Another wave of image quality has been upgraded at station B. The HDR screen in your hand is finally useful

If you carefully observe the mid-to-high-end mobile phones in the past two years, you should be able to see the words "HDR10, HDR10+" in the screen parameters column.

Unfortunately, most people find it difficult to enjoy the benefits of this technology in daily videos and games.

Apart from other things, when we do a mobile phone evaluation, we will find that once it involves using online video to demonstrate screen quality, it is difficult to find a suitable source on domestic video platforms.

Every time we arrive at this link, we are deeply aware of the technical shortcomings of domestic video websites-chaotic video resolution and bit rate standards, not to mention, there are very few online videos that can provide true HDR image quality. There are also many "fake HDR" videos implemented by algorithms and filters.

As a result, many people spend a lot of money to buy a mobile phone equipped with an HDR screen, but in the end, they can only find the most suitable source to reflect this on video platforms that are difficult to experience in China such as YouTube and Netflix. The advantage of the block screen, I have to say that this is also a kind of helplessness.

Fortunately, this situation will soon improve. Especially in the past two years, domestic video platforms have gradually realized the importance of video quality and have begun to invest their efforts to improve the viewing experience.

Station B is undoubtedly the most advanced one in this wave of technological upgrading. In June of this year, Station B took the lead in improving the upload quality of videos to 4K/120 frames, which is considered to cater to the current increasingly mainstream consumer-level 4K content needs.

Today, Station B once again announced the launch of HDR10 image quality, becoming the first online video platform in China to open this image quality plan to content creators. Users can watch the first 4K+120 frames+HDR10 video launched at station B for free and enjoy the best Online quality video.

It is foreseeable that a large number of online videos in true 4K HDR format will soon meet with us.

Click to enjoy the first 4K+120 frames+HDR10 video "Word War" at station B

Why do we need HDR video

Let's first figure out what HDR is.

Going back three or four years ago, if you have been to an offline TV store, you should remember that at that time many TV manufacturers would make a demonstration area. The left half of the TV was marked with "SDR" and the right half was marked with a label. Videos with the word "HDR" are significantly better than the former in terms of color and screen details.

Why does the same TV and the same content bring us two visual feelings?

To trace the root cause, we can only blame our human eyes for being too "critical".

We all know that the human eye is very sensitive to the brightness and color perception in the real world. Where the darkest place is, and where light is glowing, the human visual system can capture enough scene information.

But on the other hand, the photographic equipment we use to shoot scenes, as well as the imaging equipment that displays the scenes, are difficult to fully restore the brightness and color of things in nature like the human eye.

This is why, when someone sees some big backlit photos and dark and blurred scene videos, they always feel that the picture is white or too dark, the layering is very poor, and nothing can be seen clearly. It is mainly due to the limitations of the equipment. Restore every detail in the scene well.

And HDR technology was born to solve these kinds of problems. What it has to do is to provide more vivid colors, higher brightness ranges, and richer picture details.

At present, a large number of HDR screens on mobile phones and TV devices are also because they can achieve a higher level of color and brightness, so that users can see more real light and shadow on the screen in a way that is close to the perception of human eyes. , Color image.

In contrast, the traditional "standard dynamic range", the SDR mentioned above, basically comes at the cost of losing highlights and details in the dark areas. The dark areas cannot be darkened, and there is no obvious gradation in the bright areas. , The final output video is definitely much inferior to HDR video.

There are currently two mainstream HDR standards, one is the more common and open HDR10, and the other is the more advanced Dolby Vision.

In terms of characteristics, the two are basically the same, but since HDR10 is an open standard and does not involve copyright fees, practical applications are also more extensive.

At present, almost all mainstream TV manufacturers and streaming media manufacturers support the HDR10 standard, including the seven major Hollywood studios and streaming media platforms such as Netflix, which also use HDR10 to produce high-definition Blu-ray format resources.

Is there a threshold for watching HDR videos online?

From the traditional standard definition and high definition resolutions to the current 4K, 120 frames and HDR videos, B has made a lot of effort to improve the video viewing experience, but it is not enough to do it by itself, but to consider the entire industry The problem with the chain.

This is like the "Billy Lynn’s Midfield War" we saw a few years ago. If you want to take this kind of 120-frame format movie to the cinema to play, from the shooting equipment, and the theater screen for playback, As well as the 3D glasses worn by the audience, they all need to be upgraded or even specially made.

Analogous to station B, it also needs to consider such questions: What impact will HDR video have on content production? Can mainstream consumer terminals meet HDR standards?

Let's first look at the content creation level. In order to demonstrate the advantages of HDR, this time station B invited two UP main film and television hurricanes and special effects brothers to create a 4K + 120 frames + HDR10 video. There are many high contrast, strong light and dark parts in the video scene. The area is largely to improve the look and feel of HDR video.

As you can see, before HDR is turned on, the highlight areas in the video are still overexposed, and the details are masked.

After turning on HDR, not only can we clearly see the wrinkles of the characters' clothes, including the outline of the spotlight behind us, the projection path of the light, etc., also become much clearer.

Earlier, before the new technology was supported at station B, Up owners, including Hurricane TV, complained that although they can use good equipment to record videos, in post-production, they often have to deal with it due to platform restrictions. The image quality is greatly compressed, so the final output content will obviously be very different from the original recording effect.

This is actually a game between content producers and platform parties and display devices. Nowadays, Station B has once again supported HDR after 4K and 120 frames. It is undoubtedly an attempt to untie the constraints and provide creators with a "higher ceiling" platform to further promote the emergence of high-quality content.

For creators, with the support of the platform, they will also have more freedom in post-production, and those video creators with more shooting capabilities will also enjoy a wave of "technical The benefits brought by the bonus period.

Coupled with the PUGV mode of station B itself, most of the videos are produced by UP, which is also conducive to solving the embarrassing situation of "no technology and no content" at video stations.

Better image quality technology will indeed bring back-feeding effect to the content, which is reflected in the support of 4K at station B.

Today, you can already see a lot of 4K content in the personal Vlog, food, scenery, games and other areas of station B. With the help of image quality upgrades, many shooting themes that pay attention to delicate lenses have also begun to emerge, and the details of the video content are richer and diversified, which is also a good thing for viewers.

However, HDR content is not enough, we still need hardware support.

Otherwise, even if the creator uploads the HDR format video, if your mobile phone or display does not support HDR, the last image we saw will still not change.

At this point, HDR is actually the same as 4K and 120 frames, both of which require hardware.

Benefiting from the development of imaging technology in the past two years and the decline in the cost of OLED screens, you can now see the selling point of HDR screens on most mid-to-high-end mobile phones.

On the flagship phones of well-known brands such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, HDR is a "standard feature" that everyone will have, even more popular than 4K and 8K resolution screens.

According to official information from station B, as long as users have iPhone 8 and above, or Android 7.0 and above, models equipped with HDR screens, they can watch HDR10 videos online on station B and enjoy improved image quality online.

This means that many mobile phones now have HDR video viewing conditions, but we have not used it normally.

Moreover, HDR videos are more intuitive in terms of look and feel than 4K resolution videos that rely on a large screen to reflect the "counting hair" quality.

After all, what it improves is not the resolution, but the color and brightness of the video. Even if the phone screen is small, the image quality will still change significantly.

Start to show technology at station B

Some time ago, the author of station B MUZING Muzi made an evaluation and compared the HDR video bitrate and look and feel supported by domestic and foreign video platforms at that time.

From this, you will see that there are also uneven standards for HDR support on major platforms. But what is certain is that in the current PUGV platform, Station B is basically the only platform besides YouTube that supports creators to upload 4K 120 frames of HDR10 videos.

Recently, many domestic video websites have begun to emphasize image quality technologies such as "Ultra HD, 4K, and Dolby". A wave of technical upgrades belonging to the domestic video industry has also begun. After purchasing high-quality copyrights and using content to attract viewers, The first-line video platform led by Station B has finally begun to invest in technology.

This is obviously also related to changes in the network environment. With the advent of the 5G era, the network transmission rate will be significantly increased, which will also promote the emergence of high bit rate and high quality online video content in a disguised form.

From this point of view, today's B station's efforts to raise the “ceiling” of online video quality must not only focus on the present, but prepare for a broader future.

I hope that in the future, when we mention these tall video technologies such as 4K and HDR, the first thing we think of is no longer Youtube and Netflix, but domestic video sites like Station B.

After all, "over the mountains and mountains to see you" is certainly valuable, but it is still not as friendly as "flying into the homes of ordinary people."

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