Understanding the HDR10 Ecosystem

Presented by HDR10+ Technologies, LLC

Introduction
In the digital age, the choice of consumer displays and projectors has never been better –and never more potentially confusing. Exciting new device technologies and distribution
platforms are jostling for attention at the same time that video content itself is undergoinga dramatic transformation called Ultra High Definition (Ultra HD).
A new benchmark for high quality video, Ultra HD enriches entertainment with a suite of
powerful advancements:••••

4K and 8K resolution are delivering much greater picture detail than ever before.
Wide Color Gamut enables content creators to produce and viewers toexperience a greater range of hues for more vibrant images.
High Frame Rates present fast-moving sports and action with unprecedented
smoothness
High Dynamic Range (HDR) delivers greater impact via darker “darks” andbrighter “brights” along with more nuanced gradations for better delineation of
on-screen shapes.

The global standards-setting body, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
established this next-generation technology via two landmark standards: ITU R-BT.2020
for Ultra HD and ITU R-BT.2100 for High Dynamic Range.
Although all of the technical advances under the Ultra HD umbrella are important, HDR
is critical. While production professionals and A/V enthusiast publications understand thesignificance of HDR, it has not achieved awareness on par with its transformational
contribution to picture quality. With nearly a half dozen formats vying for attention, only
HDR10 has become the most widely adopted platform, utilized across the entertainment
and electronics industries. Building upon this success, HDR10+ provides even higher
performance, along with other essential benefits.
This paper explains the powerful advantages of HDR – and shows how the HDR10 /HDR10+ ecosystem delivers these advantages.

The importance of High Dynamic Range
Perceptual benefits of HDR
Visual arts have long attempted to depict an original scene as in real life: first in painting
and drawing, then photography and cinematography. Until recently, these efforts havealways been constrained by relatively limited dynamic range: the difference in a
reproduction system’s brightness from the darkest possible black to the brightest possible
white.

2

SDR (top) doesn’t come close to the full range of brightness we canperceive in the original scene. HDR (bottom) does.

The human eye is capable of sensing light values from starlight to bright sunlight, a 1014
range of illuminance. In photographic terms, that’s over 46 “f-stops” of dynamic range.
But that total dynamic range is only achieved after many minutes of night vision
adaptation. At any given moment, only a fraction of that range is available: estimated ataround 13 to 16 stops. 1
Based on the outmoded 1950s technology of Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), theoriginal television imaging system could only capture, record, transmit and display lessthan 10 stops of dynamic range, limiting how content creators could convey scene
brightness. Even the launch of HDTV in the 1990s did not change this.
A giant step forward, High Dynamic Range (HDR) takes advantage of the latest cameras,
processing, storage, distribution platforms and displays. It comes close to maintaining thefull range of human vision from the original scene all the way through to the display. As
a result, HDR opens up exciting new creative possibilities for directors, cinematographersand game developers, delivering a dramatically better, more engaging entertainment
experience in movie theaters and on consumer televisions, projectors and even mobile
devices.
Technical benefits of HDR
Consumers, if they’re aware of HDR at all, typically associate this technology with“brighter” pictures, which are measured in units called “nits.” While brightness is a major
aspect of HDR – it is only one part of the story. HDR is really about the entire dark-tolight range of tonal values, what cinematographers call “grayscale.” HDR enables us to
According to experts from the American Society of Cinematographers, Canon, Pro Video Coalition and
Sony.

1

3

see the entire grayscale: not just the highlights, but all the shadows and all the subtle
gradations in between.

Today’s cameras capture deep shadows and bright highlights. SDR
can’t reproduce them. HDR can.

HDR starts with better reproduction of the grayscale extremes: deeper blacks and brighter
highlights. You also get better detail in the brightest areas of the scene – without thelosses that cinematographers call “blown out highlights.”

In the simulated SDR image at left, the circled highlights are “blownout.” The simulated HDR image at right retains significant highlightdetail in the clouds.

Additionally, you get better shadows – without the loss of visual information called“crushed shadows.”

4

In the simulated SDR image at left, the circled shadow areas are“crushed.” The simulated HDR image at right retains significant detailin the boats, pine trees and the dock.

You’ll also see better expression of the “middle grays” that give on-screen objects theirapparent shape.

Middle grays help us interpret on-screen objects, here defining thecurvature of a ball on a flat surface.

Creative benefits of HDR
To the casual observer, all these grayscale improvements may seem purely technical.
However, to the creative community, these improvements go directly to the heart ofvisual storytelling, enabling a greater range of expression. Careful control of grayscale’slight and shadow helps to establish mood, convey realistic skin tones and identify what tolook for in a scene. In fact, grayscale is so important that for each individual scene, movie
crews typically set up a unique configuration of lights, reflectors and diffusers to achieve
just the right effect. Moreover, the director and cinematographer continue to dial ingrayscale values during postproduction, via color correction and mastering.

5

By expanding and refining the grayscale, HDR dramatically improves movies, TV
programs and videogames. HDR transforms the viewing experience, making it more
involving, dynamic and closer to the creative intent. In short, HDR is “entertainment as itshould be.”The making of HDR10
Digital video systems use quantizing to encode grayscale. However, insufficientquantizing can mar the image by adding “banding” artifacts that can be noticeable on still
images and particularly annoying on motion pictures. Designing a system with morequantizing bits can overcome this issue. Consumer high definition formats use 8-bit
quantizing, which is adequate for SDR but insufficient for HDR. So when the ITU set the
R-BT.2020 standard for Ultra HD, among other things they enabled dramatically
expanded grayscale. By going to 10 bits, consumer Ultra HD content and devices can
support supple HDR grayscale rendition. A 12-bit quantizing option is also available forprofessional and other advanced applications

At the top, the distracting stripes of tone constitute “banding.” At thebottom, superior grayscale enables a smooth transition from dark tolight.

HDR10 as a global standard
Encouraged by additional research and development in several industries, the ITU createdanother standard, this one for HDR encoding, called ITU R-BT.2100.
This includes a grayscale technique called Perceptual Quantization (PQ) which goesmuch further by using the 10-bit grayscale levels more efficiently. Unlike the encoding
used in SDR, PQ concentrates the grayscale levels where your vision is most sensitive.
With PQ, High Dynamic Range provides not only more digital bits, but also the mostefficient use of each bit.
6

Each PQ grayscale level corresponds to a specific display light level, from 0 to 10,000
nits. The internal processing of each consumer display adjusts the highest PQ levels to fit
within the display’s brightness capability. This adjustment is called “tone mapping.”

On the horizontal axis is the complete range of possible light levels in
PQ-encoded content. On the vertical axis is the light level produced by
an HDR10 display. The diagonal “creative intent” line describes a
perfect match. However, because no consumer display can achieve thefull 10,000 nits, the internal processing of each display adjusts thehighest PQ levels to fit within the display’s maximum brightness
capability. This adjustment, called “tone mapping,” gives you the full
benefit of the display’s brightest light levels, while maintaining
excellent detail in the highlights.

The launch of HDR10
The establishment of the ITU R-BT.2100 standard for HDR caused an explosion ofinterest in compatible content creation and consumer products. In response to thesedevelopments, the trade group now known as the Consumer Technology Association(CTA) adopted an easy-to-implement configuration for HDR compatible displays.
Announced in 2015 and built on the ITU standards, this was called the “HDR10 MediaProfile” because it incorporates 10-bit grayscale quantizing.
HDR10 also includes a standards-based feature known as “static metadata.” Metadata issimply any relevant information about the primary video and audio content. For example,
when you mail a letter, the address and the return address are metadata while the letter
itself is the content. Static metadata simply means one unchanging set of data is used forthe entire program.
7

The static metadata in HDR10 includes the following:•••

Color volume information
Average light level of the brightest frame in the program
Maximum light level of the brightest pixel in the program

Since different display technologies have different brightness capabilities, the static
metadata gives each device the information it needs to retain maximum detail in thehighlights while taking full advantage of the display’s specific brightness.
In addition to all these compelling advantages, HDR10 provides other benefits:••••

Any content creator can work with it.
Device manufacturers can easily implement it.
It’s an open format that requires no licensing.
No payments to patent holders are necessary.

HDR10 is a major successIn a short period, HDR10 became a major success throughout the content, production,
distribution and consumer electronics industries.
In content creation, HDR10 is supported by professional monitors, color correction andmastering tools.
In content distribution, HDR10 enjoys widespread usage:
•
•
•
•
•

Movies and television shows
Cable & satellite programming
Streaming services
Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc
Videogames8

Finally, HDR10 is available on an incredibly broad range of devices from the biggest
names in consumer electronics.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Televisions
Projectors
Set-top boxes
Media players
Streaming devices
Smartphones
Tablets
Personal computers
Videogame consoles
Digital cameras

HDR10 also enjoys support from many industry organizations.
In addition to the Consumer Technology Association, HDR10 has been acknowledged by
the 8K Association, Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC), Blu-ray Disc
Association, HDMI Forum, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), UHD Alliance and the Ultra HD Forum.
In short, HDR10 has become a de facto standard.

9

The next step in the HDR10 ecosystem
As successful as HDR10 has become, like any static metadata system, it utilizes one-sizefits-all tone mapping for the entire program, which limits flexibility. To overcome this, a“dynamic metadata” system called HDR10+ was announced in April 2017. This direct
extension of HDR10 is both backward and forward compatible and is seamless to
implement. By using dynamic metadata, HDR10+ enables consumer devices to optimize
tone mapping on a scene-by-scene and frame-by-frame basis.

Maximum light levels vary from scene to scene. For example,
highlights in the skyscraper scene at the bottom extend to 4,000 nits.
Static metadata generates a single tone mapping curve based on the
maximum light level in the entire program.

10

In contrast, dynamic metadata indicates the maximum light level foreach scene, enabling the display to optimize the tone mapping curve ona scene-by-scene basis. You get a closer match to the creative intent
line in low-light scenes, delivering much more detail in the shadows.

HDR10+ dynamic metadata benefits
Unlike other dynamic metadata systems, HDR10+ also identifies the most important
areas of each scene to improve the reproduction of those areas. There are three steps.
1. During HDR10+ mastering, the system gathers comprehensive “luminancedistribution” statistics that describe all the grayscale levels of each scene. The
metadata include the exact number of pixels in nine different grayscale ranges.
2. The mastering system then uses this data to construct a highly sophisticated,customized tone mapping curve for each scene. This “guided curve” is also
included in the metadata.
3. As with HDR10, each consumer device adjusts the tone mapping curve according
to the specific brightness capability of the individual display.
As a result, HDR10+ does much more than deliver highlights optimized on a scene-byscene basis. You also get better rendering of subtle shades in the most important areas ofeach scene, where image elements like skin tones reside.
11

On the left, tone mapping with static metadata. On the right, HDR10+
guided tone mapping with dynamic metadata.

While each frame contains millions of pixels, all this dynamic metadata adds just a few
hundred bits per frame, making the additional metadata easy to encode and distribute.
Finally, HDR10+ supports other improvements in picture quality.
•••

8K resolution
Quantization up to 16 bits
Display brightness up to 10,000 nits

To deliver all these technical benefits as a consistent user experience, HDR10+
Technologies, LLC was created. Since June 2018, the organization has been certifying
HDR10+ compatible content, devices, tools and services, which can then display the fullcolor HDR10+ logo shown above. This also helps promote consumer awareness.
The growing acceptance of HDR10+
From an industry perspective, HDR10+ provides powerful advantages in everything fromprofessional content creation to consumer electronics.
1. Simple program production. Content creators can focus on making the best HDR
content, knowing that HDR10+ consumer devices will provide optimum performance.
HDR10+ mastering is straightforward and is supported by a choice of production tools
which also make it simple to upgrade previously-produced HDR10 content to HDR10+.
2. Total system compatibility. As part of the HDR10 ecosystem, HDR10+ content
works seamlessly with both HDR10 and HDR10+ devices. This content will display on
HDR10 devices, which simply ignore the dynamic metadata. HDR10 content also plays
as intended on HDR10+ devices.

12

At left, HDR10+ displays realize the full benefit of HDR10+ content,
which also works seamlessly on HDR10 displays. At right, HDR10+
displays support HDR10 content as well.

3. Ease of implementation. Like HDR10, HDR10+ is an open standard, works with arange of video codecs, requires no licensing fees and provides device optimization to takefull advantage of the brightness of each specific display technology.
4. Robust standardization. HDR10+ has been established as SMPTE standard ST 209440 and has been recognized by the Blu-ray Disc Association, Consumer Technology
Association, Digital Video Broadcasting, Society of Cable Television Engineers, Web
Application Video Ecosystem and Airline Passenger Experience Association. Work
continues on additional standards.
5. Growing industry support. Over 100 companies have already signed on as HDR10+
adopters.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Movies and other content from 20th Century Studios, IMAX, Lionsgate,
Paramount Pictures, Universal, ViacomCBS and Warner Brothers
Streaming platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Megogo,
Paramount+, Rakuten and YouTube
TV manufacturers including Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung, TCL, TPVision and
Vizio
Mobile device manufacturers including Motorola Mobility, OnePlus, Oppo,
RealMe, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi
Streaming devices including Amazon Fire, Chromecast with Google TV andRoku
Blu-ray Disc players from Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung
A/V receivers from Marantz and Onkyo
System on Chip (SoC) fabricators including Amlogic, MediaTek, Qualcomm
and Realtek
Professional tools and production facilities

6. Playback compliance. Best of all, HDR10+ Technologies, LLC conducts a thoroughdevice certification program. To qualify, televisions and mobile devices must pass over adozen tests, offered at seven test centers around the world. Over 3,000 different devices
have already been certified by this rigorous process and can display the HDR10+ logo.
13

HDR10+ certification covers “distribution” devices like set top boxes
and Blu-ray Disc players and “repeater” devices like AV receivers aswell as “displays.”

HDR10+ ADAPTIVE - A road to the future
Another critical consideration for HDR is the impact of ambient light on the viewing
experience. Bright ambient light limits your ability to see shadow detail on the screen.
For this reason, the mastering suites that content creators use for movies and TV
programs purposely keep the ambient light low. Of course, in consumer viewing, ambient
light varies greatly, depending on indoor or outdoor usage, time of day, window
treatments and number and intensity of room lights.

While mastering suites maintain low light (top), the ambient light levels
in consumer viewing vary tremendously (bottom).

14

To address this, a new feature called HDR10+ ADAPTIVE delivers more consistent
performance across a wide range of lighting conditions. The system takes advantage oflight sensors built into the device and HDR10+ dynamic metadata to constantly adjust thepresentation according to scene content and the amount of ambient light. For example,
you get maximum adjustment for very dark scenes in very bright viewing environments:
increasing brightness levels for better visibility. No adjustment is needed in very dark
viewing environments.

When the ambient light is bright, HDR10+ ADAPTIVE provides
precisely calibrated brightness enhancement of dark scenes.

HDR10+ ADAPTIVE devices achieve optimal performance in every viewing
environment. HDR10+ ADAPTIVE also works hand-in-hand with emerging features like
Filmmaker Mode, which enables compatible devices to show movies and television
programs the way their creators meant them to be seen. Best of all, content creators don’t
need to produce a separate HDR10+ ADAPTIVE version. In fact, a single HDR10+
program can realize the optimum performance each consumer device can deliver.

A single HDR10+ program serves all the displays in the HDR10
ecosystem.

Additional HDR10+ enhancements are being developed for future applications. Stay
tuned for further announcements.
15

Closing thoughts
As the experts already know, High Dynamic Range provides a more realistic, more
exciting, more captivating entertainment experience. And to take full advantage, theHDR10 ecosystem is the key.
HDR10 enjoys broad support from movie studios, streaming companies and acomprehensive list of device manufacturers. HDR10+ carries this further with evenhigher performance. And with new advancements on the horizon like HDR10+
ADAPTIVE, this ecosystem will continue to delight and entertain audiences for years tocome.

© Copyright 2021, HDR10+ Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction
prohibited. All brand names are trademarks or service marks of their respective
owners.
For more information, visit hdr10plus.org

16