-Format?
Dolby Vision is considered the best HDR sub-format currently available. Content mastered in Dolby Vision is widely accessible via most streaming platforms. It was developed in 2014 to bring cinema-grade picture quality to televisions.
Dolby Vision supports a high color depth of 12 bits, offering over 68 billion colors compared to the 1 billion colors supported by 10-bit formats. It can reach peak brightness levels of up to 10,000 nits and, similar to the HDR10 format, can display colors in the BT.2020 container.
Dolby Vision offers a crucial upgrade over HDR10 with dynamic metadata support. This enhances color and brightness for each frame, optimizing the HDR effect. Dolby Vision provides a more immersive viewing experience than HDR10. It is considered the best HDR sub-format due to its greater color bandwidth and support for dynamic metadata, surpassing HDR10 and HDR10+. Its widespread adoption by content creators and TV manufacturers solidifies its position as the leading HDR format.
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