Is no one going to address FAKE HDR monitors?

Downside83 · November 18, 2017

Approximately 2 months ago I finally lost it with my TV. Recently I had been well aware of the poor response times of my Sony XBR65X900E. With my Xbox One X was coming soon and already having a Playstation 4 Pro I have become obsessed with beautiful graphics and more specifically colors and contrast. However, I don’t feel like there is any technical reason I should have to trade response times for a beautiful HDR image.

I set out to find the best of both worlds. I began searching up every article and company blog that even mentioned HDR and monitor in the same place and what I noticed is that, unlike televisions, there is a intentional and nasty amount of misinformation in the monitor world involving HDR. Companies inventing and patenting “new HDR technology” so they can miss use marketing buzz words that equate to nothing but vaporware for tricking gamers into spending an extra $100 or so. These gamers are spending millions extra believing the entire time that they are receiving capabilities the company never intended to deliver. To make matters worse, the industries major influencers themselves not only has turned a blind eye to the issue, but a majority are blindly selling these marketing schemes.

So whats the problem? Pretend HDR marketing terms. Dell HDR, HDR Pro, whatever companies chooses to call it…it all means the same thing. Fake HDR. As to not be redundant in telling you info most of you have seen on videos like this one from tech quickie Ill spare everyone the details of what HDR is and how it works. As a quick refresher. It primarily requires 2 major things.

10 bit panel. This is a must. This is the foundation on which the definition of HDR stands. Its what separates these beautiful displays in televisions and monitors from others. It basically takes our typical color range of 16 million colors offered by 8 bit panels and increases it to 1.06 BILLION colors. A measurable increase by anyones standards.
1000 nit brightness how can you display that huge range of colors if the display itself cant get bright enough to help your eye distinguish between them?

As I looked for my next big monitor purchase, I journeyed around the web and bounced from article looking for HDR monitor reviews and lists of 2017 HDR monitors. The disturbing thing is that a vast majority share one thing in common, they feature monitors that aren’t HDR!

For instance this article features the Dell S2718D which according to the article they link to in digital trends is HDR capable. According to dells own website not only doesn’t get anywhere close to the 1000 nits in peak brightness. Its not even a 10 bit panel!

Another example is this article in which only a single monitor was actually HDR capable.The $999 LG 32UD99 advertises HDR10 on their site. LG's own sponsored google ad when searching for this monitor says “Enjoy enhanced brightness and Wide color gamut with HDR.” In fact, not only does their monitor only produces a very underwhelming 350 peak nit brightness, but their panel isn't even a true 10 bit panel. While they do receive the full HDR10 signal their panel is 8bit+FRC which means they flicker between two 8-bit shades of color to fake the colors in between. In fact 4 out of 5 monitors missed BOTH major requirements.

Considering that for every single monitor on these top 5 or 10 monitor lists, there is a dozen articles or videos reviewing each monitor, this has become a significant issue! The problem is the misuse of the word HDR. Dell creates a term like "Dell HDR", slaps it on a standard 8 bit monitor, and jacks the price up $100. Then someone writing an article or making a video about HDR comes along and drops the Dell part and all the sudden a unsuspecting gamer looking for a new monitor is being told this is HDR capable. This has happened in thousands of articles and videos this year alone, adding up to millions of additional dollars spent this year vs the manufactures non-"HDR" counterparts.

This Christmas there will be hundreds of thousands of "gaming" monitors sold for kids and adults alike. Many of which got a brand new Xbox One X or PS4 Pro that want HDR, and think they are getting it.

I really wish I had the audience or the voice to get this message out to stop it. I wrote letters to the editor of every site I found that had this issue. I heard back from no one. The that few did told me they would have to "verify" my story and that that they would "pitch it" if they got the chance. At this point Id settle for a sticky on the LTT forum. Im terrible at writing and this is my first article I think I've ever put out in a forum ever. I assume this will probably get dropped off the front page quick. However, if I can keep one person from making a mistake and getting conned out of and extra $100+ dollars to a company, then its all worth it.

Glenwing · November 18, 2017

It's on my updated FAQ/Mythbuster thread which is still being worked on.

Downside83 · November 18, 2017

27 minutes ago, Glenwing said:

It's on my updated FAQ/Mythbuster thread which is still being worked on.

Glad to hear. Its getting so ridiculous that I'm finding videos on this topic where the "real" HDR unit in a HDR vs Fake HDR still wasn't a real 10bit panel! lol Which means even people who know about this issue are still managing to get tricked into buying fake HDR.

Andrewtst · November 18, 2017

I only find Dell HDR is superb fake. It not even can output the suppose output.

LG do release real HDR monitor but Windows support kind of bad now. I read where sometimes it is broken in certain driver. (I don't own yet any HDR10 monitor).

Real 10bit and that crazy 1000nit brightness is not that necessory IMO. As long it can produce HDR10 in suppose way it is ok.

Real 10bit vs 8bit+HRC is not that noticeable in human naked eye.

Downside83 · November 19, 2017

14 hours ago, Andrewtst said:

Real 10bit and that crazy 1000nit brightness is not that necessory IMO. As long it can produce HDR10 in suppose way it is ok.

Actually its 100% necessary. The UHD Alliance(the guys that decide what the standard is) created a specific HDR standard in which they require for it it to be a true 10 bit panel and 1000 nit peak brightness. To make sure you understand what Im saying. This isn't a matter of "opinion". Its either a display that meets the OFFICIAL HDR standard or it does not. There is no gray area in which we get to debate weather or not its a HDR display.

I have no problems with companies having less. However, they should not be using marketing buzzwords to mislead a consumer into believing they are meeting this standard. Hell, thats the point of the standard. If I read that a product has HDR...then its a 10 bit panel and 1000 nit brightness. Thats the point of it! So we dont have to verify every spec ourselves. Televisions have been following this for years now. Why the heck is all this misleading marketing stuff going on now with monitors? Thats my point of writing this. To keep consumers from thinking if it says HDR that they are getting that standard when in a majority of cases...they are not.