New Ultra HD Test and Calibration Disc Focuses on Various Flavors of HDR

Stacey Spears and Don Munsil have released a Blu-ray Disc of test and demonstration tools for calibrating and evaluating Ultra HD displays with a focus on high dynamic range. The Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark disc, designed for professionals and enthusiasts, gives users display information, identifies weak links in hardware and software, and suggests optimal settings for equipment, said the creators. It “changes the game” for test and evaluation discs “by making use of all of the features and range that HDR and wide-gamut standards can offer,” said Spears, saying almost every pattern is encoded in multiple versions, with metadata and peak levels adjusted for a variety of HDR display technologies. “HDR represents a new way of thinking about video,” said Munsil, “with a completely different approach to transfer functions, or what we used to call ‘gamma,’ and that meant that a bunch of old patterns just plain didn’t work anymore.” Video is now encoded for very-high-brightness devices, Munsil said, and “has to be remapped by the display to fit that display’s actual capabilities.” Every display does that differently, and the disc will let users see “exactly what the display does when it makes those important remapping decisions,” he said. The $39 disc is available at Amazon.