Fox’s first 4 UHD titles to include HDR mastering NON DOLBY Good for Beamer HDR!

[Peter CINERAMAX]

By Mike Flacy — June 18, 2015


Hitting digital download distribution channels prior to launching on physical UHD discs, Fox will soon release four titles in Ultra HD resolution along with high dynamic range (HDR) mastering. The first four titles to receive this treatment include Kingsman: The Secret Service, Life of Pi, Exodus: Gods and Kings and The Maze Runner.

High dynamic range has been a popular feature utilized in digital photography for years, but video mastering with HDR is still relatively new. Consumers should expect to see more vibrant images as well as a wider range of colors displayed on an Ultra HDTV. Movie theaters are also starting to experiment with HDR, specifically Dolby Vision. IMAX has also started upgrading to support HDR with a new laser projection system in theaters.

Detailed by the Hollywood Reporter, Fox is planning to release additional UHD titles such as X-Men: Days of Future Past, but these four films will be available first on streaming service M-GO. Utilizing a Samsung SUHD television, consumers will be able to download the films to their Samsung Video Pack and take advantage of Ultra HD resolution. Prior to the launch of the full version of the four films in UHD, clips from Life of Pi and Exodus: Gods and Kings were supplied to Samsung for demonstration displays.

Fox hasn’t specified how large a UHD movie file will be or the average length of time it will take to download a film in UHD. That could potentially be an issue for anyone with monthly data caps on downloads. However, it’s likely that these four films will be released in physical format when Ultra HD Blu-ray players hit the market toward the end of 2015. It’s also likely that Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and other consumer electronics manufacturers will announce players within the next few months.


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[Peter CINERAMAX]

Who would have thought that the release is in the non dolby format would be music to our ears. For those preparing for what MPEG calls EDR HDR greater than 10 f-stops.

DEFINITIONS
2. Definitions
2.1. Dynamic Range
Overall, the dynamic range of a scene can be described as the ratio of the maximum light intensity to the minimum light intensity [1]. In digital cameras, the most commonly used unit for measuring dynamic range is in terms of f-stop, which describes total light range by powers of 2. The current ad hoc use of the term f-stop, refers to the following dynamic ranges:
• 10 f-stops = a difference of 210 = 1024: 1 contrast ratio.
• 14 f-stops = a difference of 214 = 16,384: 1 contrast ratio.
• 16 f-stops = a difference of 216 = 65,536: 1 contrast ratio.
100,000:1 is normally regarded as approximately the range that the eye can see in a scene with no adaptation.
• 20 f-stops = a difference of 220 = 1,048,576: 1 contrast ratio.
1,000,000:1 is normally regarded as approximately the range that the eye can see in a scene with minimal (no noticeable) adaptation.
In the categorization of dynamic ranges, the following definitions are typical and will be used in the present document:
• Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) is ≤ 10 f-stops
• Enhanced Dynamic Range (EDR) is > 10 f-stops and ≤ 16 f-stops
• High Dynamic Range (HDR) is > 16 f-stops
2.2. Colour Gamut
Colour gamut, also known as colour space, describes the range of colours that can be represented in a particular circumstance, such as the colour space that humans may perceive or the subset of colours supported by a certain output device or video distribution system [5]. Historically, the colour gamut for content in Standard Definition is defined in ITU-R BT.601 [4] and that for content in High Definition is defined in ITU-R BT.709 [2].
With the proliferation of new display technologies (e.g. OLED and quantum dot) and UHDTV, the industry recognized the need to include colours beyond those available in BT.709 [6]-[9]. Colour gamut larger than BT.709 is referred as Wide Colour Gamut (WCG). Examples of wide colour gamut include ITU-R BT.2020 [3] and Digital Cinema Initiatives P3.

[Peter CINERAMAX]

Examples of the Transfer Functions

Traditionally, a transfer function is described as a mapping between input and output in the real-valued (floating point) range [0.0, 1.0]. As an illustrative example, Figure B.1 compares an 8-bit SDR system capable of representing 0.1 to 100 cd/m2 with a BT.709 style transfer function (green curve) to a 10-bit HDR system capable of representing 0.005 to 10,000 cd/m2 with another transfer function (SMPTE ST 2084). The plots in this figure are approximate plots. They do not capture the exact form of the curve and are shown for illustration purposes only. In the figure, the integer code levels are along the horizontal axis and linear light values (scaled to log10) are along the vertical axis. This illustrative mapping includes traditional code level range proportions to accommodate both foot-room (“negative” samples below the [0.0, 1.0] real-valued range) and head-room (samples above real-value 1.0).  Due to design properties, the 10-bit HDR transfer function shown here assigns approximately twice as many code levels [119 to 509] as the traditional 8-bit SDR transfer function assigns [16 to 235] in the SDR range, while providing a similar number of new code levels [510 to 940] to extend brightness.  New code levels [64 to 118] are assigned for darker intensities below 0.01 cd/m2.
In a sense, the 10-bit HDR system illustrated here distributes the extra 2-bits over traditional consumer 8-bit “SDR” video by assigning approximately 1 extra bit of precision within the traditional SDR intensity range, while applying the other extra bit to extend the curve to intensities greater than 100 cd/m2. For comparison, the 10-bit SDR transfer function is also plotted (red dash curve).
Figure B.1. Mapping of linear light values for SDR and HDR representations

[Peter CINERAMAX]

Had good news today from grading insider about the HDR movie distribution end, the formats that likely will succeed for UHD and Broascast will probably be "brand agnostic".

So a separate stream for UHDBD HDR Dolby Vision would be decoded and displayed in HDR on other compliant non-dolby devices (read PJ's). Thank got for anti-monopolistic due diligence.  If it is true.;-)

[Peter CINERAMAX]

Fox to Be First Studio to Create All Movies in High Dynamic Range, Ultra HD for Home Viewing (Exclusive)
High dynamic range is viewed by many Hollywood tech leaders as the key feature to create a noticeable picture advancement for viewers.
Fox's 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Twentieth Century Fox
High dynamic range is viewed by many Hollywood tech leaders as the key feature to create a noticeable picture advancement for viewers.
Marking the biggest commitment yet to high dynamic range (HDR) content, 20th Century Fox has decided to make versions of all of its new movies in Ultra HD (UHD) with HDR for home entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. It also intends to make HDR UHD versions of its recent releases, including X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Maze Runner.

High dynamic range — meaning a wider range between the whitest whites and blackest blacks in an image — is viewed by many Hollywood tech leaders as the key feature that will create a more noticeable picture advancement for viewers, certainly compared with Ultra HD (4K resolution, or four times the resolution of HD) alone. But while many tech industry leaders are in agreement on taking an HDR path, the challenge is how to implement it while sidestepping a potential format war.

To do this, the recently formed studio and manufacturer coalition UHD Alliance is aiming to work swiftly to create an agreed-upon, consistent and inter-operable HDR quality specification for home entertainment. (Standards bodies such as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers are also doing HDR standards work.)

Speaking last month at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, UHD Alliance president Hanno Basse — who is chief technology officer at Fox — asserted: "We want to have a first version [of a quality spec] later this year to coincide with the Blu-Ray Disc Association (which is introducing Ultra HD Blu-Ray with HDR support)."

Fox intends to follow these guidelines once they are completed, and for the time being the studio is creating masters in UHD with HDR, using a non-proprietary HDR spec that's based on the Alliance’s current direction.

The Blu-Ray Disc Association recently completed its UHD Blu-ray spec with HDR support. The first products to support the UHD Blu-Ray format are expected to begin to roll out later this year.

Some consumer electronics manufacturers have already started to introduce HDR capabilities. Notably, Samsung has released HDR-supported UHDTVs, dubbed SUHDTV, which supports content for a non-proprietary HDR spec. Fox previously said it intended to release content for these displays. (UHD with HDR clips created for Life of Pi and Exodus: Gods and Kings were provided to Samsung by Fox to use as demonstration material when the set maker launched its SUHDTVs at CES in January.)

Dolby has developed a Dolby Vision HDR format, and Vizio is expected to be the first set maker to release Dolby Vision-supported TVs. Fox has not made announcements with regard to this format.

Hollywood is also eyeing HDR for cinema. Dolby Vision is also starting to roll out (Disney’s Tomorrowland will be the first film to be released in the format at a handful of Dolby Vision-equipped theaters), and Imax’s recently launched laser projection system provides HDR support.