What is HDR?
Even though HDR content is gaining prominence with content creators and manufacturers fully embracing it, not many people fully understand what it is all about. The inadequate knowledge pertaining to HDR means you can easily get confused or misadvised about this incredible technology when purchasing a TV. You need to keep in mind the fact that HDR technology delivers more than just noticeable gains in terms of picture performance. It wholly transforms your TV watching and gaming experience.
HDR technology originates from photography. This is a technique used to enhance the dynamic range of an image. Simply put, HDR creates a noticeable contrast between the darkest blacks and the brightest whites. The idea behind this technology is that the greater the dynamic range of an image, the closer it is no real-life objects. HDR is gaining prominence among content creators because it easily brings out even the minor details in the darkest and brightest parts of a scene.
In photography, the use of HDR to create more detailed images entails capturing numerous images typically at different exposures before merging them. Nonetheless, such images often look fake. HDR videos are different since they look more realistic. Individual scenes can for instance get brightened to mimic light bouncing off chrome, and also dark enough to simulate an oil slick. Either way, you are bound to notice the subtlety of both shades and the finer details of each image.
The use of HDR in TVs doesn’t entail faking the contrast between the deepest blacks and the brightest whites using weird halo effects and filters. It is all about the use of new panel technologies that have a wider color palette to create the most detailed images that you will see anywhere. With a HDR-compatible, you are guaranteed the most incredible visual change and an enthralling entertainment experience.
Why HDR Content is the Next Big Thing in Television
Your standard UHD TV probably has a limited dynamic range that makes it hard for you to distinguish dark scenes from bright scenes. Older TV sets can’t also illuminate the finest variations in brightness. These and other technical limits can be solved by upgrading to a HDR TV. Whereas standard HD TVs throws out roughly between 100 to 300 nits of brightness, a HDR TV guarantees you more than 4,000 nits of brightness.
The theory behind HDR technology isn’t to make your TVs too bright for comfort. Instead, it’s all about widening the color and contrast range to display even the finest variations in shading. This allows you to see more of whatever videos you are streaming. With HDR, colors tend to look richer and more natural.
Metrics to Look Out for When Buying a HDR TV
HDR is technology has an end-to-end nature. Therefore, every step involved starting with content creation to distribution and even the TV that you use must be HDR-compatible. When shopping for a HDR TV, look out for the Ultra HD Premium logo on the models that are under consideration. This logo needs to be on the TV itself and not its box. The presence of this logo is a pointer that a TV is HDR compatible.
Generally, HDR TVs have a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. Nonetheless, this may not be any different from other UHD screens out there. A HDR-compatible TV stands out due to its ability to display a wider range of color shades that are captured in an image. The other significant metric to consider is the contrast level.
HDR panels deliver more than 1,000 nits of peak brightness and under 0.005 nits of peak darkness Standard LED-lit LCD TV sets deliver a maximum of 500 nits of peak brightness. On the other hand, standard OLED screens have a maximum brightness level of 540 nits. This clearly highlights how HDR delivers quality images.
Why HDR Standards Differ?
More often than less, HDR gets confused with HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The entry of Samsung’s HDR10+ technology has thrown a spanner into the works even further. This confusion isn’t unfounded because generally, all HDR TVs can display HDR10 content, which actually has similar specifications as the UHD premium standard. The fact that content creators use different variation of HDR makes it even more confusing.
HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+ are all slightly different from HDR. Nevertheless, the idea behind them all is to enable you watch high-quality content. HDR10+ for instance, helps improve HDR content by using dynamic metadata rather than the static metadata that HDR10 uses. This makes HD10+ closely similar to Dolby Vision since both of them use the dynamic metadata approach in their quest to improve image quality.
HDR technology adds more vibrancy, color, and detail to your images. Upgrading to a HDR TV will go a long way in ensuring that you have that much-desired immersive entertainment experience. The cost of purchasing such a set may be a little steep compared to buying standard TVs but nonetheless, upgrading to HDR is a worthwhile investment.
