A few days ago we told you what Dolby Vision is, a type of HDR that seems to be gaining strength. However, Dolby's proposal is not the only one that we can find on the market. In that same article we talked about HDR10, although without explaining it. Today we want to tell you what HDR10 is , since you have surely seen it on many billboards.
However, what would you say if we told you that HDR10 is simply HDR? That's right, whenever you watch HDR without specifying the type of additional technology, it refers to the HDR10 system .
What is HDR10?
The acronym HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, or high dynamic range. The objective of this technology is to give more realism to the image we see on the screen. To achieve this , this technology improves image quality by adding a greater dynamic range of light and colors .
HDR technology brings with it a greater difference between the brightest and darkest points in an image (luminance dynamic range) . The transition between them is much richer and more progressive, as there are more intermediate tones available than the screen can display.
On the other hand, it has an expanded color palette . In other words, the television is capable of displaying many more colors, achieving a more natural image.
According to content creators, HDR represents a significant quantum leap in image quality . Much more than the increase in resolution to 4K.
HDR standards
There are 4 main standards for HDR technologies. They are HDR10, HDR10 +, HLG, and Dolby Vision. HDR10 is an open standard for the adoption of HDR technology in televisions , which was born in August 2015. It is supported by all television manufacturers.
Its main characteristics are:
- Color Space: Rec. 2020
- Color luminance: up to 1,000 nits maximum
- Color depth: 10 bit
As for the other standards, HLG will discuss in another article . But we can tell you that it is the HDR standard for terrestrial, cable and satellite television transmissions.
On the other hand, HDR10 + and Dolby Vision are dynamic systems, improvements over HDR10 . However, they are not present in all brands. As we already discussed, only a few brands support the Dolby Vision standard, including LG. As for the HDR10 +, Samsung and Panasonic are their top representatives.
How to view content in HDR10?
The first thing we need to view HDR content is a compatible television. Luckily, any TV that supports HDR images will be HDR10 compatible . On the other hand, manufacturers like LG have decided to include practically all HDR systems on the market, including Dolby Vision.
We can also see HDR content on mobiles such as the LG G6 or the LG V30. As is logical, the use on mobile phones is limited to streaming video services, as we will now see.
In addition to compatible hardware, we need content in this format. Platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video have a lot of content in HDR10 in their catalogs . Especially Netflix has been concerned from the beginning to broadcast almost all its original series in this format.
On the other hand, we can also opt for original 4K UHD Blu-Ray discs . Virtually any movie in this format will have HDR10, implemented better or worse.
Also in video games we can enjoy this format. The Xbox One S, Xbox One X, PS4 and PS4 Pro game consoles have HDR systems . It is true that the game must be adapted and has the HDR system implemented, but there are already many titles available.
In short, HDR images are here to stay and the HDR10 standard is the minimum to be able to reproduce this type of content . Luckily, this standard is present on all HDR-compatible televisions.
