Dolby Vision too dark? Dolby Vision 2 promises an AI-powered fix

Streaming images can really pop when the contrast-boosting Dolby Vision is on the case, but Dolby’s HDR technology is also the target of a frequent complaint: It’s too dark. 

The issue arises because what content creators see in their production studios can differ greatly from what we see in our living rooms. Video pros work with calibrated reference monitors in perfectly lit conditions; we, on the other hand, watch on consumer TVs with many different makes, models, and display technologies and in myriad lighting environments, from a pitch-black room to a brightly lit kitchen. 

That means content creators must take a one-size-fits-all approach when “grading” the brightest and darkest images of the picture for Dolby Vision, and in some cases, that means some viewers will be left straining to see what’s happening on their screens. 

Now comes the next generation of Dolby Vision—the aptly named Dolby Vision 2—and with the help of AI, it aims to deliver more of a two-way approach (or “bi-directional” tone mapping, as Dolby is calling it) that can tailor Dolby Vision HDR images for your particular TV, and even according to the light in the room where you’re watching. 

Debuting this week at IFA in Berlin, Dolby Vision 2 arrives with an important caveat: It will only work on forthcoming TVs with built-in Dolby Vision 2 circuitry. Hisense is the first TV manufacturer to get on board with the upgraded HDR standard, with its first Dolby Vision 2-enabled TVs to land “at a later date,” the brand says. 

On the content side, CANAL+ is the first studio to pledge its support for Dolby Vision 2 on its upcoming movies, TV shows, and live sporting events. 

Among Dolby Vision 2’s bag of tricks is Precision Black, a feature that measures the ambient light conditions in a content creator’s production area, embeds the information in the Dolby Vision stream, and then matches it with the display capabilities of a given Dolby Vision 2-enabled TV. That way, the images on your set can come closer to looking the way they do in the grading studio. 

Taking things a step further is Light Sense, which tailors the HDR images even further by “capturing” the light levels in your living room via “advanced” ambient light detection.

With Precision Black and Light Sense working in tandem (both are part of an AI-powered toolkit that Dolby’s calling Content Intelligence), Dolby Vision 2 aims to fix the “too dark” issue that’s been a nagging problem for the first major version of the HDR technology. 

Another arrow in Dolby Vision 2’s quiver is Authentic Motion, which (according to Dolby) goes “beyond the benefits of HDR” to help deal with the “challenges of judder.”  

Rather than being a ham-fisted motion-smoothing setting that can lead to the dreaded “soap-opera effect,” Authentic Motion allows video creatives to pinpoint “potential trouble areas” of a scene and “adjust the amount of de-judder for the specific shots or scenes they feel best match the look of what they’re trying in convey,” Dolby says.   

In addition to straight-up Dolby Vision 2, there will also be a step-up Dolby Vision 2 Max that’s “designed to unlock the full capabilities and best picture quality on the highest performing TVs.” The specifics of Dolby Vision 2 Max will come “at a later date,” I’m told. 

A Dolby spokesperson declined to speculate on when we might actually get to see Dolby Vision 2-enhanced videos at home.