At CES 2024, Advanced HDR by Technicolor demos how streaming providers and broadcasters can deliver HDR and SDR experiences via a single production workflow and distribution stream.
Advanced HDR by Technicolor is attending CES 2024 to demonstrate how streaming video providers and broadcasters can deliver high dynamic range (HDR) and standard dynamic range (SDR) experiences through a single production workflow and distribution stream.
Automatic conversion of SDR to HDR – and back to SDR if necessary – is one of the distinguishing features of Advanced HDR by Technicolor. It is a critical requirement for broadcasters and video streaming services interested in distributing high-quality live sports and entertainment events, as well as HDR and SDR content libraries, cost-effectively.
Last month in December 2023, Advanced HDR by Technicolor was recognised with the 2023 Silver Award in the streaming category by Digital Media World for its ability to simultaneously deliver production- and distribution-ready content for HDR/SDR distribution at SDR-only bitrates. This is accomplished by adding extremely low bitrate metadata that enables delivery of uncompromised HDR with 10-bit and 8-bit encoding – without artefacts – to HD or Ultra HD resolution screens as well as mobile devices.
"The process maximizes the dynamic range and colour volume of HDR images without affecting SDR experiences. The tools included in Advanced HDR by Technicolor optimises source fidelity on both SDR-to-HDR and HDR-to-SDR conversions," said Rick Dumont, senior director of business development of HDR video for Philips.
"These conversions are accomplished through machine learning to deliver a single stream, accompanied by dynamic metadata, to end-user devices. Streaming providers and broadcasters have a sophisticated, cost-effective approach to delivering best-possible video experiences to each viewer.”
Dynamic, Tunable, Real-Time Tools
Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a suite of HDR production, distribution and display capabilities that uses machine learning (ML) to draw the highest quality possible from images, thereby enhancing the viewing experience. A collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor, the suite comprises two major components used as dynamic, tunable, real-time tools.
Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) up-converts SDR content to HDR, and allows users to manage contrast, brightness and colour saturation, as required.
The Single Layer HDR (SL-HDR) tool implements the ETSI SL-HDR standards to generate and deliver a single, consistent, high-quality broadcast stream starting from any combination of input content – live events, movies, news – across a range of HDR formats such as HDR10, HLG and S-LOG3.
SL-HDR transforms HDR input streams into SDR-plus-metadata streams. SL-HDR compatible receivers output high-quality HDR images that can be adapted to optimise the display capabilities of their devices. At the same time, SL-HDR1’s backward compatibility means viewers without HDR devices see very high quality SDR images.
These techniques, combined with the new SDR-only bitrates feature, mean that providers can differentiate themselves in the market by delivering a high quality visual experience at a very low bitrate to consumers in both HDR and SDR, regardless of how content is created.
CES 2024 Demos
Demonstrations of Advanced HDR by Technicolor are scheduled to take place during CES at the ATSC stand where the team and Sinclair will show new innovations included in ATSC 3.0 and being implemented at the Sinclair NextGen TV stations. At the Hisense stand, HDR content from the Sinclair stations enabled by Advanced HDR by Technicolor will be demonstrated on Hisense U7, U8 and UX ULED TVs with Mini LED backlights. advancedhdrbytechnicolor.com
