HDR10

HDR10 is defined as:

• EOTF: SMPTE ST 2084 (PQ)
• Bit depth: 10 bit
• Color primaries: ITU-R BT.2020 (identical to BT.2100 primaries)
• Static metadata: SMPTE ST 2086 (mastering display color volume), MaxFALL (maximum frame-average light level), and MaxCLL (maximum content light level)
• Color sub-sampling: 4:2:0 (for compressed video sources)

PQ10 refers to an HDR format that uses perceptual quantizer, 10-bit and Rec. 2100 color primaries without having any metadata.

HDR10 is technically limited to a maximum of 10,000 nits peak brightness, however common HDR10 contents are mastered with peak brightness from 1,000 to 4,000 nits.

HDR10 is not backwards compatible with SDR displays.

On HDR10 displays that have lower color volume than the HDR10 content (for example lower peak brightness capability), the HDR10 metadata gives information to help adjust the content. However, the metadata is static (remains the same for the entire video) and does not tell how the content should be adjusted. Thus, the decision is up to the display and the creative intents might not be preserved.

Competing formats to HDR10 are Dolby Vision and HDR10+ (which do provide dynamic metadata, allowing to preserve the creative intents on each display and on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis), and also HLG (which provides some degree of backward compatibility with SDR).

HDR10 is supported by a wide variety of companies, which include monitor and TV manufacturers such as Dell, LG, Samsung, Sharp, VU, Sony, and Vizio, as well as Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft and Apple which support HDR10 on their PlayStation 4, Xbox One video game console and Apple TV platforms, respectively.

Hardware

• TV
• Audio-video interfaces
• Smartphones displays
• Smartphones camera
• Digital camera
• Mobile SoC
• Game consoles

Contents

• Ultra HD Blu-ray
• Streaming services

Software

• Media player
• Color grading