HDR10+ Advanced: Samsung's response to Dolby Vision 2 format previewed

Samsung has unveiled HDR10+ Advanced, a next-generation HDR format with six major upgrades designed to boost brightness, motion, and colour performance across TVs and displays

Samsung has reportedly demonstrated a simulated preview of HDR10+ Advanced, its next-generation HDR format designed to enhance brightness, tone mapping, motion, and colour. According to a report by Forbes, the new format brings significant upgrades aimed at both gamers and home theatre users, closely aligning with the recently introduced Dolby Vision 2 in terms of functionality. One of the first supporters of HDR10+ Advanced is Amazon’s Prime Video, which has committed to adopting the format across select content.

 

According to the report, the original HDR10+ standard has already achieved broad industry adoption, with 174 partners, over 16,000 certified products, and support across 500 movie titles, 28,000 OTT and user-generated videos, and 16 streaming services, including Disney+. HDR10+ Advanced builds on this foundation. Notably, unlike Dolby Vision 2, HDR 10+ Advanced does not feature separate performance tiers, meaning all its enhancements can be accessed by any compatible display.

 

What’s new in HDR10+ Advanced

The original HDR10+ added scene-by-scene metadata to improve contrast and colour accuracy. According to Forbes, the HDR10+ Advanced expands on this with six key enhancements, focused on improving realism and creator control:

• HDR10+ Bright: Introduces advanced metadata to help displays render nuanced tonal details for consistently brighter and more lifelike HDR visuals.
• Genre-based optimisation (HDR10+ Genre): Enables content creators to tag specific genres, allowing displays to fine-tune tone mapping and image processing accordingly.
• Intelligent motion smoothing (HDR10+ Intelligent FRC): Lets creators define frame rate interpolation strength for different content types, from sports to films, adapting to ambient lighting conditions.
• Adaptive cloud gaming mode (HDR10+ Intelligent gaming): Optimises tone mapping in real-time for streamed games, ensuring stable visual quality under varying lighting.
• Detailed local tone-mapping (HDR10+ Local tone-mapping): Increases the number of analysis zones for improved precision in brightness and contrast control across the screen.
• Advanced Colour Control: Provides finer colour data for displays, enabling more accurate colour reproduction aligned with creators’ intent.

Dolby Vision 2: Details

Earlier in September, the next generation of Dolby’s HDR format, Dolby Vision 2, was unveiled. The upgraded version introduces a redesigned image engine and a new AI-driven system called Content Intelligence, which automatically adjusts picture quality based on the type of content and ambient lighting. Its Content Intelligence suite includes tools like Precision Black for better dark-scene detail, Light Sense for ambient light-based adjustments, and Sports and Gaming Optimisation for smoother visuals. It also adds bi-directional tone mapping for enhanced contrast and colour accuracy, and a new Authentic Motion feature that reduces judder on a shot-by-shot basis to deliver a more cinematic viewing experience.

 

Dolby Vision 2 HDR format is available in two tiers:

• Dolby Vision 2 Max, designed for flagship TVs with premium hardware.
• Dolby Vision 2, which brings most of the new features to mainstream models.