When HDR becomes the standard for future TVs, are we still far away from better display effects?

Although the entire technology industry has invested more and more energy in the field of small-screen devices represented by smartphones and wearable products, it cannot be ignored that there are still a large number of TV manufacturers who are constantly exploring how to improve the display effects of large screens.

The CES 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, which just ended, is one of the few stages where large-screen TVs can play a leading role, and the new technology of large-screen display has entered a new stage.

From the new products brought by major TV manufacturers, the word HDR has undoubtedly become the most eye-catching part. Whether it is international brands such as Sony, Samsung, and LG, or domestic TV brands, HDR technology has almost become the standard configuration of future TVs, and there are even a large number of products that combine HDR and OLED technology. Including TCL, which has always been based on quantum technology, it has also launched its flagship product X1 equipped with HDR technology in the high-end sub-category QUHD quantum TV. In addition, TCL recently announced that all its mid-to-high-end products will be upgraded to HDR, which shows that this technology is a general trend.

What can HDR change?

If you are familiar with the camera interface of mainstream smartphones, you should have some understanding of the role of HDR. After turning on the HDR mode, the phone will synthesize multiple photos to make the details of different lighting conditions richer and the layers more distinct. Therefore, you will find that the shooting process has become slower, but the color performance of the photos taken will be more accurate.

Although TV screens cannot simply "take" a lot of photos, the application of HDR technology on TV screens is also committed to expanding the dynamic range of brightness, enhancing contrast, and making the display image closer to the human eye's visual perception, just like the full name of HDR "High Dynamic Range", to achieve the purpose of high dynamic range.

As we all know, LCD TVs are subject to the limitations of screen backlights and are often unable to perfectly display details in images with higher or lower brightness. In layman's terms, the TV screen is either too bright and overexposed, or too dark and gloomy. As a result, the content details in the bright or dark scenes in the picture are largely missing, making it difficult to restore the feeling of the real environment that the human eye can easily interpret. This is also the biggest gap between LCD TVs and self-luminous OLED TVs.

The emergence of HDR technology is precisely to make targeted "soft" improvements to this "chronic disease". Watching corresponding HDR video content on a TV that supports HDR technology can make the picture rich in light and dark details, distinct in layers, and bright in colors. It can be said that the addition of HDR has allowed television products, whose screen resolutions have already reached a relatively high level, to leap to a higher level in terms of color, brightness, and contrast.

How far are we from true HDR picture quality?

Just as playing Blu-ray discs requires a player with a Blu-ray drive, and the best display medium for 4K resolution content is a 4K screen, although HDR technology cannot yet be called a new standard for TV display, achieving true HDR picture quality is far from a task that can be accomplished unilaterally by a TV that supports HDR technology.

Like 4K, the biggest problem with HDR TVs right now is the lack of corresponding content that supports HDR.

Without HDR content, the improvement of HDR TV display quality will be weak. Even though Sony has already introduced the black technology HLG technology, which allows non-HDR TVs to present a near-HDR display effect, Sony only said at CES that it is allowing users to purchase HDR content and content streams on Sony TVs running Android TV through the Ultra application, which can alleviate the lack of content to a certain extent.

Compared with simply manufacturing HDR display devices, the HDR real-time conversion technology (S2H) equipped in TCL TVs may provide a more practical and actual solution for HDR content.

HDR real-time conversion technology is an image enhancement algorithm that converts SDR (normal image quality) into HDR image quality in real time, and has three core technology patents. Among them, the exclusive color processing technology is an exclusive SDR to HDR image processing method. Different from the previous method of stretching ordinary SDR signals, it adjusts the saturation to ensure that the color tone does not deviate; and the exclusive dynamic enhancement technology compensates the original SDR signal through brightness, making the source brightness details closer to the display brightness of the HDR standard, so that users can see the HDR effect when watching ordinary film sources.

HDR image effects are an ecological issue

The shooting, production, transmission and display of images must meet the requirements of HDR to present a true HDR image effect. Just like the term "ecosystem" often used in the technology industry, HDR technology must be applied to the entire ecosystem of image display, rather than a single link. In this regard, TCL, with the help of HDR real-time conversion technology, has officially launched the "Full Ecosystem HDR" plan.

In terms of content, TCL has worked closely with Hollywood to launch HDR video resources in a timely manner through the global broadcast platform, and can convert ordinary content into HDR standard content to meet users' real-time viewing needs. In terms of device hardware and software, TCL's full 4K HDR technology is a true 4K HDR technology that meets HDR standards in four aspects: interface, chip, backlight, and screen.

On the 6th of this month, Wang Rulin, vice president of TCL Multimedia and general manager of the Overseas Business Center, said at the CES that HDR is one of the hottest words in the entire color TV industry, including display technology, because it is a revolution in content. From standard definition to high definition and ultra-high definition, HDR is a brand new technology for the entire shooting, transmission, and display on TV. This process will bring a completely different audio-visual experience to the TV, and he said that HDR is the most important technology in 2016.

By endowing new products with new technologies, with the joint efforts of major TV manufacturers, HDR TVs will undoubtedly emerge in greater numbers in the consumer market. And with the advent of innovative technologies such as the full-eco HDR led by TCL, the popularization of true HDR picture quality on large screens is also expected to be implemented more quickly.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.