Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
About the
SDR Standard
Video Format
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The SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) video format is an outdated
video display gamma-curve gamut standard originally developed in the
1930s for CRT-based (Cathode Ray Tube) television displays as part of
the emerging NTSC video standard. The standard intentionally limited
the number of greys (from white to black and eventually the number of
colors) that could be carried in an NTSC signal to accommodate the
picture-rendering limitations of CRTs. With the recent industry
conversion from CRT to digital displays, the SDR gamut standard is
obsolete (many consumers just don’t know it yet).
The move toward the HDR (High Dynamic Range) video format was
brought to the consumer home video market with the introduction of
4K UHD (Ultra High-Definition) Blu-ray Discs and players in 2016.
HDR UHD is also available from some streaming services. HDR video
displayed on an SDR system will appear as a very flat, almost greyish
picture. The HDR format requires updated home video equipment
(HD monitor and UHD Blu-ray Disc player) to display as desired.
While still in use today, SDR will become technologically obsolete at
some point in the near future not unlike like the recent conversion
from the NTSC broadcast television standard to the HD broadcast
television standard. Nearly all new HD television monitors sold today
support both the SDR and HDR color gamuts.
More details on the SDR standard video format may be found on Wikipedia.
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