Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 defined | PCWorld

When Dolby Labs introduced Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 in September 2025, I didn’t actually get it.

The unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient was straightforward to grasp: In case your TV and streaming content material supported it, you’d get a brighter image with extra shade element, notably in shadows and highlights. I keep in mind being blown away by the know-how when it first debuted at CES 2014, particularly in comparison with the 4K shows and curved panels that TV makers have been hyping up on the time.

The enhancements Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 guarantees aren’t as easy. Whereas Dolby’s preliminary press launch makes use of all types of jargon to explain the brand new format (with phrases like “Content material Intelligence” and “Genuine Movement”), the tangible advantages are more durable to parse.

Fortuitously, CES 2026 supplied a possibility to see Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 up shut, examine it with the unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient, and get some questions answered. Whereas Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2’s advantages are a bit murkier, they not less than tackle some annoyances with streaming video at the moment.

Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 offers with HDR’s darkness points

HDR (excessive dynamic vary) is a characteristic in lots of fashionable TVs that enables for higher variations between the darkest and brightest components of a picture, with extra shade element in between. With HDR, for instance, a scene depicting an explosion will exude extra vivid reds and oranges, as a substitute of blown-out whites, whereas HDR in a shadowy scene will likely be rendered with evocative blue and inexperienced hues, as a substitute of simply depicting a muddy grey.

At the least that’s the way it’s alleged to work. However with each HDR format—the unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient together with HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma)—a standard criticism is that darkish scenes can look too darkish. Dolby’s resolution is to assemble extra knowledge about how the content material was made—for example, the creator’s selection of reference monitor, or how a lot ambient gentle was within the color-grading room—and modify brightness on playback accordingly. The thought is to compensate for the distinction between what creators see of their costly modifying suites and what viewers see on their TVs at residence.

“We all know precisely what shadows have been meant to be seen, and never,” mentioned Dolby’s director of enterprise technique, Jonas Klittmark.

Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 goals to make HDR look higher on cheaper TVs

Whereas the unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient usually required a mid-range or higher TV, Dolby is optimizing this new model for cheaper units via a brand new tone-mapping engine. This combines further metadata from creators with native tone mapping, which makes extra granular changes to the colours of every pixel. Native tone mapping is the method of analyzing the big selection of shade of brightness in an HDR picture, after which compressing that knowledge right into a type that the TV you’re watching can really ship.

In a demo at CES, the consequence was a noticeable distinction on what Dolby claimed was a $250 TV that didn’t have any native dimming zones. Subsequent to a comparable set working the unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient, the brand new model produced extra vivid colours.

Jared Newman / Foundry

“The brand new engine is simply rather more able to holding onto the goodness of the unique HDR supply, even on a show that’s fairly restricted in its capabilities, like this,” Klittmark mentioned.

That very same tone-mapping engine additionally provides Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 a neat new trick: It’ll let customers management the depth of the HDR impact via a slider of their TV settings. Customers may need to enhance the impact in a window-lit room with a number of reflections, for example, or dial it again if the image appears too eye-searingly vivid.

Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 permits for smoother movement (with out overdoing it)

One of the crucial intriguing Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 options has nothing to do with HDR in any respect. As a substitute, it’s a characteristic referred to as “Genuine Movement,” which makes for a much less jerky image in scenes with quick movement (the trade refers to this visible jerkiness as “judder”).

In contrast to the much-maligned movement smoothing results on most sensible TVs, which could be so clean that it appears such as you’re watching a cleaning soap opera, Dolby’s characteristic applies only a small quantity of body interpolation in sure scenes, based mostly on metadata delivered by content material suppliers. In a CES demo, Dolby confirmed a film scene during which the digicam swept throughout the room with out the standard judder, however in a method that also felt cinematic.

“In Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2, we’re dynamically via metadata setting the de-judder simply sufficient to take the sting off of the judder, in order that it doesn’t hassle you anymore,” Klittmark mentioned.

Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 Max

Alongside the usual Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2, there will even be a fancier model referred to as Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 Max.

Whereas each variations may have largely the identical options, Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 Max will additional modify the image based mostly on a TV’s ambient gentle sensors; for instance, it can assist to keep away from scenes that look overly darkish. That is successfully an evolution of Dolby Imaginative and prescient IQ, an extension of Dolby Imaginative and prescient that’s obtainable in lots of at the moment’s mid-range to high-end TVs.

Extra importantly, Dolby believes Max will function an general indicator of TV high quality, in the identical method it believes Dolby Imaginative and prescient as soon as did.

When Dolby Imaginative and prescient first arrived within the mid-2010s, many TVs promised HDR compatibility, however weren’t vivid or colourful sufficient to make HDR video look good. Dolby Imaginative and prescient help turned a helpful proxy for understanding for those who’d get a good HDR image. Now that Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 is heading to lower-end TVs, Dolby hopes the “Max” label will assist delineate TVs with superior image high quality.

“Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 Max is for premium TVs, and it’ll principally substitute Dolby Imaginative and prescient out there,” Chris Turkstra, Dolby’s vice chairman of residence gadgets, mentioned. “Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2, which you’ll consider as a normal model of Dolby Imaginative and prescient, that may connect to new TVs that don’t have Dolby Imaginative and prescient at the moment.”

It’ll be some time earlier than Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 issues

Whereas it’s price being conscious of Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 as extra TV makers and streaming companies get on board, it’s nonetheless early days for the format.

To date, solely three TV makers have dedicated to supporting Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2: Hisense will provide it in its top-shelf RGB MiniLED TVs for 2026, TCL may have it in its high-end X11L SQD Mini LEDs and mainstream C collection units, and Panasonic will deliver it to a number of new OLED TVs. In different phrases, the promise of Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 in low-end TVs isn’t materializing anytime quickly.

In the meantime, three different main TV producers–LG, Samsung, and Sony–haven’t introduced their Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 intentions. Samsung, for one, doesn’t help any model of Dolby Imaginative and prescient at the moment–most certainly as a result of it doesn’t need to pay royalties to Dolby.

On the content material facet, Peacock is the one streaming service on board with Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2, which it can help together with the unique Dolby Imaginative and prescient for stay sports activities. Provided that content material makers should additionally help Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 within the modifying course of, it is likely to be some time earlier than extra streamers determine to throw their weight behind it.

Dolby Imaginative and prescient 2 most likely gained’t be an element for anybody pondering of shopping for a brand new TV in 2026. However because the format turns into extra frequent within the years to return, it’s one thing you’ll need to take into consideration, particularly if, like me, you lastly perceive it.

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