On the initiative of famous filmmakers, the UHD Alliance had specified an operating mode for televisions called “Filmmaker Mode” in 2019, which is intended to ensure the best possible viewing experience. The new version should include ambient light.
The idea of ”Filmmaker Mode”: Films should be played back without intermediate image calculation and without “image improvers” – including algorithms that subsequently sharpen the image, intensify colors, change color saturation or remove noise (film grain).
The function is now available on all newer LG and Samsung televisions as well as selected models from Hisense, Panasonc and Philips. Some projectors from LG, Samsung, Benq and Hisense also offer Filmmaker Mode. However, intermediate image calculation and image enhancers can still be activated on the relevant devices.
The UHD Alliance now used the CES to usher in the next phase. A new Filmmaker-Mode version is to be developed, which deals with the ambient light. The previous specifications related to playback in a darkened environment. For the human eye, however, the image impression changes when the surroundings are brighter – and depending on whether natural or artificial light is used. This has not yet been taken into account.
Actually already available
The idea of including ambient light is not new. Televisions with “Dolby Vision IQ”, for example, use the values supplied by integrated sensors to align the Dolby Vision image accordingly. Samsung, in turn, has built sensors into its current QLED TV series, which enable these models to adapt video images in the dynamic HDR format HDR10 + to the respective ambient light.
When this function called “HDR10 + Adaptive” was presented at the end of 2020, Samsung emphasized that it would work with Filmmaker Mode. With Panasonic’s top OLED model JZW2004, the manufacturer even officially advertised the combination of Filmmaker Mode and ambient light sensors under the term “Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing”.
Best picture in flight
According to The Hollywood Report, Filmmaker Mode will also be used in in-flight entertainment systems in the not too distant future. The report refers to the statement made by the President of the UHD Alliance, Zink, according to which the Airline Passenger Entertainment Experience Association (APEX) recently added 4K, HDR and Filmmaker Mode to its specifications for these systems. American Airlines should plan to implement the new requirements in aircraft that will be added to the fleet in 2023.
(nij)