QD Vision Reveals `Color nits’ Measurement Standard
Quantum dot technology developer, QD Vision, unveiled at the Society for Information Display show in San Francisco Tuesday, a new standard called Color nits for measuring brightness and luminance in the latest high performance displays supporting high dynamic range (HDR) and a wide color gamut.
“The Color nits metric is derived from a formula that takes into account varying spectral profiles and the subtle differences between perceived brightness and actual luminance,” QD Vision said in a statement. QD Vision called the measuring standard the first comprehensive metric that will be able to compare the brightness of all Rec. 2020 display implementations.
Read more on QD Vision’s Color nits standard after the jump:
“As we transition into wide color gamut displays which offer a greater perceived brightness of color content, the age-old industry standard of Nits can no longer be used,” said John Ritter, QD Vision business development and product management executive VP. “The industry needs an easy-to-use metric that can enable true comparisons across any display and accurately characterize color brightness. Color nits do just that.”
A company spokesperson told HD Guru that “we have not yet taken this to an implementation stage where tools will be provided to enable such measurements in the field. We are just introducing the concept with our white paper and the upcoming presentation. ”
QD Vision is one of a number of companies and organizations coming to grips with new elevated range of brightness and wider color gamut that are being produced by new display technologies, like quantum dots used in 4K Ultra HD LED LCD TVs and new light levels (both bright and deep black) produced by OLED display technology.
The Rec. 2020 wide color gamut, which currently no consumer displays can yet achieve, has been used as an ultimate standard that 4K Ultra HD files and signal sources with HDR must deliver and displays should try to achieve.
To date, most measurement systems have been designed to measure displays for color gamuts up to Rec. 709 and found in the CIE 1931 test patterns.
QD Vision pointed out that the traditional measurement for color brightness – units of luminance called “Nits” – has become outdated as displays have been developed to deliver points of spectral brightness. The old Nits system is now unable to compare displays with different spectral profiles.
Among QD Vision’s customers for quantum dot technology in 4K Ultra HD HDR TVs is China-based TCL, which is in the process of growing its brand across North America.
Chris Larson, TCL North America sales and marketing VP, said “There is a need to define and establish a metric that measures true color brightness of wide-gamut color displays, and Color nits is the best option we’ve seen for that measurement.”
QD Vision said Color nits can characterize the color brightness of any display by leveraging commonly used display parameters and equipment. The metric is based on correction factors that take into account luminous efficiency and the H-K effect.
Earlier this year, Philips monitors introduced the world’s first quantum dot-based monitor with QD Vision’s Color IQ technology, delivering 99 percent Adobe RGB color, which is 50 percent more color than traditional LED displays, according to Lidong Yan, TPV Group monitor BU, OBM China general manager. “The traditional white Nits measurement cannot capture the more spectrally narrow primaries that wide color gamut displays produce. The industry needs a common metric that enables apples-to-apples comparisons for displays.”