HDR images that exploit the difference between the blackest black and the whitest white will be included in the featureset of the next generation of Ultra HD services.
It follows the approval of the next phase of Ultra High Definition Television services at the 81st meeting of the DVB Steering Board. The inclusion of HDR is seen as a major potential gain in image quality, said to add ‘sparkle’ to the image.
DVB Chairman, Phil Laven, said: “This is a major achievement for DVB and the television industry. We now have a plan for the evolution of television into the age of Ultra High Definition Television. It’s an exciting future that will bring a new quality of experience to television”.
Other new features may be available for UHDTV in the same timetable such as ‘Next Generation Audio’ offering a number of new options for sound.
A further potential new feature is the capability to provide images with sharper moving objects – a higher frame rate or HFR. The development of practical consumer equipment for this feature may take longer than the above features, and thus it may follow several years after them.
Technical specifications are to be included that would allow, when needed by the service operator, users already using Phase 1 to make use of Phase 2 services.
The DVB Technical Module will now translate the Commercial Requirements into a technical specification, which will be submitted to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for standardization.
It is expected that the specification will be finalized in 2016. This could mean that the first DVB UHD-1 Phase 2 services, that include the HDR feature, would be available from 2017 onwards.
