It seems that nowadays more and more people are opting for the HD experience so that they can enjoy breathtaking color and detail. However, a technology different from HD known as high-dynamic range (HDR) could soon be its successor. Although high-definition (HD) offers more pixels, HDR delivers more contrast - the key to more realistic picture – such that “the brightest whites are hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the darkest blacks.”
“‘A regular image just looks like a depiction of a scene,’ says Roland Fleming, a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tübingin, Germany. ‘But high-dynamic range looks like looking through a window.’”
Traditional LCDs are illuminated by a single white backlight, whereas HDR displays use an array of white LEDs, allowing for greater precision in the display of darkness or brightness. Fleming believes that the realism that HDR offers will be it’s main selling point. Indeed, big names like Samsung and Philips have already demonstrated prototypes at trade shows.