ABI Research forecasts that high dynamic range (HDR) TV shipments will grow at a 41% CAGR and reach 245 million units in 2022. The findings from ABI Research’s Media Devices: UltraHD, 4K, HDR, 8K, HEVC report show that HDR features are infiltrating some full HD TV sets and are helping to boost 4K’s (UltraHD) momentum.

Vendors including LG, Samsung, and Sony plan to incorporate HDR in their UltraHD TV sets as a premium feature to support better colour and detail.

“As evident with Sony’s recent announcement to include HDR in all its new TV sets, the next-generation TV technology will soon be a prominent feature in many UltraHD TV sets. While some less expensive sets will not yet support the technology, high-end TV manufacturers recognise the value that HDR functionality brings to the viewing experience,” says ABI Research industry analyst Khin Sandi Lynn.

While HDR continues to infiltrate the market, broadcasters are still holding back due to a dynamic standards environment. While HDR10 is the baseline industry norm, Dolby Vision offers premium features like dynamic scene-by-scene metadata to further enhance the picture.

“Amazon and Samsung recently announced the development of HDR10+, a version of the HDR10 standard that uses Dynamic Tone Mapping to produce enhanced contrast and colours. At this point, this standard does not have a robust industry coalition to foster adoption and serves to further confuse the market,” says ABI Research managing director and vice president Sam Rosen.

UltraHD TV set shipments are steadily growing but some TV manufacturers are already preparing for the next generation 8K TV standard. Japanese TV manufacturer Sharp announced the first 8K TV set in late 2015 and Chinese manufacturers Chang Hong, Hisense, and Skyworth introduced 8K TV sets in 2017. It will be years before the sets hit mainstream consumers though and in the interim, the sets are finding a role in digital signage markets.

“8K TV sets will enter the market in small quantities in 2020 but mainly in Japan and possibly South Korea, areas in which broadcasters are now working toward 8K broadcast. In the meantime, it will remain UltraHD HDR TV sets that dominate the overall market,” says Khin.