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posted by martyb on Sunday January 06 2019, @03:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the hyper-mega-super-ultra-turbo-black dept.

VESA Rolls Out Updated DisplayHDR Standard for OLED Displays: DisplayHDR True Black

This morning [January 3] the VESA is rolling out an update to the standard body's DisplayHDR monitor performance standard that's focused on expanding the specification to cover OLED displays. Dubbed DisplayHDR True Black, the new performance tiers to the DisplayHDR standard are intended for OLED and other emissive displays, laying out the levels of display performance that the association believes are appropriate for consumer HDR displays.

This update comes just over a year after the original DisplayHDR standard was launched. Intended to simplify the market for HDR displays, DisplayHDR sets a number of tiers of increasing performance, with each higher tier requiring better monitor technology and delivering a better HDR experience as a result. At the time of DisplayHDR's launch, the VESA opted to focus on LCDs, as these displays were already in the PC market and were what the association had the most experience with. The end result was the DisplayHDR 400, 600, and 1000 standards, which covered a range of monitor designs that essentially stretched from not-very-HDR to cutting-edge full array local dimming displays.

The DisplayHDR True Black update in turn adds two more tiers to the DisplayHDR standard: DisplayHDR 400 True Black, and DisplayHDR 500 True Black. Like the tiers for LCDs, the True Black tiers are divided up based on performance; though the gap isn't quite as big as with the LCD tiers. The end result is that displays reaching these standards, besides meeting the DisplayHDR specification's baseline requirements, can also hit a peak brightness of 400 nits and 500 nits respectively.

The need for separate tiers for OLEDs – and other future emissive technologies like microLEDs – is rooted in the fact that HDR itself is as much (or more) about dynamic range as it is absolute maximum and minimum brightness. While LCDs can offer the necessary contrast ratios with the right backlighting technology, they are still backlit displays, meaning that they can't quite hit black since they're always illuminated to a degree. OLEDs, on the other hands, can hit almost perfect black levels since the pixels can simply be turned off entirely – hence the True Black moniker – which means these displays need to be measured on a different scale. Conversely, while LCDs can sustain incredible 600+ nit brightness levels over the whole screen, OLED technology can only burst to these levels for short periods of time, so the maximum brightness offered by OLED displays isn't quite in sync either with HDR LCDs.

Extremely low minimum brightness seems more useful than blinding maximum brightness. Ergo, any display without "True Black" is junk.

Previously: VESA Announces DisplayHDR Specification


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by KilroySmith on Sunday January 06 2019, @04:40PM (8 children)

    by KilroySmith (2113) on Sunday January 06 2019, @04:40PM (#782780)

    "Extremely low minimum brightness seems more useful than blinding maximum brightness."

    True, but only if you only view your display in a dimly lit or dark room. Get some morning sun through the window, or use the display in an outdoor setting, and that "blinding maximum brightness" becomes a necessity.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:26PM (5 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:26PM (#782797) Journal

    Sun? What's that?

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by Apparition on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:54PM (4 children)

      by Apparition (6835) on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:54PM (#782804) Journal

      It's that giant ball of fire in the sky that prevents us from coming outside for approximately twelve hours of the day.

      • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday January 07 2019, @04:45AM (3 children)

        by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday January 07 2019, @04:45AM (#783035)

        What planet do you live on? I see the burning ball of fire once a week at most. And that is when I do go outside every day.

        --
        "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 07 2019, @05:36PM (2 children)

          by Freeman (732) on Monday January 07 2019, @05:36PM (#783256) Journal

          We call this location, the south. Where the sun actually shines most of the year. Instead of being hidden by cloud cover 80% of the year.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday January 07 2019, @06:55PM (1 child)

            by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday January 07 2019, @06:55PM (#783292)

            Hell, after the year we had in the northeast, I would take a mere 80% cloud cover.

            --
            "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @09:55PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @09:55PM (#791452)

              The weak solar cycle?

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by CowMan on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:05PM (1 child)

    by CowMan (2314) on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:05PM (#782807)

    Which is more important (dark blacks or maximum brightness) depends on what you're watching. For a TV show like half the Marvel ones, which are cast quite dark, then OLED is quite preferable even in a moderately lit room; however, for something like an HDR sunrise, the peak brightness of the sun will be much more spectacular on a HDR projector, where black is quite subjective and at the whimsy of the screen but the brightness of the sun itself can be near blinding.

    Similarly, a lot of TV shows, take animated kids shows for example, are full of bright lively colours and rarely use black if at all. They will pop more on the brighter display on an LCD. Things set in space, black with point whites (stars) on the other hand do poorly on LCD's (even local dimming) and great on OLED's.

    Horses for courses, until the technology improves.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:57PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:57PM (#782819) Journal

      Stealth games are a great case for "True Blacks". They would benefit from bright light sources as well, but the dark shadows are extremely important. Add ray-tracing into the mix and you may have a work of art.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]