The company’s premium 4K TVs will offer high dynamic range in two formats: HDR10 and Dolby Vision
HDR is like contrast on steroids. It expands a TV’s ability to display the degrees of difference between the whitest whites and the blackest blacks on the screen. As a result, any scene from an HDR-formatted movie appears in greater detail. The only problem is that consumers are being presented with not one, but two different HDR options.
The more common format, known as HDR10, has been embraced by the UHD Alliance, an industry group composed of electronics manufacturers and companies like Disney and Warner Brothers that create and distribute content. All 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will support it.
The second choice, Dolby Vision, requires you to own a TV with circuitry designed to decode content mastered for that format. Vizio has already introduced a Dolby Vision-capable TV. And LG, Philips, and TCL all promised to deliver Dolby Vision sets this year.
This leaves consumers in an unwelcome position. If you want HDR, which way do you go?
LG ‘s 2016 line of 4K “Super UHD” TVs will arrive later this month with support for both formats. The same goes for LG’s 4K OLED UHD TVs.
Vudu is the only streaming service offering Dolby Vision content now, but Netflix says it will add some titles this spring. Expect to see Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and players with Dolby Vision later this year, too.
