When you want to choose a high-definition, high-quality monitor, you may be faced with the choice between two display technologies, HDR and SDR. To help you better distinguish between HDR vs SDR, this article will introduce you to them.
Understanding HDR and SDR
What is HDR?
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is a new display technology. Often used in LCD or LED displays, HDR has a wide range of brightness and color, enabling images to better render highlights and dark details.
What is SDR?
SDR (Standard Dynamic Range), is a traditional display technology. It has a limited range of brightness and color, and it will render a darker image effect compared to HDR.
Types of HDR and SDR
Types of SDR
SDR Broadcasting
This usually refers to the SDR standard used in traditional television broadcasting, which supports the color space known as Rec. 709, but the picture is rendered less brightly.
SDR Monitor
SDR monitors refer to the screen configurations of older or less expensive computers and cell phones. Because an SDR monitor has a limited range of colors and brightness, it is often calibrated to provide a relatively consistent image picture.
Types of HDR
Metadata
Metadata is an important criterion for differentiating attributes of HDR. It is divided into two main types of data: dynamic metadata and static metadata. Dynamic metadata can be adjusted with the brightness and color range of different scenes to achieve the best display. Static metadata can’t vary color and brightness, so it’s at the same level of information used throughout the display.
HDR10
HDR10 is the most commonly used HDR format, and is an open resource that can be produced by any manufacturer without a fee and is openly accessible. It is capable of delivering peak brightness of 1,000 nits and 10-bit color depth for 1 billion colors.
HDR10+
HDR10+ is an HDR format produced by Samsung, Panasonic, Twentieth Century Fox, and others, and is a type of dynamic metadata. It can use dynamic data to adjust the color gamut and peak brightness of different scenes in real time, making the images presented clearer and more natural.
Dolby Vision
An HDR format created and licensed by Dolby is named Dolby Vision. It is mainly used in movie theaters and is usually combined with LCD and LED displays to present a display. It uses HDR10 as a reference and adds dynamic metadata on top of HDR10, which allows for adjustments and optimization in each different scene and frame, and makes the contrast, color richness, and detail of the video and content significantly improved, giving viewers a more visually impactful viewing experience.
HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma)
HLG is an expression of Hybrid Log Gamma. It is an HDR format created by the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK to primarily serve broadcast television.HLG has backward compatibility, and its content can be viewed on HDR displays as well as SDR displays, making it a highly adaptable HDR format.
Technicolor’s Advanced HDR
Technicolor’s Advanced HDR is a collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor. It is designed to be able to automatically adjust and correct for large variations in light during the shooting process, resulting in images with improved color accuracy and fidelity, giving viewers a vivid and natural visual experience.
The Difference Between HDR vs SDR
After we’ve learned about the different types of HDR vs SDR, we next look at the differences between HDR and SDR as follows:
Dynamic Range
The measure of difference between the appearance of highlights and darks on a monitor is known as the dynamic range. The lower the dynamic range, the lower the contrast of the display and vice versa.SDR has a limited dynamic range and cannot provide a high contrast image to the screen. In contrast to SDR, HDR provides a higher dynamic range and provides high quality to the picture.
Brightness Range
The brightness range of SDR is limited, usually between 100–300 nits. In contrast to SDR, HDR has a wider range of brightness, usually between 400–1000 nits, with some high-end devices, e.g., LED video walls, which exceed 1000 nits. When the nits value is higher, the content displayed on the monitor is clearer, the contrast between highlights and darks is more pronounced, and the detailed parts stand out more, giving the viewer a better viewing experience.
Color Space
Color space refers to the number of colors covered by each space, SDR usually uses the color space of Rec. 709, while most HDR monitors use the color space of Rec. 2020. Because Rec. 2020 is a wider color space than Rec. 709, HDR covers a wider range of colors than SDR, which makes HDR present a more vivid and realistic image than SDR.
Color Accuracy
Color accuracy refers to the color and depth of colors; SDR can display 16 million colors and 8-bit color depth. Compared to SDR, HDR can display up to 1 billion colors and 10-bit color depth. The higher the color accuracy, the more vivid and natural the picture displayed on the monitor.
Gradient Processing
Gradient processing generally refers to the performance of smooth transitions or gradients between color displays on a device. It is usually determined by the device’s color depth, color gamut, and processing power. SDR has low color accuracy and will be more prone to color banding or hue separation, resulting in a starker image. HDR, on the other hand, has high color accuracy, is less prone to color banding or tonal separation, and presents a smoother, more lifelike image.
Compatibility
HDR has compatibility and can be backward compatible with SDR monitors to display content on SDR monitors. SDR, on the other hand, does not have compatibility and cannot display content on HDR monitors; it can only be applied to SDR monitors.
How to Choose Between HDR and SDR
Once we understand the difference between HDR and SDR, we have to face the choice between the two displays, HDR and SDR, here are some important factors to consider.
- Display Technology:Depending on your personal needs, the display technology you choose will be different. For example, if you want a display with higher compatibility, then you can choose HDR display. It allows you to have a high-quality viewing experience.
- Source and type of content:If you mainly use it for watching broadcast TV like BBC, you can choose SDR monitor. If you mainly play games and watch movies, you can choose a monitor with HDR technology.
- Personal viewing preferences:Personal viewing preferences are important. When you want a high definition, high quality image, you can choose a monitor with HDR technology. When you are not too demanding, you can choose SDR monitors.
- Budget:If you have a low budget, then you can choose an affordable SDR monitor. If your budget or hardware requirement is high, then you can choose the monitor with HDR feature.
- Future scalability:With the rapid development of modern technology, HDR technology is also being upgraded and enhanced, and HDR is gradually becoming mainstream, then having a monitor with HDR technology will be a good choice.
Summary
Overall, the choice between HDR vs SDR depends on one’s needs and budget. When you want good performance or high quality images, you can prioritize monitors made by HDR technology.
Applications of HDR
With the above content, the advantages of HDR will be more than SDR’s and with the development of technology, monitors about HDR will gradually become mainstream. For this reason, let’s find out what are the applications of HDR.
- High Contrast Display:Mainly used on LCD and LED displays, it can be used in a very high light scene and can allow us to see what is displayed on the screen. It can also emit soft light in dimly lit scenes, allowing us to capture the details of our surroundings.
- Nature Documentary:Nature is rich and varied in color and sometimes creates a unique beauty depending on the environmental conditions. It can be perfectly rendered in HDR displays.
- Action and Sci-Fi Content:This type of broadcast content usually contains explosions, lasers or scenes that do not match reality. These scenes benefit from the color accuracy and brightness range of HDR technology, allowing for a more colorful presentation.
- Sports broadcasting:HDR enhances the viewing experience of sporting events, especially in outdoor stadiums where the light varies particularly dramatically.
- Video Gaming:Many gaming companies design their games with HDR technology in mind in order to allow for real-time updates and content presentation. This allows users to have a better understanding of the content in real time.
Conclusion
Through the contents of this chapter, you can find that HDR will be more cost-effective than SDR, both in terms of performance and picture presentation. If you have enough budget, then you can just go for HDR monitors.
