David Touze

High dynamic range video distribution using existing video codecs

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a strong candidate for the next video format, closer to the human perception for an increased user experience. However, the HDR video compression field is still under much investigation. Most of the time, HDR video codecs are based on already existing distribution-dedicated LDR video codecs, for instance H.264/AVC or H.265/HEVC. Some coding methods use two instances of a LDR codec: one for the LDR layer and one for the HDR residual layer. Other methods encode HDR frames directly using a high profile professional codec with a bit-depth well beyond the standard 8 bits. In this paper, we present a technique that requires only one instance of an 8-bit distribution codec. Our technique transforms HDR frames into LDR-like ones and uses metadatas to help the decoder to achieve a good HDR reconstruction. Results show that our solution performs well for bit-rate targeted in broadcast video content.

HDR in the living room

High dynamic range (HDR) imaging has been an active area of research in visual computing for more than a decade. HDR imaging technologies are concerned with the capture, processing, compression and display of content with a wider luminance range and offer a significant increase in visual quality. Despite that, HDR technologies have not yet penetrated the consumer market. We investigate the reasons behind this apparent resistance and discuss some solutions for dealing with the main aspects of an HDR imaging pipeline in a real world entertainment context.