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It addresses two scourges of modern TV viewing—but maybe not in the way we want.
A nondescript promotional image for Dolby Vision 2. Credit: Dolby
Dolby has announced the features of Dolby Vision 2, its successor to the popular Dolby Vision HDR format.
Whereas the original Dolby Vision was meant to give creators the ability to finely tune exactly how TVs present content in HDR, Dolby Vision 2 appears to significantly broaden that feature to include motion handling as well—and it also tries to bridge the gap between filmmaker intent and the on-the-ground reality of the individual viewing environments.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, Dolby says one of the pillars of Dolby Vision 2 will be "Content Intelligence," which introduces new "AI capabilities" to the Dolby Vision spec. Among other things, that means using sensors in the TV to try to fix the oft-complained-about issue of shows being too dark.
Many editors and filmmakers tweak their video content to be best viewed in a dark room on a high-end TV with strong peak brightness, contrast, color accuracy, and so on. Unfortunately, that sometimes means that some shows are laughably dark on anything but the most optimal target setup—think Apple TV+'s Silo, or the infamous Battle of Winterfell in the final season of Game of Thrones, both of which many people complained were too dark for clear viewing.
With Content Intelligence, Dolby Vision 2 will allegedly make the image "crystal clear" by "improving clarity in any viewing environment without compromising intent." Further, it will use ambient light detection sensors in supporting TVs to adjust the content's presentation based on how bright the viewer's room is.
Fixing motion smoothing—or making it worse?
There's plenty that's going to be controversial in Content Intelligence with some purists, but it's another feature called Authentic Motion that's probably going to cause the biggest stir for Dolby Vision 2.
Dolby calls this "the world’s first creative driven motion control tool to make scenes feel more authentically cinematic without unwanted judder on a shot-by-shot basis."
Some years ago, TV manufacturers began including motion smoothing (sometimes called "the soap opera effect") as a feature in almost all their TVs. This feature basically makes it appear as if video content has a higher frame rate than it actually does (like 60 frames per second instead of film's usual 24), and to adjust for the judder that may occur because 24 fps doesn't map neatly to 60Hz display.
Many casual viewers love it. Most cinephiles despise it, as it comes with artifacts and makes cinematic content seem more like a 60 fps home video. Furthermore, many filmmakers have also spoken out loudly against it, saying it undermines artistic intent.
Here, Dolby is positing that it has solved the issue by allowing filmmakers scene-by-scene control over when and how much this software and hardware feature is leveraged.
At this point, it's unclear how that will play out. Will it look meaningfully different from current motion smoothing options? What benefit is there to offering it on a scene-by-scene basis? What, if anything, does it do to address artifacting?
We'll likely have to wait until the Consumer Electronics Show in January to find out. So far, Dolby has announced that Hisense plans to support it in its new TVs, and CANAL+ will support it on the content creation side. It will be offered in two tiers: Dolby Vision 2 for low-end and mid-range TVs, and Dolby Vision 2 Max for high-end sets—though it's not entirely clear what all the finer points of distinction will be. No launch dates have been set.
A nondescript promotional image for Dolby Vision 2. Credit: Dolby
Dolby has announced the features of Dolby Vision 2, its successor to the popular Dolby Vision HDR format.
Whereas the original Dolby Vision was meant to give creators the ability to finely tune exactly how TVs present content in HDR, Dolby Vision 2 appears to significantly broaden that feature to include motion handling as well—and it also tries to bridge the gap between filmmaker intent and the on-the-ground reality of the individual viewing environments.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, Dolby says one of the pillars of Dolby Vision 2 will be "Content Intelligence," which introduces new "AI capabilities" to the Dolby Vision spec. Among other things, that means using sensors in the TV to try to fix the oft-complained-about issue of shows being too dark.
Many editors and filmmakers tweak their video content to be best viewed in a dark room on a high-end TV with strong peak brightness, contrast, color accuracy, and so on. Unfortunately, that sometimes means that some shows are laughably dark on anything but the most optimal target setup—think Apple TV+'s Silo, or the infamous Battle of Winterfell in the final season of Game of Thrones, both of which many people complained were too dark for clear viewing.
With Content Intelligence, Dolby Vision 2 will allegedly make the image "crystal clear" by "improving clarity in any viewing environment without compromising intent." Further, it will use ambient light detection sensors in supporting TVs to adjust the content's presentation based on how bright the viewer's room is.
Fixing motion smoothing—or making it worse?
There's plenty that's going to be controversial in Content Intelligence with some purists, but it's another feature called Authentic Motion that's probably going to cause the biggest stir for Dolby Vision 2.
Dolby calls this "the world’s first creative driven motion control tool to make scenes feel more authentically cinematic without unwanted judder on a shot-by-shot basis."
Some years ago, TV manufacturers began including motion smoothing (sometimes called "the soap opera effect") as a feature in almost all their TVs. This feature basically makes it appear as if video content has a higher frame rate than it actually does (like 60 frames per second instead of film's usual 24), and to adjust for the judder that may occur because 24 fps doesn't map neatly to 60Hz display.
Many casual viewers love it. Most cinephiles despise it, as it comes with artifacts and makes cinematic content seem more like a 60 fps home video. Furthermore, many filmmakers have also spoken out loudly against it, saying it undermines artistic intent.
Here, Dolby is positing that it has solved the issue by allowing filmmakers scene-by-scene control over when and how much this software and hardware feature is leveraged.
At this point, it's unclear how that will play out. Will it look meaningfully different from current motion smoothing options? What benefit is there to offering it on a scene-by-scene basis? What, if anything, does it do to address artifacting?
We'll likely have to wait until the Consumer Electronics Show in January to find out. So far, Dolby has announced that Hisense plans to support it in its new TVs, and CANAL+ will support it on the content creation side. It will be offered in two tiers: Dolby Vision 2 for low-end and mid-range TVs, and Dolby Vision 2 Max for high-end sets—though it's not entirely clear what all the finer points of distinction will be. No launch dates have been set.
