The term ‘HDR’ has been quite the buzzword when it comes to high-end TVs, but now this standard is becoming more and more popular among new monitors as well.
What Does HDR Do?
Having a high-resolution PC monitor with a high-quality panel boasting excellent contrast ratio, high brightness and wide color gamut does not mean that all of your games and other software will be able to take full advantage of it.
This is where HDR (High Dynamic Range) kicks in and implements its metadata to ensure the correct reproduction of all the colors, gamma and brightness levels, among other things.
HDR monitors and TVs recognize the HDR signal and allow for the image to be displayed the way the creator of the content had intended it.
In order for a monitor to deliver a proper HDR viewing experience, it needs to either have an OLED panel or – if it’s an LED-lit LCD, a full-array local dimming (FALD) solution.
A lot of monitors can accept the HDR10 signal but don’t have proper display hardware for good HDR image quality – these are often referred to as “fake HDR monitors.”
VESA DisplayHDR Certification
VESA has DisplayHDR certifications that are meant to help distinguish these fake HDR monitors from those with proper HDR support, however, the certifications are often misleading, so we don’t recommend relying on them.
As you can see DisplayHDR 400, 500, 600, 1000 and 1400 don’t require a monitor to have a full-array local dimming solution. The DisplayHDR 400, 500 and 1000 True Black tiers are meant for OLED displays, which we’ll get into later.
LCD HDR Monitors
Now, the most important aspect of HDR is that the monitor can simultaneously display deep blacks and bright highlights, which is not possible without FALD on LED-backlit LCDs.
For instance, the Sony Inzone M9 with DisplayHDR 600 has a 96-zone FALD solution, whereas the LG 32GQ950 with DisplayHDR 1000 has a 32-zone edge-lit local dimming solution.
Sure, the LG 32GQ950 can get a bit brighter, but its local dimming is not nearly as effective at creating a high dynamic range as the Sony M9. In the end, the Sony M9 with a lower-tier DisplayHDR 600 certification offers a better HDR image quality than the LG 32GQ950.
Monitors with edge-lit local dimming can improve some HDR scenes where dark and bright objects are far apart or by dimming the blacks bars when watching a 21:9 movie on a 16:9 screen.
However, edge-lit local dimming backlights can also cause distracting artifacts in a lot of scenes, so we don’t recommend these displays if HDR is your main goal.
Even FALD displays will exhibit blooming artifacts in demanding scenes (fireworks, stars in the night sky, etc.), but most users find it tolerable since it only occurs in those scenes.
Therefore, instead of relying on VESA certifications, we recommend checking out our best HDR monitors buyer’s guide for the best options and more information.
Alternatively, you can check out our mini LED monitor list, where you can filter out monitors by the number of dimming zones, peak brightness and other specifications.
OLED HDR Monitors
OLED displays have per-pixel dimming as they don’t rely on a backlight to produce an image. Each pixel emits its own light and can be completely turned off for true blacks thus providing a basically infinite contrast ratio.
OLED panels also don’t have any backlight bleeding, blooming or glowing visual artifacts like FALD monitors, but they have the risk of image burn-in, lower peak brightness and uncommon subpixel layouts.
All OLED panels have excellent color gamut coverage, which in addition to their infinite contrast ratio already ensures amazing HDR image quality. They do have different brightness capabilities, but again, VESA’s DisplayHDR certification won’t help you here.
For instance, both the Philips 27E1N8900 and the Dell AW3423DWF have DisplayHDR 400 True Black certification.
Both displays meet the 250-nits full-screen and 400-nits 10% center patch tests, however, when it comes to smaller ~3% patch tests (not covered by VESA), the Dell AW3423DWF can achieve 1,000-nits, while the Philips 27E1N8900 is limited to around 520-nits.
Needless to say, the AW3423DWF offers a more immersive HDR viewing experience with punchier highlights yet both displays have the same VESA DisplayHDR certification.
So, if you want the best OLED HDR display, we recommend checking out our best HDR monitors buyer’s guide or full reviews.
Conclusion
The good news is that nowadays there’s plenty of HDR content as well as a lot of decent and reasonably priced HDR monitors available. So, if you want to enjoy HDR, a good FALD or OLED HDR monitor is definitely worth it.
