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iPad Pro Will the 2021 12.9" iPad Pro get HDR10+ support?

collin_

collin_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
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The new 12.9" iPad Pro supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG, but not HDR10+. For those of you who don't know, HDR10+ essentially has the benefits of Dolby Vision (such as dynamic metadata) but in an open format, so it is much more widely used. If you tried to torrent a movie, for example (let's not get into a discussion of torrenting morality in this thread), you would have a much easier time finding HDR10+ movies than DV movies.

It is possible for devices to get HDR10+ support via a firmware update. Do we have any idea if Apple will add this in the future? The Liquid Retina XDR display would be significantly more meaningful if the new iPad had support for HDR10+.

Here is an article on the significant benefits of static metadata.
 
Last edited:
donawalt

donawalt

Contributor
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
630
I am no expert at all, but searching after reading our post, and wondering about this topic, I discovered that this site explains that dynamic is actually better. It also shows a lot of specs that clearly tip in the way of Dolby Vision vs. HDR10+. I only post this for constructive discussion, I don't have the skills to evaluate whose right - just posting that maybe there is another opinion to the comparison!

AVForums, which I do respect, says this: Dolby Vision can be delivered over HDMI 1.4 or higher, while HDR10+ can be delivered using HDMI 2.0. Although HDMI 2.1 supports dynamic metadata, there is enough headroom in HDMI 2.0 to support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Now that HDR10+ has been added to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray specifications, there are players that support both formats available from Oppo, Panasonic, and Sony. However there are hundreds more Dolby Vision discs available, and only three HDR10+ discs released to date.

Dolby Vision also has greater support when it comes to video streaming with Netflix, Amazon, Vudu and iTunes all supporting the technology whilst only Amazon currently supports HDR10+. The same is true when it comes to studio support, with Sony, Warners, Disney, Universal, Paramount and Lionsgate all offering Dolby Vision content and only 20th Century Fox currently supporting HDR10+. As far as TV manufacturers are concerned, they all support Dolby Vision with the exception of Samsung who only supports HDR10+.

Here is their conclusion for those who do not want to check out the link:

Dolby Vision is arguably the most advanced HDR format from a technical standpoint, but although it has improved significantly, the lack of content is holding it back a bit. HDR10 has the distinct advantage of having more content available and being supported on the majority of TVs. HDR10+ almost matches the capabilities of Dolby Vision, but is extremely lacking in content, and in the U.S. at least, is only supported on Samsung TVs.

Ultimately, the difference between the two formats isn't that important. The quality of the TV itself has a much bigger impact on HDR (see our recommendations for the best HDR TVs). Although the technology has improved significantly in recent years, it’s still quite early days for HDR. Both formats have the ability to produce much more dynamic images than we are seeing on the best TVs today. The limitation is down to both the TV technology and the way the titles are mastered. We can’t yet reach the 10,000 cd/m2 maximum peak brightness and the expanded 12-bit color range.
 
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Flabasha

macrumors 6502
Dec 21, 2011
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As a professional colorist, I’m interested to see if anyone LIKES watching HDR a foot from their face. When we color HDR content, most of the time we do it on 400 nit monitors, because anything higher, that close, is very taxing on the eyes. It’ll be interesting to find out. I wouldn’t be totally shocked if everyone just runs their iPad at 50% brightness...
 
T

TheRealAlex

macrumors 68030
Sep 2, 2015
2,988
2,252
collin_ said:
The new 12.9" iPad Pro supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG, but not HDR10+. For those of you who don't know, HDR10+ essentially has the benefits of Dolby Vision (such as static metadata) but in an open format, so it is much more widely used. If you tried to torrent a movie, for example (let's not get into a discussion of torrenting morality in this thread), you would have a much easier time finding HDR10+ movies than DV movies.

It is possible for devices to get HDR10+ support via a firmware update. Do we have any idea if Apple will add this in the future? The Liquid Retina XDR display would be significantly more meaningful if the new iPad had support for HDR10+.

Here is an article on the significant benefits of static metadata.
Click to expand...
HDR 10+ is made up by Samsung and owns the patents And licensing. Part of that every device that uses HDR10+ calls home to Samsung, Apple will not allow that to happen. Dolby doesn’t enforce that every device be tracked.

lack of Dolby Vision support is the reason why I can’t or won’t buy a Samsung TV.
 
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Robertjan88

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2018
171
27
M
collin_ said:
The new 12.9" iPad Pro supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG, but not HDR10+. For those of you who don't know, HDR10+ essentially has the benefits of Dolby Vision (such as static metadata) but in an open format, so it is much more widely used. If you tried to torrent a movie, for example (let's not get into a discussion of torrenting morality in this thread), you would have a much easier time finding HDR10+ movies than DV movies.

It is possible for devices to get HDR10+ support via a firmware update. Do we have any idea if Apple will add this in the future? The Liquid Retina XDR display would be significantly more meaningful if the new iPad had support for HDR10+.

Here is an article on the significant benefits of static metadata.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it will most likely not have a 10bit screen, hence HDR10+ doesn't make very much sense.
So far iPads have had 8bit screens (not even 8+2 tech). 8bit is known to cause banding, especially in lower quality content.
Sure, it might be very bright, but...
 
slplss

slplss

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2011
946
1,010
EU
collin_ said:
The new 12.9" iPad Pro supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG, but not HDR10+. For those of you who don't know, HDR10+ essentially has the benefits of Dolby Vision (such as static metadata) but in an open format, so it is much more widely used. If you tried to torrent a movie, for example (let's not get into a discussion of torrenting morality in this thread), you would have a much easier time finding HDR10+ movies than DV movies.

It is possible for devices to get HDR10+ support via a firmware update. Do we have any idea if Apple will add this in the future? The Liquid Retina XDR display would be significantly more meaningful if the new iPad had support for HDR10+.

Here is an article on the significant benefits of static metadata.
Click to expand...
How would you play that content on your iPad? I know of VLC and Infuse, but haven't used them in a long time. Do they support Dolby Vision or HDR 10+ natively and through Airplay?
 
0

007p

macrumors 6502a
Mar 7, 2012
992
662
I highly doubt it. The amount of available content for HDR10+ vs Dolby vision just doesn’t make it worth it. Especially if you are already paying Dolby licensing fees.

Once you remove disks from the equation that number gets even smaller. I expect it would be a lot like the ATV and not supporting bitstream audio. For what Apple expects it’s consumers to do with the product, there should be little to no reason to add HDR10+. Apple would first have to insist on adding HDR10+ to Apple TV+/iTunes content, but again, if they are already paying Dolby they probably have no incentive to do this.

Even the argument of ‘it supports Dolby vision’ isn’t particularly strong. It doesn’t support all Dolby vision profiles, only 5 and 8 afaik. Disks use profile 7 which will never be supported.
 
collin_

collin_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
583
888
Robertjan88 said:
M

Unfortunately, it will most likely not have a 10bit screen, hence HDR10+ doesn't make very much sense.
So far iPads have had 8bit screens (not even 8+2 tech). 8bit is known to cause banding, especially in lower quality content.
Sure, it might be very bright, but...
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info; this is something I was trying to figure out. Apple doesn't say if it's 8 or 10 bit but wouldn't it have to be 10 bit to claim that it supports HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, and calling the display "XDR"? My understanding is that 10 bit color is required to claim certain HDR certifications.
 
collin_

collin_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
583
888
slplss said:
How would you play that content on your iPad? I know of VLC and Infuse, but haven't used them in a long time. Do they support Dolby Vision or HDR 10+ natively and through Airplay?
Click to expand...
You can find iOS/iPadOS video players that can properly play HDR MKVs. I've never owned an iPad but on iPhone I really like nPlayer.
 
collin_

collin_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
583
888
donawalt said:
I am no expert at all, but searching after reading our post, and wondering about this topic, I discovered that this site explains that dynamic is actually better. It also shows a lot of specs that clearly tip in the way of Dolby Vision vs. HDR10+. I only post this for constructive discussion, I don't have the skills to evaluate whose right - just posting that maybe there is another opinion to the comparison!

AVForums, which I do respect, says this: Dolby Vision can be delivered over HDMI 1.4 or higher, while HDR10+ can be delivered using HDMI 2.0. Although HDMI 2.1 supports dynamic metadata, there is enough headroom in HDMI 2.0 to support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Now that HDR10+ has been added to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray specifications, there are players that support both formats available from Oppo, Panasonic, and Sony. However there are hundreds more Dolby Vision discs available, and only three HDR10+ discs released to date.

Dolby Vision also has greater support when it comes to video streaming with Netflix, Amazon, Vudu and iTunes all supporting the technology whilst only Amazon currently supports HDR10+. The same is true when it comes to studio support, with Sony, Warners, Disney, Universal, Paramount and Lionsgate all offering Dolby Vision content and only 20th Century Fox currently supporting HDR10+. As far as TV manufacturers are concerned, they all support Dolby Vision with the exception of Samsung who only supports HDR10+.

Here is their conclusion for those who do not want to check out the link:

Dolby Vision is arguably the most advanced HDR format from a technical standpoint, but although it has improved significantly, the lack of content is holding it back a bit. HDR10 has the distinct advantage of having more content available and being supported on the majority of TVs. HDR10+ almost matches the capabilities of Dolby Vision, but is extremely lacking in content, and in the U.S. at least, is only supported on Samsung TVs.

Ultimately, the difference between the two formats isn't that important. The quality of the TV itself has a much bigger impact on HDR (see our recommendations for the best HDR TVs). Although the technology has improved significantly in recent years, it’s still quite early days for HDR. Both formats have the ability to produce much more dynamic images than we are seeing on the best TVs today. The limitation is down to both the TV technology and the way the titles are mastered. We can’t yet reach the 10,000 cd/m2 maximum peak brightness and the expanded 12-bit color range.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insightful post. Really hoping that Dolby Vision content becomes more widely available. I'm optimistic because Dolby audio formats such as DTS are very widespread.
 
R

Robertjan88

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2018
171
27
collin_ said:
Thank you for the info; this is something I was trying to figure out. Apple doesn't say if it's 8 or 10 bit but wouldn't it have to be 10 bit to claim that it supports HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, and calling the display "XDR"? My understanding is that 10 bit color is required to claim certain HDR certifications.
Click to expand...
Good question. In theory, the answer is YES. HDR would work best on a 10bit screen.
Yet, many manufacturers advertise with with HDR, yet don't offer 10bit. They just refer to the bits (brightnes) of the screen.
Most modern TVs use a 10bit screen (Sony, Samsung, LG) for their higher end models, yet the low end are 8bit (or 8+2 at times).
Some more info on HDR: https://dgit.com/4k-hdr-guide-51429/
 
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