Knoyleo wrote:What's that do, then? Is not like other dynamic range tricks I've seen on TVs that just change the brightness based on whether the message on screen is dark or bright, is it? Because I always turned that gooseberry fool off in the past.
HDR basically offers a much wider range of colours and contrasts.
Done properly, it's very technically demanding. The TV needs to get extremely bright and extremely dark, and that brightness needs to be independently controlled in different parts of the screen. These televisions tend to cost in excess of £1000 and aside from Sony are always 4K. Done well, 4K and HDR is a big leap over conventional 1080p. But at the moment it's very much targeted at gamers and those with Ultra Blu Ray players. There is currently no HDR content over-the-air from BT, Sky or Virgin Media. Netflix, Amazon and YouTube however offer 4K HDR streaming on certain programmes.
Knoyleo wrote:Realistically, how likely is it there'll be Freeview 4K rolling out in the next 2/3 years? There are barely more than a dozen channels in HD at the moment, and I thought they were mostly still broadcasting in 720p rather than full 1080p anyway.
Freesat 4K compatible boxes are coming in 2018 (manufacturers and partners to be announced later this year), Freeview likely in 2019 or 2020. BBC is first but it'll be via iPlayer and over the internet. Debut programme will likely be Planet Earth 2 (available now on Ultra Blu Ray). No idea when an actual 4K channel will arrive as even Sky don't have one yet, it's all through the red button or on-demand. And yes, most broadcast HD is either 720p (sport) or 1080i. And can also be heavily compressed on top of that (leading to obvious pixelation and artifacts).