Smartphones, tablets and laptops with 10-bit depths that can reproduce 90 percent of digital cinema’s P3 color space and have peak luminance of 540 nits can qualify for the UHD Alliance’s new “Mobile HDR Premium” certification logo, the group said Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Qualified mobile devices also must have resolutions of 60 pixels per degree to earn the logo, the alliance said. A Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone with a 5.7-inch screen and 2560×1440 resolution qualifies when viewed from a distance of seven inches, according to an online Nvidia screen density calculator. An iPad Pro with a 10-inch screen and 2048×1536 when viewed from 13 inches also would qualify, as would a 1080p Lenovo Flex 4 laptop with a 14-inch screen viewed from 21 inches. Licensing of the Mobile HDR Premium logo will start April 1, the alliance said. “Portable devices are a primary mode of video consumption and the category itself is a key component of the rapidly expanding Ultra HD ecosystem,” said President Hanno Basse in a statement.

Dolby Labs used the opening day of the Mobile World Congress Monday to announce that LG’s G6 will be the first smartphone to support Dolby Vision high dynamic range. Specifics in the announcement were scarce about the G6's HDR performance, other than that the phone will have a 5.7-inch screen. The G6 also will use Dolby Audio, Dolby said. Amazon and Netflix will be the first streaming services to deliver content in Dolby Vision to mobile devices around the world, Dolby said.

A Vizio firmware update will extend HDR10 support to six models in the E-Series of SmartCast TVs, the company said in a Thursday announcement. The update will render the sets compatible with the HDR10 capability of the Samsung UHD-K8500 and Philips BDP7501/F7 Ultra HD Blu-ray players and the PS4 and Xbox One S game consoles, Vizio said. It’s “continuing to work to further expand support for additional players as they become available in the market,” it said. HDR10 support already was available in Vizio’s M-Series and P-Series of TVs with Dolby Vision.

Dolby Labs, continuing the Dolby Vision momentum it showcased at CES (see 1701050004), will bring the high-dynamic-range technology to two models of Skyworth OLED TVs in China through a collaboration with Warner Home Entertainment and Tencent Video’s over-the-top streaming service, the companies announced Thursday. Nine Warner titles will be in the “first slate” of Dolby Vision OTT content offerings, they said: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Lego Movie, Edge of Tomorrow, Jupiter Ascending, The Great Gatsby, San Andreas, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim and Run All Night.

TCL will deliver 25 models of Roku TVs this year across three product series, it said at its CES news conference Wednesday. The S Ultra HD 4K TV series, shipping this spring in screen sizes 49-65 inches, will focus on value while delivering high dynamic range. The P series, designed for the home theater enthusiast, steps up to Dolby Vision HDR, 72 contrast control zones and wider color gamut in screen sizes 50-65 inches, starting at $499. Color gamut approaches 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, said Chris Larson, TCL North America vice president-sales and marketing. The C series, focusing on design, with an edgeless bezel, will ship this spring in 49-75-inch screen sizes. The high-end C series TV also has Dolby Vision HDR Dynamic Contrast that allows the contrast to be optimized for each scene, said Larson. The models include the LED backlight used in the P series for wider color gamut, Larson said. The bezel measures 11.4 millimeters, or less than a half inch. The design is the type “where cost is no object,” said Larson, who didn’t provide prices. Larson pushed TCL’s scale as the third-largest maker of TVs and advantages as a vertically integrated manufacturer, which allow the company to keep costs low. TCL maintains its goal to be the No. 3 TV maker in North America by the end of the decade and will put in place an “aggressive” marketing plan to boost brand visibility in 2017 through partnerships with sports leagues, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Live Nation, Comic Con and The Ellen Show, said Larson. Roku General Manager Chas Smith said streaming hours on the Roku platform increased 60 percent year on year. Roku is constantly upgrading the platform, said Smith, and will add two channels in the next few weeks: a Comcast Xfinity app and DirecTV Now.

The HDMI Licensing Administrator scheduled a Jan. 4 news conference in Las Vegas on the eve of CES, where it plans a “major announcement,” the group said in a media alert emailed Wednesday to reporters. HDMI LA representatives didn’t comment on the nature of the announcement. HDMI LA President Rob Tobias told us at IFA that the 90-company HDMI Forum was working to approve a specification for HDMI support of hybrid log-gamma (HLG) technology for high dynamic range developed by BBC and NHK for broadcast use, and he hoped an announcement would be possible by CES (see 1609020024). HLG, which requires no metadata for HDR broadcasting, had a ubiquitous presence at IFA, with multiple companies running HLG demos at their stands. CES is expected to have the first announcements of full-fledged HLG support in actual products for 2017 introduction.

LG engineers are working on a firmware patch to address a lag issue experienced by customers playing high-dynamic-range games on LG TVs, a spokeswoman told us Wednesday. The TV maker also is working on a solution for 2017 LG TV models that may include the option of an HDR gaming mode, she said. The spokeswoman didn’t provide an estimated date for firmware availability but said LG is committed to resolving the issue “as quickly as possible.” Gamers signed petitions online urging LG to address gaming support by adding an HDR+ game mode setting for displays through a firmware update. “Loyal OLED owners, who have spent thousands of dollars on their top-of-the-line TVs, request that LG address this issue as other competitors, such as Samsung and Sony, have already addressed this with firmware updates for their TVs,” said a petition on Change.org that had 2,639 signatures Wednesday. “For even the casual gamer, input lag in regular HDR mode is very high in the 60-70ms range,” said the petition, which said a fix will allow gamers “of all types to experience lower input lag while playing HDR videogames.”

Global shipments of high-dynamic-range TVs will reach more than 4 million sets in 2016 and grow to more than 30 million in 2020, IHS Markit said in a Wednesday report. The firm thinks the market for HDR-compatible TVs currently is four times as large as those with "true" HDR performance, it said. It defines HDR-compatible TVs as any sets compatible with basic HDR formats but using standard-dynamic-range displays, it said. By 2020, IHS Markit expects nearly all of 112 million 4K TVs shipped worldwide will be compatible with HDR, but only 30 percent will have “true HDR performance capabilities,” it said. Worldwide demand for 4K TVs continues to grow even though total TV shipments will decline slightly in 2016, it said. “The lack of unit volume growth in the total market and continuous price erosion, especially for categories like 4K, is a concern for TV manufacturers and retailers,” it said. “New display technologies like HDR hold promise for improving ASPs and profits, but only if the technology and its benefits are communicated well to consumers,” it said of average selling prices. “As with many new technologies in the TV market, the ability to introduce them to consumers in a way that communicates the value is crucial to achieving lasting premiums and profits,” said Paul Gagnon, IHS director-TV sets research, in a statement. “In the case of HDR, only some sets have enhanced display performance that can allow the consumer to see the benefit, while the rest will have little discernible difference to consumers, who may become confused about the value of HDR as a result.” SDR TVs will “shrink rapidly” as a segment within the 4K TV market, but remain the only choice for HD and 1080p resolution TVs as HDR benefits are featured primarily with 4K content, IHS said. The 4K TV market is growing quickly from 55 million units in 2016 to more than 100 million units expected by 2019, achieving 100 percent share of 50-inch and larger TV shipments by 2019, it said: “As with many new TV technologies like 4K, HDR is featured in larger screen sizes where the additional costs are supported by larger premiums. More than 80 percent of HDR TV shipments will come from 50-inch and larger screen sizes.”

ATSC’s Technology Group 3 for the second time delayed picking a winning high-dynamic-range technology for ATSC 3.0 for two months by extending the candidate standard period on the A/341 ATSC 3.0 video document to Nov. 30, ATSC President Mark Richer confirmed in a Thursday email. “I am hopeful that TG3 will approve a ballot to elevate A/341 to Proposed Standard during its meeting on November 17th,” Richer told us. He gave no explanation for the latest delay in choosing an HDR system for ATSC 3.0, which was to have been completed July 31 before being delayed to Sept. 30 because ATSC 3.0's framers wanted to “get it done right,” they said in June (see 1606160052). The delays on HDR are reminiscent of the contentious debate within ATSC to choose a winning audio codec for ATSC 3.0, which resulted in a monthslong impasse before ATSC 3.0's framers, in a compromise, settled on Dolby AC-4 for North America, MPEG-H for South Korea (see 1604210053).

“You’ll earn high dynamic raves,” reads a Best Buy email blast sent Monday to Best Buy Rewards customers trumpeting high-dynamic-range TVs from LG, Samsung and Sony. HDR “makes 4K ultra stunning,” said the ad, which describes the technology as creating “a more natural viewing environment where colors practically glow, and shadows and highlights form exquisite detail that pops off the screen.” But not all HDR TVs are created equal, says Eric, a salesperson from Best Buy’s store in Maple Grove, Minnesota, featured in an accompanying video. “The TV might be able to understand an HDR signal,” says Eric, “but its lighting system might not be able to actually reveal any of that information. The good news is, we’ve done all of that homework for you at Best Buy.”