It’s “content-dependent” whether true high dynamic range can be achieved in post-production at 10 bits, said Raymond Yeung, Dolby Labs senior staff engineer-Imaging R&D Group. “There are plenty of instances where work can be done in 10 bits,” Yeung told a Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers webinar Thursday to show how SMPTE standards ST 2084, ST 2086 and ST 2094 can be used as “building blocks” for HDR content creation and distribution. But for “a lot of manipulation processing” that’s required during HDR post-production, “you do want to have enough bit depth,” Yeung said. For example, a professional monitor capable of black levels of 0.005 nits but also peak luminance of 4,000 nits has an 800,000:1 contrast ratio “in linear terms,” he said. For HDR content encoded for that monitor in 12 bits, using the perceptual quantization curve specified in SMPTE standard ST 2084, “you are fine, but anything less than that could be risky, and that’s my advice,” he said. Responding to a question on how the differences between 12-bit HDR professional monitors and 10-bit consumer HDR TVs can be accommodated, Yeung said he can’t predict whether “commercial technology will go towards 12 bits or not.” To “really answer the question, we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “But I think 10 bits, it’s a good place to start,” he said of consumer HDR products.

Sony declined comment Wednesday on our queries that the company soon will introduce an Ultra HD TV with the company’s Backlight Master Drive high-dynamic-range technology. Sony trumpeted Backlight Master Drive -- showcased at CES as a “prototype” HDR technology -- as enabling “ultra-high-peak brightness” of up to 4,000 nits, compared with conventional LCD backlights offering only a tenth of that peak luminance (see 1601060049). Backlight Master Drive also is capable of “markedly deeper blacks and fine shadow details, with precision backlight-boosting technology,” Sony said. We’re told by sources familiar with the product to be introduced that Sony will tout peak HDR luminance capability of up to 2,000 nits. Though that would be half the peak-luminance performance Sony touted at CES, it would be roughly double that of any other consumer HDR TVs that have been introduced. Sony also will promise additional performance enhancements with future generations of product, we're told. Sony has scheduled a July 20 media briefing at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, where it promises “some special announcements” about its TV product offerings. Beyond that, “we don’t talk about products that are not yet introduced and we can’t confirm or deny speculations,” Sony spokeswoman Ana Reyes emailed us Wednesday.

Season two of Amazon Video’s Bosch is the first Amazon TV series to be available in Dolby Vision, said the companies Monday. More high-dynamic-range titles are to come at no premium for Amazon Prime customers, said Jim Freeman, vice president-Amazon Video, referring to HDR generically. Dolby Vision titles available for purchase at Amazon for all customers are The Smurfs 2, After Earth, Men in Black 3, Hancock, Salt, Pineapple Express, Fury, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Chappie and Elysium, Amazon said. LG used the Amazon news to promote its status as the first TV maker to support both available HDR formats -- HDR10 and Dolby Vision -- “so consumers can enjoy more true-to-life images on LG’s stunning 4K displays without worrying about format compatibility.” Samsung and Sony, it noted in an email, support just HDR10. “With only one format, consumers risk missing out on content that becomes available exclusively in Dolby Vision,” it said.

Luxembourg-based satellite provider SES launched a 24/7 Ultra HD test channel for transmitting HDR content, it said Thursday. It’s demonstrating the channel at its Industry Days event in Luxembourg this week. Attendees can view HDR implementations such as HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) and the Technicolor/Philips solution on TVs from major manufacturers, said the company. Currently, SES carries Ultra HD content provided by LG using HLG and is demoing the HLG HDR content on LG’s E6 4K OLED TV, it said. HDR will be a “major improvement” for satellite TV on Ultra HD TVs, said SES’ Thomas Wrede, vice president-reception systems. SES has begun implementing “relevant HDR technology” at its Munich playout facility, he said.

As it’s trying to move out existing inventory of last year’s OLED TVs in a summer kickoff bundle promotion, LG announced availability and pricing of its 2016 smart 4K Ultra HD OLED TV lineup Tuesday. The eight new models, with webOS 3.0, support Dolby Vision and HDR 10 and are certified Ultra HD Premium by the UHD Alliance. In its news release, LG spotlighted its Dolby Vision compatibility at the expense of competitors Samsung and Sony, which “only” support HDR 10. The 2016 OLEDs are the first TVs to support both core HDR formats, said LG. New in the LG 2016 4K smart TV OLED lineup: the 55-inch OLED55B6P ($3,999) and the 65-inch OLED65B6P ($5,999) flat-screen models and the curved-panel 55-inch OLED55C6P ($3,999) and 65-inch OLED65C6P ($5,999). In the step-up OLEDE6P series with "one-tenth-inch" picture-on-glass design are the flat-panel 55-inch OLED55E6P ($4,999) and 65-inch OLED65E6P ($6,999). The top-end Signature Series with picture-on-glass design and Harman Kardon soundbar stand comprises the 65-inch OLED65G6P ($7,999) and 77-inch OLED77G6P. No price was given for the 77-inch model which is “coming soon,” said LG. In the bundle promotion of 2015 OLED models, meanwhile, LG chopped $1,000 off the curved 65EG9600 and flat 65EF9500 (both now $4,999) and is throwing in a free 55-inch TV, or a soundbar, or a $300 gift card or a $500 instant rebate to sweeten the deal. The curved 55EG9600 and flat 55EF9500 were cut by $1,000 to $2,999 with a free 43-inch TV, or soundbar, or $200 gift card or $200 instant rebate, LG said. Both deals run through June 11. Through June 25, LG is taking $500 off the curved 55EG9100, bringing it to $1,999, and bundling it with a free soundbar, or $100 gift card or $200 instant rebate, LG said.

Vizio added to its 2016 high-dynamic-range TV lineup Tuesday, announcing the M-Series that comes with Dolby Vision HDR and a tablet remote with voice control. The M-Series is the debut for Vizio's SmartCast TVs. Pressing the Cast button on the 6-inch tablet remote allows users to watch content from a mobile screen on TV, the company said. M-Series TVs include full-array backlighting with 64 active LED zones, double that of the 2015 M-Series TVs, and the TVs have an “effective refresh rate” of 240 Hz, the company said. Prices are: 50-inch M50-D1 ($849), M60-D1 ($1,249), M65-D0 ($1,499), M70-D3 ($1,999) and M80-D3 ($3,999), Vizio said, with availability and retailer information to come. Vizio also bowed the E-Series, with Google Cast built in, comprising Ultra HD and HDTVs. The Ultra HD models range from 43-70 inches, and the HD lineup ranges 32-55 inches. Prices include $299 for the 32-inch E32-D1 HDTV, $469 for the 43-inch E43u-D2 Ultra HD TV, $1,099 for the E65u-D3 Ultra HD TV and $1,699 for the E70u-D3 Ultra HDTV, Vizio said.

Networks will be able to offer viewers high-dynamic-range (HDR) live linear programming and VOD through a new Technicolor/Vubiquity partnership, Technicolor said in a news release Monday. The joint service will use Technicolor technology for an "in-network HDR up-conversion and delivery service," with the aim being a large expansion of HDR enhanced content available, it said. Along with HDR content, Vubiquity will be able to offer standard dynamic range content up-converted to HDR, Technicolor said. The HDR service is expected to launch later this year, though the two will demonstrate the capabilities at the NAB Show later this month, Technicolor said.

LG is seeking trademark registration of a stylized HDR logo that already appears in some form on 2016 high-dynamic-range Ultra HD TVs introduced at CES and now making their way to retail, Patent and Trademark Office documents show. LG plans commercial use of the logo for “TV receivers,” TV “display panels,” monitors “for commercial use,” but also a wide array of other possible implementations, including for “audio components,” “mobile phone cases” and “wearable smartphones,” said an application (serial number 86939548) that LG’s Korean parent filed March 14 at PTO. LG filed a similar registration application Feb. 17 (number 4020160011966) at the Korean Intellectual Property Office in Daejeon, South Korea, PTO records show. The applied-for mark “consists of the letters HDR in black to the right of a white star within a black square, multiple triangles in the colors blue, purple, red, pink, orange, yellow and green surround the square forming an outline of another larger square,” said the PTO application. LG will differentiate its three series of HDR-capable TVs with special labeling logos, the company announced two weeks ago (see 1603100068). The first of those series to arrive at retail, the Super UHD line of LED-backlit 4K LCD TVs, will get the HDR Super label, and already those sets have begun turning up at BestBuy.com, where they're listed for March 30 in-store availability. Product images of one of those models, the 60-inch 60UH7700 set being offered at Best Buy for $1,699, or $200 off list, depict the HDR Super label affixed to the lower-right corner of the display's screen. The label pairs the HDR Super and Dolby Vision logos. The PTO application for the stylized logo contains no words or letters other than "HDR," but it's that logo that forms the basis of the HDR Super label depicted in the BestBuy.com listing.

As the competitive stakes grow higher with the market arrival of the first UHD Alliance-certified high-dynamic-range TVs, Samsung’s Korean parent has applied to register “HDR 1000" as a trademark for HDR sets with 1,000 nits of peak brightness, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The desired trademark, which consists of “standard characters, without claim to any particular font, style, size, or color,” applies to “computer software for television, namely, software for reproducing high dynamic range contents with increased brightness level,” said the application (serial number 86928178), which was filed March 3 at the PTO. Samsung filed an identical application (number 15152011) Feb. 26 to register the HDR 1000 trademark in Europe, PTO records show. For a TV to qualify for the UHD Alliance’s Ultra HD Premium logo, the alliance announced at CES (see 1601030003), it must be capable of one of two sets of HDR performance parameters: (1) Displaying more than 1,000 nits peak brightness and less than 0.05 nits black level, or (2) Displaying more than 540 nits peak brightness and less than 0.0005 nits black level.

It’s “company policy” for Sony, a founding member of the UHD Alliance, not to use the alliance’s Ultra HD Premium logo (see 1601060049), a Sony Europe executive told us Tuesday during a news briefing at the subsidiary’s headquarters in Weybridge, U.K., on the outskirts of London. Sony’s “flagship” Ultra HD model with high dynamic range “would meet the logo specification” established by the alliance, because it “delivers over 1,000 nits and over 90 percent P3 color, but we are not using the logo,” said Gavin McCarron, Sony Europe technical planning and marketing manager. “We don’t want to confuse the market with too many logos,” McCarron said. “We want to make things simple for our customers. We will use our ‘4K HDR’ logo.” Sony wants to “make things clear for consumers and once they see it, it will become clear,” he said of HDR.