A Display-Independent High Dynamic Range Television System

High dynamic range (HDR) television (TV) has captured the imagination of the broadcast and movie industries. This paper presents an overview of the BBC's “Hybrid Log-Gamma” solution, which is designed to meet the requirements of HDR TV. The signal is display independent and requires no complex mastering metadata. In addition to providing high-quality HDR pictures, it also delivers a high-quality “compatible” image to legacy standard dynamic range screens and can be mixed, resized, and compressed using standard tools and equipment. The technical requirements for a high-quality HDR TV system are presented. Quantization effects (or “banding”) are analyzed theoretically and confirmed experimentally. It is shown that quantization effects are comparable to or below competing HDR solutions. The psychovisual effects of presenting images on emissive displays in dim environments are shown experimentally, and the analysis informs the design of this HDR system.