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3D and 4K were nothing! It's all about HDR now!
Netflix has confirmed it has begun its rollout of high dynamic range content on its TV and film streaming service. HDR videos display millions more shades of colour and extra levels of brightness than normal ones, allowing images to look more realistic.
However, to view them members will need a new type of TV or monitor and a premium-priced Netflix subscription. Some HDR content had already been available via Amazon's rival Instant Video service. Ultra-high-definition 4K Blu-ray discs - which launched in the UK earlier this week - also include HDR data.
Netflix's support follows January's creation of a scheme defining the HDR standards a television set must meet to be marketed with an "Ultra HD Premium" sticker. [...] The US firm recommends its members have at least a 25 megabits per second connection to view them.
High-dynamic-range imaging at Wikipedia.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 18 2016, @11:05AM
And this is exactly the reason.
The transition from SDTV to HDTV provided a very noticeable improvement in picture quality. That and the forced shutdown of SDTV broadcasting in favor of HDTV broadcasting helped generate a huge sales increase for the TV makers for a few years.
Since then, well, for the majority of TV watchers, they just do not see the same striking difference between HDTV and 4k or 3d or HDR to justify replacing the TV that they just purchased not too many years ago. So from the TV makers perspective, they see a depression in sales of new TV sets.
And because of that depression, they are desperate to find something, anything, that will convince people to buy like they did during the SD to HD transition. But no one's falling for the tricks. Hense the quick succession of successor tech: 3d, 4K, smart TV, and now HDR.