You asked several questions here, and I don’t have the answer to all of them. But here goes.
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a. I don’t know if Epic was involved.
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b. UE4 already does a post-processing effect called tone-mapping. This used to transform the “Linear” color information Unreal actually produces to the dynamic range and color gamut of our screens. It is most like this was changed to reflect the custom properties of that screen.
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There should be no direct change in performance with just changing the tone-mapping, as long as they optimized it as well as the current algorithm, and didn’t chane the color depth.
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The new UHD spec, in which 4k is only one aspect, is working toward provisions of either 10-bit and or 12bit panels for mass television production. This should transfer over to affordable consumer monitor panels as week. It should be noted that you can already buy a 12bit panel from Dell for a few grand, but this new spec is focusing on three major improvements.
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Will we see 16bit panels? Yes. Soon? No. The UHD spec may settle for 10bit panels, in which case the professional panels will probably only move up to 12bit or 14bit color per pixel. If the spec calls for 12bit panels, then we might see 14bit and 16bit panels later, but no one has made a 16bit panel that I know of. We can hope.
Now, you may know this already, but there is a lot of confusion in HDR versus color versus pixels. I will write another post of the benefits and downfalls as I see them.