What version of HDMI does Dolby Vision need? Since Dolby Vision uses dynamic metadata, how can a UHD Blu-ray player transmit a signal to an HDR TV via HDMI 2.0a (which only supports static metadata)?
During color grading, colorists working with Dolby Vision analyze the picture from scene to scene, achieving the necessary brightness and contrast from it. After everything is configured, a set of metadata is generated for this scene, which is then associated with the image and transmitted frame by frame. That is why this type of metadata is called dynamic. This technology is unique and gives results and accuracy higher than those that use static metadata.
In addition to frame-by-frame dynamic metadata, there are also static metadata, for example, screen settings, which were used for mastering in the process of color correction. This data does not change throughout the transmission and is therefore called static. They can be transmitted using existing HDMI standards.
Dolby Vision does not require the HDMI 2.0a or 2.1 standard - it embeds metadata in the video signal. Realizing that previous versions of HDMI will not be able to transmit dynamic metadata, Dolby has developed a way to transfer metadata on HDMI interfaces, starting with version 1.4b. Dolby itself does not want to compete with HDMI, but seeks to create an ecosystem with full support for Dolby Vision without waiting for the development of transmission standards. Dolby has always been and will be involved in the development of current and future versions of HDMI.
In practice, most Dolby-Vision content is currently in UHD and requires HDCP 2.2 protection, available only with HDMI 2.0 and later.