Steve Yedlin’s presentation “Debunking HDR” makes a bold claim:
“Only SDR can faithfully reproduce relative contrast as authored by filmmakers.” This argument underpins his entire critique of HDR workflows.
During a Technical Webinar, Dolby’s Samuel Bilodeau directly challenged Yedlin’s core premise.
Bilodeau argues (29:00):
We don’t broadcast BT.1886; we broadcast Rec.709. When combined, Rec.709 and BT.1886 create an OOTF (Opto-Optical Transfer Function) that injects contrast absent from the original signal. Consumer devices seldom follow BT.1886 – the transfer function, the contrast that’s being added, is anything. Conversely, PQ (SMPTE ST 2084) preserves absolute light relationships by design. So, it’s the opposite of what Yedlin contends, not only on the consumer side of things, but also in the grading suite.
Why this matters:
Hidden Contrast Boost
The Rec.709 + BT.1886 chain introduces an OOTF that alters contrast relative to scene-referred intent.
Consumer Reality
TVs and devices are free to present SDR however they choose.
PQ’s Advantage
Perceptual Quantizer (PQ SMPTE ST 2084) encodes absolute luminance values, preserving contrast ratios by design when displays are PQ-compliant.
The Irony
Yedlin’s thesis hinges on SDR’s theoretical fidelity (“if monitor is capable”) —but its real-world implementation breaks creative intent. PQ solves this by design.
The Daejeon Chronicles 
The most annoying thing by far about Yedlin’s yapping about SDR and BT.1886 is the idea that it’s somehow at all representative of what viewers will actually see. I don’t think any modern TV defaults to BT.1886 transfer function. It’s like mixing audio in an anechoic chamber and then wondering why it sounds like shit in real world environments.