Audio Video News

Vizio Rolls Out HDR10 Update for M-, P-Series TVs

SV Staff  |  Aug 10, 2016

Vizio today announced the availability of a firmware update that enables playback of HDR10 high dynamic range (HDR) content on its M- and P-Series SmartCast TVs.

HDR10 is offered on most late-model HDR-enabled Ultra HD (UHD) TVs and is a standard feature of all UHD Blu-ray players.

When Vizio’s M- and P-Series TVs are connected to the Internet the display will automatically search for the HDR10 firmware update and download it. The process to enable HDR playback is as follows: Open the SmartCast remote control app, tap “Settings,” press “Inputs” and then "HDMI Color Subsampling.” The final step is to enable subsampling for the HDMI port to which the HDR-enabled UHD Blu-ray player is connected. Supported HDR-enabled players include models from Vizio, Samsung’s UHD-K8500, and the Philips BDP7501/F7. Vizio said it will expand support to additional players as they become available.

In addition to decoding HDR10, Vizio’s M- and P-Series also support the Dolby Vision HDR format, which is included on more than 50 titles available for streaming at vudu.com. Recently added movies include Batman v. Superman, Nice Guys and Keanu.

HDR10 is based on the Rec2020 color space format but restricted to a P3 color space and a maximum of 1000 Nits in a 10-bit format. Dolby Vision, a theatrical format, is also based on Rec2020 but capable of offering up to 12 bits and 4000 Nits. Nits are a unit of measurement of luminance used to describe the brightness of a display; 1 nit is equal to 1 candela per square meter.

Vizio’s M- and P-Series TVs employ full-array LED backlighting with up to 64 and 128 active LED zones, respectively. Each zone dynamically adjusts to on-screen content to improve black levels and contrast compared with TVs that use edge-lit backlighting. P-Series displays add Vizio’s Ultra Color Spectrum processing, which is said to support a wider color gamut.

For more information, visit support.vizio.com.

Related:
Calibrating HDR10

COMMENTS
WildGuy's picture
Submitted by WildGuy on August 10, 2016 - 5:11pm

i didn't know hdr10 only has a maximum 1,000 nits of of brightness. now i do. i know hdr10 is a 10-bit color per channel for some months now but didn't know is was restricted to p3 color space and only has a maximum of 1,000 nits of brightness.

i know dolby vision is a 12-bit color per channel, actually re-reading what you wrote, its actually supports up to 12 bit of color, that means 10 bit is also supported i suspect which is cool. i like the flexibility. i didn't know dolby vision supports up to 4,000 nits of brightness. now i do. cool.

Craig Mecak's picture
Submitted by Craig Mecak on August 10, 2016 - 9:33pm

HDR10 is NOT limited to 1,000 nits. It's just that current content is graded to that nit level. It can go to 4,000 nit too, if the content was graded to that level.

It is also not limited to a P3 subset of Rec.2020. It's just that content is currently mastered to the P3 limit inside the Rec.2020 container. Lots of misinformation here.

WildGuy's picture
Submitted by WildGuy on August 23, 2016 - 6:10pm

oh i see. interesting. didn't know, now i do.

msardo's picture
Submitted by msardo on August 11, 2016 - 6:49am

Last week I took the plunge and purchased the Vizio M60-C3 TV. Does this firmware update apply to this exact model. I do not think it is the same as the other M-Series TV's on the Vizio website - as it appears to be lacking the Smartcast designation.

Thanks, in advance. :-)

X