Tone mapping – HDfury Vertex glossary
Tone mapping squeezes HDR brightness into what your TV or projector can really show, without losing detail.
Tone mapping is how a screen fits a very bright HDR picture into the brightness it can really make.
It is like packing a big suitcase into a small car boot: you fold things smartly so nothing important gets left behind.
Good tone mapping keeps bright clouds and dark shadows detailed; bad tone mapping makes them flat or too dark.
Does the HDfury Vertex do HDR tone mapping?
NONo. The Vertex does not tone-map the picture. It can edit, replace or remove the HDR data (max luminance, MaxCLL, MaxFALL) that your display uses for its own tone mapping.
What you can do:
- To change what the display is told, set values in the GUI HDR INFOFRAME Custom HDR generator and tick Enable Custom HDR (p.32–33).
- Disable HDR removes all HDR data so a JVC projector can use its own gamma curve (p.32).
- JVC owners can use the macros on the MACROS page (p.40) or RS232 #set jvcmacromode (p.52).
- Custom HDR stays on after hotplugs and power cycles, so check it after changing sources (p.32).
What it is
HDR films are often mastered on monitors of 1,000 nits or more. Most TVs are less bright, and projectors much less. When the picture asks for more light than the display can give, the display must lower the brightest parts in a smooth way. That is tone mapping.
Static tone mapping uses one setting for the whole film, often based on HDR10 metadata such as MaxCLL. Dynamic tone mapping adjusts per scene, either from HDR10+ or Dolby Vision data or because the display measures each frame itself.
Tone mapping can happen in the display (most TVs, TV-led Dolby Vision), in the player (player-led Dolby Vision, HDR-to-SDR conversion) or in a separate video processor.
On the Vertex
The Vertex does not tone-map the picture; the manual does not describe any such function. It can, however, change the HDR data the display uses to choose its tone mapping: with the Custom HDR generator you set max/min luminance, MaxCLL and MaxFALL and send them instead of the original (p.32–33).
Disable HDR removes all HDR data so a JVC projector can use its own gamma curve for HDR (p.32). The MACROS page has special automatic and custom macros for JVC projectors (p.40), with modes such as Automatic and Ignore Metadata over RS232 (p.52).
Enable Custom HDR stays on over hotplugs and power cycles (p.32), so check it after changing sources.
Common questions
Does the Vertex do tone mapping?
No. It passes the picture and can edit, replace or remove the HDR data that the display uses for its own tone mapping (p.32–33).
What is dynamic tone mapping?
Tone mapping that changes per scene, based on HDR10+ or Dolby Vision data or on the display analysing each frame.
Why do people change MaxCLL for a projector?
Some projectors pick their tone-mapping curve from MaxCLL or max luminance. Sending other values can change how bright or detailed highlights look. Results depend on the projector.