Doug Johnson Productions

Scope guide · Signal investigation

HDR Luminance

Inspect PQ or HLG luminance with the source transfer interpretation and follow highlight levels beside the picture.

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Learn & Reference / Scope library / HDR Luminance

Where are the HDR highlights?

Add this view from Add scope > HDR Luminance, then choose the input you want to inspect. Use the pane's i button for its in-app reading guide.

Read this example.

Fresh synthetic PQ / Rec.2020 athletics-stadium sample in HDR Luminance (upper left), Video Level / Gamut (upper right), Line / Pixel Inspector (lower left) and Reception Diagnostics.
Fresh synthetic PQ / Rec.2020 athletics-stadium sample in HDR Luminance (upper left), Video Level / Gamut (upper right), Line / Pixel Inspector (lower left) and Reception Diagnostics. Click the image for a larger view.
  1. Read the source transfer interpretation first; this example uses PQ.
  2. The upper-left vertical scale is logarithmic in nits. The source white maps to about 1000 nits in this synthetic fixture.
  3. Connect the runners, sky and stadium lights with their horizontal positions in the luminance plot.

Try it yourself.

  1. Choose a synthetic PQ or HLG sample from Generated > HDR scenes.
  2. Assign Picture and HDR Luminance to that input.
  3. Check transfer interpretation and compare highlights with the creative picture.

Useful controls.

  • Source transfer and color metadata guide interpretation.
  • Display and limit controls support highlight inspection.
  • Video Level / Gamut complements luminance with native-level and gamut checks.

HDR photographs are synthetic encodings of SDR originals. Numeric HDR patterns supply known levels; this site shows an SDR capture of the app.