Quote:
Originally Posted by Aleron Ives
. I'm sure HDR does look a bit better than SDR, but is it really that much of a leap?
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True HDR looks a lot better when viewed on a good 4K HDR screen.
- SDR is 8-bit color, meaning you get about 16 million colors, and thus some, or a lot of, color banding.
- True HDR is 10-bit color, meaning you get about 1 billion colors, and thus less color banding, if any, and more brilliant and true to life color.
- True HDR often brings with it a much brighter screen to allow much greater detail in shadows and in bright areas.
Cheap 4K TVs don't always have true 10-bit color or HDR though, so don’t expect it to look much better than on a comparable full HD screen. But when viewed on a good 4K TV (or monitor) with true 10-bit color and HDR, true HDR will be many times better looking than SDR.
Having said that, good luck finding much true HDR content to view. Cable and satellite typically use 720p content, but some use 1080i. Broadcast TV uses 720p or 1080i content as well. Most streaming services with cable-like channel programming use 720p or 1080i. These formats tend to scale up nicely with more modern equipment that contains up to date processors. But it will still just be 4K SDR, so decent 4K image but with only 1/60th of the colors and a dimmer screen that clips blacks in shadows and whites in bright areas. Some streaming services like Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, etc. offer some content in true 4K HDR, but most content is still in SDR.
When I view most content which is SDR on my Sony Bravia 4K TV it looks really great, even though it is likely upscaled from 720p or 1080i. When I view true 4K HDR content the WOW factor kicks in! It can look like the view through one on my windows. That is, pretty much what my eyes are designed to see. It is bright, crisp, more natural colors, and a much higher dynamic range of light that is closer to what our eyes are designed to see. My TV is around $800 brand new, so not a high end model by any means. If you spend way more, the picture quality will be even more impressive, but I’m happy with what I have.
If you ask me if it is currently worth upgrading to a good 4K HDR TV I must say it depends on how much HDR content you can actually get. There is enough HDR content available to have made it worthwhile for me, but there might not be enough for some people.