Companies 20th Century Fox, Panasonic Corporation and Samsung Electronics have announced a new partnership to create an open, royalty-free platform for dynamic metadata used by High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology, including certification and an HDR10+ tentative logo.
The aforementioned three companies will jointly form a licensing entity that will begin providing licenses for the HDR10+ platform in January 2018. This entity will license metadata to a wide range of companies, including content providers, manufacturers of ultra-high-definition televisions, Blu-ray players and recorders or set-top boxes, or suppliers of so-called systems on a chip (SoC). Metadata will be provided royalty-free for a nominal administrative fee only.
"As home entertainment leaders in both hardware and content, these three companies are ideal partners to bring HDR10+ technology to consumers' homes around the world,” said Jongsuk Chu, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display Division. "We are committed to offering support for the latest technologies in our TVs and we believe that HDR10+ will enable the delivery of premium quality content and enhance the experience of watching TV programs or movies at home."
HDR10+ is a state-of-the-art technology that takes advantage of HDR TVs, offering the best possible viewing experience when watching content on next-generation displays. HDR10+ offers unrivaled image quality on all displays, as it automatically optimizes brightness, color and contrast settings for each scene. Previous versions used static shade mapping and fixed image enhancement regardless of individual scenes. HDR10+, on the other hand, uses dynamic hue mapping so that image quality is enhanced for each scene separately, allowing for vibrant color rendering and unprecedented image quality. This new and improved visual experience will allow consumers to watch content in the quality that was intended by the filmmakers.
"HDR10+ is a technological step forward that optimizes image quality for next-generation displays,said Danny Kaye, executive vice president of 20th Century Fox and general manager of the Fox Innovation Lab. "HDR10+ provides dynamic metadata accurately describing each individual scene, so it is possible to achieve unprecedented image quality. Based on the collaboration with Panasonic and Samsung Fox, which takes place within our Fox Innovation Lab, we are able to bring to the market new platforms such as HDR10+, which allow the original intention of the filmmakers to be more accurately realized even outside the cinema."
There are several key benefits for partners looking to leverage this platform for their HDR10+ compliant products. HDR10+ offers system flexibility that enables a wide range of partners, including content creators and distributors, as well as TV and device manufacturers, to incorporate this platform into their products to enhance the viewing experience. The HDR10+ platform has been designed to enable future development and innovation to offer even more powerful technologies in the coming years.
"Panasonic has been cooperating with leading manufacturers operating in the field for a long time and has participated in the development of a number of technical formats still in use. We are delighted to be working with 20th Century Fox and Samsung to develop a new HDR format that will bring so many benefits to consumers,” said Yuki Kusumi, CEO of Panasonic. "With a wider range of TVs supporting significant improvements in HDR picture quality alongside the rapidly increasing amount of premium content in HDR, we expect HDR10+ to quickly become the de facto HDR format."
Visitors to this year's IFA are invited to visit the stands of Samsung Electronics and Panasonic to learn more about HDR10+ technology.
At CES 2018, he will announce the 20th Century Fox, Panasonic and Samsung more informace about the licensing program and will show a demonstration of HDR10+ technology.
