High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) can have a big positive impact on a viewer by creating a more convincing and compelling sense of light than has ever before been possible in television. A recent scientific study1 with professional-quality Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and HDR videos found that viewers prefer HDR over SDR by a large margin. Moreover, the study also showed that the margin of preference for HDR increased with increasing peak luminance.
This white paper introduces easy-to-calculate quantitative methods to provide cable operators with video-quality data that can be used to make operational, technological, and product decisions.
Specifically, it presents methods to report the level of overall distortions in processed video as well as the specific distortions associated with perceptually important bright & dark HDR features and textures with respect to both luma and chroma components. The paper’s objective is to show data and analysis that illustrates how quantifying HDR WCG video distortion can be made accurate, actionable, and practical, particularly when MSOs consider the various trade-offs between bandwidth, technology options, and the viewer’s experience.