The trademark application was filed by Samsung Display, the Korean conglomerate’s display division. The company created (in collaboration with industry partners) HDR10+, a version of the high dynamic range (HDR) display technology that increases the contrast ratio between black and white levels in an image for more vivid image quality and a true-to-life viewing experience. HDR10+ also serves as an open-source alternative to Dolby Vision HDR, a similar display technology created by San Francisco-based company Dolby. Dolby Vision requires vendors to pay royalties to its creator. Most high-end display products such as smartphones, TVs, and monitors support HDR10+ or Dolby Vision dynamic range technology, or both. Samsung, of course, has snubbed Dolby Vision in favor of HDR10+. But the former is more popular among other vendors, despite it adding a few extra dollars to the manufacturing cost. Since both technologies require creators to remaster their content with extra scene-by-scene data for quality enhancements, the popularity of Dolby Vision may be leading to less HDR10+ compatible content. Samsung may now have taken matters into its own hands to improve its dynamic range technology. The UDR name that we are seeing in this trademark application could be an upgrade to the HDR10+ technology. Or maybe UDR is something else and our speculation is wrong, time will tell.
Samsung may share more details about UDR soon
Samsung Display filed this trademark application for “UDR” with Korea’s KIPRIS (Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service) at the end of May. If UDR is indeed the evolution of the company’s HDR10+ display technology, then we should be hearing more about it in the coming months. We are interested in seeing what upgrades it brings over HDR10+ and Dolby Vision technologies. Well, there may not be any huge visible differences to the naked eyes. HDR technologies are about finer details that enhance the overall viewing experience. To that end, Samsung may have made some subtle enhancements to HDR10+ here. We will let you know as and when we have more information. Or when the first batch of UDR-certified products hit the market.
