Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc authoring systems developer Scenarist is using the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas this week to showcase the use of HDR10+ high dynamic range (HDR) on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, along with technology partners Samsung, Deluxe and ATEME.
The company said HDR10+ is rapidly gaining critical-mass in Hollywood due to its ability to easily harness the full capabilities of 4K UHD TVs, and completion of the production ecosystem “means that Ultra HD Blu-ray titles enabled with HDR10+ can be developed quickly and easily to deliver the ultimate in image quality and blockbuster entertainment to the living room.”
Among the studios that have also pledged support for HDR10+ are 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.
In a statement, Jim Wuthrich, Warner Bros. Americas President, said “Warner Bros. has always strived to provide the best next-gen home entertainment experience to consumers. With HDR10+ dynamic metadata, WB can continue to more accurately bring the filmmakers’ vision of our 2018 releases and our vast catalog of over 75 4K HDR titles to the home across a broad range of HDR10+ capable TV’s.”
HDR10+ utilizes dynamic metadata messages in the video stream to instruct a 4K UHD TV to adjust itself on a scene-by-scene or even frame-by-frame basis for the optimum image quality. This is said to allow a TV’s dynamic range to be focused and tuned (tone mapped) specifically for the content being displayed. This is said to present a visual impact that is as close as possible to the artistic intent of the piece.
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The results are similar to those produced by the competing Dolby Vision HDR profile, although that technology is tightly controlled and licensed by Dolby, where HDR10+ is open and royalty free for HDR10+ alliance members.
“Our main objective is to enable exciting movie watching experiences that communicate the true artistic intention of the story by pushing the boundaries of display technology,“ said Bill Mandel, vice-president, Industry Relations at Samsung Research. “Working with this group to complete the HDR10+ production workflow is a giant step toward that goal.”
HDR10+ titles are completely compatible with existing UHD 4K displays and Ultra HD Blu-ray players, even if they don’t support HDR10+. An existing, non-HDR10+ enabled. Instead, a non-HDR10+ UHD display and Ultra HD Blu-ray player will default to a static HDR (HDR10) output stream.
“Deluxe has always been an early adopter of new formats, and a leader in enabling content creators and distributors around the world to take advantage of them,” said Bob Michaels, Chief Operations Officer, Deluxe Distribution. “We’re excited to collaborate on this ecosystem to advance HDR10+ as part of our ongoing commitment to delivering the best possible viewing experience for consumers.”
Deluxe’s media delivery team has worked closely with ATEME and Scenarist to solidify the production workflow. ATEME has updated its Titan 4K UHD encoding platform to support HDR10+ metadata insertion, and Scenarist has developed HDR10+ support into its Scenarist UHD authoring system.
“ATEME has invested considerable research efforts to refine our compression algorithms on a comprehensive set of HDR use cases to ensure the best possible image results,” said Jérôme Viéron PhD, Director of Research & Innovation at ATEME in Paris, France. “We are excited to introduce support for HDR10+ dynamic metadata in our Titan transcoder.”
Scenarist will demonstrate the complete HDR10+ workflow with ATEME Titan and Samsung HDR10+ enabled Ultra HD Blu-ray Players and displays in a private demo suite at the Renaissance Hotel during the NAB Convention.
By Greg Tarr
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