Audio Video News

The UHD Alliance (UHDA) recently announced the Mobile HDR Premium specification for laptops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones to confirm that a portable device meets UHDA-defined performance criteria for 4K/Ultra HD resolution, dynamic range, color space, and bit depth.

Devices that meet the spec are eligible to license the Mobile HDR Premium logo from the UHDA. Licensing is expected to begin by the end of next week.

The new specification covers a range of devices, screen sizes (3-18 inches), and resolutions (60 pixels/degree) with parameters for dynamic range (0.0005-540 nits), color space (90% of P3 Color gamut), and bit depth (10).

“The dramatic improvement of screens in battery operated devices, coupled with the emergence of 4K and 4K with HDR streaming offerings through services such as Amazon, Netflix and others, makes it possible for consumers to get a much richer and more immersive experience on their computers, tablets and smartphones,” said UHDA President, Hanno Basse. “The expansion of our certification of logo program will help consumers identify premium portable products that take full advantage of the wealth of HDR content coming to market.”

The mobile category surpassed the in-home category in consumer entertainment device spending in 2013, and Statista predicts that mobile video traffic on the internet, which currently exceeds 3.5 million terabytes a month, will reach 23 million terabytes a month by 2020. Ooyala’s Global Video Index found that 52 percent of all video streams in the third quarter of 2016, both short and long form, were viewed on mobile devices.

“Portable devices are a primary mode of video consumption and the category itself is a key component of the rapidly expanding Ultra HD ecosystem,” Basse noted.

Consumer adoption of Ultra HD hardware and software has been rapid with an estimated 100 million households worldwide currently able to experience Ultra HD. FutureSource Consulting predicts that there will be 450 million UHD TV households by 2020.

The UHD Alliance was founded in April 2015 by 10 companies and now counts more than 50 global electronics, entertainment, content distribution, and technology companies among its membership. The UHDA introduced an Ultra HD Premium certification and logo program for TVs, pre-recorded content, and Ultra HD Blu-ray players in early 2016.