4 reasons Dolby Vision 2 isn’t ready for prime-time yet

If you haven’t been paying extremely close attention to AV news, you may have missed the fact that Dolby recently announced Dolby Vision 2, an update to its HDR (high dynamic range) format. That’s a big deal — Vision 1 is already considered an industry benchmark, and it’s rare for Dolby to launch any new standard, whether in audio or video. You might think of Dolby Atmos as relatively new, but that’s only in homes. The theatrical version dates back to 2012.

Don’t panic about upgrading your home theater setup just yet. Vision 2 will inevitably be crucial a few years from now, but at the moment, it’s pure hype. There are several reasons for that, and even once it is ready, there may not be any huge incentive to switch over. It depends on how much you care about movies and TV shows.

4

There isn’t any Vision 2 content ready

All dressed up with nowhere to go

Currently, the only content provider of any kind that has pledged support for Vision 2 is France’s Canal+. You’ve probably seen the StudioCanal label in front of some famous films, such as Paddington and Terminator 2. Canal+’s main business, however, is operating TV and streaming services, most of them targeted exclusively at a French audience. It’s unclear which of these things Vision 2 will affect first — though it will ultimately come to all of them.

Needless to say, neither StudioCanal movies nor French-only channels are much of a reason to invest in a Vision 2-compatible TV. It’s smarter to wait until all the major Hollywood studios are onboard, or better yet, international streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+. Only then will there be a meaningful number of movies and shows optimized for the format, and you might still be disappointed by the selection — there’s no guarantee classics like Apocalypse Now will get a Vision 2 remaster, let alone smaller or more obscure titles.

3

There aren’t any Vision 2 devices ready

Be prepared to pony up

Hisense is confirmed to be working on a series of Vision 2-capable TVs, all powered by MediaTek Pentonic 800 processors. At least some of these sets will make use of RGB mini-LED, an evolution of existing mini-LED technology with color reproduction superior to OLED. Expect to pay a hefty premium for those, as you would anything on the bleeding edge.

Exact prices and release dates are still under wraps, however. So while you might be able to get your hands on a Vision 2 set by the end of 2025, you could also end up waiting until sometime in 2026, for all we know. And of course, not everyone is going to want a Hisense TV. Some people prefer brands like Sony, TCL, or LG. On top of that, if you use an add-on media streamer, you may need to wait for it to receive a software update — assuming that’s a possibility. There’s a strong chance that Vision 2 support will be one of the highlights of the 2025 Apple TV 4K.

2

The best features are reserved for the most expensive TVs

A new class division

Hisense

There isn’t any fundamental split when it comes to Vision 1. Some TVs better exploit its potential, of course, and models with Vision IQ can automatically adjust to ambient light conditions. Otherwise, though, Dolby Vision is Dolby Vision, whether you’re watching on a $600 TV or a $6,000 one.

Not so with Vision 2. That’s because there will be a tier called Vision 2 Max, with “additional premium features” meant to provide “the best picture on the highest performing TVs,” as Dolby puts it. The company is vague on details, but only Max TVs will be guaranteed to support things like bi-directional tone mapping, Authentic Motion, and Light Sense (Vision IQ’s replacement). Some features, like Light Sense, may carry over to TVs with the “regular” version of Vision 2. But as things stand, the only things a Vision 2 TV is guaranteed to get are the new Dolby Image Engine and Content Intelligence, the second providing enhancements to areas like shadow detail and motion-heavy content like sports and gaming.

For the majority of people, then, it’s probably worth waiting a while until Max TVs come down in price. Base hardware is always improving in the TV industry — there’s a reasonable chance that in a couple of years, Max specs will be commonplace.

1

There might not be any meaningful difference

In many cases, anyway

Disney

Aspects like bit depth and maximum luminance aren’t improved in Vision 2. There’s no point, really — Vision 1 is already capable of more colors than your eye can detect, and no consumer TV supports 10,000 nits of peak brightness. Indoors, even 3,000 nits would be blinding — that’s as much as my Apple Watch Ultra 2 produces when it’s competing with the midday sun.

Vision 2’s enhancements to motion and black detail should be noticeable in some circumstances, but Dolby itself says that much of the benefit will come from allowing filmmakers to more accurately transition media to the home. Bi-directional tone mapping, for instance, will allow studios to dictate how content looks on TVs both below and above reference specs, in theory preventing issues like a dimmer TV losing visible detail. Similarly, Authentic Motion will let filmmakers de-judder some scenes shot at 24 frames per second, without the risk of the “soap opera” effect produced by keeping framerates consistently over that threshold. I’m looking at you, 48fps version of The Hobbit.

Regardless, the overriding problem is that studios will need to remaster video with updated metadata, as I hinted earlier. A Vision 2-ready TV isn’t going to make a Vision 1 movie look any better, and when remastering does happen, it may only produce subtle changes. If you’re already enjoying the Vision 1 mix of something like Andor or 2001: A Space Odyssey, don’t expect the same sort of revelation you’d get from upgrading from 720p SD to 4K HDR. That’s all the more true in the case of a movie like 2001 — there’s only so much detail you can extract from nearly 60-year-old film negatives.