How Apple Devices Show HDR Brighter Than Pure White GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO News > Computers
How Apple Devices Show HDR Brighter Than Pure White
It’s all a (very) clever trick
By Charlie Sorrel Charlie Sorrel Senior Tech Reporter Charlie Sorrel has been writing about technology, and its effects on society and the planet, for 13 years. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on December 9, 2020 02:04PM EST Fact checked by Rich Scherr Fact checked by Rich Scherr University of Maryland Baltimore County Rich Scherr is a seasoned technology and financial journalist who spent nearly two decades as the editor of Potomac and Bay Area Tech Wire. lifewire's fact checking process Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Computers Mobile Phones Internet & Security Computers & Tablets Smart Life Home Theater & Entertainment Software & Apps Social Media Streaming Gaming Key Takeaways
Recent Macs, iPhones and iPads can "overdrive" white pixels to extend a display’s dynamic range.HDR movie clips show up as brighter than the pure-white background around them.You’ll need an Apple device with a built-in display to see the effect. Apple This is wild: When you look at an HDR video on the right Mac, or recent iPhones, the white is brighter than the brightest part of the screen. Apple calls it EDR, and it could become the standard for displays in the future. HDR, or High Dynamic Range, is when a TV or computer display shows a bigger range from dark to light, with blacker blacks and whiter whites, and an expanded range of colors. If you watch HDR-enabled movies, then you get to see this extended range. That’s cool and all, but what if you’re viewing a thumbnail of an HDR clip on a non HDR display? That’s where EDR comes in. "It’s one thing to see HDR video on an HDR TV, where the entire image appears simply brighter and richer. It’s another thing to see this kind of imagery presented in the long-familiar context of a computer screen full of folder icons and file names," writes visual effects artist Stu Maschwitz on his prolost industry blog. "It’s like strolling through an art gallery and stumbling onto a painting with its own backlight." Lifewire / Charlie Sorrel Apple s EDR
Apple’s EDR, or Extended Dynamic Range, uses some clever tricks to show both HDR and SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) together on the same screen. It even works on older Macs that were never sold with HDR displays. It works like this: Normally, a brightness is coded across 256 steps, where zero is pure black, and 255 is pure white. When the Mac processes the HDR video, it assigns 0-255 to the regular windows and other stuff on screen, but also assigns numbers above 255 to the HDR video. The trick comes when the whole lot is displayed, and only works if your screen’s brightness is set below 100%. The Mac then boosts parts of the screen to show brighter pixels, while dimming the surrounding interface slightly. If you have a recent iPhone or iPad, you can check it out right now, by finding some HDR video. Or you can get a rough idea of it in this video from Maschwitz: Who Cares
Is EDR any more than a neat trick? Yes and no. For most of us, this is little more than a gimmick, but for video pros, it makes it easier to preview clips without having to open them in a special app. And one could also argue that color was a gimmick when the original Macintosh was perfectly capable of editing text on its black and white screen. Or that high-resolution, "Retina" displays were a gimmick. It’s like strolling through an art gallery and stumbling onto a painting with its own backlight. The thing is, these gimmicks quickly get normalized, and become essential. That’s what’s happening here. Apple is normalizing HDR, which can be viewed on its devices, and even recorded using the iPhone 12. Soon, we’ll be so used to it that if competitors don’t follow along, their devices will look plain in comparison. So no, we don’t need EDR on our phones and laptops, but—like retina resolution—once we’re used to it, it’s going to be hard to go back. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire OLED vs. LED: Which TV Display is Better? The 8 Best 40-Inch Smart TVs of 2022 The 5 Best Windows 11 Features to Know How to Fix Screen Burn on Any Screen HDR vs. 4K: What's the Difference? Understanding HDR Gaming for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 13 Pro: Which Phone is Right for You? How to Use the iPhone Camera The 5 Best 48-Inch TVs of 2022 What Is Microsoft Paint 3D? The Best Picture Settings for Samsung 4K TV How to Smooth Out Jagged Lines in a Bitmap Image Nits, Lumens, and Brightness on TVs and Projectors What Is 4K UHD? How to Take Better Sunset Photos With an iPhone How to Turn off HDR on Roku TV Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies