VESA Introduces New DisplayHDR True Black 600 Performance Tier Targeting Higher Luminance HDR Levels for OLED and other Emissive Display Technologies

First DisplayHDR True Black 600 certified products announced by ASUS

BEAVERTON, Ore. – September 2, 2021 – The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA^®) announced today that it has added a new 600 performance level to its DisplayHDR True Black high dynamic range (HDR) specification and standard. Based on VESA’s widely adopted High-Performance Monitor and Display Compliance Test Specification (DisplayHDR), the DisplayHDR True Black standard is optimized for emissive display technologies, such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) and future microLED displays. The new DisplayHDR True Black 600 tier offers higher luminance than the existing DisplayHDR and DisplayHDR True Black 400 and 500 tiers. DisplayHDR and DisplayHDR True Black are the display industry’s first fully open standards specifying HDR quality for LCD and emissive displays, respectively.

VESA also announced today that three products have already been certified to the new DisplayHDR True Black 600 performance level – the ASUS Vivobook Pro 14, Vivobook Pro 14X and Vivobook 15 laptops. ASUS is formally unveiling these products at a separate company event today.

“ASUS is proud to announce its family of Vivobook Pro laptops with industry-first VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 certified displays,” said Rex Lee, Head of ASUS Personal Computer Business Unit. “Ever since we introduced a stunning 4K OLED touchscreen on the Zenbook Pro Duo creator laptop in 2019, we have been determined to offer OLED technology to more of our customers. As well as our pioneering achievement in passing the VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 standard, we’ve also made this enhanced visual experience available to casual creators and the everyday laptop market. The new Vivobook Pro 14/14X/15 laptops are designed for young casual creators, and the VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 standard ensures our customers are able to see details like never before, so they can create content in the increasingly popular HDR format with no fuss, anywhere. The new Vivobook 15 is an everyday laptop for work and play, and makes it easier than ever for users to enjoy the rich world of HDR multimedia content. With the new standards, our users are now able to enjoy cinema-grade creations just as the director intended. We believe the ground-breaking HDR capabilities and low blue-light emissions of our new OLED displays will make a real impact on every laptop owner, adding enjoyment to content creation, work and entertainment, and empowering our customers with endless possibilities.”

A Brighter Future for OLED Displays

DisplayHDR True Black allows for up to 100X deeper black levels in addition to a greater dynamic range and a 4X improvement in rise time compared to VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 performance tier*. This enables a visually stunning experience for home theater and gaming enthusiasts. The new DisplayHDR True Black 600 level requires a 20 percent increase in luminance compared to the True Black 500 level, which results in a noticeably brighter screen while maintaining the same outstanding black level and color quality typified in OLED displays.

“Several dozen laptop product families from multiple vendors have already been certified to the DisplayHDR True Black specification at the 400 and 500 tier levels. This demonstrates the growing acceptance and adoption of the DisplayHDR True Black standard as well as emissive displays in the PC industry in general,” stated Roland Wooster, chairman of the VESA task group responsible for DisplayHDR, and the association’s representative from Intel Corporation for HDR display technology. “VESA continues to update our DisplayHDR and DisplayHDR True Black standards with substantially tighter performance metrics to reflect new developments in HDR technology. A case in point is our new True Black 600 performance level, which is an important milestone in the DisplayHDR logo and specification program. We’re excited to announce that ASUS has introduced the first products certified to this new level, and we look forward to seeing more products rolling out in the coming months meeting this higher performance tier.”

About Certified DisplayHDR Products

DisplayHDR is the open standard for HDR quality and performance, and only displays that meet all the specifications may carry the DisplayHDR logo. If a monitor claims HDR support without a DisplayHDR performance specification, or refers to pseudo-specs like “HDR-400” instead of “DisplayHDR 400”, it is likely that the product does not meet the certification requirements. Consumers can refer to the current list of certified DisplayHDR products at https://displayhdr.org/certified-products/ to verify certification.

About VESA

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is an international, non-profit standards association representing a global network of more than 300 hardware, software, computer, display and component manufacturers committed to developing and promoting the electronics industry. For 30 years, VESA has created and supported simple, universal and cross-product solutions for today’s video and electronics industry. The association’s standards include DisplayPort™, the industry replacement for DVI, LVDS and VGA. DisplayPort utilizes a state-of-the-art digital protocol and provides an expandable foundation to enable astonishing digital display experiences. For more information on VESA, please visit http://www.vesa.org/.