The manufacturing industry is developing at a high speed. Every year at trade shows, manufacturers showcase the latest technology to improve TVs and convince people it's time for an upgrade.
Evolution
The past few years have taken us from CRT models to thin TVs. There was a rise of plasma panels and their fall. 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 shape of the screen: it was made either flat or curved. And now a new round of this television evolution has come - 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". The technology makes it possible to bring the created picture closer to what a person sees in real life with maximum accuracy. By itself, our eye perceives a relatively small number of details in the light and in the shadows at one time. Butafter the pupils adapt to the current lighting conditions, their sensitivity almost doubles.
HDR cameras and TVs: what's the difference?
In both types of technology, the task of this function is the same - to convey the world around with maximum reliability.
Due to camera sensor limitations, multiple shots are taken at different exposures. One frame is very dark, another is a little lighter, and two more are very light. All of them are then connected using special programs manually. An exception is cameras with a built-in frame stitching function. The meaning of this manipulation is to pull out all the details from the shadows and light areas.
TVs with HDR support, manufacturers have made accentuated brightness. So, ideally, the device should be capable of outputting a value of 4000 candelas per square meter at an arbitrary point. But at the same time, the detail in the shadows should not be overwhelmed.
What is HDR for?
The most important parameters for the quality of the displayed picture are color accuracy and contrast. If you put a 4K TV next to an HDR TV that has better color reproduction and increased contrast range, then most people will opt for the second option. After all, on it the picture looks less flat and more realistic.
HDR TVs have increased gradation, which allows you to get more shades of differentcolors: red, blue, green, as well as their combinations. Thus, the point of models with HDR is to display a higher contrast and full color picture than 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 fit the technology. In principle, TVs with an extended dynamic range of the image are already doing quite well. The brightness of the models has been doubled, and the illumination has become local and direct, that is, different fragments can be highlighted with different brightness in one frame. The cheapest TV with HDR is not exactly 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 the backlight in them does not regulate arbitrary areas of the matrix. They also have a very modest amount of color reproduction.
The difficulty of using old models is that the effect can 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 cinema. Previous TVs with this standard do not work, as they are not able to display some shades. That is why television versions of films look more pale thanshould.
New HDR TVs can change the color scheme in any way they want, using their own algorithms that are unaware of the director's vision. For this reason, the creators came up with a technology in which, together with the video signal, special metadata is transmitted containing information with algorithms for changing the picture for TVs with the HDR function. Now the device knows where to lighten and where to darken, as well as at what points to add some kind of tint. And if the TV model supports such features, then the picture will look exactly the way the director wanted.
Content coming soon
At this point in time, HDR TVs have a negligible amount of content. So, only a few titles are provided by online video services, and the last episode of the Star Wars movie was filmed and edited in a format similar to HDR. This may lead to the opinion that there is no point in buying TVs that support high dynamic range.
However, this is not the case. There are companies that provide the ability to convert video content to pseudo-HDR. Of course, this is not done by pressing a single button, which will instantly improve the image in automatic mode without any outside help. But there is a set of utilities that will greatly facilitate the work associated with restoring the color scheme conceived by the director and colorists. And this means that over time, volumes of high-quality contentwill increase.
HDR options
As with the earlier HD and Blu-Ray technologies, there are several opinions on how things should be implemented. Therefore, HDR was divided into formats. The most common format is HDR10. It is supported by all TVs with HDR. In this format, the entire metadata is attached to the video file.
The next option is Dolby Vision. Here each scene is processed separately. This makes the picture look better. In Russia, this option is supported only by TVs from LG. There are no players with its support yet, since modern models are weak, and their processors cannot handle such a load. Owners of models with HDR10 with the release of updates will receive video processing close to DV.
Requirements
In 2016, HDR TVs began to hit the market in droves. Almost every 4K capable device can understand this format. But, unfortunately, understanding is one thing, but displaying it correctly is quite another.
The ideal option is an OLED-matrix TV with 4K support, which is able to make any pixel as bright as possible or darken it. Also suitable are models with LED carpet backlighting, 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 a software update to the new standard will be received in the near future, which is needed in order toto pass metadata. These two standards are fully compatible physically. The difference lies only in the ways of programmatic processing of the video stream.
How to get this update if it didn't come automatically? You need to go to the TV settings and select "Support". There should be an update option here, when selected, you will need to confirm the action and select network boot. Next, the system itself will find a new firmware and offer to install it.
Conclusion
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, more people will choose a full color picture than a high resolution picture. This is quite logical. After all, a lot of pixels is undoubtedly good, but even better when the pixels are good. The list of TVs with HDR support is still small. LG, Sony and Samsung have such models.
The development of technology seems to be much more promising than the race for resolution. At recent TV shows, new models have been announced that should not only support the highest resolution, but also provide high brightness, as well as show certain black levels and cover a large number of shades. It should be noted that the HDR format is declared by default in many models that will be released in 2017. The problem may lie only in the standards. Content and TV makers need to address this, and this year looks set to be exactly that.
Thus, we found out what HDR is on a TV, what this technology is for, what advantages and disadvantages it has. Of course,TV lovers cannot be strongly advised to switch to new models today, 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 buying TVs that support an extended range. By this time, content producers will be able to produce a large number of films and TV shows in HDR format, and watching TV will bring even more aesthetic pleasure to lovers of beautiful pictures.
