BenQ HDR-PRO's Contrast Enhancer: What Is It and How Does It Work?

As HDR technology becomes increasingly prevalent, more and more displays and projectors bear the HDR emblem. However, the definition of HDR may vary across different display devices. Particularly, the utilization of contrast enhancement techniques differs significantly between display applications and projectors, presenting a higher degree of difficulty in contrast adjustment and necessitating more specialized techniques. Moreover, projectors, in their method of delivering content to viewers, closely resemble cinema projectors more than TVs do.

Traditional contrast enhancement methods typically analyze the histogram information of an image to calculate the required level curves for contrast enhancement, aiming to achieve a global contrast enhancement effect. However, balancing contrast enhancement and detail presentation has always been a trade-off. Conventional global contrast enhancers may sacrifice detail presentation in favor of enhancing overall contrast.

You might ask, is it possible to achieve both contrast enhancement and detail presentation simultaneously? BenQ's HDR-PRO employs the industry-leading Global Contrast Enhancer and Local Contrast Enhancer technology, providing a solution.

The Global Contrast Enhancer utilizes conventional methods for contrast enhancement. However, when an image contains both highlights and shadows simultaneously, contrast algorithm technologies encounter limitations. If contrast enhancement is applied forcefully without sufficient headroom in the content, it may lead to the loss of detail in highlights or shadows. At this juncture, combining Global Contrast Enhancer with Local Contrast Enhancer can overcome such limitations.

When the content of the image is concentrated in the “dark areas”, contrast enhancement adopts the "C-curve", expanding the details of the image content to the bright areas, achieving the effect of contrast enhancement.

When the distribution of image content is concentrated in the “bright areas”, contrast enhancement adopts the "Reverse C-curve", allowing the details of the image content to extend to the dark areas.

When the distribution of image content is concentrated in the "mid-tone brightness", contrast enhancement adopts the "S-curve", allowing the details of the image content to simultaneously extend to both the bright areas and dark areas.

When the image content already includes highlights and shadows, this traditional contrast algorithm encounters a bottleneck, with no room for further expansion of the image content.

Building upon the contrast algorithm technologies mentioned above, the Local Contrast Enhancer further divides each image into over 1000 regions, each with independent data and contrast enhancement, thus eliminating the need for compromises and optimizing the contrast enhancement algorithm.

Original Image

Original Image in Detail

GCE + LCE Optimization

Original Image

Original Image in Detail

GCE + LCE Optimization

Original Image

Original Image in Detail

GCE + LCE Optimization

Original Image

Original Image in Detail

GCE + LCE Optimization

Based on the aforementioned technical theories, Local Contrast Enhancer aids in enhancing the contrast effects generated by Global Contrast Enhancer, resulting in heightened depth perception and improved image clarity. As a company committed to delivering high-quality visual displays, BenQ, through the expertise of ISF and THX certified engineers, creates deeper black levels and optimized contrast details, optimizing contrast depth perception with its leading proprietary technology. This provides enthusiasts with a richer 4K HDR visual experience.

BenQ is dedicated to reproducing images with the utmost clarity and enhancing their dynamic contrast performance. This enables consumers to enjoy videos at home that closely resemble the vision intended by film directors or to experience movies in theaters.