sRGB vs P3 and the future of Rec.2020
Here is a clip from Top Gear which is encoded in the standard Rec.709 color space (for all intent and purpose, Rec.709 and sRGB are nearly identical color spaces). The version on the right is opened in QuickTime X which is a color managed application, notice how much less saturated it looks compared to the version on the left, which is opened in MPV Player, a non color managed application. QuickTime X sees that the image is in Rec.709 and makes the yellow look like what a Rec.709 screen would look like at 100% yellow. Since my iMac screen can reproduce the wider P3 color space, which in turn can represent deeper than Re.709 yellows, the non color managed application on the left just sees a value of 100% yellow and fully saturates the screen's color space instead of the image's, resulting in the deepest yellow the iMac can represent.
Though the super yellow is more appealing, the less saturated QuickTime X appearance is accurate to what the broadcaster intended. You see, a larger color space can always accurately represent a smaller one in a properly color managed environment but not vice versa. Though it never gained commercial traction, the ACES color space is large enough to encompass the entire visible spectrum of the human eye, allowing only one color space to ever be needed now or in the future. Like most things, larger color spaces can be marketed as improvements over time, creating new labels to sell to consumers even though we only really needed one of them. The up and coming Rec.2020 is larger than sRGB, Rec.709, AdobeRGB and P3 but not ACES.
Though the super yellow is more appealing, the less saturated QuickTime X appearance is accurate to what the broadcaster intended. You see, a larger color space can always accurately represent a smaller one in a properly color managed environment but not vice versa. Though it never gained commercial traction, the ACES color space is large enough to encompass the entire visible spectrum of the human eye, allowing only one color space to ever be needed now or in the future. Like most things, larger color spaces can be marketed as improvements over time, creating new labels to sell to consumers even though we only really needed one of them. The up and coming Rec.2020 is larger than sRGB, Rec.709, AdobeRGB and P3 but not ACES.
source: NanoSys
