Dolby Vision is one of the biggest visual upgrades you can make, at least that’s if your TV supports it. Dolby Vision isn’t available on every TV, but if you’re lucky enough to have one that does, you get a version of HDR that’s a sizable upgrade over regular HDR10. Don’t get me wrong — HDR10 is still a fine format, but Dolby Vision gives it a nice boost.
Many smart TVs have two different versions of Dolby Vision to pick from, and if you aren’t one to dig through your TV’s settings, you might not even be aware of this. The two versions are Dolby Vision Bright and Dolby Vision Dark. As the name suggests, you are meant to watch the Light version when the sun’s out, while Dark works best when you can control the lights. In my experience, Dolby Vision Dark looks better than Bright, but it’s much easier to see during the day when you toggle on the Bright mode. Considering everybody’s TV placement is different, picking the right Dolby Vision setting can make or break your viewing experience.
Bright and Dark are both good
It’s still Dolby Vision
I don’t want to make it sound like you’re choosing between one that’s objectively better than the other, because both of these formats are still Dolby Vision at the end of the day. What you’re picking between is what’s best suited to your needs. I remember when I was doing a Game of Thrones binge on my 4K discs, where I was adamant on using the Dolby Vision Dark mode, even during the day. If you’ve watched that show, you’d know it’s not the brightest show in the world, and there are plenty of scenes that are quite dark. Watching it with the Dolby Vision Dark setting enabled was a fool’s errand, but I was stubborn.
Eventually, I switched over to Dolby Vision Bright, and the results were night and day, no pun intended. As it turns out, Bright makes a big difference when you have a lot of natural light on your screen. The good news is that it’s still a good viewing experience. I think both Bright and Dark are improvements over regular HDR10, so there’s no going wrong here.
Some people swear by one over the other, but the truth is that both of them are perfectly serviceable. I consider myself lucky to have access to both settings. My advice is to test them both out and see which one better fits your needs. Changing between the two is just a few button presses, so it’s not like you’re locked into one or the other. TVs have so many settings to tinker with that I don’t really blame you for not noticing the two different formats. What’s nice is that if you’re watching something with Dolby Vision, the setting will appear in your picture settings, and make it very easy to swap between Bright and Dark. At least that’s how it works on my Sony X90J.
Dolby Vision is still top dog
The title isn’t changing hands
It’s little things like this that make Dolby Vision my clear winner in the HDR race. To be fair, I don’t have a TV capable of HDR10+, so I can’t speak on that a whole lot. What I can say is that the majority of my physical discs support Dolby Vision, while just a handful of them have HDR10+ support.
With the addition HDR10+ Advanced on the horizon, things can change in a hurry. However, I don’t see that happening overnight, since Dolby Vision already feels like it has a massive advantage. I mean, AMC has a whole theater dedicated to Dolby, so the brand recognition is there in a way that it’s not for its competitors. I want there to be a true Dolby Vision competitor because that’s how we get the best product.
For the time being, I’m perfectly happy with Dolby Vision, and I’m sure when the time comes for me to upgrade to a TV with Dolby Vision 2 capabilities, I’ll be happy there, too. There are a lot of exciting upgrades coming in the future, and it’s looking Bright — again, no pun intended — for Dolby Vision. I was initially hesitant about what Dolby Vision 2 would consist of, mainly because it felt like AI was creeping in a bit more than I had expected. Many of those fears have been put to rest, and if it’s anything like the current Dolby Vision, I’ll have no problems.
It’ll still be a while before I’m ready to buy a new TV, and with the recent TCL and Sony news, I’m not even sure if a Sony TV will be in the cards for me. I’m fine with what I have at the moment, and I hope it lasts for a while because I’m not really looking forward to dropping another $1,000 or so on a TV. So far, so good.
