O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: HDR

  • Rumor: Apple pushing to finish construction, hold September 12th media event at Steve Jobs Theater

    With only a few weeks left, it looks as if Apple’s pulling out all the stops to have its rumored September 12th press and media event take place in the Steve Jobs Theater.

    Albeit the past two years of media events have seen Apple’s media events take place in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, sources close to the company say it is aiming to use the 1,000-seat Steve Jobs Theater on its new headquarters campus. The campus is still in its end stages of construction, which could affect the timing or location of the event.

    At the event, Apple is widely expected to unveil the so-called iPhone 8 with an OLED display, wireless charging, and facial recognition, alongside updated versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

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  • HDMI 2.1 specification notes released, could bring impressive new features to your Mac

    The HDMI standard is about to get that much niftier.

    Version 2.1 of the HDMI specification has been released. The new version of the standard includes eARC support for object-based audio and advanced audio signal control, wider dynamic HDR, and “Game Mode VRR” allowing a GPU to change the refresh rate of the image on the fly.

    The standard was developed by the HDMI Forum’s Technical Working Group whose members represent some of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers, mobile devices, cables and components.

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  • Apple patent highlights dual-layer LCD displays with theoretical 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio

    applelogo1

    This could lead to an absolutely amazing display.

    In a recently published patent application, Apple describes a technology that could reduce image artifacts in high dynamic range (HDR) dual-layer LCDs, technology that could theoretically boost a typical display’s contrast ratio to 1,000,000 to 1.

    In its “Devices and methods of image-splitting for dual-layer high dynamic range displays” application, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple touts the optical benefits of dual-layer LCD systems, specifically the ability to reproduce high contrast imagery.

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  • Opinion: Why the iPhone 6 camera is only 8 megapixels

    By Bob Snow

    The iPhone 6 camera has the same 8 megapixel count as the 5s and this has spec-happy geeks bashing the phone. There are compelling reasons for going lower and I will try to lay them out.

    Small sensors can suffer when they have a high pixel density. The sites that gather light become very small and they typically sacrifice low light performance. Low light performance gets traded off for higher resolution and even this becomes an issue with small sensors. No matter how high the resolution of the sensor, lens resolution comes into play much more when the sensor is small. If the sensor is small enough, the lens will not have nearly enough resolving power to take advantage of all the pixels. You need a bigger sensor for that. The image can only be as sharp as the light coming from the lens and that will most likely be the limiting factor. Think of a tiny sensor with a trillion pixels. Lens resolution will be the limiting factor.

    iphone6camera

    There is another reason the iPhone uses an 8MP sensor. Post processing. The latest iPhone 6 does a hell of a lot of post processing. According to Apple, “Auto image stabilization makes up for motion blur and hand shakiness by taking four photos with a short exposure time. Then the best parts of those photos are combined into one image with as little noise, subject motion, and hand shake as possible.” Apple is even using multiple exposures to eliminate noise in post processing. That is a lot of work, even for the powerful 64-bit A8 processor. The more pixels, the more processing that needs to happen. HDR is another feature that requires post processing. Multiple exposures are taken and then combined to create an image with greater dynamic range. Then there is burst mode. The camera takes up to ten images per second and then compares them all to select the best image. The biggest change to the camera of the iPhone 6 is the use of paired “focus pixels” which allow for phase detection auto focus. This is faster than contrast detection and provides big improvements to video and faster still shot focusing. Think about all of the post processing this phone does to the images, all without a hint of delay.

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  • Apple releases iOS 5.1.1 update

    Not that iOS 5.1 wasn’t perfect, but there’s always room for a few bugs fixes.

    Per Mac|Life, Apple released iOS 5.1.1 on Monday. The update offers the following fixes and changes:

    – Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut.

    – Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks.

    – Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances.

    – Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List.

    – Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase.

    Users can install iOS 5.1.1 using the over-the-air Software Update from your device Settings, or by plugging into iTunes and downloading it from there. As always, recommends devices are plugged into a power source while installing.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback whatsoever, please let us know in the comments.