What is HDR Technology?

Source: Trusted Reviews

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is the new technology that offers the highest image quality in television. The latest 4K television has been the most talked about television technology until now, however the launch HDR has been surfaced as being on the same level as 4K resolution. It encompasses the ability to revolutionise TV image quality more than any other technology out there.

The UHD Alliance has incorporated HDR in the specification for UHD Premium, so it is essential for manufacturers to include this if they want their releases to be approved under the UHD Premium label. HDR is predicted to affect movie makers and TV broadcasters as much as hardware manufactures, as they will have to focus on producing HDR content in order for the technology to be delivered through to the viewers.

 Premium companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and the BBC are already making use of HDR or currently investigating it. Netflix’s manager of corporate communications, Yann Lafargue, stated to TechRadar:

“HDR is a new standard for home entertainment. It’s a big leap forward in colour, contrast, and brightness, as significant as the addition of surround sound, or the introduction of HD and 4K.

It offers a new set of tools we can use to make bright and colourful scenes really pop, and at the same time, bring out more detail in dark scenes.” 

Although High Dynamic Range has some of the same qualities as smartphone photography, the HDR technology in video is different to pictures. Both HDR video and photos deliver the highest quality of increasing the contrast between the light and dark areas of an image/video. However, HDR video functions by capturing the highest quality of footage as it happens, rather than combining separate images after recording footage. The increase of contrast in the video results in a more detailed overall image, and it also allows you to have the same detail in low brightness.

In order to get HDR on your home screen, it is essential that everything is HDR compatible from the creation of the content to its distribution to your screen. It will be interesting to see how HDR technology will be used in future television and movies.