HDR the Future is now.

[Staying Salty]

This thread is to help us make an informed decision when we decide to upgrade from Blu-ray to HDR 4K or upgrading our current 4K equipment. Let’s think about the future, primarily dynamic metadata. Hopefully it will help us have no buyer’s remorse and to enjoy our movies to the max. This thread primarily addresses physical disks although some overlap to streaming.

As of now a 4K Blu-ray has static metadata HDR10 and the option of also having dynamic metadata Dolby Vision. There possibly will be other dynamic metadata formats added in the future, such as HDR10+ and Technicolor (they require HDMI 2.1 for disk). Certainly dynamic metadata can add to the quality of the picture as demonstrated by Samsung in their dynamic metadata HDR10+ presentation. I do believe that there will be only one dynamic metadata format per disk. (For streaming HDR10 and Dolby Vision are supported by various streaming services. HDR10+ will be supported by Samsung and Amazon late summer.)

HDR10 has 10 bit color depth and 4.2.0 chroma subsampling. If the reviewers of a Dolby Vision disk state that Dolby’s 12-bit color depth and 4.2.2 chroma subsampling gives an increase in the quality of the picture that’s a bonus.

A certified Premium HDMI Cable is also necessary for any upgrade to a HDR 4k TV. If you upgrade to Dolby Vision (display, player) your receiver must be able to pass the Dolby Vision signal. A current work around is to run the video signal directly to your display from your player.

All of us will soon be purchasing Dolby Vision disks. If you want the Title in 4k and it is in Dolby Vision you have no choice. I assume it’s possible that some duplicate titles released outside of the United States might not have a dynamic metadata encode.

So my question is will you take in consideration the equipment’s ability to display active metadata when you upgrade your current equipment?

In the future I am going to expand this to show the equipment and the formats they support. (hopefully in a few year this will OBE and we will have universal HDR equipment.) Not trying to steal your thunder DanBA.

Displays:

TBD

Players:

TBD