TVs with HDR. What is HDR on TV

The industry of production is developing at a high rate. Every year at the exhibitions the producers present the latest technologies, which allow improving TV sets and convincing people that it's time to update.

Evolution

The last few years have led us from models with screens on a cathode-ray tube to thin TV sets. The rise of plasma panels and their fall was observed. Then came the era of high definition, full support for HD and Ultra HD. There were experiments with the popular three-dimensional format, as well as with the form of the screen: it was made flat or curved. And now came a new round of this television evolution - TVs with HDR. It was 2016 that became a new era in the television industry.

What is HDR on TV?

This abbreviation stands for "extended dynamic range". Technology makes it possible to bring the created picture to the maximum accuracy with what the person sees in real life. By itself, our eye perceives a relatively small number of details in the light and in the shadows at a time. But after the pupils adapt to the current conditions of illumination, their sensitivity is almost doubled.

Cameras and TVs with HDR: what's the difference?

In both types of technology, the task of this function is the same - with the maximum reliability convey the world around.

Due to the limitations of the matrixes of the cameras, several photographs with different exposures are taken. One frame is very dark, the other is slightly lighter, two more are very light. All of them are then connected by special programs manually. An exception are cameras with built-in gluing function. The meaning of this manipulation is pulling all the details out of the shadows and light areas.

TVs with HDR support manufacturers made accentuated on brightness. So, in an ideal device should be able to give an arbitrary point of a value of 4000 candelas per square meter. But the details in the shadows should not be overwhelmed.

Why do we need HDR?

The most important parameters for the quality of the displayed picture are color accuracy and contrast. If you put a 4K-TV with an HDR-TV, which has better color reproduction and an increased contrast range, then most people will choose the second option. After all, the picture on it looks less flat and more realistic.

TVs with HDR have an increased gradation, which allows you to get more shades of different colors: red, blue, green, as well as their combinations. Thus, the meaning of models with HDR is the display of a more contrast and full-color picture than that of other TVs.

Possible problems

In order to fully enjoy all the advantages of technology, unfortunately, we need not only TVs with HDR, but also content that will match the technology. In principle, TVs with an extended dynamic range of images are already doing quite well. The brightness of the models is doubled, and the illumination is local and direct, that is, in different frames, different fragments can be highlighted in different frames. The cheapest TV with HDR is not quite cheap. Its cost is about 160 thousand rubles. This model is a Sony TV. With HDR there are 55-inch and 65-inch screens. Unfortunately, budget models have insufficient peak brightness, and illumination in them does not regulate arbitrary areas of the matrix. Also they have a very modest number of transmitted colors.

The complexity of using old models is that the effect may be the opposite of what the director intended when shooting his creation. After all, together with the colorists, a color scheme was developed, and the frames were painted using an extensive palette of colors provided by a special standard in the cinema. Previous models of TVs with this standard do not work, as they can not display some shades. That's why the television versions of the films look paler than they should.

New TVs with HDR support can change the color scheme in such a way, as they want, using their own algorithms, which the director does not know about the vision. For this reason, the creators came up with a technology in which special metadata containing information with image change algorithms for HDR-enabled TVs is transmitted in conjunction with the video signal. Now the device knows where it is necessary to lighten, and where to darken, and also at what moments it is necessary to add some shade. And if the TV model supports such possibilities, then the picture will look exactly as the director wanted.

Content will be available soon

At the current time, TVs with HDR have a negligible amount of content. So, only a few titles are provided by online video services, and the last episode of the movie "Star Wars" is filmed and edited in a format similar to HDR. Because of this, the opinion may be formed that there is no sense in buying TVs that support the extended dynamic range.

However, it is not. There are companies that provide opportunities for converting video content into pseudo-HDR. Of course, this is not done by pressing one button, which instantly in automatic mode will improve the image without any outside assistance. But there is a set of utilities that will many times facilitate the work associated with the restoration of the color scheme conceived by the director and colorists. And this means that over time, high-quality content will increase.

HDR options

As well as with the previously released HD and Blu-ray technologies, there are several opinions about how everything should be implemented. Therefore, HDR is divided into formats. The most common is the HDR10 format. It is supported by all HDR TVs. In this format, the metadata is wholly attached to the video file.

The next option is Dolby Vision. Here each scene is processed separately. The picture is better because of this. In Russia, this option is supported only by LG TVs. Players with its support yet, as the current models are weak, and their processors can not pull such a load. Owners of the same models with HDR10 with the release of updates will receive video processing, close to DV.

Requirements

In 2016, HDR-TVs began to appear on the market. Almost every device with 4K support can understand this format. But, unfortunately, to understand is one thing, and to display correctly is quite another.

The ideal option is a TV with OLED-matrix and 4K support, which can make any pixel as bright as possible or darken it. Suitable and models that have carpet illumination of LEDs, which individually or in groups adjust the brightness of their areas of the matrix.

Update

If your TV supports HDMI 2.0 technology, then there is a very high probability that in the near future a software update will be received to the new standard, which is needed to transmit metadata. These two standards are fully physically compatible. The only difference is in the ways of software processing of the video stream.

How can I get this update if it does not come automatically? You need to go to the TV settings and select "Support". There should be an upgrade capability, when you select which you want to confirm the action and select the download over the network. Next, the system itself will find a new firmware and will offer to install it.

Conclusion

As already mentioned at the beginning of the article, more people will choose a full-color picture, rather than a high-resolution image. This is quite logical. After all, a lot of pixels are undoubtedly good, but it's even better when the pixels are good. The list of HDR-supported TVs is still small. Such models are in LG, Sony and Samsung.

The development of technology seems much more promising than the race for permission. At the latest television exhibitions, new models were announced, which should not only maintain the highest resolution, but also give high brightness, as well as display certain levels of black color and cover a large number of shades. It should be noted that the HDR format is declared by default in a variety of models that will be released in 2017. The problem can only be in the standards. Content producers and TVs need to solve it, and this year, apparently, will be devoted to this.

So, we found out what HDR is in the TV, what this technology is for, what are its advantages and disadvantages. Of course, for today it is impossible to strongly recommend television lovers to switch to new models, as the technology is still at the development stage. But, knowing the current pace of development, we can say with confidence that in a year HDR will reach a qualitatively different level and more people will start to buy TVs that support the extended range. By this time, content producers will be able to produce a large number of films and serials in HDR format, and watching TV will bring even more aesthetic pleasure to lovers of beautiful pictures.