Dolby has a remarkable track record of making extremely technical features seem absolutely indispensable to movie fans in both the theatrical and home cinema worlds. The secret to its success actually isn’t that complicated, though: it’s simply a result of the fact the enhancements to audio and video experiences that its systems deliver are so substantial and undeniable that punters who care even a little about their AV experience are prepared to go out of their way - and to pay more - to secure a Dolby-graded presentation.
Ever since its launch in 2014, at the very start of the ‘high dynamic range’ video revolution, Dolby’s premier picture quality technology, Dolby Vision, has delivered such palpable picture quality advantages that it’s become a must-have for many serious home cinema fans. And now it has a sequel. Dolby Vision 2, as this sequel is cunningly known, is of course designed to enhance video playback. But in some ways it’s quite different in its intent and effects to the original Dolby Vision, so will AV fans embrace the sequel as whole-heartedly as the format that started it all?
To fully understand Dolby Vision 2 I first need to reiterate what’s what with the original Dolby Vision. Essentially it’s designed to improve high dynamic range playback by creating an end-to-end video ecosystem capable of optimising the way content appears on compatible TVs and projectors. As well as creating the sort of consistency you can only get with such a closed eco-system, Dolby Vision adds extra scene-by-scene metadata not present in basic HDR10 feeds that compatible displays can use to deliver the most accurate and dynamic HDR experience that display is capable of.
Dolby Vision 2 adds no less than seven new features to the original Dolby Vision system. Many of them (perhaps controversially for the more puritanical wing of the home cinema fanbase) are aimed at helping content take fuller advantage of the vast advances in TV technology that have come our way over the past 12 years. When it comes to brightness, contrast and colour coverage, today’s TVs have become almost unrecognisable compared to the models available when Dolby Vision was first created.
John Coulson, Dolby’s venerable VP of Entertainment at Dolby Laboratories, said this when Dolby Vision 2 was first unveiled in late 2025: “we’ve reached an inflection point where TV technology has dramatically changed while artists continue to demand even more innovative tools. Dolby Vision 2 redefines how we think of Dolby Vision to unleash the full capabilities of modern TVs while giving artists unprecedented opportunities to push their creative boundaries further than ever before”.
As with the original Dolby Vision system, DV2 is an end-to-end solution that must be built into content as well as implemented by DV2-capable displays. Some of its features, though, can be used to improve existing Dolby Vision content.
Some of Dolby Vision 2’s features are designed for, and only work on, premium TVs - which has led to Dolby Vision 2 being divided into two versions: Dolby Vision 2 Core and Dolby Vision 2 Max. I’ll begin exploring the seven new features with the three that are part of the Core system (and so available on all DV2-capable TVs), and then cover the remaining four that are only unlocked by suitably powerful premium TVs.
New image engine - available with Dolby Vision 2 Core and Max TVs
Dolby is quite happy to go into detail on most of Dolby Vision 2’s features, but it’s a little vague on this one. It’s simply described as “a redesigned and more powerful image engine [which] when combined with Dolby Vision’s extensive content ecosystem unlocks even more out of your TV.”
While specifics may be a little lacking, though, this is one of the features that can work on old Dolby Vision content to make it look better on the new breed of DV2 TVs than it would look with just the old Dolby Vision system in play.
Content Intelligence - available with Dolby Vision 2 Core and Max TVs
This is actually an umbrella term for a series of creative-led image enhancements Dolby Vision 2 introduces to the DV picture universe. Combining precise instructions embedded in every title, a suite of AI-based enhancements, the specifics of your TV and analysis of the room conditions you’re watching the content in, ‘content intelligence’ works to automatically optimise the way pictures are presented.
Among the elements available with ‘Content Intelligence’ at all DV2 levels are a ‘Light Sense’ component and a ‘Sports and Gaming Optimisation’ system. The first combines advanced ambient light detection and new reference lighting data to allow ‘content intelligence’ to adapt the TV’s pictures to its current environment - always while retaining creative intent. The second, meanwhile, takes genre information embedded in the DV2 metadata to optimise picture settings for two of the most popular (but also difficult) types of content a TV will be asked to display.
The explanation for the ‘Content Intelligence’ system already available on Hisense’s UR9 RGB LED TVs states that “white point, sharpness and motion settings are controlled by the content distributor to optimise the experience” - a handy look at how in-depth the system’s workings are. Note that the ‘content intelligence’ system is an option you select in a DV2 TV’s menus, rather than something that’s always running in the background by default.
Intensity slider - available with Dolby Vision 2 Core and Max TVs
This provides TVs with a simple slider adjustment that lets you set the intensity at which DV2’s picture enhancement tools work. It’s a DV2 personalisation feature, basically - one that works more intelligently than regular image ‘boosters’ by taking many more image elements into account, and always retaining a link to creative intent.
Dolby states this feature can be particularly useful for compensating for the contrast that TVs (especially more affordable TVs) can lose through viewing angle limitations or onscreen reflections. So it can be considered a tool for helping TVs better retain creative intent in the face of specific hardware limitations.
Authentic Motion - available only with Dolby Vision 2 Max TVs
This is arguably the most controversial part of the Dolby Vision 2 spec - it takes on Hollywood luminaries such as Tom Cruise by daring to suggest a degree of motion compensation can actually enhance the way movies look on TVs. Crucially, though, the feature is placed entirely in the hands of content creators, enabling them to adjust frame rates - even on a scene-by-scene basis - to eliminate judder while also making sure films don’t start to look like soap operas. So it’s much more sophisticated and reactive than the basic motion processing/frame interpolation systems TVs typically provide. Its flexibility is why it’s only available on TVs with powerful processors capable of delivering the required levels of variable motion compensation control the system requires.
This feature cannot be added to existing Dolby Vision masters by your TV - it has to be baked into the metadata of new Dolby Vision 2 masters.
Light Sense 2 - available only with Dolby Vision 2 Max TVs
This is a more sophisticated take on the ‘Light Sense’ element used in the core ‘Content Intelligence’ engine that’s capable of reading more ambient light ‘data’ and delivering more refined picture adjustment results. So you can be sure that the TV is retaining artistic intent (particularly when it comes to retaining shadow details) even when you’re watching the darkest scenes in the brightest rooms.
Bi-Directional Tone Mapping - designed for Dolby Vision 2 Max TVs
This is another part of Dolby Vision 2’s user-selectable ‘Content Intelligence’ feature that’s designed with ‘Max’ tier TVs in mind. When Dolby Vision was first created, TVs were typically much less bright, and supported much narrower colour gamuts than content masterers were using. So the Dolby Vision tone mapping ‘instructions’ only worked one way, providing instructions to help TVs scale down the source image’s colour intensity and brightness more effectively.
Today’s premium TVs, though, have advanced massively in terms of the brightness and colour they can support, to the point where, in some cases, their capabilities comfortably outstrip the light and colour values typically used in the content mastering process. So Dolby Vision 2 introduces a truly dynamic image match-up between content and screen for the first time - metadata can be added to the content to help premium TVs ‘map’ Dolby Vision masters UP to meet their extreme colour and brightness capabilities. ‘Tone Mapping’ instructions are no longer just about telling low-luminance, limited-colour TVs how to best cope with scaling source images down.
In summary, ‘Bi-Directional Tone Mapping’ lets content creators specify exactly how they would like their work to appear on a much wider range of TVs, from budget sets through to very latest top-end MiniLED and OLED TVs. And with the added bonus that this approach can always ‘keep up’ with further advances in colour and brightness future TVs may bring.
‘Pro’ settings - available only with Dolby Vision 2 Max TVs
When DV2 was first announced, this part of the new format was simply described by Dolby as referring to an array of settings to give enthusiasts an extra level of control over how their display performs. I’ve had the chance to see DV2 in action - and the ‘Pro’ settings appear to include a 20-point white balance adjustment, plus a series of adjustments contained within a ‘Pro Reference’ Dolby Vision 2 picture preset that contains a selection of new HDR fine-tuning options.
These comprise a ‘Peak Luminance’ sliding adjustment, a ‘Minimum Luminance’ sliding adjustment, the option to turn the advanced ‘Ambient Light’ sensor on or off, and a ‘Precision Black’ option that tackles a common consumer complaint around HDR images (they look too dark in relatively bright living room conditions) by raising its brightness intelligently enough to ensure that the artistic intent of the original content remains intact.
While seemingly simple on the surface, making a single adjustment to any of the options in the ‘Pro Reference’ Dolby Vision 2 menu actually sees the DV2 engine adjusting multiple interconnected picture elements to maintain a natural and consistent look for the resulting image. While always (to repeat the Dolby mantra) seeking to maintain artistic intent based on the extra interlocking image data you can only get with a closed source-to-screen system like Dolby Vision 2.
The hardware
At the time of writing, TVs already equipped with Dolby Vision 2 are few and far between. In fact, it’s only available so far on some of Hisense’s premium models: the UX, UR9, UR9, U7 and U7 Pro. TCL has stated, though, that Dolby Vision 2 will be coming to its X11L, C8L, C7L and R9L TVs via firmware update at some point soon, while Philips in Europe has promised that Dolby Vision 2 will be arriving on its latest OLED811, OLED+911 and OLED951 TVs early in 2027.
In terms of content created in Dolby Vision 2, broadcast seems to be leading the way for a change - Peacock and Canal+ are the first to openly say they will be using the format with their content. At the time of writing, no movie studio has formally declared an intention to add Dolby Vision 2 to its 4K Blu-ray mastering process.
With Dolby Vision 2 content not yet available in the UK, the only experience I’ve had of the system has been via a Hisense UR9 TV. I was able to play with some of the provided options (those that can apply to existing Dolby Vision content, rather than needing a Dolby Vision 2 master) and witness the impact it has on existing Dolby Vision sources. And I have to say that I was blown away by what it did for this particular TV.
For one thing, Dolby Vision 2 makes original Dolby Vision content look so much better than HDR10 footage put through Hisense’s own dynamic tone mapping systems it’s hard to believe the images are being dictated by the TV. The precision, balance, naturalism, detail, light control and vibrancy of DV2-upgraded Dolby Vision images are all streets ahead of the regular HDR10 pictures.
The brightness and vibrancy of the Dolby Vision images after being run through DV2’s picture upgrade features, too, pushes way past the muted look associated with ‘accurate’ Dolby Vision presets of the past - and with truly transformative results. So much so that the upgrade it can deliver to existing Dolby Vision sources might be reason enough in itself for enthusiasts to buy a DV2-capable TV, even if significant amounts of natively mastered DV2 content takes a while to come online.
Maybe some AV purists will take issue with the whole idea of ‘opening up’ Dolby Vision masters like DV2 can, but I can only stress that every aspect of the Dolby Vision 2 picture upgrade feels completely natural, balanced, nuanced and, for want of a better word, earned - and at no point do I feel there is anything forced or contrary to creative intent about what it is doing.
It remains to be seen both how effective Dolby Vision 2’s content-baked features might turn out to be, and how widely Dolby Vision 2 will be adopted by both TV manufacturers and content creators. We will hopefully get to see true DV2 content in action soon, but based on my experience of both the TV hardware and content creation sides of the AV world, I suspect Dolby is likely to have more trouble persuading the creative community to embrace everything DV2 has to offer than TV manufacturers. If anyone can tempt content creators out of their typically conservative approach to video production, though, it’s Dolby.
