The society of motion picture and television engineers (SMPTE) held a Future of Cinema Summit precding NAB 2023. Executives from Universal, Barco, and Samsung delivered talks during which they emphasized that industry-wide collaboration is necessary for the successful rollout of high dynamic range (HDR) imagery on all types of cinema display technologies. Individual companies and Hollywood-backed organizations are working behind the scenes not just to roll out HDR in theaters, but also to maximize its creative potential with features such as higher brightness, deeper blacks, and a wider range of colors.
Currently, HDR in cinemas is accomplished with laser projectors with the speakers believing that HDR will become a standard part of cinema – as much of a pitch to the members of SMTPE as it was a prediction. The digital cinema initiatives (DCI), which recently introduced an addendum to its specification to support HDR, includes specific requirements for direct view displays, which are the category for LED walls that have been proposed as an alternative to theatrical projection. Samsung and LG already offer DCI-compliant displays in this category. However, Samsung’s representative at the event, encouraged the industry to discuss content security for these direct-view systems. There was also a nod to large-scale experiences, highlighted by Las Vegas’ MSG Sphere, something we covered recently on Display Daily.
The original research showed that a black level of 0.005 cd/m2 and brightness of 300 cd/m2 are the points where the perception of HDR doesn’t get much better, giving a contrast ratio of 60,000:1. The new addendum to the DCI regulations follows the test results by adopting these data points and has recommendations for reference displays, to be used in editing and grading suites as well as displays for displays.
The reality of cinemas means that projection systems will not get down to 0.005 cd/m2 on their theatrical screens, so the addendum specifies that ‘minimum active black level shall be measured in a manner that minimizes or eliminates the contribution of ambient light’. In February, SMPTE showed HDR content at the Culver City Theater, which has four Samsung Onyx 4K LED displays and one 8K. The theater is the only one in the western United States equipped with DCI-compliant HDR direct view screening systems.
