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High Dynamic Range DISPLAYS
7 replies 269 views
06-08-2018, 01:33 PM Roger Clark
It seems that the video industry is way ahead of still photography. I bought a 4K TV a couple of years ago, but there was not much 4K content. On the long plane rides on my trip to Africa in February, I watched some movies that looked like they would be interesting to see on a 4K screen, so after returning, I bought a 4K blu-ray player, then upgraded my sound system with a 4K receiver. 4K movies looked great. Then I started researching TVs and discovered the new world of high dynamic range TVs. After some research and side-by-side comparisons at Best Buy, it became clear the OLED 4K TVs had a major improvement in performance above other technology, so I bough an LG 65-inch OLED 4K TV.

I am simply stunned at the 4K high dynamic range visual impact. Images look much more realistic and seem to have a 3D effect that I do not see on ordinary LED TVs or monitors.

I converted some of my images to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels--8.3 megapixels). But the LG TV only displays 8-bit jpegs. Of course the image resolution is stunning compared to my 2-megapixel displays, but the jpegs do not show the high dynamic range capability of the TV (nor of the 16-bit images from which they were derived).

Researching high dynamic range image formats, I see several have been around for a number of years and some are proposed for even higher dynamic range. I contacted LG to see if their TV supports any of the still image high dynamic range formats, but none do. Nor can I find any image processing software that supports the high dynamic range formats. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_video

So my questions are, does anyone know of image editors that will output any high dynamic range format and any OLED TV that could be used as a computer monitor that will display such formats?

Roger
06-08-2018, 02:09 PM Terry Mieger
Honestly, my specific technical knowledge is limited but here is some info which may be a starting place. I know PhotoMatix Pro and Lightroom have worked with 32 bit Tiffs, and in the case of Lr dng too, for quite some time. As for displaying them without Tone mapping that's an interesting idea, which to my limited knowledge seems to point to the video card and display. It seems the files are there. Here's a source which explains more than I know. http://thehdrimage.com/32-bit-hdr-myths-and-methods/
06-08-2018, 05:39 PM Roger Clark
Hi Terry. Thanks for the reply and link. The link, however, is about HDR images and software that compresses them down for traditional displays. It does not cover high dynamic range displays.

There are 10-bit computer monitors and video cards with 10-bit output, and that is what the 4K HDR uses (I think).

In searching for HDR software to display on an HDR monitor, the searches are dominated by HDR processing to get down to 8-bits. Perhaps the answer is out there, just buried by all the google hits on common HDR processing.

If you haven't seen a 4K movie on an OLED high dynamic range display, check it out at one of the big box stores, The OLED has "infinite" contrast and the brightness goes many times high than we typically have on our more common LED/LCD displays (TV or computer monitors). On an OLED display, shiny metal looks like shiny metal; it looks flat on a traditional LED display. Specular reflections look like specular reflections. Glint in eyes stand out. Lights in a room look like the brightness of lights in my living room. A campfire looks like a campfire and in a dark room the campfire light light shimmers off the walls like the fire was right there. Backlit scenes show much more depth than appears on a traditional LED monitor. Everything looks more 3D-like The color gamut of OLED is much larger than Adobe RGB, giving new life to color.

Some people are saying the perceptual jump to HDR displays has a greater impact than the jump from regular HD 2 megapixels to 4K 8 megapixels. I have to agree, but when you get both, it is simply jaw dropping. Of course with such high resolution, we see more depth of field limitations of the cameras.

This summer I plan on building a new machine with 3 displays, two traditional calibrated Adobe RGB IPS displays and a new OLED 4K (something like a 40-inch) to experiment with as the new technology becomes more mainstream.
06-08-2018, 06:48 PM Terry Mieger
In that link, they discuss saving the the image without Tonemapping which wouldn’t help you. 32 bit. I find OLED amazing. When they make smaller one I am there. Hum maybe 55 in would fit? Where you finding a 40 in? It was the first time I looked at a TV at Costco and could noticably see a big difference and the screen on my iPhone X is amazing. What about QLED? I saw some where there is a 8k coming. What would you do for a camera? Plus I am mixing HD with HDR 8-)
06-09-2018, 01:39 PM Roger Clark
Oops, your are right, the smallest OLED TV I see is a 55-inch. That would be 80 PPI. The 40-inch was another 4K TV I was looking at as a monitor. A 55-inch means a major reorganization of my office space, including cleaning my desk (which for those who have been to my house know that doesn't happen often). ;-)

I looked at QLED and nano-LED technology and compared them side by side to OLED. QLED and nano LED (apparently similar technology from different companies--marketing naming) is better than standard LED TVs, but still not even close to OLED, at least for the models I compared.
06-09-2018, 01:48 PM Terry Mieger
Interesting, I researched QLED after see many of the Samsungs. The resources infered it was a leap ahead after seeing it I felt the OLED superior. Strange reference really slanted towards QLED
06-09-2018, 01:49 PM Roger Clark
Oops, your are right, the smallest OLED TV I see is a 55-inch. That would be 80 PPI. The 40-inch was another 4K TV I was looking at as a monitor. A 55-inch means a major reorganization of my office space, including cleaning my desk (which for those who have been to my house know that doesn't happen often). ;-)

I looked at QLED and nano-LED technology and compared them side by side to OLED. QLED and nano LED (apparently similar technology from different companies--marketing naming) is better than standard LED TVs, but still not even close to OLED, at least for the models I compared.
06-09-2018, 01:54 PM Roger Clark
Yes, I agree with your QLED impressions. What I read online indicated the QLED was as good as OLED (and same with LG's nano tech). But what I observed at best Buy showed a huge difference. I've has the 65-inch OLED LG tv for a few weeks and am very very impressed. My images also look great just as normal jpegs. I can only wonder what it would be with high dynamic range, especially images with stars.

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