this. it came up recently in another thread with people just saying the same thing, from the same guy on youtube too. There's more to HDR than just being brighter. 4k Blurays have 2 more bits per color channel over regular blu-ray. Thats a shitload more colors. That allows for richer colors, better color gradients.
id bet money that the Blade Runner 2049 looks better than the blu-ray, from a color perspective. And maybe ill do that comparison.
Look, I dropped it in the other thread because I couldn't be bothered getting into a long-winded technical debate where you'd continue to deliberately misunderstand what I was saying, but considering you're doing it here in a different thread, I'll pick it back up:
- HDR
is just about being brighter - it's in the name: high dynamic range. The range of luminance. That's it. The function of HDR is to expand the ceiling of luminance so that media can be displayed at higher peak brightness. The UHD format as a collective, which
includes HDR does indeed carry more improvements than just brighter highlights, yes, including, as you're alluding to, wide colour gamut and improved bit depth. I never wanted to get so technical in the previous thread, but considering how much nit-picking was going on, here we are.
- No one is saying Blade Runner 2049
doesn't look great on the format, nor is anyone saying that it doesn't improve upon the Blu-Ray release. What I was saying, and what some people are alluding to here, is that it's not necessarily the best showcase for HDR, if that's what you're interested in, especially if you're not exactly sure or sold on the merits of HDR. That's because BR2049 doesn't take advantage of the expanded luminance ceiling that HDR provides -
and that's fine, as I've said in the past. I don't think the film needs it and I don't think it's a lesser looking film as a result, it just isn't communicating the benefits of HDR, which is why I find it so frustrating when it's used as a response to the question "Hey, what films should I watch that take advantage of HDR?"
It's like someone saying "I just bought a PS5. What game should I play to showcase 60fps?" and large swathes of responses are "Red Dead Redemption 2" even though the game only runs at 30fps. And then when people point that out, the response is "There's more to graphics than just framerate. RDR2 is a graphical powerhouse." Yes, I know that, but it's still not showcasing 60fps specifically if that's what someone is interested in (Yes, I'm aware the OP of
this thread is not asking about HDR, but even then, if it's their first taste of the new format I'd suggest films that do take advantage of all aspects of the UHD format so they understand the clear benefits across the board).
- Further, BR2049 was shot at 3.4K. Again,
it looks great. It was mastered in 4k, all that good stuff, absolutely. Resolution isn't the be-all-end-all, I know. But again, if we're talking about a showcase that demonstrates the benefits of the UHD format, there are better options than a film that doesn't take advantage of the increased luminance ceiling and was shot at a resolution lower than the format provides. To really make sure there's no ambiguity to what I'm saying here: BR2049 is an incredible looking film that looks great on the format and I don't need it to do anything else, but there are better candidates to communicate the benefits of UHD.
forum.blu-ray.com
