how is HDR different than simply adding more bits for finer steps between the same existing colors?
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HDR refers to the range between “darkest” and “brightest” being higher than older technologies. The “dynamic range” is that range of brightness.
The problem with having a higher range – mainly achieved by brighter whites, is that you need finer gradations between individuals steps so that you don’t get visible stripes. The solution is to add more bits to have finer steps.
A similar issue occurs with modern wide colour gamuts. The range of colours recordable is greater and so the steps between individual levels is greater, and so you may get colour banding unless you have more bits to define finer steps.
One problem with HDR is what you do when you have an image which has higher dynamic range than the screen it is to be displayed on. There has to be some type of ‘”tone mapping” process to convert the levels. Different tone mapping techniques have different effects, so modern HDR data formats include hints as to what type of tone mapping is likely to work best according to the creator’ s intent.
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