Live From CES 2018: Fox, Panasonic, and Samsung To Launch HDR10+ Platform With ‘Nominal Administrative Fee’

Associated certification and logo program are explained; technical demonstrations are offered

At CES this week, 20th Century Fox, Panasonic, and Samsung have announced that their HDR10+ platform will soon be made available to content companies; manufacturers of UHD TVs, Blu-ray disc players/recorders, and set-top boxes; and system-on-a chip (SoC) vendors, royalty-free with what they’re calling “only a nominal administrative fee.”

Unveiled last year at IFA, the HDR10+ open, royalty-free dynamic metadata platform for HDR now has updates to its associated certification and logo program. Technical demonstrations of the technology are being offered at CES.

HDR10+ Platform on the Way
Companies can view the new HDR10+ logo; learn about the license program, including final specifications and adopter agreements; and sign up to receive a notification when technical specifications for HDR10+ become available at www.hdr10plus.org/. In addition, Ultra HD Blu-ray metadata-generation tools have been developed with third parties and will soon be available for content creators, enabling Ultra HD Blu-ray players to enter the market. Details on the content-transfer and interface format for the content-creation pipeline will also be released shortly.

The HDR10+ license program will provide interested companies with the necessary technical and testing specifications to implement the technology in a way that both maintains high picture quality and enables each manufacturer to apply dynamic tone mapping innovatively. The accompanying certification program will ensure that HDR10+-compliant products meet good picture quality and deliver the creative intent of movie directors and cinematographers. A certified product will carry the HDR10+ logo.

Key Aspects of the License Program
The HDR10+ program will include benefits for device manufacturers (TV, Ultra HD Blu-ray, OTT, STB), content-distribution–services providers, SoC manufacturers, content publishers, and content-creation–tool providers.

The nominal annual administration fee will allow participants access to the technical specification, test specification, HDR10+ logo/logo guide, patents from the three companies directly related to the technical specification, and the test specification.

Device certification will be performed by a third-party authorized testing center.

Once the HDR10+ license program is open, the three founding companies will incorporate HDR10+ technologies in all future Ultra HD movie releases, selected TV sets, Ultra HD Blu-ray player/recorders, and other products.

HDR10+ Adoption Continues
Although not likely to have a major impact on live sports production in the near term — the majority of sports producers and broadcasters in North America are adopting Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) as the HDR format — HDR10+ has seen a positive response from Hollywood.

Support continues to grow, and companies are looking forward to applying the  specifications and certification program. More than 25 companies spanning many industries have expressed strong interest in supporting the platform.

Amazon Prime Video, the first streaming-service provider to deliver HDR10+, has made the entire Prime Video HDR library available in the format globally. The catalog comprises hundreds of hours of content, including The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Jean-Claude Van Johnson, The Tick, and The Man in the High Castle.

“It was important for us to create an open system that is flexible and offers a viewing experience much closer to the filmmaker’s creative intent for the film,” says Danny Kaye, EVP, 20th Century Fox/managing director, Fox Innovation Lab. “With Samsung and Panasonic, we aim to standardize the licensing process, making it easy for partners to incorporate this technology and improve the viewing experience for all audiences.”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will support HDR10+ to enable a dynamic metadata solution for Warner Bros. content to Samsung, Panasonic, and other HDR10+-capable 4K HDR TVs.

“Warner Bros. has always strived to provide the best next-gen home-entertainment experience to consumers,” says Jim Wuthrich, president, Americas and global strategy, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. “With HDR10+ dynamic metadata, WB can continue to more accurately bring the filmmakers’ vision of our 2018 releases and our vast catalog of over 75 4K HDR titles to the home across a broad range of HDR10+ capable TVs.”

The new HDR10+ technology optimizes picture quality for next-generation displays by using dynamic tone mapping to reflect frame-to-frame or scene-to-scene variations in brightness, color saturation, and contrast. HDR10+ technology optimizes the performance of many 4K UHD TVs, enabling playback on a wide range of next-generation TVs.

“By bringing together know-how and technology from the three founding companies, HDR10+ has the potential to deliver considerable picture-quality benefits to viewers and creators alike,” says Toshiharu Tsutsui, director, TV Business Division, Panasonic. “Accordingly, Panasonic anticipates wide support for HDR10+.”

Says Jongsuk Chu, SVP, visual display business, Samsung Electronics, “Samsung is committed to technological innovation across our TVs, and HDR10+ represents an evolution in display quality for the best possible viewing experience. We have also designed the HDR10+ platform to encourage future development.”

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