RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—Samsung and Amazon are teaming to deliver a higher standard of high-dynamic-range (HDR) performance to the video market.
The Samsung-backed HDR10+ technology (based on the SMPTE 2094-40 standard) is an updated open standard that leverages dynamic metadata to produce enhanced contrast and colors on an expanded range of televisions. Samsung is positioning the standard as a royalty-free dynamic-metadata alternative to Dolby Vision, which uses dynamic metadata but requires a licensing fee. Since this is an open standard that anyone can adopt, Samsung sees it as expanding dynamic metadata to low- and mid-priced 4K TVs.
Amazon Video is the first streaming video service that will implement HDR10+ technology to deliver a new source of high-quality digital video to Prime Video customers, the company said.
In May 2015, Samsung and Amazon Video brought HDR to the market using the HDR10 open standard, the first in the field.
HDR10+ elevates the HDR10 open standard with the addition of Dynamic Tone Mapping. The current HDR10 standard utilizes static metadata that does not change during playback despite scene specific brightness levels. As a result, image quality may not be optimal in some scenes. For example, when a movie’s overall color scheme is very bright but has a few scenes filmed in relatively dim lighting, those scenes will appear significantly darker than originally envisioned by the director.
HDR10+ incorporates dynamic metadata that allows an HDR TV to adjust brightness levels on a scene-by-scene or even frame-by-frame basis.
All of Samsung’s 2017 UHD TVs, including its premium QLED TV lineup, support HDR10+. In the second half of this year, Samsung’s 2016 UHD TVs will gain HDR10+ support through a firmware update.
“As an advanced HDR10 technology, HDR10+ offers an unparalleled HDR viewing experience — vivid picture, better contrast and accurate colors — that brings HDR video to life,” said Kyoungwon Lim, Samsung's visual display division VP. “We’re excited to work with world-class industry partners, including Amazon Video, to bring more amazing HDR content directly to our 2017 UHD TVs, including our QLED TV lineup.”
This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication TWICE.
