Evaluation of high dynamic range content viewing experience using eye-tracking data

High Dynamic Range (HDR) technologies have demonstrated that they can play an influential role in the design of camera and consumer display products. Understanding the human visual experience of viewing HDR content is a crucial aspect of such systems. Although the visual experience of Low Dynamic Range (LDR) technologies have been well explored, there are limited comparable studies for HDR content. In this paper, we present a study that evaluates the viewing experience of HDR and LDR content as measured both subjectively, and objectively vis-a-vis eye-tracking data. The eye-tracking data was collected while individuals viewed HDR or LDR videos in a free-viewing task. Our study shows a clear subjective preference for HDR content when individuals are given a choice between HDR and LDR displays, but this preference does not translate into a reliable difference in the subjective or objective eye movement measures when the displays are viewed sequentially, suggesting that objective performance measures are not the foundation upon which subjective preferences are based. Our findings should help in developing new visual attention models for the role of HDR and LDR content on subjective and objective experience and performance.