Where do I stand on Dolby Vision 2? That’s a good question.
Back at IFA 2025 when Dolby Vision 2 was first announced, there was a degree of confusion about who was supporting it. Even major TV brands seemed caught off guard by the announcement.
Move forward a few months later to CES 2026, and at its Dolby Live centre in the Park MGM, Dolby laid out its proposal. More TV manufacturers have added their names to support it. I’ve seen it in action and it was looking pretty good.
But now I’m back to being confused again.
Having attended ‘LG Day’, where tech journos from the UK and Europe were presented with LG’s vision for the upcoming year, I decided to stick my head above the parapet and ask an LG representative why the Korean giant wasn’t supporting Dolby Vision 2.
The answer wasn’t surprising, and it was more of an opinion rather than an official statement, but it was enough to cast doubt on how much impact Dolby Vision 2 will have when it launches this year.
There’s no real ecosystem… yet
Dolby Vision 2 is essentially a new HDR format. I was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that existing Dolby Vision titles could be upscaled to take advantage of Dolby Vision 2’s benefits.
That was not the gist I for from this conversation.
The implication was that in order to make Dolby Vision 2 content, there needed to be mastering/studio grading suites that supported it, and currently these do not exist. It relies on different metadata from Dolby Vision, so content would need to be mastered specifically for it.
So while Dolby has announced an agreement with Canal+ (France) and Peacock (US) to stream in Dolby Vision 2, in terms of mastering and grading, the ground would seem to be quite thin, at least outside of Dolby’s own matsering equipment. And these agreements with Canal+ and Peacock don’t focus on films or TV series, but broadcasts instead…
I’d be surprised if Dolby wasn’t staggering out announcements but you’d have thought by now that the likes of Disney, Sky, Netflix and others might have said something – anything – about ramping up Dolby Vision 2 content. The silence from these big players is becoming more noticeable.
If I was a customer looking to buy a TV in 2026, someone who cared about picture quality enoughI don’t think I’d be excited about the prospect that this box has Dolby Vision 2 planted on its sides, but I don’t subscribe to the app that supports it, and therefore cannot view Dolby Vision 2 content… yet.
The conversation then started to spill out. If there’s no Dolby Vision 2 content expected this year (at least in a widespread sense), why not (have TV brands) include support in their upcoming TVs to future proof so when it does become more available, people can view it. A fair argument to make, I’d say.
It was argued that without the availablility of real-world content to use, future-proofing is purely speculative. An example brought up was that of HDMI 2.1. Manufacturers supported the format ahead of its introduction because they knew it was coming – they knew gaming consoles etc were on their way that were going to support it, so while there wasn’t anything to connect when the TVs came out, a few years later, there would be.
It’s this argument that’s quite plausible, to me. The lack of any comment from LG, Sony, Panasonic/Skyworth – there was zero mention of Dolby Vision 2 at the Panasonic Experience Event in Munich – suggests they aren’t convinced there’s anything substantial coming this year. And given the Dolby Vision 2 appears to require a new chipset, the above brands haven’t confirmed whether they’re chipsets are compatible or not.
This, along with the somewhat stonewall responses provided at IFA 2026, might suggest that the cart is in front of horse with regards to Dolby Vision 2. Dolby has announced it but there isn’t a groundswell of support for it. I imagine HDR10+ Advanced is in a similar position.
While Dolby is a technology company, it makes its money licensing its technology. Would TV brands license technology that its customers would not have access to? And in paying for the license, is the cost of license added to the final cost of the TV, resulting in slightly higher prices? Can you upsell a feature when the feature isn’t available?
So again, we’re back to being plenty more questions about Dolby Vision 2; and I’m sure, just like it was at CES, that Dolby will have answers. But at this moment in time, Dolby Vision 2 isn’t looking quite as clear and vivid as I’d hoped.
Right now, there should be momentum behind Dolby Vision 2, but a seeming lack of interest from TV manufaturers and a lack of content is not helping it.
