The Dell U2518D “HDR” monitor – When HDR is not HDR?

The Dell U2518D

The Dell U2518D “HDR” monitor – When HDR is not HDR?

 
When it comes to displaying standards the term “HDR” is very hard to quantify, though today the most popular standards are HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Even with these two standards, there are still many display makers who allege that their modern displays offer “HDR” support, despite lacking full support for either of the standards’ display requirements. 
 
Today when buying a modern TV it is rare to find an HDR display that offers full HDR10 or Dolby Vision support, with many cheaper displays accepting HDR signals without actually supporting the higher peak brightness, colour gamut or even bit-depth. This trend is now moving to the PC display space, with the Dell U2518D being a noteworthy candidate. 

  
To start off the maximum brightness of this display is a mere 350 cd/m^2 and comes with an 8-bit panel, which falls way below the high HDR 10 standard, for which content is mastered for a peak brightness of 1000 nits (same as cd/m^2) with a 10-bit colour depth. This makes “Dell HDR” much lower end than a full “HDR 10” display, despite being compatible with HDR10 signals.

The Dell U2518D will come with a panel size of 25 inches, a display resolution of 1440p and a refresh rate of 60Hz. The RRP of this display is currently $499.99 in the US.  

The Dell U2518D

 

To say the least “Dell HDR” is not the same as a true HDR 10, leaving this monitor to seem like nothing more than a “fake HDR” display that is made to sound a lot better than it is. This is a very common trend in the TV industry today, especially on more budget oriented 4K sets. 

With this somewhat lacking form of HDR the visual improvements that can be seen from this display will be limited, as premium HDR displays will benefit from features like local dimming for deeper darks and higher peak luminance levels for brighter scenes or features, beyond this more premium HDR displays will also benefit from more accurate colours when viewing HDR content. 

What needs to be remembered is that not all HDR displays are created equal and not all of them support the standards they claim, which means that consumers will need to be extra vigilant when purchasing any “HDR ready” displays. 

 

You can join the discussion on Dell’s U2518D “HDR” monitor on the OC3D Forums.

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