Bit rate and HDR (High Dynamic Range) are easily linked but they are often misrepresented as the same thing. HDR and 10-bit color are not quite the same. A device using HDR technology, uses three identical images of the same thing of different brightness and places them on top of each other to concentrate the overall brightness and produces a more striking high-definition image.
On the other hand, bitrate is the measurement of how many colors can a device produce. The higher the bit rate gets the more a device can produce colors.
HDR and 10-bit color is often misrepresented as the same because HDR operates on 10-bit color.
10-Bit Color vs HDR – HDR Requires Color Producing Bit Rate
If there exist two different names for the same thing, they should not be two different things, right? Well, actually, in this case, it is. Even though in real life we often mistake them for the same thing they are two different things.
Bit rate is the measurement of the amount of color a device can produce. 10-bit color provides 210 = 1024 different intensity values. It is also known as deep color. A 10-bit color monitor’s bit depth means how many different colors that display can produce.
On the other hand, HDR is the dynamic range of that color produced by the bit depth. This means HDR is responsible for the display to produce different intensities of the same color.
Unlike a 10-bit color monitor, a display with HDR technology can display the details of an image in both dark and light (i.e., low intensity and high intensity) regions simultaneously. These varying reasons are called f stop.
The initial color generated by the bit rate of the display has a maximum brightness and minimum brightness level. HDR encoding increases that brightness range and adds an extra space to the details of an image. For example, for the previous bit rate maximum white can now be matte white with 2 x 5 = 10 times the brightness and dynamic color range.
To sum up
10 -bit color is not the same as HDR. 10 bit is a measurement of the color-producing rate and HDR almost requires a 10-bit transmission rate. So, 10 bit and HDR are closely linked but they are not the same thing.
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