'HDR10+ Adaptive' to Bow on Samsung TVs to Adjust for Ambient Room Light
New Samsung QLED TVs launching globally in 2021 will support a new "HDR10+ Adaptive" feature that adjusts the screen to ambient room light, said the manufacturer Wednesday. “HDR10+ Adaptive supports Filmmaker Mode and adapts to brighter rooms so customers can enjoy a true cinematic experience with HDR10+ movies and television programs in any environment at home,” said Samsung, main developer of the HDR10+ dynamic-metadata technology.
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It’s unclear what Samsung meant in suggesting HDR10+ Adaptive supports Filmmaker Mode, the TV picture setting independent of any HDR platform as hatched by the UHD Alliance in 2019 for rendering better movie watching in the living room as creators intended it (see 1908270001). Filmmaker Mode works mostly through automatic metadata detection in a TV to deactivate motion smoothing and other processing optimized for live sports when the set senses the content being rendered is a movie or episodic TV show. It’s also available on TVs from LG, Vizio and others that support Dolby Vision and not HDR10+.
The timing of Wednesday's announcement was bizarre, coming in the middle of the quiet holiday period and not coinciding with the all-virtual CES 2021, where Samsung has a Jan. 11 news conference scheduled for 9 a.m. EST. It bears watching if Samsung uncovers additional HDR10+ developments at CES 2021 or in the days leading up to it. Samsung didn't comment.
“While viewing HDR content is typically optimal in a darkened environment, customers’ viewing environments may vary greatly depending on a wide array of factors, including room lighting, time of day, and proximity to windows,” said Samsung. The HDR10+ Adaptive feature is reminiscent of the rival Dolby Vision IQ technology introduced at CES 2020 (see 2001080037). LG and Panasonic introduced the HDR enhancement technology there that compensates for a room’s varying ambient light.
Amazon Prime Video is "always looking for new features and innovations that can help improve the customer experience,” said BA Winston, global head-video playback and delivery. “With HDR10+ and Filmmaker mode, Prime Video content is optimized regardless of the viewing environment and customers can enjoy movies and TV shows the way the filmmakers intended.”
It was Amazon’s most explicit known endorsement of Filmmaker Mode, after fleeting references on a Sept. 30 UHD Alliance webinar that Prime Video will launch the Filmmaker Mode feature "on select players next year” (see 2009300044). Samsung touted Amazon Prime Video support for HDR10+ for years, evidenced by the many hours of content available on the service embedded with Samsung's preferred HDR technology. Samsung critics countered that Amazon Prime Video's HDR10+ support isn't well-publicized to the point that subscribers might be watching HDR10+ content on the service without even knowing it
More HDR10+ content is becoming available with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Samsung extending their “technology partnership” to include “new titles for distribution” on streaming services around the world, said Samsung and the studio. UPHE will work to bring more titles into the HDR10+ “advanced in-home viewing ecosystem," said Michael Aaronson, senior vice president-digital distribution.
Samsung "demonstrated exceptional commitment in developing HDR10+ technology and bringing the industry together in support,” said Aaronson. It's true Samsung developed a modest HDR10+ ecosystem of supporters in content, components and other sectors. But it's undeniable that Samsung hasn't landed wide HDR10+ support from other TV brands, despite trumpeting the technology as royalty-free, compared with Dolby Vision, which requires a royalty-bearing license.