8-bit vs 8-bit + FRC

[Hi P]

This topic got me a bit confused.

 

So 8-bit can show 16 million colors while 10-bit can show 1 billion colors, and 8-bit + FRC basically "fakes" it's way into getting closer to 10-bit?

 

Is that how it is or am I getting it wrong?

 

Also, real world scenario, would a 8+2 bits(FRC) look better than 8-bit in terms of color quality / look? 

 

Or would the 8+2 bits simply show less banding compared to 8-bit but have the same color quality / look.

 

Thank you, any help is welcome, I've been reading posts on this and I just can't get my head around it.

 

[Stefan Payne]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate_control

[vanished]

First of all, FRC does not add more bits.  It's still an 8 bit panel.  That means every subpixel can be between 0 and 255 in brightness (as an integer).  FRC means that if you want to display something between 7 and 8, for example (ie, something more precise than 8 bit will allow), you would flash between 7 and 8 with every refresh, thus simulating an average of 7.5.  This is better than 8 bit at reducing banding, but you may notice this flickering which (subjectively) might be worse, so which is actually superior depends.  A true 10 bit display would simply display 7.5 directly, since it could go from 0 to 1024, or in another way of thinking, 0 to 255 but in increments of 0.25 instead of 1.

[Hi P]

6 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

First of all, FRC does not add more bits.  It's still an 8 bit panel.  That means every subpixel can be between 0 and 255 in brightness (as an integer).  FRC means that if you want to display something between 7 and 8.

So for 100% sRGB displays, the difference between 8-bit and 8-bit + FRC is simply banding decrease?

 

Or would the FRC version display more colors than the 8-bit would? (for color grading)

[vanished]

2 hours ago, Hi P said:

So for 100% sRGB displays, the difference between 8-bit and 8-bit + FRC is simply banding decrease?

 

Or would the FRC version display more colors than the 8-bit would? (for color grading)

both - banding would be decreased because it can display more colours.  Well, not really, but it can simulate it. 

[Monstieur]

8-bit is visually indistinguishable from 10-bit if dithering is performed correctly. You need either a native 10-bit signal and an 8-bit + FRC display, or an ordinary 8-bit display with 10-bit to 8-bit dithering done at the source (game engine / GPU driver / media player). In either case, the application must render to a 10-bit surface.