Hi all,
At the last meeting there was some discussion on the application of tone-mapping on operating systems, particularly looking at what should be done when the SDR white level was mandated by the operating system.
I’ve investigated and I think one possible solution could be:
1. Using the HLG equations and iterator or pre-determined look-up table find the HDR peak luminance and system gamma for the given, mandated SDR White level.
2. If the calculated peak luminance is higher than that of the target monitor:
* Convert the image from the extended sRGB format to display light by converting to HLG and then applying the HLG EOTF with the peak luminance and system gamma calculated in step 1
* Apply a tone mapping curve on the Y signal – we’ve had good results calculating a bézier curve or a logarithmic curve
* Convert the image back to extended sRGB
To reduce processing time, it may be necessary to pre-compute some of the curves and apply the nearest match.
In the following examples I use a bézier curve. The images are HLG but even when viewed on an sRGB monitor, differences can be seen in the highlights – the lights, clouds and the posters. The shadows and mid-tones are untouched.
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I hope to join on Monday night, but am traveling and may be delayed.
Best Regards
Simon
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Simon Thompson MEng CEng MIET
Senior R&D Engineer
BBC Research and Development South Laboratory
