‘Disney has provided The Mandalorian series with poor HDR implementation’

The Star Wars series The Mandalorian, the first three episodes of which are currently streaming on Disney+, has a poor HDR implementation. This is the conclusion reached by the YouTube channel and website HdtvTest, which more often tests games and films on how convincing the HDR experience is.

Based on an HDR analysis, Vincent Teoh of HdtvTest concludes that none of the specular highlights, i.e. the bright luminous parts that become visible when an object is illuminated, reach higher values ​​than 200cd/m². This concerns, for example, the display of the sun, explosions, laser beams or reflections on the main character’s armor.

These findings were made while streaming the first two episodes of The Mandalorian, looking at both the HDR10 and Dolby Vision versions. A brightness of 200cd/m² at high dynamic range is very low. With a good HDR implementation, the clear details can just go in the direction of or over 1000cd/m², with the user’s screen bringing this within the maximum range of that screen via tone mapping.

HdtvTest previously stated that the three original Star Wars films on Disney+ are capped at 400cd/m². According to the channel, that too is not enough, but it is higher than with a recent production such as The Mandalorian. Older films can also provide a good HDR experience via a good 4k master, as demonstrated by the UHD Blu-rays of the original Alien, Blade Runner and The Shining. The experience is better with the newer Star Wars movies on Disney+. For example, in The Force Awakens, the peak brightness during a lightsaber duel between Kylo Ren and Rey comes out at 700cd/m², reports HdtvTest.

Teoh argues that the original Star Wars films and The Mandalorian on Disney+ “didn’t get a decent HDR treatment.” He describes it as putting an SDR film in an HDR container. This means that the television or the screen used recognizes the HDR signal and switches on the existing HDR mode, whereby the lighting is turned up to the maximum level. Teoh states that this requires more energy, without having any effect, because the display still remains somewhat dark, and may even be darker than the SDR display without the activation of an HDR mode.

The practice of putting such sdr-like displays in an hdr container and thus being presented as hdr is more common. A well-known example is the release version of the game Red Dead Redemption 2, which was quickly labeled as ‘fake HDR’ by Digital Foundry. Finally, an update came that significantly improved the HDR display.

HdtvTest’s analysis comes from Adam Fairclough, a part-time employee at Digital Foundry and an HDR expert who also tests games for their HDR rendering on the YouTube channel HdtvTest. For this he has developed a system in which the HDR display is visualized on the basis of heat maps; different colors indicate the different levels of peak brightness.