Hdmi to mac desktop how to#
Either way, the TV knows how to perform the tone mapping.īut there are some situations where the TV is asked to display two kinds of content at once.
Hdmi to mac desktop movie#
Under normal viewing - say when watching a movie or a TV show - the TV is perfectly capable of evaluating the incoming signal and doing the necessary tone mapping because this content neatly fits into one of two boxes: Standard dynamic range (SDR), or HDR. Why would you want a source device to do tone mapping? Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends Source-based tone mapping changes this by letting a display communicate its hue, saturation, and luminance capabilities back to the source device, which in turn lets the source device do the tone mapping before the signal ever reaches the connected display. Right now, a source device like a streaming media player, Blu-ray player, or a gaming console is able to determine if a connected display can handle HDR signals or not, but it makes no other adjustments to the signal it sends. It’s rarely perfect - compromises must be made - but when it’s well-executed, you get to see a version of the movie or TV show that looks as close to the original material as possible. So the display has to make some decisions about how to translate those “out of bounds” values into something it can reproduce. Quite often, the source material will possess values for hue, saturation, and luminance that exceed what the TV can display - this happens most often with high dynamic range (HDR) content.
The display is mainly interested in hue, saturation, and luminance - the three main building blocks of color, contrast, and brightness. That process examines the incoming video signal and determines how it should be presented using the display’s capabilities. Tone mapping is a process that takes place inside a TV and a very few computer monitors. What is Source-Based Tone Mapping (SBTM)? HDMI Licensing Administratorīefore we get into source-based tone mapping, let’s quickly describe tone mapping. You don’t need to buy new equipment and you don’t need to worry about compatibility with the new version. We’ll get into what SBTM is and how it works in a moment, but here’s the TL DR: Unless you are a gamer looking for the ultimate in HDR performance, or a PC user who routinely works with a combination of SDR and HDR content, you can safely ignore HDMI 2.1a for a long time to come.
Hdmi to mac desktop update#
As a minor update to the HDMI 2.1 specification, it only introduces one new feature: Source-Based Tone Mapping (SBTM). The first thing you should know about HDMI 2.1a is that you probably don’t need it. Show 6 more items A small upgrade for a small group of people How will I know if a new product supports HDMI 2.1a?.Does that mean I have to buy new products?.Wait, what if I watch Netflix (or some other streaming service) using an app on my smart TV?.Do I really want an external device doing tone mapping?.Why would you want a source device to do tone mapping?.What is Source-Based Tone Mapping (SBTM)?.A small upgrade for a small group of people.