Dolby Vision 2 will be available first on some 2026 Hisense TVs
Developing story first seen 3 hours ago
Dolby Vision 2, the successor to Dolby's decade-old HDR format, is beginning its rollout on TVs, launching first on Hisense's 2026 UX, UR9, UR8 and U7 models by the end of September, with TCL and Philips adding support to select sets later in the year. The update matters because today's TVs can far exceed the brightness of the film and TV masters that Dolby Vision was designed around, and the new format's more powerful image engine and expanded metadata allow it to better exploit that extra light output rather than simply constraining pictures to older brightness limits.
The format arrives in two tiers: Dolby Vision 2 Max, reserved for higher-end sets such as this first Hisense batch, and a standard tier for cheaper mainstream TVs lacking ambient light sensors or motion processing. Max adds a motion-smoothing feature called Authentic Motion, an upgraded ambient-light adjustment and fine-tuning controls, while the base tier includes bidirectional and local tone mapping plus an intensity slider that works with existing Dolby Vision content. Both tiers require new hardware, currently only the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip, meaning older Dolby Vision TVs cannot be updated, though they will still play Dolby Vision 2 content while ignoring its extra metadata; one reviewer also raised concerns that boosting brightness beyond a film's original master, as with the dark, moodily lit Blade Runner 2049, could undermine a director's intended presentation.
- Dolby Vision 2 debuts on 2026 Hisense TVs by end of September.
- TCL and Philips will add support to select models later in 2026.
- New format better exploits brighter modern TVs but needs new hardware.
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Dolby Vision is a picture technology used in many modern TVs and streaming services to make images look brighter, sharper and more lifelike, by feeding extra information alongside the video signal about how each scene should be displayed. It was designed around a decade ago, but television screens have since become far brighter than the equipment used to master most films and shows, meaning sets often cannot use their full capability under the current system. Dolby, the company behind the format, has now created a successor, Dolby Vision 2, intended to make better use of that extra brightness.
The new format is starting to appear in real TVs, with manufacturers such as Hisense, TCL and Philips building support into upcoming 2026 models. It comes in two versions, a fuller "Max" option for pricier sets and a simpler standard version for cheaper ones, and it needs a new type of processing chip, so existing Dolby Vision TVs will not gain the new features through a software update.
This matters because it marks one of the biggest changes to how TVs handle picture quality in years, potentially making pictures brighter and smoother. At the same time, some in the industry have questioned whether pushing brightness beyond what a film's director originally intended could change how films are meant to look.
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