Perceptual Impact of Peak Luminance and Contrast in Direct View HDR Display

• Kenneth Chen*, New York University


• Yunxiang Zhang*, New York University and Meta Reality Labs


• Qi Sun, New York University


• Alexandre Chapiro, Meta Reality Labs

In this plot, we show that the existing standard for HDR, DisplayHDR, is not spaced in equal perceptual units (JODs) as defined by our model. Red X marks are equally spaced as evaluated by this model.

Abstract

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Characterization of a high dynamic range (HDR) display's performance can be largely defined by its contrast and peak luminance. Prior work has studied this question for virtual reality (VR) using a haploscopic HDR setup, but it is not obvious if those results are transferrable to a more traditional viewing setting, such as direct view. In this work, we conducted a study to measure user preference for different contrast and peak luminance parameters in this scenario, and develop a perceptual just-objectionable-difference (JOD) scale to quantify preference scores. This is accomplished by studying contrast and peak luminance conditions across several orders of magnitude, shown on a professional HDR display with peak luminance of 1,000 nits and 1,000,000:1 contrast. The data is used to develop a computational model that can drive display design and future standardization of the definition of HDR, in terms of human preference.

 @article{
 chen2026wihdirectview,
 author = {Kenneth Chen and Yunxiang Zhang and Qi Sun and Alexandre Chapiro},
 title = {Perceptual Impact of Peak Luminance and Contrast in Direct View HDR Display},
 journal = {Electronic Imaging},
 volume = {38},
 number = {10},
 pages = {222-1--222-1},
 keywords = {Applied Perception, High Dynamic Range, Display Technology, Tone Mapping, Psychophysics},
 doi = {10.2352/EI.2026.38.10.HVEI-222},
 url = {https://library.imaging.org/ei/articles/38/10/HVEI-222},
 year = {2026},
 } 

Links

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