HDR screens are displays that show color-accurate visuals with excellent exposures and contrasts.
To make a screen HDR, it must comply with key specifications set by certifying bodies such as VESA.
After a product passes certification, it can be advertised as an HDR display.
Here are five HDR specifications you’ll want to check out to ensure you get a genuinely HDR-capable screen.
Color Gamut
A color gamut represents all the colors a screen can display.
Capable HDR displays use a color space known as Rec.2020.
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Although HDR displays are often thought to be capable of displaying Rec.
2020, there are HDR-certified displays that can only display the sRGB color gamut.
2020" or “BT.
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Color depth or bit depth talks about the gradient of a specific color.
The higher the bit depth, the more gradients or shades of a color a screen can display.
A low color depth will result in gradients in color, which causes banding.
HDR screens will have a color depth of 8 to 12.
The truth is that color spaces are actually three-dimensional.
The third dimension represents the brightness of a color.
Having a higher peak brightness is also a bit contributor to a screen’s dynamic range and contrast.
In digital displays, luminance or brightness is measured in nits or candela per meter squared (cd/m2).
In general, the higher the brightness of a screen, the better.
A higher contrast ratio generally means a higher dynamic range.
You should also note that there is a bell curve or diminishing returns as contrast ratios get higher.
Local Dimming
Contrast ratio is what determines how bright and dark a display can get.
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The problem is that it doesn’t say much about how a screen is being lit.
Local dimming is one of the most important aspects of HDR.
A display with local dimming can dim hundreds of zones in a screen, vastly improving contrast.
Without local dimming, edge-lit displays on a typical TV or monitor would only have around 1-16 dimming zones.
Instead, OLED uses thin carbon-based semiconductor sheets to provide light.
An OLED HDR screen provides the ultimate contrast ratio.
However, there are two reasons why you may want to opt for a full-array display instead.
The first reason is that OLEDs are expensive.
The second reason is that the brightest OLED displays only have around 700 nits of peak brightness.
Lastly, when looking for HDR-related logos and trademarks, note that DisplayHDR XXX differs from HDR XXX.
In contrast, HDR 600 only shows that the display can do a peak brightness of 600 nits.
