Topic: PS4 (not Pro) and HDR?

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HDR was created in part due to the available technology in todays market and part because at the avg size and seating distances, 4k alone is not a 'significant' upgrade. I have a 55" TV but the avg is 48". At my seating distance, around 7-8', I can see a difference and in gaming that difference is even more noticeable - mostly because games have a lot more sharp edges than TV/Film.

Whilst Sony may well be making 1080p HDR TV's, they do have an interest in that market though with the PS4 and Pro, the majority of HDR content from TV/Film will be 4k. You will not get a HD HDR Bluray player and all the Bluray discs with HDR will be 4k. I can't answer whether or not these TV's will supersample the content down to HD. I know the Pro offers UHD resolution, but with the majority of games hitting 1440p and under, its probably better to connect these to a 1080p screen to avoid the upscaling blur/softness that you would get on a 4k screen.

That being said, it really makes little sense in my mind to look to buy a 1080p TV with or without HDR. Its not that future proof. I know that 4k is not as prevalent as HD - but lets be honest, HD has been around a lot longer. You can bet that the PS5 will be 4k and will probably have a 4k HDR Bluray too. The fact that both Sony and MS are only making HDR consoles (the OG Xbox isn't HDR but MS don't make that anymore) means that devs will be much more likely to be make their games with HDR support and I bet all Sony/MS exclusives will definitely support HDR.

All 4k HDR Bluray player and discs (as well as consoles) support HDR10 and that means that as far as film goes, they will be mastered to a 'minimum' standard - that standard is a minimum of 1000nits Peak Brightness, 4k and using a wide colour gamut (90% DCI-P3/70% REC2020 - don't worry if you don't understand what these are - the important thing is that they offer a wider range of colours than a standard TV can) and 10bit colour depth. Displays that also deliver these 'minimum' standards (different for OLEDs), are given the UHD Premium badge - but only if they send their TV's in for independent verification. Sony for example don't - maybe because they don't have too many TV's that would actually pass. The only ones that would pass are the XD/XE93, ZD9 and A1 OLED. The XE90, whilst an excellent TV, wouldn't pass because it doesn't deliver the minimum peak brightness and its colour gamut is right on the minimum limit - in some 'reviews', it just about makes it but in others, its just under - margin of error, variation in panel or even rounding up 89.4 vs 89.5 for example. Point is though that Sony have very few models that would be accredited UHD Premium. Anything under the XE90 - like the XE8- etc are very mediocre as far as HDR performance (compared to UHD Premium) BUT can still give a 'better than' SDR if they have a good 'tone mapping' algorithm. That's like super sampling down the HDR levels to the TV's max capability but it can also look worse as the overall image may appear dimmer, lose highlight detail (clipping) or combination.

The issue though with buying an HDR TV, unless it has the UHD Premium logo, you do not know what level of HDR performance you will get. It could be 950nits, 89% DCI-P3 and below 0.05nit black level - like the XE90 or it could be 350nits, no wide colour gamut and not very 'black' either giving very poor contrast (by HDR standards). Unfortunately, most of the cheap HDR TV's are in this range - 350nits seems common, although some offer some wide colour gamut and decent black level but that's still a long way off the 'minimum' standard that 4k HDR Blurays, HDR streamed content (Netflix and Amazon both offer HDR content) etc will be mastered to and this also impacts Game HDR performance as well. I have heard many say that HDR in gaming looks worse because its too 'dark' but that's because the content that would normally be at 120nits (SDR levels), is now displayed at 50nits because their TV can't fit 1000nits because the max is only 350nits - everything is compressed down to fit those highlights in. With films, it may not be too bad because they may clip highlight detail or just compress the highlights the 120-1000 nits down to 120-350nits for example by a good tone mapping algorithm.

The only way to guarantee getting a decent HDR TV is to look for that UHD Premium Logo and there are very few models less than 55". The lower end of UHD Premium market, currently the Samsung Q7 (the equivalent to last years KS7000) comes in 49" but that is over £1k and the 49" XE90 (which isn't UHD Premium but very close - close enough that it shouldn't matter) is over £1k too. I appreciate that not everyone can afford £1k+ on a TV and even 49" is too big for some too but then those 'cheaper' models may not be worth using for HDR or not look too much different from SDR - a bit brighter maybe.

I can't tell someone what they 'should' or 'shouldn't' buy - its not my money and I don't have to live with that. I do see 4k and especially HDR becoming more and more widespread. The BBC have just released the Blue Planet 2 in HDR (using HLG - a version of HDR for broadcasters) on their 'iPlayer' - 4k only for some Apps but the point is, 4k and HDR is the 'future'. We may have 8k on the horizon too but that will also be supporting HDR. As far as gaming goes, the future is certainly 4k and most likely to have HDR support too.

As I said though, its up to the individuals buying, what their budget is, what their plans are etc. I wouldn't skimp on HDR though myself - especially now I have experienced what HDR brings to gaming, film etc. The SDR standard was built around the capability of CRT TV's - their colour range and brightness levels and HDR is a more significant advancement than the jump in resolution.

If anyone wants advice, I can help but I would recommend spending a bit more if you can to get the best HDR you can. You may not currently have a console to take advantage of the 4k, but I bet you have a console that will do HDR and therefore get a TV that will do it justice. Its not 'just' for today but I bet the PS5 will do HDR as well as 'full 4k' too and I can't see devs not doing HDR in their games as all consoles and PC's can deliver HDR so there is no reason not too - its not like Kinect or VR where only a small percentage of gamers have devices capable of these.

EDIT: One thing to note is that the UHD Premium logo indicates a TV that meets the MINIMUM requirement and standards for HDR10. There are a LOT of films now mastered at 4000nits and all Dolby Vision (a form of HDR which is delivered on a 'separate layer' on top of HDR10 on discs) is mastered at 4000nits too. The chances are that future TV's will be much brighter, have wider colour gamuts and use at least a 12bit panel. Even a UHD Premium TV has to tone map some content down to fit the highlight details in. There is currently no commercial TV available that can deliver the full 'mastered' quality of these films mastered to 4000nits.