Dolby has announced Dolby Vision 2, an updated and upgraded version of its proprietary HDR format that’s found in several of our picks for the best TVs of 2025. The highlights include, well, the promise of better highlights, plus easier playback and other improvements.
But don’t worry — your TV’s not going to go dark. This isn’t a format replacement. In fact, if your TV is Dolby Vision compatible now, you shouldn’t notice any changes. DV2 brings a few behind-the-scenes upgrades on the production side, along with changes to new TVs that will carry the Dolby Vision 2 branding. Those updates could be pretty interesting, as I’ll explain below.
Since this was just announced, we’ve only got basic info, but we’ll talk about this more as we start getting our hands on DV2-compatible TVs.
Dolby Vision 2
At the core of DV2 is a “redesigned and even more powerful image engine.” What that means isn’t entirely clear, but the idea seems to be that it takes advantage of how much brighter and more capable TVs have become since Dolby Vision first launched. DV2 seems to be designed to take advantage of that greater performance with new tone mapping, among other improvements. Helping creatives take better advantage of the capabilities of modern TVs is part of the behind-the-scenes upgrades as well.
The biggest change with DV2 is “Content Intelligence,” which “introduces new tools to better bridge the creative suite to the viewer’s living room.” As in, what you see at home is closer to what the creative team behind the show or movie you’re watching wanted you to see. Broadly speaking, this aspect is to help HDR content look better on a wider variety of screens and viewing environments. There are three aspects to this. Here’s how Dolby describes them:
Perfect Black is intriguing. In my reviews, I’ve often found that displays with poor HDR performance actually look brighter and better with HDR turned off — projectors especially. How Precision Black will work remains to be seen, but hopefully this is more than just automatically adjusting the brightness. I think Dolby’s use of the words “clear” and “clarity” here are more in the vernacular sense, not related to detail or sharpness.
Put simply, this means brightening the image when there’s a lot of ambient light in the room and darkening it when there isn’t. Many displays already do this automatically, so it makes sense that Dolby would want to take back control on behalf of creators. How well it works in practice remains to be seen.
Lastly, there’s Sports and Gaming Optimization, which aims to will “address the unique needs of live sports and gaming.” Part of that includes what I think is the most interesting and potentially controversial aspect of DV2: Authentic Motion.
“Authentic Motion”
One of the things I despise most about new TVs and projectors is motion smoothing, aka the soap opera effect. “Hate” doesn’t even cover it — and I’m not alone. It’s an abomination of a technology, and I honestly can’t fathom why anyone would enjoy it. Yet people do, so what do I know? Now, with DV2’s new Authentic Motion feature, Dolby is pushing beyond the confines of HDR:
Authentic Motion is billed as the world’s first creative-driven motion control tool, designed to make scenes feel more cinematic without unwanted judder, adjusted on a shot-by-shot basis.
I reached out to Dolby for clarification on this, as it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The company’s response: “[Authentic Motion allows a creative] to adjust the amount of de-judder for the specific shots or scenes they feel best matches the look of what they are trying to convey. It’s driven by artist intent and can/will only be used on the shots they feel really need it and only at the amount they believe is needed.” That means a director will be able to choose to add motion smoothing to specific scenes if they feel it’s necessary. I hope it also means they’ll be able to disable it entirely if the TV has it on already. We’ll have to see how this is implemented. To be clear, this is just an option in DV2 — meaning a director or creative has to enable it, and you’d also need a DV2-compatible TV for it to matter. So, put down the pitchforks (for now).
DV2 coming 2 U
Dolby Vision 2 comes in two flavors: Dolby Vision 2 Max, aimed at high-end TVs with “additional premium features” (presumably including Authentic Motion), and the standard Dolby Vision 2, or “Vanilla,” which still includes Content Intelligence and the new Image Engine, designed for mainstream TVs.
The tl;dr (conveniently at the bottom): Dolby Vision 2 is on the way. It’ll be in new TVs, won’t affect current ones and could lead to more Dolby Vision content overall as the new creative tools make it easier to use.
Hisense will be the first to offer TVs with DV2 in some of its upcoming mini-LEDs. Other companies will likely follow. Expect to see a bunch announced at CES 2026 in January.
In addition to covering cameras and display tech, Geoff does photo essays about cool museums and other stuff, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, 10,000-mile road trips.
Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.
