VIDEO MATTERS Copyright Lighting &Sound America August 2018 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

HDR Today

By: Richard Cadena

The second biggest leap of technology has increased, so has the quality of of , and computer moni - in the video world during my lifetime the picture. tors are even less capable, but many was probably when we went from HDR has been around for a handful cinemas now show feature films in standard-definition to high-definition of years, and there are already a few Dolby Vision. This means that, as more displays. The first person I knew who different formats, the two most com - people see it and get used to it, the had an HD television was a former mon of which are Dolby Vision and level of expectation rises. Soon, the boss, and he raved about how great it HDR10. (HDR10+ was recently intro - typical audience will accept nothing looked. He swore that once you saw it, duced, and time will tell how well it will less. So it might be time for the live you would never be satisfied with SD. be accepted.) The difference between event industry to embrace it. Of course, he was right. When I see the two is peak brightness, bit depth, If your workflow currently doesn’t SD video now, it looks so fuzzy that and the . HDR10 is an include HDR, you might want to think it’s hard to believe that we accepted it open standard that supports up to about moving in that direction. Your as normal. 4,000 nits (although it is commonly software probably supports an HDR So, what’s the next leap in video mastered to 1,000 nits peak) and 10- workflow unless it’s an older version. that might have the same impact as bit color depth, while Dolby Vision DaVinci Resolve 12 and onward, Final HD? If I had to guess, I would proba - supports displays with up to 10,000 Cut Pro X 10.4, and Adobe Premiere bly say (HDR). nits (commonly mastered to 4,000 nits Pro 2015 release 9.1 and onward all Yes, the quantity of pixels is important peak) and uses 12-bit color depth. support it. Moving to an HDR workflow but so is the quality of pixels. As Most televisions today are not capable might be easier than you think. dynamic range in the entire workflow of reproducing the full dynamic range In FCPX, for example, you can set

If you’re using modern software, it more than likely supports HDR. In Final Cut Pro X 10.4, you can change the Library Properties to set up an HDR library.

90 • August 2018 • Lighting &Sound America VIDEO MATTERS

There are three different wide- settings for rendering HDR. PQ allows you to render output as HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision.

up an HDR library by going into Library Properties and peak or even the 1,000 nits to which Dolby Vision is com - changing the setting from standard to wide-gamut HDR. monly mastered, but they are improving. There are a num - Then you can choose from among three different wide- ber of models that top out in the 300 to 350 candelas per gamut settings, including Rec. 2020, Rec. 2020 PQ, or Rec. square meter (cd/m2) range, and the specs for some will 2020 HLG. quote 550cd/m2, although reviewers are claiming less out - PQ, or perceptual quantizer, is a transfer function—basi - put than that. cally a map of input values to output values—that maps an And, just the other day, Philips started shipping its input electrical signal to the proper luminance level of a dis - Momentum 43 monitor, claiming to be the first DisplayHDR play so that it looks right to you and other humans. The 1000 monitor, which is a new VESA certification. In order to Rec. 2020 PQ setting can be used to render your output in meet the requirements for this particular certification, the HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision. monitor must be able to output 1,000cd/m2 across the If you need your content to be backwards-compatible entire screen for brief periods of time and sustain long dura - with standard dynamic range displays, you have to choose tions of 600cd/m2. There are also requirements for black the Rec. 2020 HLG. HLG is hybrid log-gamma, which is also level performance and bit depth. The Momentum 43 is a a transfer function, but it’s unique in that the bottom part of 42.5" diagonal quantum dot display that retails for $1,000. the curve is the standard gamma curve while the upper part Its native resolution is 3840 x 2160 (16:9) with a pixel pitch is logarithmic. For this reason, it is compatible with standard of 0.245. It boasts a maximum gamut of 97.6% of DCI-P3, displays, but it uses 10 bits for color depth and it works with which is large by today’s standards, but only a bit depth of HDR as well. eight bits, although it simulates 10-bit using frame rate con - Of course, your content will need to be captured or ren - trol (FRC). The typical brightness, according to the specs, is dered in log or wide dynamic range. You will also need to 720 nits with a maximum vertical refresh rate of 80Hz. use an HDR monitor in order to see the full range of color In case you’re curious about why I said that high-def was and luminance. Otherwise, the brightest parts of the picture the second biggest technological leap in my lifetime, I’ll tell will be clipped. On the other hand, you can choose to dis - you: Although I’m not quite old enough to remember it, my play HDR as raw values, which allows you to edit HDR family got our first color television when I was a baby. I do using a standard monitor. remember, however, watching The Wizard of Oz on TV, The good news is that there are options for HDR moni - which used to be a big annual event. The family would gath - tors, and the better news is that they are getting better and er in the living room with a lot of anticipation, and when the more affordable. Whereas a year ago, an HDR monitor movie went from black and white to full color, it was as if could set you back thousands and thousands of dollars, the whole world was suddenly a better place. There’s no today you can pick one up for about $1,500 or less. The topping that. not-so-good news is that they are nowhere near 4,000 nits

91 • August 2018 • Lighting &Sound America