The human eye can see a broader range of colors than the standard sRGB color space. The xvYCC (Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications) color standard (IEC 61966-2-4) is a tagcolor space for use video electronics to display virtually the entire gamut of colors perceivable by the human eye. The extended xvYCC standard supports some 1.8 times as many colors as the commonplace sRGB color space providing deeper greens, reds and blues.

A color model is a mathematical models defining how colors can be represented as groups of numbers – RGB and CMYK are color models. Color models are mapped to a reference color space (see diagram) with the footprint within the space being the gamut.

sRGB is a standard RGB (Red Green Blue) color space created jointly by HP and Microsoft for use on monitors, printers, and the Internet.

Sony with the assistance of WCG-CCFL (Wide Color Gamut Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps), has adopted the new xvYCC standard with their Bravia XBR5 Full HD LCDs however, they refer by the more common term x.v.Color. HDMI v3.1 supports the xvYCC color standard.

It should be noted that apart from some camcorders, there is very little video content supporting the xvYCC color standard available at the moment. Choosing a HDTV or projector which supports xvYCC (or x.v.Color) is mostly a future proofing strategy at the moment.

Resources

Video – Deep Color and xvYCC (x.v.Color) by HDMI Licensing (HDMI.org)

HDMI Licensing Brochure – HDMI 1.3 New Capabilities (pdf)

Deep Color and x.v.Color by SimplayLabs