
Sure, HDR (aka high dynamic range) is better than SDR (standard dynamic range, a term we didn’t even need until we had HDR), but why?
SDR is regular television—it can produce a maximum luminance level of around 100 nits limited to Rec.709. HDR gives a maximum luminance of 1,000 to 10,000 nits (and a minimum of 400 nits), with brighter brights, more detailed darks and more saturated colors with Rec, 2020 (Fig 1). The more realistic color is due more to WCG (wide color gamut) than to HDR itself.