“Live production environments, particularly in sports, now operate in mixed-format conditions where HDR video, SDR advertising, and graphics overlays intersect in real time. This complexity has exposed limitations in traditional static conversion approaches,” said Ryan Wallenberg, Vice President of Engineering at Cobalt Digital. 

The static diffuse white capability allows operators to define a consistent white point across content while maintaining the benefits of dynamic, frame-by-frame processing. The result is greater visual stability across feeds and graphics without sacrificing adaptability.

“The enhancement reflects ongoing collaboration between Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital, shaped by feedback from live production teams. It also acknowledges the continued reliance on legacy workflows. Static conversion methods remain widely used, creating friction as organizations transition to HDR,” said Rick Dumont, Head of Business Development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

By combining stability with dynamic optimization, the feature serves as a bridge between legacy and next-generation approaches.

Cobalt Digital integrates the capability into its 9904 card, which now also supports ST 2110 and both SDI and SMPTE infrastructures. The underlying Advanced HDR by Technicolor framework enables HDR to SDR and SDR to HDR conversion while preserving signal integrity.

The feature moves from earlier custom implementations into a fully commercialized offering, expanding access to a broader range of broadcasters and content providers This support is critical as broadcasters increasingly adopt ATSC 3.0, which includes HDR to enhance the viewing experience across all TV resolutions.  

The release comes as production models continue to evolve. Remote workflows are expanding, but major live events still rely on hybrid production environments. In both cases, consistent signal handling across formats is becoming a critical requirement.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital present the enhancement at NAB through curated demonstrations that highlight its impact on real-world content. Meetings with Advanced HDR by Technicolor executives at Central Hall — C3062MR are available by invitation only. Demonstrations will be provided by Cobalt Digital at North Hall — N1340.  

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About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a suite of high-dynamic-range (HDR) technologies designed to deliver superior video quality across a variety of display devices and network environments. Developed as a collaboration between InterDigital and Philips, it includes formats like SL-HDR1, SL-HDR2, and SL-HDR3, which dynamically optimize and convert HDR content to match the capabilities of the display device in real-time. This allows broadcasters and content providers to deliver a high-quality viewing experience with improved contrast, brightness, and color accuracy while maximizing bandwidth efficiency. With support for multiple distribution workflows, Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables seamless integration into existing infrastructures, making it a preferred solution for broadcasters seeking to future-proof their HDR delivery. Advanced HDR by Technicolor’s partnerships include broadcasters, streaming service providers, TV and conversion box manufacturers, SoC producers as well as hardware and software solution providers. To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro. 

About Cobalt Digital

Cobalt Digital Inc. designs and manufactures award-winning ST 2110, IPMX, and SDI conversion, compression, processing, routing, control, and multiviewer technology for the production, broadcast television, and ProAV environments. As a founding member in the openGear® initiative, Cobalt offers a full range of openGear® compliant solutions as well as video and audio processing products for closed caption compliance, production trucks, master control, HD news, signal transport, audio loudness processing, and color correction. Cobalt’s Blue Box Group line of interface mini-converter boxes streamlines and simplifies a wide range of ST 2110, IPMX, and SDI conversion and processing tasks. In addition, the company’s multi-image display processors enable multiviewer capabilities in the most demanding studio and remote production/broadcasting environments. Cobalt Digital products are distributed through a worldwide network of dealers, system integrators, and other partnerships. For further information visit: www.cobaltdigital.com

Momentum is building around dynamic HDR conversion as broadcasters and streaming service providers seek to deliver premium video quality without increasing bandwidth or workflow complexity. Deployment of Advanced HDR by Technicolor is expanding across NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) and into HDR streaming operations. Implementations with partners such as Hisense combine Advanced HDR by Technicolor with NEXTGEN TV capabilities to enhance the viewing experience of live sports.  The solution is also supported by core video workflow providers across the ecosystem including Mainconcept, Cobalt, Ateme and Amagi.   

Demonstrations will focus on a few key developments in how HDR is produced and distributed: 

• Dynamic HDR conversion solution that replaces static LUTs processing while optimizing content frame by frame and maintaining contrast, brightness and color depth across varying types of content. 

   

• Single-stream delivery of HDR and SDR which eliminates the need for parallel workflows and enables one signal to serve legacy SDR and HDR-enabled devices.

   

• HDR delivery within SDR bandwidth constraints using existing 8-bit AVC workflows, removing the requirements for 10-bit HEVC implementations.

   

• Content provided at UHD/HDR-like quality at less than 25% of the bandwidth usually associated with such formats.

This approach challenges workflows that have prioritized SDR compatibility over HDR performance.  

“Production teams selecting the predictable and safe path of legacy SDR workflows and static LUTs HDR are limiting the viewing experience of consumers while undermining the business case for this technology. If HDR is to be considered a premium feature, then it must be delivered as the ‘hero’ format rather than the compromise,” said Rick Dumont, head of business development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor.   

As broadcasters and streaming service providers compete in an increasingly saturated market, the inconsistent implementation of HDR has weakened the technology’s ability to capture consumer attention, lessening its impact as a driver of subscriptions or advertising dollars. 

At the same time, the production teams that choose to maintain separate SDR and HDR workflows introduce added costs to production, storage and distribution. Those parallel workflows are going to be more difficult to sustain as content libraries continue to grow and live production demands become more complex.   

By comparison, a single-stream approach reduces the requirements on infrastructure and bandwidth while simplifying operations. There is no longer a need for manual color adjustments and grading decisions which can deteriorate performance across devices.     

At NAB 2026, attendees will be able to experience:

• Side-by-side comparison of static vs. dynamic HDR conversion
• Demonstrations of a HDR-first workflow
• End-to-end delivery scenarios using a single HDR signal with SDR downconversion capability 
• A showcase of the latest NEXTGEN TV conversion devices integrated with Advanced HDR by Technicolor which include ADTH, Geniatech, MyVelo TV, ZapperBox, and Zinwell. 

 Advanced HDR by Technicolor experts will be on hand during the show at the following locations:  

• Advanced HDR by Technicolor Meeting Room (Invitation Only) located at C3062MR in Central Hall
• ATSC booth located at C1655 in Central Hall
   
  The Advanced HDR by technicolor team will showcase a single master workflow leveraging dynamic HDR conversion that maintains high quality HDR, while providing best possible SDR at the same time, throughout the content value chain. Experts will also demonstrate how dynamic conversion with Intelligent Tone Management outperforms legacy systems based on static LUTs conversion.

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About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a suite of high-dynamic-range (HDR) technologies designed to deliver superior video quality across a variety of display devices and network environments. Developed as a collaboration between InterDigital and Philips, it includes formats like SL-HDR1, SL-HDR2, and SL-HDR3, which dynamically optimize and convert HDR content to match the capabilities of the display device in real-time. This allows broadcasters and content providers to deliver a high-quality viewing experience with improved contrast, brightness, and color accuracy while maximizing bandwidth efficiency. With support for multiple distribution workflows, Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables seamless integration into existing infrastructures, making it a preferred solution for broadcasters seeking to future-proof their HDR delivery. Advanced HDR by Technicolor’s partnerships include broadcasters, streaming service providers, TV and conversion box manufacturers, SoC producers as well as hardware and software solution providers. To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro. 

Q: MainConcept has been in the codec business for more than three decades. How does that depth of experience shape the way you approach a technology shift like HDR?

Frank Schönberger: It gives you perspective that younger companies simply do not have. We have watched the industry move through analog to digital, standard definition to high definition, file-based workflows to streaming, and now this HDR transition. Each of those shifts created winners and losers, and the difference usually came down to whether a company could support the old infrastructure while building for the new one. That is essentially the same challenge we face today. Our customers cannot abandon their SDR viewers overnight. They need solutions that allow them to move toward HDR without leaving legacy audiences behind, and without doubling their operational costs in the process.

Q: Premium content has always been a differentiator, but you seem to be saying the stakes are higher now. Why?

Schönberger: The number of streaming services competing for subscriber attention has grown dramatically. At the same time, broadcast is losing ground to streaming in most markets. So you have a situation where everyone is fighting for the same viewer, the same subscriber dollar, the same advertising spend. Premium content, and the technology that delivers it at its best, becomes a real competitive lever. HDR is part of that. When it works well, it is genuinely better. Brighter whites, deeper blacks, more vivid colors. It is a more realistic picture. Viewers who have experienced it on a quality display notice the difference, and that matters to the operators paying for it.

Q: HDR is not a single standard. There are at least six formats in active use. How does MainConcept manage that fragmentation?

Schönberger: That fragmentation is one of the more difficult aspects of the current landscape. You have HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log-Gamma, PQ, and Advanced HDR by Technicolor, and each of them has different technical requirements and different levels of device support. Our approach is to build support for all of those formats into our encoder software development kits (SDKs) so that our customers are not forced to make an either-or decision. We also have a dedicated universal color space converter that handles the transformation between formats, including conversion back to SDR when needed. The goal is to give operators the flexibility to work within whatever HDR ecosystem their distribution partners and device manufacturers require.

Q: The industry has largely been running dual workflows, one for SDR and one for HDR. What does that actually cost an operator?

Schönberger: It doubles everything. You have double the hardware, double the maintenance, double the operational overhead. For a broadcaster with a large content catalog and multiple distribution channels, that is a significant ongoing expense. And it creates workflow complexity that introduces risk. More moving parts means more opportunities for something to go wrong, especially in live production environments where you have no margin for error. The industry has understood for some time that the goal should be a single pipeline that serves both SDR and HDR audiences from one stream. The question has always been how to get there without degrading quality at either end.

Q: That is where Advanced HDR by Technicolor enters the picture. How does it address the single-stream problem?

Schönberger: Advanced HDR by Technicolor is genuinely well-suited to this challenge because of the way it was designed. It uses embedded metadata and machine learning to deliver a single stream as HDR on devices that support it, while automatically falling back to SDR on those that do not, protecting investments in legacy infrastructure without sacrificing image quality on modern displays. And the machine learning component is important. Traditional SDR-to-HDR conversion relied on static lookup tables, which produced inconsistent results and compressed the HDR signal in ways that undermined the whole point of using HDR in the first place. The adaptive approach in Advanced HDR by Technicolor adjusts on a per-frame basis, which is what you need for live content where lighting conditions are constantly changing. A stadium broadcast at noon looks nothing like the same stadium at dusk, and a static conversion cannot handle that transition gracefully.

Q: Free ad-supported streaming services carry enormous libraries of older content. What specific challenges does that create for HDR delivery?

Schönberger: The scale and inconsistency of legacy content are core issues. When you have a catalog built over decades, you are dealing with content that was produced under completely different technical standards. Different color spaces, different gamma curves, different aspect ratios, varying levels of metadata, some of it analog in origin. There is no single conversion approach that handles all of that uniformly. Each piece of content may need a different treatment to look correct in an HDR environment. And the operational complexity compounds when you factor in live scheduling and dynamic ad insertion, because you may be switching between content from completely different eras and technical backgrounds within a single viewing session. The codec infrastructure has to absorb all of that variation and produce a consistent output stream.

Q: The advertising model is the revenue engine for FAST services. What happens when an HDR program is interrupted by an SDR commercial?

Schönberger: It is a real problem, and it goes beyond aesthetics. When a viewer is watching premium HDR content and an SDR advertisement appears, there is an immediate and jarring shift in brightness and color quality. The viewer notices. In some cases, it looks like something has gone wrong with the broadcast. For an operator who has positioned their service around a premium viewing experience, that is a credibility problem. The ad has to match the quality of the content surrounding it. Our encoders handle that conversion in real time, translating an incoming SDR advertising feed into HDR output without introducing a visible break. The viewer should only notice the ad, not the technical transition.

Q: Where does HDR fit in the emerging world of augmented and virtual reality?

Schönberger: It is a natural fit. The whole premise of immersive content is that you want the viewer to feel present in what they are watching. HDR contributes directly to that by extending the contrast ratio and color palette beyond what SDR can produce, which means the image is closer to what the human eye actually perceives in real life. As wearable devices improve, the display technology will increasingly be capable of rendering HDR content in ways that are genuinely immersive. The production and delivery infrastructure needs to be ready for that. Dynamic HDR, which adjusts image parameters on a per-frame basis rather than applying a single static setting across a whole program, is where that is heading. It is more computationally demanding, but the combination of better processing hardware and AI-assisted automation is making it practical at scale.

Key Takeaways

The HDR transition is not simply a display technology upgrade. It is a fundamental reorganization of how video content gets produced, packaged, and delivered across an increasingly fragmented device landscape. For operators managing legacy content libraries, dual SDR and HDR workflows, and advertising feeds that may arrive in any format, the codec layer is the critical point of integration.

Schönberger’s central argument is that the industry no longer needs to accept the cost and complexity of parallel pipelines. Solutions like Advanced HDR by Technicolor, now available as an MainConcept SDK and already deployed by broadcasters operating under ATSC 3.0, make single-stream delivery viable today. The technology handles the SDR-to-HDR conversion in real time, preserves metadata integrity through the encoding process, and adapts dynamically to the kind of variable content that defines modern broadcasting. For an industry navigating simultaneous pressures from subscriber competition, advertising revenue requirements, and the approaching demands of immersive media, that combination of efficiency and quality may prove to be the most consequential codec development in a generation.

HDR technology’s expansion is pushing the bounds of conservative approaches to the conversion processes based on legacy static look-up tables. Today, production teams are manually compressing the HDR signal to be compatible with the static LUT conversion to obtain a color-accurate SDR signal. This presents a challenge for broadcasting and streaming service providers that see live sports and other major outdoor events as a critical area in their strategic plans but are unable to provide best-quality HDR due to those conversion constraints.

“Constrained HDR is insufficient for advertisers, brands and consumers who are expecting a premium viewing experience in HDR, especially when paying a premium for such HDR subscriptions,” said Rick Dumont, head of business development for HDR at Philips. “This requires that the industry adapt and implement an intelligent and dynamic HDR/SDR conversion process that delivers a viewing experience with the rich contrast and vibrant color of HDR. In addition, dynamic conversion also facilitates manual shading during fast action live outdoor sports events, which is costly and mostly not as accurate as an automated dynamic conversion process, allowing shaders to focus on making the best possible HDR video rather than attempting to optimize SDR video.”

Advanced HDR by Technicolor experts will be on hand during the show at the following location:

• Advanced HDR by Technicolor Meeting Room (Invitation Only) – IABM Lounge, Meeting Room #6

The Advanced HDR by Technicolor team will showcase a single master workflow leveraging dynamic HDR conversion that maintains high quality HDR, while providing best possible SDR at the same time, throughout the content value chain. Experts will demonstrate how dynamic conversion with Intelligent Tone Management outperforms legacy systems based on static LUTs conversion. Visitors will also see a showcase of the latest Nextgen TV conversion devices integrated with Advanced HDR by Technicolor which include: Tolka, MyVelo TV, Geniatech and Zinwell.

Contact us to book a time and learn how to unlock the true value of HDR!

Ends

About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a suite of high-dynamic-range (HDR) technologies designed to deliver superior video quality across a variety of display devices and network environments. Developed as a collaboration between InterDigital and Philips, it includes formats like SL-HDR1, SL-HDR2, and SL-HDR3, which dynamically optimize and convert HDR content to match the capabilities of the display device in real-time. This allows broadcasters and content providers to deliver a high-quality viewing experience with improved contrast, brightness, and color accuracy while maximizing bandwidth efficiency. With support for multiple distribution workflows, Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables seamless integration into existing infrastructures, making it a preferred solution for broadcasters seeking to future-proof their HDR delivery. Advanced HDR by Technicolor’s partnerships include broadcasters, streaming service providers, TV and conversion box manufacturers, SoC producers as well as hardware and software solution providers. To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro.

This announcement marks the latest development in the evolving relationship between ATEME and Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

In addition to available implementations of Advanced HDR by Technicolor technologies in production, playout and file-based conversions, the integration of Advanced HDR by Technicolor with ATEME’s TITAN increases scalability and deployment capabilities for broadcasters. It is now possible to leverage the capabilities of different vendors to deliver premium HDR viewing experiences to consumers. HDR content enabled by Advanced HDR by Technicolor can be delivered along with AVC, HEVC and VVC codecs and from any SDR or HDR source content.

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About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

A collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor, Advanced HDR by Technicolor® is a suite of High Dynamic Range (HDR) production, distribution and display solutions that leverages machine learning (ML) technology to maximize image quality and enhance the consumer viewing experience. There are two major components to Advanced HDR by Technicolor:

• The Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) tool provides a dynamic, tunable, real-time solution to up-convert SDR content to HDR with full freedom and flexibility to manage contrast, brightness and color saturation.
  
  
• The Single Layer HDR (SL-HDR) is a dynamic and tunable real-time tool that implements the ETSI SL-HDR standards to generate and deliver a single, consistent, high-quality broadcast stream starting from any mix of input content (such as live, movies, news) across a wide range of HDR formats (HDR10, HLG, S-LOG3). SL-HDR1 transforms HDR input streams into SDR-plus-metadata streams. SL-HDR compatible receivers provide consumers with high-quality HDR images that can be adapted to optimize the display capabilities of their devices. Thanks to the unique backward compatibility feature of SL-HDR1, consumers who do not have HDR devices can enjoy the highest quality SDR experience.

 To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro/ 

“This is because the vast majority of video ecosystem energy consumption occurs when consumers view content on their devices,” she explains.

To address this fact, Advanced HDR by Technicolor offers display adaptation technology that ensures the delivery of premium HDR content tailored to the capabilities of receiving devices, regardless of whether they are TVs, mobile devices or tablets.

“Advanced HDR by Technicolor’s dynamic metadata feature allows for the adaptation of peak luminance levels, reducing power and energy consumption without sacrificing the viewing experience,” says Allie.

Single Stream Distribution of SDR and HDR

Innovations in dynamic metadata explain another significant contribution to the industry’s sustainability objectives.

The adoption of Single Layer HDR (SL-HDR) — a dynamic and tunable real-time tool that generates and delivers a single, consistent, high-quality stream — transforms HDR input streams into SDR-with-metadata streams to compatible receivers, providing consumers with high-quality HDR images.

“Delivering SDR and HDR content typically requires increased bandwidth and storage to support separate streams and infrastructure. Advanced HDR by Technicolor addresses this challenge by delivering a single SDR stream with metadata that automatically converts video when it recognizes that the receiving device supports HDR,” she says.

This optimizes resource utilization while ensuring accurate rendering across compatible devices.

“In addition, the integration of versatile video coding (VVC) with metadata further enhances compression efficiency, reducing storage requirements and other resource requirements,” says Allie.

These and other HDR innovations will be demonstrated during NAB 2024 at both the ATSC booth – W3056 and Ultra HD Forum booth – W4007.

Journalists and analysts interested in organizing briefings or interviews can schedule appointments at the ATSC booth click here at the Ultra HD Forum booth click here. 

To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro/

InterDigital’s David Touzé will also present at a session titled, HDR-SDR conversion: Live HDR Single Master Production Conversion Interoperability Challenges, during the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference on Tuesday, April 16 from 10:00 AM – 10:20 AM PST in room W222-W223.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor spokespeople will be available to discuss the latest developments at this year’s NAB event, including: 

• Advanced HDR by Technicolor is currently the only solution delivering HDR broadcasts in any content, anytime, anywhere over the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC 3.0) NEXTGEN TV stations.
• Beyond the broadcast sector, Advanced HDR by Technicolor is gaining traction with over-the-top (OTT) streaming service providers because of the fact that it’s the only solution that accommodates any HDR source and delivers it as an 8-bit SDR file (with metadata), allowing service providers to offer consumers HDR quality on their TVs at very low bandwidth.
• The solution enables end-to-end HDR and SDR production with a single master workflow and ensures optimal source fidelity on both SDR-to-HDR and HDR-to-SDR conversions.
• Advanced HDR by Technicolor has not shown any artifacts – like “banding” – while streaming in 8-bit and allows streaming providers to deliver HDR images using High Definition (HD) technology that matches the 4K (UHD) experiences without the overhead associated with UHD distribution requirements.
• From a long-term sustainability standpoint, the single-workflow/single-stream distribution features of Advanced HDR by Technicolor means that it uses fewer resources and less energy than alternatives, reducing the carbon footprint profiles of broadcasters and OTT providers that deploy the solution.
• Advanced HDR by Technicolor remains the only solution capable of supporting dynamic conversion processes (as opposed to depending on static LUTs) when delivering premium HDR and SDR content without compromising the original HDR content.
• Advanced HDR by Technicolor maximizes dynamic range and color volume in HDR without compromising SDR content delivery.
• Advanced HDR by Technicolor leverages machine learning to automate the management of image quality as lighting conditions change during live productions. 

To schedule briefings or demonstrations at the ATSC booth click here and to schedule a briefing or demonstration at the Ultra HD Forum booth click here.  

                                                                                                                              ###

About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

A collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor, Advanced HDR by Technicolor® is a suite of High Dynamic Range (HDR) production, distribution and display solutions that leverages machine learning (ML) technology to maximize image quality and enhance the consumer viewing experience. There are two major components to Advanced HDR by Technicolor:

• The Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) tool provides a dynamic, tunable, real-time solution to up-convert SDR content to HDR with full freedom and flexibility to manage contrast, brightness and color saturation.
• The Single Layer HDR (SL-HDR) is a dynamic and tunable real-time tool that implements the ETSI SL-HDR standards to generate and deliver a single, consistent, high-quality broadcast stream starting from any mix of input content (such as live, movies, news) across a wide range of HDR formats (HDR10, HLG, S-LOG3). SL-HDR1 transforms HDR input streams into SDR-plus-metadata streams. SL-HDR compatible receivers provide consumers with high-quality HDR images that can be adapted to optimize the display capabilities of their devices. Thanks to the unique backward compatibility feature of SL-HDR1, consumers who do not have HDR devices can enjoy the highest quality SDR experience.

To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit:

https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro/

“There has been a significant increase in the amount of HDR content now available for streaming. This is good news because HDR provides an undeniably enhanced viewing experience consumers have come to appreciate and expect,” says Mitchell. “The trick for the streaming industry revolves around seamlessly integrating a wide array of SDR and HDR content and delivering the best possible experience to the installed base of devices that only support SDR while simultaneously addressing the rapidly growing HDR market.” 

Meeting this expectation in a technically efficient and cost-effective manner is becoming increasingly important as OTT providers ramp up subscription costs and others pursue ad-supported business models. HDR, says Mitchell, will play a significant role in helping consumers justify increased subscription costs or support consumers’ willingness to tolerate commercial interruptions. One key to elevating the attractiveness of commercial supported business models will be to deliver advertising content in high quality HDR. 

Setting the Stage for the HDR Streaming Era

After a pandemic-fueled spurt of growth that brought over 215 million viewers to video streaming services in 2021, providers have struggled to hold onto their base as the overall market contracted to approximately 203 million in 2022, according to analysts at Statista. While demand appears to be slowly rebounding, analysts do not expect the market to recapture its 2021 highs until 2026 or early 2027.

“As a result, the video streaming service provider market is among the most competitive entertainment technology segments, prompting leaders to seek ways to control costs while introducing new compelling viewing experiences,” he explains.

It is in this context that a technologically sophisticated approach to delivering HDR while streaming content to the still-large installed base of standard-dynamic range (SDR) devices is emerging as a compelling solution for video streaming providers. 

“When consumers see HDR content, they simply can’t deny that what they are looking at is better,” says Mitchell. “At a time when streaming service providers are beginning to raise subscription prices or explore ad-supported business models, meeting consumer expectations for high-quality services must be a priority.” 

Strategies for Meeting Demand for HDR 

Two key questions facing the video streaming market revolve around effectively delivering HDR to consumers while supporting the significant presence of SDR-only devices still in the market and leveraging legacy libraries of SDR content.

“Even though HDR has become a baseline requirement for content creators and consumers, many video streaming providers must determine what to do with their legacy SDR content while ensuring that they serve viewers the best possible picture quality regardless of whether their devices support HDR or SDR. Given the contraction that occurred from 2021 to 2022, every subscriber counts. Leaders in the sector must, therefore, create a roadmap that develops the full potential of HDR while serving all current viewers,” he says. 

For video streaming providers with large SDR libraries, this means determining how to convert the content to HDR in an effective manner while preserving original creative intent.

“There are two ways this can be accomplished,” Mitchell explains. “The first is to go through SDR files manually and spend hundreds — if not thousands — of hours converting SDR content to HDR. The second is to figure out how to harness intelligent technologies and dynamic workflows to perform the conversion automatically. The second approach is the only scalable and economically viable strategy.”

Automatic conversion of SDR to HDR — and back to SDR if necessary — is one of the distinguishing features of Advanced HDR by Technicolor, a collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor. It is a critical capability for video streaming service providers with legacy libraries who want to meet the visual expectations of their viewers.

“At last year’s NAB 2023 conference in Las Vegas, Cinnafilm — which provides award-winning video and audio processing solutions for standards conversions — demonstrated how Advanced HDR by Technicolor has been integrated into its well-established PixelStrings offering to execute high-quality, yet cost-effective, SDR to HDR conversions,” Mitchell says.

Single Workflow and Distribution Strategy for HDR and SDR Streaming

Once files are converted, streaming providers’ next major consideration is determining how best to manage and distribute HDR and SDR content. The most significant peril to avoid, warns Mitchell, is managing these content categories separately.

“That is precisely the problem statement we wanted to address when we developed Advanced HDR by Technicolor. Indeed, our focus on this issue has prompted us to zig while the rest of the industry zagged. Here is what I mean. Until Advanced HDR by Technicolor, all efforts to develop HDR formats worked with static look-up tables (known as ‘static LUTs’). Separate workflows and distributions were required when working with HDR and SDR content,” he says.

The Advanced HDR by Technicolor team determined that it would be more effective over the long run to leverage intelligent meta-data technology attached to SDR content for conversion to HDR when the receiving device can display HDR. 

“As a result, video streaming providers do not have to allocate extra space to their storage. The meta-data strategy employed by Advanced HDR by Technicolor also means that video streaming providers do not have to support separate distribution streams for their SDR and HDR content,” concludes Mitchell. 

Further enhancing the efficiency of content distribution, Advanced HDR by Technicolor is uniquely able to deliver accurate HDR video with 8-bit AVC, as well as HEVC and VVC using 10-bit pixels for both high definition and ultra-high definition resolution.

Nick Mitchell: There has been a significant increase in the amount of HDR content now available for streaming. This is good news because HDR provides an undeniably enhanced viewing experience consumers have come to appreciate and expect.

Meeting this expectation in a technically efficient and cost-effective manner is becoming increasingly important as some providers ramp up subscription costs and others pursue ad-supported business models. HDR plays a major role in helping consumers justify the increased costs or the willingness to tolerate commercial interruptions. 

The key question revolves around how to effectively deliver HDR to consumers — while supporting the large presence of SDR-only TVs and devices still in the market.

So, even though HDR has become a baseline requirement for content creators and consumers, many video streaming providers must determine what to do with their legacy SDR content while ensuring that they serve viewers the best possible picture quality regardless of whether their devices support HDR or SDR. Given the contraction that occurred from 2021 to 2022, every subscriber counts. Leaders in the sector must, therefore, create a roadmap that develops the full potential of HDR — which is in many ways still in its nascent stages of market development — while serving all current viewers. 

Q: We’ve seen established video OTT providers and media powerhouses with large catalogs of SDR content enter the streaming game. How does that affect the availability of HDR content? 

Mitchell: The competitive entertainment landscape means that streaming providers must adapt. As they do, they’ll be compelled to ensure that their entire library is compatible with HDR to meet the new standard baseline. 

For video streaming providers with large SDR libraries, this means determining how to convert the content to HDR in an effective manner while preserving original creative intent.

There are two ways that this can be accomplished. The first is to go through SDR files manually and spend hundreds — if not thousands — of hours converting SDR content for HDR distribution.

The second is to figure out how to harness intelligent technologies and dynamic workflows to perform the conversion automatically. The second approach is the only scalable and economically viable strategy.

Automatic conversion of SDR to HDR — and back to SDR if necessary — is one of the distinguishing features of Advanced HDR by Technicolor and a critical capability for video streaming service providers with legacy libraries who want to meet the visual expectations of their viewers.

At last year’s NAB conference in Las Vegas, Cinnafilm — which provides award winning video and audio processing solutions for standards conversions — demonstrated how Advanced HDR by Technicolor has been integrated into its well-established PixelStrings offering to execute high-quality, yet cost-effective, SDR to HDR conversions.

Q: Does this mean that video streaming providers must now maintain, manage and distribute two versions of their libraries? 

Mitchell: Absolutely not! That is precisely the problem statement we wanted to address when we developed Advanced HDR by Technicolor. Indeed, our focus on this issue has prompted us to zig while the rest of the industry zagged.

Here is what I mean. Until Advanced HDR by Technicolor, all efforts to develop HDR formats worked with static look-up tables (known as “static LUTs”). Separate workflows and distributions were required when working with HDR and SDR content.

We determined that it would be more effective over the long run to leverage intelligent meta-data technology attached to SDR content for conversion to HDR when the receiving device can display HDR. 

As a result, video streaming providers do not have to allocate extra space to their storage. The meta-data strategy employed by Advanced HDR by Technicolor also means that video streaming providers do not have to support separate distribution streams for their SDR and HDR content. 

There are many advantages to this approach. 

Streaming providers must only manage a single file to deliver HDR content at SDR bit rates. This generates significant savings from an efficiency perspective because the stream is less than half the size of what a dual SDR and HDR inventory and distribution model would require. 

There is also an ecological benefit. It’s much better to do upconversions from a central location than to rely on consuming devices — such as TVs — to perform complex scaling and upconversion operations, which are required hundreds of millions of times across the playout and life cycle of a piece of content.

Q: How can Advanced HDR by Technicolor help advance the interests of streaming service providers in delivering the visual impact and viewing experience for their subscriber base?

Mitchell: Advanced HDR by Technicolor effectively optimizes overall costs throughout the value chain. It substantially reduces the adaptive bit rate ladders and reduces required storage and bandwidth. If a streaming provider starts with SDR content, Advanced HDR by Technicolor can augment HDR with a small metadata payload — we’re talking about less than a hundred bytes per frame. 

In addition to reducing storage and bandwidth, it dramatically simplifies the distribution process. Streaming providers don’t have to think about managing a dual inventory of high and standard dynamic ranges or concern themselves about the device on which the content will be played.

Q: Can HDR deliver an image that matches the 4K without the overhead of an ultra-high definition broadcast (UHD)?

Mitchell: 100%. It’s not about more pixels as much as it is about good ones. If you can improve each pixel, you need fewer at the end of the day. We’ve done numerous tests, side by side, in HDR, high definition (HD) resolutions, and 4K HDR. The results don’t lie. Better pixels get you over the line more often than more pixels.

Q: If a streaming service provider reaches a significant portion of their audience through a variety of broadband networks — including wireless networks — does HDR and the single stream solution become a factor in that scenario?

Mitchell: It does, and it’s yet another feature that sets Advanced HDR by Technicolor apart from the competition. Advanced HDR can run in 8 bits and does not require a 10-bit HDR source – which alternatives in the market require. This illustrates the efficiency of our single-stream deliverable. We can deliver an 8-bit SDR file and achieve HDR quality.

We’ve proven it time and time again with side-by-side viewings of HDR in UHD and HDR generated from Advanced HDR by Technicolor metadata in HD in 8-bit. Most people would be hard-pressed to see many differences.

About Advanced HDR by Technicolor

A collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor, Advanced HDR by Technicolor® is a suite of HDR production, distribution and display solutions that leverages machine learning (ML) technology to maximize image quality and enhance the consumer viewing experience. There are two major components to Advanced HDR by Technicolor:

●      The Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) tool provides a dynamic, tunable, real-time solution to up-convert SDR content to HDR with full freedom and flexibility to manage contrast, brightness and color saturation.

●      The Single Layer HDR (SL-HDR) is a dynamic and tunable real-time tool that implements the ETSI SL-HDR standards to generate and deliver a single, consistent, high-quality broadcast stream starting from any mix of input content (such as live, movies, news) across a wide range of HDR formats (HDR10, HLG, S-LOG3). SL-HDR1 transforms HDR input streams into SDR-plus-metadata streams. SL-HDR compatible receivers provide consumers with high-quality HDR images that can be adapted to optimize the display capabilities of their devices. Thanks to the unique backward compatibility feature of SL-HDR1, consumers who do not have HDR devices can enjoy the highest quality SDR experience.

To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor visit: 
https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.pro/