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Can anyone explain how 10 bit color would work for a monitor? Would we even notice it since most image formats are 8-bits-per-channel... and what does the OS do

by cclogg 13y ago

Can anyone explain how 10 bit color would work for a monitor? Would we even notice it since most image formats are 8-bits-per-channel... and what does the OS do? Is the monitor able to more accurately show the difference between the sun vs a desk-lamp? (Where today both would appear as RGB 255 in a photo, unless you took 3 exposures and combined them into a 32 bit HDR file... but anyway...)

KaiserPro 13y ago
10bit colour eliminates banding on gradients.
mark-r 13y ago
I think you can take advantage of the extra bits for color calibration. Your source is still 8 bits, but those 8 bits are converted to 10 in a way that provides better accuracy.
- cclogg 13y ago
  I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this works, I guess. If I am viewing a JPEG that is only 8 bit color (per channel), how does a 10 bit monitor make that any better without having a 10 bits per channel image source? Or what if I'm in Photoshop in 32 bits per channel mode, doing some HDR work... does this 10 bit monitor mean I'm seeing slightly better colors (more dynamic range) than my old 8 bit monitor?
  - brotchie 13y ago
    I'd assume the JPEG can have some embedded colour profile. This profile specifies a transform between the JPEG's 24bit colour space into the monitor's 30bit colour space. For example, consider two JPEGs with embedded colour profiles. "Red" (255,0,0) in one image will map to some "Reddish" 30 bit value, while (255,0,0) in the other will map to a slightly different 30 bit value.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    The data channel from GPU to display is most likely still 8-bit. The path from the display controller to the panel, however, is 10-bit (some monitors even use 12). This allows the display controller to apply gamma, contrast, and brightness curves to the incoming data without sacrificing any color resolution. When you make the same adjustments on your PC, the GPU has to dither the result back to 8-bit for transmission.

by cclogg 13y ago

KaiserPro 13y ago

10bit colour eliminates banding on gradients.

mark-r 13y ago

I think you can take advantage of the extra bits for color calibration. Your source is still 8 bits, but those 8 bits are converted to 10 in a way that provides better accuracy.

cclogg 13y ago
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this works, I guess. If I am viewing a JPEG that is only 8 bit color (per channel), how does a 10 bit monitor make that any better without having a 10 bits per channel image source? Or what if I'm in Photoshop in 32 bits per channel mode, doing some HDR work... does this 10 bit monitor mean I'm seeing slightly better colors (more dynamic range) than my old 8 bit monitor?
- brotchie 13y ago
  I'd assume the JPEG can have some embedded colour profile. This profile specifies a transform between the JPEG's 24bit colour space into the monitor's 30bit colour space. For example, consider two JPEGs with embedded colour profiles. "Red" (255,0,0) in one image will map to some "Reddish" 30 bit value, while (255,0,0) in the other will map to a slightly different 30 bit value.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  The data channel from GPU to display is most likely still 8-bit. The path from the display controller to the panel, however, is 10-bit (some monitors even use 12). This allows the display controller to apply gamma, contrast, and brightness curves to the incoming data without sacrificing any color resolution. When you make the same adjustments on your PC, the GPU has to dither the result back to 8-bit for transmission.