The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA®) today announced that it has published a major update to its widely adopted High-Performance Monitor and Display Compliance Test Specification (DisplayHDR), which launched the display industry’s first fully open standard specifying high dynamic range (HDR) quality. The updated spec, DisplayHDR version 1.2, includes significantly tighter performance requirements, including for luminance, color gamut and bit depth, as well as several new test requirements for color accuracy, contrast ratio, black levels, and subtitle flicker, to address recent advances in display technology.

DisplayHDR is the display industry’s first fully open standard specifying HDR quality. Source: VESA.

Companies can begin certifying products under the new DisplayHDR 1.2 spec today. In addition, VESA will continue to allow products to be certified under the previous DisplayHDR 1.1 spec through the end of May 2025 for monitors, and May 2026 for laptops, to allow for products already in development that have been designed to meet the previous spec. To date, more than 3000 display models have been certified to the DisplayHDR standard.

See DisplayHDR 1.2 Products at Display Week

VESA will showcase products certified to the new DisplayHDR 1.2 spec, as well as other VESA standards, at the Display Week Symposium and Exhibition in San Jose, Calif., on May 14-16, 2024 at VESA booth #129 at the San Jose Convention Center.

According to Roland Wooster, chairman of the VESA task group responsible for DisplayHDR, and the association’s representative from Intel Corp. for front of screen display technology, “Since the previous update to the DisplayHDR standard nearly five years ago, the display industry has made dramatic improvements in quality while maintaining the same price points. As a result, VESA initiated a major undertaking to revise the standard to take full advantage of these improvements. We are thrilled to be releasing the newest version of our DisplayHDR standard―VESA’s most successful front-of-screen performance standard to date―with important updates that will help accelerate the display industry’s adoption of leading-edge display technology, which in turn will enable better-quality display products for consumers.”

DisplayHDR 1.2 Overview

First introduced in 2017, the DisplayHDR CTS has undergone several revisions to include higher-performance tiers, new display technologies and substantially tighter specifications. Among the updates with DisplayHDR version 1.2 are significantly tighter color gamut requirements for improved color accuracy. These include adding a DCI-P3 color gamut requirement for the DisplayHDR 400 tier, while also increasing the DCI-P3 requirement for the 500, 600 and 1000 tiers to bring them to parity with the 1400 tier. DisplayHDR 1.2 also synchronizes the color bit-depth requirement of the 400 tier with all performance levels to require a minimum of 8 bit + 2 bit dithering using frame rate control (FRC).

In addition, DisplayHDR v1.2 improves the white luminance level testing by changing it from a 10-percent center patch on a black background to an 8-percent center square test with a non-black background. This change provides testing when the entire screen is lit under more realistic conditions; for example, with an HDR video playing in one window while typical SDR-style screen content is displayed on the remainder of the screen. VESA also tightened the requirements for the luminance and white-point accuracy tests, as well as expanded the luminance testing to include a broader testing range, from 1 cd/m2 to nearly 100 percent of the logo tier level.

New Tests Added

In addition to improving and expanding several tests, VESA added several entirely new performance tests to DisplayHDR v1.2. These include:

New comprehensive color accuracy test that measures the average Delta-TP* of 96 different colors at each of three different luminance levels, testing the HDR color accuracy for a range of representative color tones. With this new test, the updated spec only permits a Delta-TP error of 8 on the 400, 500 and 600 tier levels, and an even tighter Delta-TP error of 6 on the 1000 tier level and above.
New static contrast ratio tests that drive higher contrast ratio display hardware specification requirements at all levels, and additionally requiring 2D local dimming at DisplayHDR tiers 1000 and higher.
New HDR vs SDR black-level test to help ensure premium black-level performance in HDR mode while reducing power consumption and improving battery life (e.g., in laptop displays)
New black crush test to measure the accuracy of multiple black luminance levels to ensure displays have tremendous shadow detail for photo or video creation or consumption
New subtitle luminance flicker test to help ensure ideal local dimming behavior when luminance levels adjust rapidly, such as when subtitles instantly appear and disappear on an otherwise dark movie scene.
“HDR is rapidly becoming a key feature, especially for gaming,” said Greg Staten, Distinguished Technologist for Color at HP (a VESA member) and VESA board member. “With the VESA DisplayHDR 1.2 release we continue to raise the quality and accuracy bar ensuring that customers can trust the quality of displays carrying the VESA DisplayHDR logo.”

According to Jang Seok-ho, vice president of LG Electronics’ IT development division, “LG Electronics is proud to participate in VESA’s DisplayHDR 1.2 testing and logo program. We believe that the rapidly growing monitor market will see even greater innovation thanks to VESA releasing the DisplayHDR 1.2 standard, which has enhanced realistic color and excellent clarity testing, offering the opportunity to deliver more realistic images in gaming monitors. We are proud that the upcoming LG UltraGear™ brand 45GS95QE OLED gaming monitor is the first to be certified to the VESA DisplayHDR 1.2 standard, ensuring that it meets new testing requirements and delivers the highest level of visual experience to customers. LG is also releasing a new 2024 model, which we believe is well equipped to meet the high standards required by VESA’s performance tests as well as meet the expectations and diverse needs of today’s consumers.”

According to Vincent Chiou, corporate vice president, general manager of Display Business Unit & ProArt Committee Chairman of ASUS, “ASUS has consistently demonstrated commitment to delivering exceptional visual experiences through the adoption of rigorous performance benchmarks in many of our high-performance monitors. We believe that this latest VESA DisplayHDR standard brings significant performance enhancements, including wider color gamut coverage and enabling ASUS professional monitors to reproduce the colors with unprecedented accuracy. By embracing the upgrade DisplayHDR v1.2 standard across our product line, ASUS ensures that our customers will enjoy a consistent and cutting-edge HDR experience, pushing our technology to the forefront of the industry. Commitment to this progress not only reflects our continuous investment in innovation but also opens a new chapter in visual experience for our customers.”

For More Information

More information on the DisplayHDR compliance test specification and VESA Certified DisplayHDR logo program can be found at https://displayhdr.org/. A specification performance summary table for the updated DisplayHDR 1.2 is available for download at https://displayhdr.org/performance-criteria/.