All you Know About #HDR

High dynamic range (HDR) video is currently one of the biggest TV feature bullet points. It can push video content past the (now non-existent) limitations to which broadcast and other media standards have adhered to for decades. It's impressive to see on TVs that can handle it, but it's also a fairly esoteric and technical feature with some variations that can lead to confusion. Let us explain.

Standard Dynamic Range

TV contrast is the difference between how dark and bright it can get. Dynamic range describes the extremes in that difference, and how much detail can be shown in between. Essentially, dynamic range is display contrast, and HDR represents broadening that contrast. However, just expanding the range between bright and dark is insufficient to improve a picture's detail. Whether a panel can reach 100 cd/m2 (relatively dim) or 500 cd/m2 (incredibly bright), and whether its black levels are 0.1 (washed out, nearly gray) or 0.005 (incredibly dark), it can ultimately only show so much information based on the signal it's receiving.

What Is HDR?

That's where HDR video comes in. It removes the limitations presented by older video signals and provides information about brightness and color across a much wider range. HDR-capable displays can read that information and show an image built from a wider gamut of color and brightness. Besides the wider range, HDR video simply contains more data to describe more steps in between the extremes. This means that very bright objects and very dark objects on the same screen can be shown very bright and very dark if the display supports it, with all of the necessary steps in between described in the signal and not synthesized by the image processor.

Types of HDR

HDR isn't quite a universal format, and currently HDR content is split into two major formats: HDR10 and Dolby Vision. HDR10 is the standard pushed by the UHD Alliance. It's a technical standard with specific, defined ranges and specifications that must be met for content and displays to qualify as using it. HDR content available on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are generally HDR10. Televisions that support HDR10 are allowed to display the UHD Alliance's Ultra HD Premium logo.

Several major streaming services like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube now support HDR for some of their 4K content. Some services use Dolby Vision for HDR, while others use HDR10. All major 4K-capable media streamers can handle HDR in some form, but not always consistently. The Apple TV 4K and Google Chromecast Ultra support HDR10 and Dolby Vision, while the Amazon Fire TV and Roku Streaming Stick+currently can only handle HDR10. And of coure there are the aforementioned UHD Blu-Ray discs.

Ultra HD Blu-ray discs have been steadily trickling into stores, and major studio releases have been coming out in combination Ultra HD + Blu-ray packs that include films on both Ultra HD and standard Blu-ray discs. It's a welcome stopgap measure as Ultra HD Blu-ray players are adopted, offering an option for consumers to watch movies on regular Blu-ray until they're ready to upgrade. Not every Ultra HD Blu-ray film has HDR content, but HDR releases have prominent HDR logos on the front for easy identification.

Source:PCMag

Follow us on:    

  

0

Unedited #Pics taken on #Pixel2 For You!

Google’s new Pixel devices were unveiled last week and, like the originals, their photography capabilities are expected to be exemplary. Ahead of the devices official release date on October 19, a Google employee has published a gallery of photos and videos taken with the Pixel 2, giving us a better idea of what the new phones will be capable of. And the results are pretty darn impressive.

The album was published on Google Photos over the weekend by Isaac Reynolds, a product manager at Google’s Camera department. The images make use of Google Photos’ “original quality” uploading — something that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will have access to until 2020 — but are otherwise unedited.

These pictures feature a number of different compositions including landscapes, low-light shots, moving subjects, and the Pixel 2’s new portrait shooting mode. Further, there are a couple of side-by-side comparisons of Google’s optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization technologies (though don’t forget that you can take advantage of the electronic video stabilization on your own videos right now using Google Photos). Take a look at some of the snaps below.

So, does this mean you can look forward to the same quality of photos if you pick up a Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL? Yes, technically, but you’ve also got to understand that this collection is likely to have been sampled from a mountain of possible images to highlight the very best of what the Pixel 2s can offer. What’s more, the photographer/s who took the photos clearly has a good handle on composition, color palettes, mood, and lighting; just pointing in a direction and pressing the capture button is unlikely to provide the same level of results.

To find out how the cameras hold up outside of Google’s hands, you can look out for our review coming in the next few weeks.

You can view the rest of the Google Pixel 2 photos here and let us know in the comments what you think of them.

Source:AndroidAuthority

      Follow us on:         

  

0

#Workplace by #Facebook

Alongside the standard Facebook offering on the web and mobile, the social network targets business users with Workplace. It's Facebook's enterprise collaboration service aimed at being a complete communication tool for businesses. It costs between $1-$3 per user per month, and forms a separate, secure mini social network for employees.

As TechCrunch reports, Facebook this week quietly launched Windows and Mac desktop chat apps for Workplace into beta. Those apps include a screen sharing feature as standard. Workplace already offers messaging and video chat, but they can now be done via a desktop app rather than a web browser. Screen sharing should also make collaboration and meetings easier.

Facebook confirmed the existence of these new apps, called Workplace Chat, to TechCrunch through spokesperson Vanessa Chan. Chan commented that, "This was one of the most widely requested features by customers, so we built it."

As you'd expect from a desktop chat app, it keeps a record of all your conversations, allows you to search through them, view any images or videos shared, and enable desktop notifications. The screen sharing feature is also quite advanced, allowing you to share the entire screen or just a specific app window.

Workplace already enjoys over 14,000 business customers, with the latest to sign up being Walmart. By offering Workplace, Facebook is in direct competition with other business-focused collaboration services such as the very popular Slack. Of course, Facebook has the added benefit of 2 billion non-business users generating revenue while it develops Workplace to appeal to more paying enterprise customers.

Source:PCmag

Follow us on: 

0

male voice for #Google Assisitant

Since its launch last year, the embodiment of Google Assistant has been a somewhat robotic female voice. Starting now, you have your choice of that voice or a similarly robotic male voice. Google's creative name for this one is "Voice II."

The new voice is available in Assistant on Google Home and on phones. To set the male voice (probably US English only), open the settings on your phone Assistant or in the Google Home app. It's under Preferences > Assistant Voice. You can have a listen to both voices below.

The settings carry over between the Home app and on-device Assistant, so you'll always have a single Assistant voice on all your devices. The new voice should be available to everyone, but you might need to make sure your Google and Google Home apps are up to date.

Source:AndroidPolice

0