Audio Video News

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.

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Calibrating HDR10