VESA will indicate HDR capabilities of monitors with DisplayHDR standard

By admin On Dec 12, 2017

Spread the love

The Video Electronics Standards Association is coming up with a new open standard that indicates how good the HDR capabilities of monitors are. The DisplayHDR specification distinguishes three levels, which mainly concern the maximum brightness.

With the DisplayHDR standard, factors such as HDR quality, maximum brightness, color space and whether it is an 8- or 10-bit screen are recorded. Manufacturers must test their displays to VESA-specified test specifications in order to display a DisplayHDR logo. The idea is that VESA sets three levels of performance standards, which manufacturers of HDR monitors can tailor their specifications to. VESA does not seem to prescribe which HDR standard to use; in practice, that is always HDR10 with HDR monitors.

The three different levels are mainly based on the maximum brightness. DisplayHDR 400 is awarded to monitors with a peak brightness of 400 cd/m², where the entire area of the backlight can be dimmed to improve contrast. Monitors that receive this designation must have an 8-bit panel that displays 95 percent of the Rec. 709 color space.

DisplayHDR 600 requires a peak brightness of 600 cd/m² and a 10-bit display that can dim multiple zones locally. The color space should be 99 percent of Rec. 709, or 90 percent of DCI-P3. DisplayHDR 1000 has the same color space requirement; monitors with this standard, however, must achieve a peak brightness of 1000 cd/m² and also have a 10-bit screen. Except for the higher brightness requirement, DisplayHDR 1000 is quite similar to DisplayHDR 600.

Displays with the highest two DisplayHDR standards must be able to respond more quickly to changing lighting conditions in, for example, a game, compared to DisplayHDR 400 screens with the backlight. However, no FALD backlight is required as a requirement. With DisplayHDR 1000, the monitors must also be able to maintain the peak brightness for a relatively long time and the local dimming must be so good that the contrast is twice as great as with DisplayHDR 600 screens. Specific values are not prescribed.

The organization wants to provide clarity to consumers with this DisplayHDR test method. VESA says that quite a few HDR logos and brands are used, without being transparent or making it clear what performance goes with it.

The new standard has been set up with AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Microsoft, among others. DisplayHDR only applies to LCD monitors; according to VESA, 99 percent of PC monitors have LCDs. As other display technologies such as OLED become more common in the future, the organization will release new versions of DisplayHDR so that these monitors can also be equipped with the standard. The first monitors with the DisplayHDR logo will be on display at CES 2018.