Which is the best color gamut for a TV? Types of color gamut.

If you have visited my article on wide color gamut, then you might be curious to know how the color gamut of a TV is defined.

There must be some parameter or standard which should describe the color gamut of a particular TV. It should provide concrete information about which and how many colors a TV is capable of displaying.

In this article, we will discuss about the various types of color gamut and will finally figure out which is the best color gamut for your TV.

Let’s begin.

What is the CIE 1931 color space?

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CIE (Commission Internationale de l’éclairage) sets standards for colors. It has defined various color gamuts depending on the area of the visible spectrum covered by each of them.

The CIE 1931 color space is the base color space, which is created by mapping the human color vision, and thus represents all the colors that are visible to the human eyes.

If a TV can display all the colors present in this color space, the picture on it will appear the same as it is in reality.

But this doesn’t practically happen because our electronic displays aren’t that capable of displaying all those colors. But the good news is that they can display a portion of the visible color space, known as the color gamut of the display.

The colors which a TV can display depend on which particular portion of the color space it covers.

Each TV is specified with a certain percentage of a particular color gamut. Eg. 98% DCI-P3 or 100% Rec. 709.

Why do we see different colors on different TVs?

Say, a particular shade of red is not available in a TV’s color gamut. Then it will display that portion of the scene differently than the TV having that particular shade of red.

Due to this, the color reproduction will be different on different TVs and you may see the same scene differently on two TVs.

Now, what’s the solution? The color gamut, which is the area covered in the overall visible color space, should be properly defined. Then only it can be possible that two TVs having the same color gamut will do the same color reproduction.

Thus, various color gamuts were defined. The color gamuts of TVs gradually kept on getting wider as the technology advanced.

Which is the best color gamut_an imaginary color space

As said before, each color gamut covers a certain percentage or area of the visible color space.

Let’s now see what are the various types of color gamut.

How many color gamuts are there?

Rec. 709, sRGB, Adobe RGB, NTSC, DCI-P3, Rec. 2020 and Rec. 2100 are the different color gamuts used by CIE as color standards for various devices.

Let’s quickly learn about these standards. Then we will be able to compare and decide which is the best color gamut.

Rec. 709

In 1993, the Rec. 709 color gamut was released by the ITU-R(International Telecommunication Union Radio Communication Sector). It is also known as BT.709 and ITU 709.

It has a coverage of 35.9% of the CIE 1931 color space. It is mainly a color standard for HD TVs and is compatible with the current HD technologies.

sRGB

In 1998, IEC created sRGB, which is also known as the standard Red Green Blue color gamut. It has about the same coverage of the color space as that of Rec. 709 and finds its uses in smartphones, TV screens, digital cameras, etc.

It can be said as a basic color gamut that is most widely used, as nearly all the displays can reproduce its colors.

Adobe RGB

In 1998, Adobe Inc. developed Adobe RGB color gamut which has 52.1% coverage of the CIE 1931 color space. It is widely used in the photography and video production business.

It offers a variety of colors, which are very useful for creating images and pictures.

NTSC

The color gamut of the National Television Standards Committee, NTSC, is 98% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. If you compare it to the sRGB color gamut, the whole sRGB covers 72% of the NTSC color gamut.

DCI-P3

DCI-P3 stands for Digital Cinema Initiatives-Protocal 3 and was developed by the Digital Cinema Initiatives in 2005. It has 53.6% coverage of the CIE 1931 color space.

It is a much-preferred color standard for modern TVs and displays richer colors with more depth.

Rec. 2020

Introduced by ITU in 2012, Rec. 2020 or BT.2020 is perhaps the widest color gamut till now which has 75.8% coverage of the CIE 1931 color space. It is the ideal color gamut for displaying 4K and Ultra HD content.

Many modern displays can display only about 60% of this color gamut. As it covers a significant portion of the overall visible color space, it is a technology for the future that can breathe life into every single detail.

Rec. 2100

Introduced by ITU in 2016, Rec. 2100 or BT.2100 is meant for HDR TVs. It has introduced HDR capabilities on the top of the Rec. 2020 color gamut.

Thus, it allows for a broader dynamic range with more luminance levels, making the picture quality more detailed and realistic, closer to what we see through our naked eyes.

Now, you can easily differentiate between the color gamuts mentioned in the specs sheets of displays. For example, 80% DCI-P3 has deeper, more saturated and more colors than the 100% sRGB color gamut.

Rec. 2020 vs DCI-P3 vs Adobe RGB vs sRGB: Which is the best color gamut?

I will tell you which is the best color gamut in no time. Before that, the following points must be noted:

DCI-P3 supports 10-bit color depth, and thus, offers more vibrant and saturated colors than sRGB, which supports 8-bit color depth.
Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 are comparable color gamuts and have better, more realistic and more colors than the sRGB color gamut. The main difference between Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 is that Adobe RGB excels in green and blue color reproduction, whereas DCI-P3 leans towards yellow and red. DCI-P3 is more suitable for watching movies and playing games.
DCI-P3 is a wide color gamut vastly used for modern TVs owing to the reproduction of better color shades, i.e., bluer blues, redder reds, greener greens and good coverage of the CIE 1931 color space.
Rec. 2020 covers nearly all the colors that can be seen through human eyes. It has 75.8% coverage of the CIE 1931 color space, whereas DCI-P3 and Rec. 709 have 53.6% and 35.9% coverage, respectively. Thus, it covers twice as many colors as Rec. 709 or sRGB, as well as 40% more colors than DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB or NTSC. It covers almost all the colors which the other above-mentioned color gamuts miss out on. Therefore, it is perhaps the widest color gamut to date.
The Rec. 2020 is a wider and much better color gamut than DCI-P3. It covers all of what the DCI-P3 missed out, by excelling in the blue along with yellow and red and by covering a much larger area of the color space. This brings the picture true to life with vibrant and realistic colors.