On a screen near you: A superior HDR experience
Screen ubiquity in our everyday life is a fact that raises the standards of visual quality and content personalisation. The HDR4EU project has produced a useful infrastructure for the full implementation of high dynamic-range (HDR) technology in diverse contexts of use. HDR4EU contributed to the development and demonstration of high-quality real-time tools for conversion between HDR and standard dynamic-range (SDR) formats and standard and wide colour gamuts. It offered solutions for simple and effective colour management and grading tools for a whole spectrum of possible display devices and environments. In addition, it created a set of live (immersive) HDR content generation tools for broadcasting and a web implementation for HDR broadband internet, as well as a novel HDR projection system for movie theatres. Finally, it introduced automated and user-assisted personalisation tools that allow content adaptation to the viewer’s characteristics and it established a set of guidelines for best approaches to HDR.
Facing up competing challenges
During the 3-year project, the landscape in the global market was not a welcoming one. “The intense lobbying and standardisation efforts of the major industry players did not have a positive effect on the wider acceptance of HDR technology in terms of production and consumption. Instead of seeing it as an enabling technology for new and creative content, competitors turned it into a trigger of locking-in and exclusion based on minor and barely relevant implementation detail,” explains Jean-Philippe Guillemin, from project participant BARCO. This issue was addressed with the team’s sustained effort to disseminate their insights on HDR technology, colour science and relevant physiological phenomena.
Turning results into products and some more challenges to go
While the software tools have already been introduced in the market and the hardware technology will become marketable shortly, certain issues still need to be addressed for the successful establishment of an HDR ecosystem. “What is not properly understood, causing many practical difficulties, is the influence of dramatic visual storytelling. This begins with the lighting and capture on set. Directors of photography are reluctant to embrace HDR because there is a need to compromise between HDR and SDR deliverables. A perceptually accurate colour transformation does not automatically convey the same dramatic content. This is a challenge that needs careful consideration,” says Wolfgang Lempp, from project participant Filmlight. Visual adaptation is another issue with wide ramifications for HDR. Our visual system responds to what we see by optimally processing and encoding the information presented in front of our eyes. Therefore, our ability to adapt to scene contrast entails the re-evaluation of our approaches to HDR content. “On one hand, the first impression of HDR when seen in comparison to SDR is so unquestionably superior that we wonder how we ever could have accepted SDR as a realistic representation of reality. On the other hand, we have accepted pictures on reflective media – paintings and drawings – for thousands of years as valid representations of the world around us. There is no overwhelming desire for a literal true-to-life visual experience to support our storytelling,” concludes project coordinator Marcelo Bertalmío.
Keywords
HDR4EU, HDR, technology, visual, color, viewer experience, content generation, creative content, reflective media
