The next generation of “Scene-Referred” High Dynamic Range (SR-HDR) video, developed by a European consortium led by WMG at the University of Warwick, will be demonstrated publicly for the first time at this year’s International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam.

Researchers who have seen this technology in the lab claim that SR-HDR represents the biggest step forward since the emergence of colour and is the ultimate destination for the first examples of HDR which are currently emerging on the consumer market.

“Scene-Referred” means the full range of lighting in a scene is captured and preserved via a future-proof SR-HDR codec. The system also includes a real-time production system and a unique 10,000nit HDR display.

This display is 10 times brighter than currently available HDR displays and it’s the first time a 10,000nit display has ever been shown publicly. Such a display ensures that the picture can be fully appreciated without the need for a darkened room.

The consortium responsible for assembling the new SR-HDR ecosystem includes SIM2 (Italy), Vicomtech (Spain), and WMG and its spinout company TrueDR (UK).

Alan Chalmers, Professor of Visualisation, WMG at the University of Warwick comments:

“HDR will never achieve its true potential if only a few film titles are available to watch, and these have to be seen in a dark environment to even appreciate the HDR. Our next generation of SR-HDR will enable people to see the full range of light in live sports, for example the ability to see the ball when it is kicked from the shadow of the stadium into the bright sunshine. All this detail will be clearly visible even if it is being watched in your living room during the day with the curtains open.”

Igor Olaizola, Department Head of Digital TV and Multimedia Services of Vicomtechsaid:

“Current HDR solutions are still strongly conditioned by existing infrastructures. Backwards compatibility establishes a limit in 10 bits and broadcasting sector seems to be reluctant to change this fact in a short term. However, there is technology available that can offer a much better quality in terms of fidelity to the real scene and immersiveness if end-to-end infrastructures allow a more flexible use of signals. Therefore, I see IP infrastructures as the first ones exploiting this potential and leveraging the rest of media industry.”

Domenico Toffoli, Director of R&D and HDR Business Development at SIM2 BV International comments:

“SIM2 is proud to present its last HDR creation, an HDR monitor capable of reproducing a peak brightness of 10,000nits, the maximum brightness expected in current HDR video standards. This is possible through a deep revision of the LED backlight with new power LEDs and innovative optics, enabling us to guarantee an extremely high peak brightness and a dynamic range of more than 5 orders of magnitude. With a processing and driving capability of 30bit/color, the new SIM2 HDR monitor is capable of reproducing scenes of the same characteristics of the real world up to the highest brightness levels.”

Stewart Hefferman, CEO of TrueDR adds:

“Watching HDR in a dark room might suit some people some of the time. But not me! I want to appreciate HDR in all lighting conditions. This is what this consortium sought to achieve and demonstrate. We’ve met our goals and I am delighted to be associated with this ground breaking achievement.”

Notes for Editors:

This project brings together worldwide expertise in HDR imaging and a unique patented SR-HDR video compression algorithm from:

WMG, University of Warwick:
WMG was established by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 in order to reinvigorate UK manufacturing through the application of cutting edge research and effective knowledge transfer. WMG is a world leading research and education group and an academic department of the University of Warwick.

WMG has pioneered an international model for working with industry, commerce and public sectors and holds a unique position between academia and industry. The Group’s strength is to provide companies with the opportunity to gain a competitive edge by understanding a company’s strategy and working in partnership with them to create, through multidisciplinary research, ground-breaking products, processes and services.

The research of WMG's Visualisation group involves computer scientists and mathematicians working to improve the entire capture, manipulation and display process to produce increasingly authentic images which have a significant range of potential uses in the real world.

TrueDR (www.truedr.co.uk):
TrueDR provides advanced data compression algorithms to customers developing HDR technology. The encoding/decoding software developed by TrueDR enables the adoption of HDR video across many sectors, including film and television, computer games, automotive, security and mobile devices.

Vicomtech (http://www.vicomtech.org/):
Vicomtech is a research center specializing in media analysis and processing. Vicomtech transforms knowledge derived from research activities into solutions that satisfy market requirements. In the case of HDR video technology, Vicomtech has developed a flexible GPU based platform “Tebas” that is able to capture, monitor and manipulate HDR video flows in real-time.

SIM2 (http://www.sim2.com/):
Founded in 1995, SIM2 is an Italian electronics company and worldwide manufacturer of award winning home theatre products and leading provider of high-performance large screen systems (for control rooms, information, communication, and simulation) and professional projection systems for E–cinema applications. In a world dominated by large multinational corporations, SIM2 is one of the few European companies that, through its strong commitment to innovation, know-how and focused activities have been able to establish a remarkable global reputation. The company provides the world’s most comprehensive and impressive collection of displays and high-end large screen displays on the market today. SIM2 Multimedia’s headquarters are located in Pordenone, Italy.

The SIM2 R&D team is totally committed to the investigation and implementation of new technologies, ensuring SIM2 offering new and advanced products that embody outstanding performance, uniqueness and longevity. Sim2 Multimedia has developed over the years a theoretical and practical knowledge on projection technologies and high dynamic range displays. SIM2 has an extraordinary experience gained in many years in the field of HDR display, whose platform is practically the only available on the market for reproducing images in REAL high dynamic range.

More information about the International Broadcasting Convention can be seen at http://www.ibc.org/
Further information contact:

Luke Walton, International Press Officer
L.Walton.1@warwick.ac.uk 
02476 150 868 | 07824 540 863

OR

Lisa Barwick, WMG Head of Marketing and Communications
L.Barwick@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 07824 540845