HDR10+ Consortium Names First License ‘Adopters,’ Mostly Tool, SoC Vendors
BERLIN -- Sixteen tool, SoC and content vendors -- but not yet any TV brands or film studios -- independent of the core founding companies of Fox, Panasonic and Samsung are the first “adopters” of the HDR10+ Technologies licensing program, said the consortium Tuesday in a pre-IFA announcement. The update came a year to the day after Fox, Panasonic and Samsung first announced on the eve of 2017's IFA that they will form an “open,” licensable certification and logo program built around Samsung’s HDR10+ dynamic-metadata HDR platform (see 1708280018).
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Most of the 2018 Panasonic and Samsung TV lineups are the first sets to land HDR10+ certifications through factory-built product or firmware updates, after validations of authorized test center (ATC) Allion Labs in Japan and TTA, an ATC in South Korea, said the announcement. Not mentioned was BlueFocus in the U.S., named in June as the third ATC that will certify TVs to the HDR10+ specs (see 1806280006). Of the five adopter categories available under the HDR10+ licensing program, only TV makers are required to submit their products to an ATC for certification, while the others can self-test or face no test requirement at all (see 1806200045).
Becoming an ATC for HDR10+ is a “couple-step process” and “we haven’t had a chance to finish all the steps” with BlueFocus yet, emailed Bill Mandel, Samsung Research America vice president-industry relations, Tuesday. “Our intention is still to get them approved and over time look for some more ATCs in a couple other territories as more manufacturers come on line with HDR10+,” said Mandel, Samsung's HDR10+ project manager.
HDR10+ Technologies “is actively partnering with companies throughout the media ecosystem,” and more than 80 “have already applied or completed the license program,” said the consortium. Fox is “encouraged by the interest of early adopters and an expanded HDR10+ ecosystem that will improve the viewing experiences for all audiences,” said Danny Kaye, Fox Innovation Lab's executive vice president-managing director. Fox is “committed to incorporating HDR10+ in its upcoming new release slate,” and is “currently exploring several titles for release in the marketplace and plans to announce availability in the coming weeks,” said the studio.
Of the 16 adopters named independent of Fox, Panasonic and Samsung, a dozen are tool vendors, including AstroDesign, Digital Vision, FF Pictures (which also signed on as content vendor), Interra Systems, MTI Film, Pixelogic, Pixtree, Sirius Pixels, US Screen, Venera Technologies, VideoQ and Yamzz. Three adopters are SoC vendors -- Amlogic (Shanghai), Novatek Microelectronics and Synaptics. The one remaining independent adopter, Weka Media Publishing, is a content vendor.