Spears & Munsil 4K UHD HDR Benchmark (Test Discs) May 15, 2023

[Geoff D]

Is that why DV's brightness is significantly reduced - according to both my eyes and my colourimeter - compared to HDR10 on the ZD9? That because it's requesting too high a nit level for what the TV can do the output is being dimmed down too aggressively? Or was the LG EDID even dimmer? Sadly it looks as if the problems with the LL mode are not just on Dolby but on Sony too and I don't hold out much hope that both will be corrected.

[TJtennispro]

Stacey- you seem to be the only person in the world that’s understands HDR/DV. I just upgraded to a LG C8 and bought the Sony UbX 700. Everything is running through my Denon 7200wa including my Apple TV 4K. DV passes through at RGB 8 bit for the Sony 700 and ATV in DV.

HDR 10 passes through in BT2020 10 bit for ATV and BT2020 12 bit for Sony 700.

I’m used to seeing BT2020 10 bit from my days with Samsung JS9500 and 8500 uhd player.

The settings that are passing through seem correct from statements I’ve read the past couple of days?

Also which blu Ray player is the best for chroma sampling for DV in your opinion? Thank you!

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

As an experiment this weekend, I copied the EDID out of the LG and used it in front of the Z9D and DV did not clip at factory default. So I don't think the EDID in the Z9D is optimal. I would not use the LG EDID either as it is requesting a lower nit level for Dolby Vision, but Sony is requesting too high a nit level.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by TJtennispro

Stacey- you seem to be the only person in the world that’s understands HDR/DV. I just upgraded to a LG C8 and bought the Sony UbX 700. Everything is running through my Denon 7200wa including my Apple TV 4K. DV passes through at RGB 8 bit for the Sony 700 and ATV in DV.

HDR 10 passes through in BT2020 10 bit for ATV and BT2020 12 bit for Sony 700.

I’m used to seeing BT2020 10 bit from my days with Samsung JS9500 and 8500 uhd player.

The settings that are passing through seem correct from statements I’ve read the past couple of days?

Also which blu Ray player is the best for chroma sampling for DV in your opinion? Thank you!

The 8-bit RGB for Dolby Vision is secretly 12-bit 4:2:2. This means you are in TV-led mode, which is good. Sounds like the ATV is working that way too.

[DisplayCalNoob]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

The 8-bit RGB for Dolby Vision is secretly 12-bit 4:2:2. This means you are in TV-led mode, which is good. Sounds like the ATV is working that way too.

So after, checking out your DV montage. I remembered a comment you made about the brightness having an affect on the sharpness, not a result of the display sharpness setting, or edge enhancement. This thought came to mind, is that partly related to the master being 12 bit, and what DV does with the encode?

I also read a PDF, on the importance of 12 bits or 4096 shades. I've come to realize, I never fully had a grasp on what 12 bit meant to the look of a HDR grade or particularly a DV one. You essentially get a significant boost in overall detail, dare I say, "fine detail".

There's something about the way DV combines the base layer and enhancement layer that has yet to be fully understood.

The montage is the representation of how HDR gives the impression that you are looking through a window or actually there. Great work.

Ditto on don't touch contrast, but I discovered my display, in the mid tones was way under luminance. So right now, Gain is the only part of grayscale I have calibrated. Over time brightness goes up and cloud detail becomes even more pronounced.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by DisplayCalNoob

So after, checking out your DV montage. I remembered a comment you made about the brightness having an affect on the sharpness, not a result of the display sharpness setting, or edge enhancement. This thought came to mind, is that partly related to the master being 12 bit, and what DV does with the encode?

I also read a PDF, on the importance of 12 bits or 4096 shades. I've come to realize, I never fully had a grasp on what 12 bit meant to the look of a HDR grade or particularly a DV one. You essentially get a significant boost in overall detail, dare I say, "fine detail".

There's something about the way DV combines the base layer and enhancement layer that has yet to be fully understood.

The montage is the representation of how HDR gives the impression that you are looking through a window or actually there. Great work.

Ditto on don't touch contrast, but I discovered my display, in the mid tones was way under luminance. So right now, Gain is the only part of grayscale I have calibrated. Over time brightness goes up and cloud detail becomes even more pronounced.

If you go to the butterfly montage and pause on the Ferris Wheel shot, you will see what I mean. The perceived sharpness improvement is from the contrast improvement of HDR.

Bitdepth will help with gradations, not sharpness.

[hysmns]

Sorry if this has been asked already, but since there aren't any Dolby Vision test patterns on the disc, would using a UDP-203 to convert the HDR10 test patterns to Dolby Vision result in a usable Dolby Vision test pattern? I don't actually know how accurate that conversion is.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by hysmns

Sorry if this has been asked already, but since there aren't any Dolby Vision test patterns on the disc, would using a UDP-203 to convert the HDR10 test patterns to Dolby Vision result in a usable Dolby Vision test pattern? I don't actually know how accurate that conversion is.

If you're using a Sony TV then no, I wouldn't recommend it. The DV conversion clips a few points of black, and caps white to 1000 nits on my ZD9.

[edit] that was using Ryan's patterns, I've tried it with the UHD Benchmark and the result is the same. The Colour Space Evaluation pattern is basically broken in forced DV, there's some very weird colour in the chroma and clipping patterns.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by hysmns

Sorry if this has been asked already, but since there aren't any Dolby Vision test patterns on the disc, would using a UDP-203 to convert the HDR10 test patterns to Dolby Vision result in a usable Dolby Vision test pattern? I don't actually know how accurate that conversion is.

No. Just no. I hope it doesn’t come out rude, but this is akin to asking “can I use black and white pattern as a colour reference?”

[Gillietalls]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

If you go to the butterfly montage and pause on the Ferris Wheel shot, you will see what I mean. The perceived sharpness improvement is from the contrast improvement of HDR.

Bitdepth will help with gradations, not sharpness.

Stacey. With all the testing you've done, what is the best HDR display one could buy right now, in your opinion?

[SexySamSosa67]

I've been wanting to calibrate my TCL 55R617 for a while. Is this a good choice for a beginner or should I stick with a professional?

The review is up, btw.

[sapiendut]

Calibration requires tools. No tools = no calibration.

[algu01]

Both the 10 and 15 percent bias light pluges seem brighter on the old disc compared to the sole rec709 PLUGE on the new disc.

My imagination or?

[lgans316]

Wow. This is 40 at amazon.co.uk. Hoping the price will drop.

[sapiendut]

This is not some kind of movie-of-the-week. Test discs always costs more. I don’t understand that on one hand we want the industry to thrive and presents us with high quality media but at the same time we want cheap cheap cheap. It doesn’t work that way.

[Scenic Labs]

Publisher here. The cost of replicating is higher than Blu-ray and this is not a theatrical release, but a scientific tool with a smaller market. There may be some used copies available for less money on Ebay, etc. The £ is lower than it has been for two years. It's not helping things.

The price in the UK is on par with the price in the USA. We are manufacturing in the EU so there are no tariffs (for now), although VAT is included (and a weak £ doesn't help your prices as all we did was convert dollars to pounds and include VAT).

Price may increase or decrease depending on how Brexit goes, but not due to price changes on our end.

Originally Posted by lgans316

Wow. This is 40 at amazon.co.uk. Hoping the price will drop.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by Scenic Labs

Publisher here. The cost of replicating is higher than Blu-ray and this is not a theatrical release, but a scientific tool with a smaller market. There may be some used copies available for less money on Ebay, etc. The £ is lower than it has been for two years. It's not helping things.

The price in the UK is on par with the price in the USA. We are manufacturing in the EU so there are no tariffs (for now), although VAT is included (and a weak £ doesn't help your prices as all we did was convert dollars to pounds and include VAT).

Price may increase or decrease depending on how Brexit goes, but not due to price changes on our end.

what is the production cost difference between a 100g 4k BD and 66G 4K BD

[Scenic Labs]

I don't know. I imagine that it depends on the manufacturer and the volume. Both use about $.20-$.25 worth of raw optical-quality polycarbonate.

Originally Posted by ray0414

what is the production cost difference between a 100g 4k BD and 66G 4K BD

[rexcrk]

This looks like something I’ve been wanting for a while, but a lot of the Amazon reviews mention how there are no instructions.

How would a novice like me get the most out of this disc?

[Scenic Labs]

A lot of the reviews also have responses that people should look for the instructions online.

http://spearsandmunsil.com/3rd-edition-articles/

Because the market for UHD Blu-ray is smaller than the market for Blu-ray, we needed to focus on making this more of an international release.

Our German and French dealers already have translations online. I’m having it translated into Japanese and Chinese now as well.

I’m in the process of getting the Spanish translation posted. Here is the getting started guide. I will add the images and the other articles after the weekend:

https://www.biaslighting.com/pages/i...-hdr-benchmark

Scott Wilkinson has also been hired to write an even easier guide as well as an exhaustive professional guide. These additional guides will be rolling out over the next month or so.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by lgans316

Wow. This is 40 at amazon.co.uk. Hoping the price will drop.

My Pioneer F4 Test Disc* cost $74.99 in 1989 ($154.90 in 2019 dollars). IMHO, that makes the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark Test Disc for 4K a downright bargain. You ought to be glad these guys took a chance on this format to spend all that time and effort to produce the contents of this test disc.

*LaserDisc format, info here.