Pioneer’s UHD Blu-ray players, UDP-LX500 and UDP-LX800, will receive a firmware update in spring 2019 to make them compatible with the HDR10+ format. The players already support Dolby Vision.
Dolby Vision & HDR10+ support
Panasonic was the first company to launch an UHD Blu-ray player capable of handling HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision, of which the latter two are optional under the UHD Blu-ray standard. Pioneer will soon follow in Panasonic’s footsteps.
Pioneer has announced that it will issue a firmware update in spring 2019 to bring DR10+ compatibility to its two current UDP-LX500 and UDP-LX800 UHD Blu-ray players.
- “HDR10+ is the latest version of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) format. The current HDR10 standard uses static metadata present on an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc to initially set brightness which then remains unchanged for the duration of the disc when it’s played back. HDR10+ improves on HDR because it uses dynamic tone-mapping metadata to allow brightness to be adjusted frame by frame. This results in much more dynamic looking, colourful and realistic HDR images, closer to the creator’s original vision,” the company said.
Still not a lot of HDR10+ content
HDR10+ was developed by Samsung but is now being managed by HDR10+ Technologies in which Panasonic and 20th Century Fox are also founding members. The joint venture company has created a certification program for TVs and other products.
The first two discs in HDR10+ are A Beautiful Planet and Journey to the South Pacific that also happen to be the first ‘IMAX Enhanced’ discs. 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros have announced plans to release movies in HDR10+, too. Although not confirmed, two of 20th Century Fox’s first HDR10+ releases are expected to be Bad Times at the El Royale and Bohemian Rhapsody.
Pioneer’s UHD Blu-ray players were launched earlier this year and already offer support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The Pioneer UDP-LX500 will set you back $1000 dollars.
Pioneer is expecting to have the firmware update ready by spring 2019.
- Source: Pioneer
