HDR Metadata Transport via Elementary Stream Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy devices struggle to handle the extended luminance and color ranges of High Dynamic Range (HDR) video content, leading to suboptimal rendering and a need for content creators to provide additional metadata for proper display on HDR devices.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for generating a formatted video signal that includes video processing metadata, allowing standard and HDR video content to be transferred using a standardized transfer format, enabling devices to convert between different brightness and color ranges based on display capabilities, using a separate video processing elementary stream for metadata.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If video content is encoded with extended luminance and color ranges for HDR displays, then visual quality on HDR displays is improved, but compatibility with legacy LDR devices deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The video signal is segmented into multiple elementary streams: a primary video stream containing the main content and a video processing stream containing metadata for luminance and color conversions. This segmentation allows legacy devices to use only the primary stream while HDR-capable devices can utilize both streams for optimal rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The standardized transfer format is designed to be universal, carrying both standard-range and extended-range video content in a single formatted signal. The format includes stream information that enables different types of devices to interpret and process the content according to their capabilities, making the system compatible with both legacy and modern displays.
2Manufacturing precision
If separate metadata streams are added for HDR conversion, then rendering accuracy on HDR displays is improved, but data complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The video processing stream acts as an intermediary between the primary video content and the final rendered output. It carries metadata that mediates the conversion process, providing instructions on how to transform the primary video signal to match the target display's luminance and color characteristics without requiring complex direct processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The metadata in the video processing stream contains parameters that define luminance transfer functions and color space transformations. By changing these parameters based on the target display capabilities, the system achieves accurate rendering across different device types without requiring fundamentally different encoding approaches.
3Ease of operation
If video processing metadata is integrated into the standardized transfer format, then ease of transfer across devices is improved, but format complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The formatted video signal dynamically adapts to different device capabilities through the stream information structure. The presence and configuration of video processing streams can vary based on the content and target devices, allowing the format to remain flexible and compatible while supporting advanced features when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A video distribution system transfers a formatted video signal (20) having elementary streams representing audiovisual content to be rendered in a selected combination and stream information indicative of selectable elementary streams. The formatted video signal represents extended video having an extended range (HDR) of brightness and/or color. A video device (21) processes input video to provide video processing metadata representing a conversion between standard video and the extended video. The formatted video signal comprises a primary video elementary stream representing standard or extended video, a video processing elementary stream not comprising audiovisual content but comprising video processing metadata representing a conversion between standard and extended video or vice versa, and extended stream information comprising an entry indicative of the video processing elementary stream. Advantageously a video player (22), for example a BD player, is enabled to render both extended and standard video based on the extended stream information and the video processing elementary stream.