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Abstract

To embrace the imminent transition from traditional low-contrast
video (LDR) content to superior high dynamic range (HDR) content, we
propose a novel backward compatible HDR video compression (HDR~MPEG)
method. We introduce a compact reconstruction function that is used
to decompose an HDR video stream into a residual stream and a
standard LDR stream, which can be played on existing MPEG decoders,
such as DVD players. The reconstruction function is finely tuned to
the content of each HDR frame to achieve strong decorrelation
between the LDR and residual streams, which minimizes the amount of
redundant information. The size of the residual stream is further
reduced by removing invisible details prior to compression using our
HDR-enabled filter, which models luminance adaptation, contrast
sensitivity, and visual masking based on the HDR content. Designed
especially for DVD movie distribution, our HDR~MPEG compression
method features low storage requirements for HDR content resulting
in a 30\% size increase to an LDR video sequence. The proposed
compression method does not impose restrictions or modify the
appearance of the LDR or HDR video. This is important for backward
compatibility of the LDR stream with current DVD appearance, and
also enables independent fine tuning, tone mapping, and color
grading of both streams.