The horizontal axis is the physical brightness coming out of your television. The vertical axis is the signal, from broadcast, cable or satellite for example. It's part of the upcoming ATSC 3.0 standard.Ī graphical representation of an SDR and HLG signal. Like HDR10, HLG is likely better than SDR, but perhaps not quite the picture quality of the other HDR formats. Mainly, that's in terms of picture quality. Though as you can imagine, it's not without drawbacks. One signal that works on both older TVs and newer is a huge deal for broadcasters. Unlike the formats we've discussed so far, it's actually backward-compatible with SDR TVs. Hybrid Log Gamma was created by Britain's BBC and Japan's NHK. Not a huge issue, but something to keep in mind. That said, there is far less Dolby Vision content than there is HDR10 content. Content-wise, there's support from Sony, Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate and the Swiss of every format war, Warner, plus others. Some companies might only offer Dolby Vision support on certain models. Samsung is the biggest holdout, for reasons mentioned above. DolbyĪfter HDR10, this is the most popular HDR format, but that doesn't mean it's universal. This is an approximation, using two SDR images, of what you'd see if you placed an SDR and HDR TV side-by-side. It's impossible to show you want an HDR image looks like on your current device, since it's SDR. You need dynamic metadata for that, which most of the other formats have. This one-size-fits-all aspect of static metadata is fine, but doesn't let the content nor the TV live up to its full potential. This is certainly better than SDR content, but it doesn't allow for, say, a really bright scene to look its absolute best, nor a dark scene its best, within the same movie. This means that there's one HDR "look" for the entire movie or show. HDR10's issue, if you can call it that, is that it has "static" metadata. Pretty much all HDR content has an HDR10 version, in some cases along with a more "advanced" HDR format like Dolby Vision, which we'll discuss in a moment. Every HDR TV can decode it, every HDR streamer can stream it. It's free to use for manufacturers, so it's available everywhere. HDR10 is as close to a standard as we've got. Better image quality potential than SDR, but perhaps not as good as HDR10 Plus or Dolby Vision.Chances are your favorite new programs are available in HDR. Thankfully, there's now a lot of it out there. But to get the most out of your HDR TV, you need real HDR content. Sure, it will look good, and maybe even artificially expand SDR content for perhaps a slight improvement. Without HDR content, your HDR TV doesn't really know what to do with itself. The dynamic range of what's captured by the camera (left) and what's possible on SDR and HDR displays. HDR content on an HDR TV can look far more punchy and vibrant than traditional content.įor a more detailed look at HDR, check out How HDR works. Older content is now referred to as "SDR," or standard dynamic range. pretty much everything you've ever watched). Have the ability to display HDR content, which has more detail in the bright and dark areas of the image, for a greater "dynamic range" compared to non-HDR content (i.e. One format might look "better" than another on paper, but in the real world the biggest factors are the TV's overall performance and the content itself.Everything supports HDR10, but many TVs and sources will also have at least one of the other formats.Multiple HDR formats can exist in a single TV.It's not a full-fledged "format war," it's more like a slap fight.Here's a tour of the HDR landscape as it stands today. But knowing your way around the different formats is still worthwhile. In CNET's TV reviews, both the capabilities of the TV itself and the way HDR is used in the movie or TV show have a greater impact on image quality than the specific HDR format.
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