Clues like these trick our brains into
thinking objects have depth without the
needforgimmicky3DTVsorglasses (which,
thankfully, don’t appear to have survived
into the 4K era).
hat said, there are a couple of things to
watch out for to make sure you’re getting a
TV that can make the most of HDR content.
Many manufacturers claim that their TV
offers HDR because it’s able to go a little
brighter and a little darker than their
previous versions. But proper HDR has a
strictly defined level of brightness and
darkness that it needs to hit. he standard
(as defined by the UHD Alliance) states that
to be classed as HDR an LCD TV must be
capableofgoingasbrightas1,000 ‘nits’ (a
measure of brightness) and as dark as 0.05.
Like every bit of tech, it can be easy to
obsess over the numbers, and these rarely
tell the full story. If you want to ensure your
next TV meets the baseline standard of HDR,
then look out for any mention of HDR10
compatibility. Some manufacturers will use
other terms such as HDR+, HDR Pro and
HDR Premium to avoid being explicit about
compatibility, but HDR10 is a standard with
specificrequirements,andifaTVhasitthen
you know what you’re getting.
In an ideal world you’d also look out for
theUHDPremiumlogo–acertification
that lets you know that a TV has tech that
constitutes the next generation of TV – but
unfortunately not every TV manufacturer is
using it, and as such it’s not as reliable an
indicator as it seems. Different TVs achieve
theirHDRindifferentways,andthesecan
vary wildly in effectiveness.WHICH TVS DO HDR?
OLED TVs produce arguably the best HDR
images. Whereas LCD TVs have to rely on an
imprecise backlight shining through thepixels to provide enough light for the image,
the light from an OLED TV comes from the
pixels themselves.
his means that when a pixel needs to be
black it can turn off entirely, and produce
literally no light at all - essentially a perfect
black. In contrast, the best an LCD can do is
to turn off the backlight behind the pixel,
and since no LCD can do this on a per-pixel
basis, there’ll always be a little light creeping
through that results in a black closer to grey.
After years of dominance by LG, 2017 saw
major manufacturers jump on the OLED TV
bandwagon. LG still produces the most
diverse models, but the B7 and C7 are great
budget OLED sets. hey have exactly the
same picture quality as LG sets several times
their price, though they have weaker sound.
Other OLED manufacturers tend to be
more expensive, but each has a little secret
sauce they use to spice up their offerings.
Sony’s A1E is great at upgrading SDR content
to HDR, while Philips equips its OLED TVs
with Ambilight, a technology that
complements the images on screen by
illuminating the wall behind your TV.
hatsaid,therearestillsomeverystrong
LCD performers out there. Although OLEDs
arecapableofgoingespeciallydark,they
struggle to get as bright as LCDs. You get
better shadows, but less sparkle from the
bright parts of an image.he light from an
OLED TV comes
from the pixels
themselves
he top three...
HDR FORMATS
YOU NEED TO
KNOW ABOUT
he past couple of years has
seen a number of different
HDR formats emerge.
Here’s how they differDOLBY VISION:
THE PREMIUM CONTENDER
Dolby Vision includes everything from
HDR10 along with nice extras, such as
dynamic metadata and 12-bit colour.
The former offers scene-by-scene HDR
mastering, meaning instead of a brightness
level being set based on an average of the
whole movie (which is how HDR10 works),
it changes depending on the needs of each
scene. The latter offers more gradients
of colour within an image, meaning less
‘banding’ of colour on complex objects.HYBRID LOG GAMMA:
BROADCAST READY
HDR10 and Dolby Vision are all well and
good, but their reliance on metadata (extra
dataattachedtothevideo)totelltheTV
howbesttodisplayscenesmeansthey
can’t be used for broadcast television.
Enter Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), a standard
developed by the BBC which will eventually
be used to add HDR detail to broadcast
telly... eventually. A large number of T V
makers already support it in their
2017-and-later models, though.HDR10: THE BASELINE
HDR10 is the minimum HDR standard
you should look for. It’s the most widely
available, and also includes support for 10 -
bit colour and wide colour gamut, meaning
images using it have more vibrant hues,
as well as better brightness management.
Image performance is solid, but it uses static
metadata, meaning dark and brightness
levels are set for the whole video – see the
next box for why that’s a bit basic. A new
YHUVLRQ+'5LVRQWKHZD\WRĆ[WKDWThe Xbox One X offers 4K
HDR gaming and Blu-ray
playback – it’s a great
living-room upgrade01
02
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40 T3 WINTER 2018 Discover more at techradar.com/auhe complete guide to...