High-end OLED monitors have a new standard to strive for after the Video Electronics Standards Association, known as VESA, announced the creation of the DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certificate.
In addition, VESA also revealed new ClearMR 15000, 18000 and 21000 standards to define motion blur on computer monitors.
VESA’s DisplayHDR certifications are awarded to monitors based on their ability to handle high dynamic range content, but critics say the bar has been set too low. The standards set by its existing tiers can be met by the vast majority of LCD monitors, including many that are incapable of reproducing proper HDR images.
However, the DisplayHDR True Black tiers set much higher standards and do genuinely separate the wheat from the chaff, and VESA is now setting the bar even higher with its latest tier. The VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certificate will be awarded to only the best of the best OLED, QD-OLED and, maybe later, MicroLED and QDEL monitors, if they become available. But it’s not easy to get, with VESA requiring monitors to reach 1,000 nits in terms of highlights and 500 nits in full-screen brightness, while maintaining black levels of just 0.0005 nits.
According to VESA, the idea with DisplayHDR True Black 1000 is to provide monitor buyers with assurance that any certified product has passed a “robust set” of test criteria. Those that display the award will represent a “premium standard” for OLED-based HDR displays, it says.
As for the ClearMR certification, this relates to standards in terms of motion blur displayed by monitors. The higher the number, the less motion blur there will be, as it measures the ratio of clear pixels vs blurry pixels.
The ClearMR standard was first announced in 2022 and the highest bar was set at ClearMR 9000, but now VESA is adding three more tiers on top. So we’ll soon see monitors go on sale certified as ClearMR 15000, 18000 and 21000. Such monitors will likely be among the fastest available, with refresh rates of 240Hz, 480Hz and higher.
VESA hasn’t said so, but some of the first displays to make the grade may well be Samsung’s upcoming Samsung Odyssey G6 gaming monitor, which boasts a 500Hz refresh rate, and perhaps the new Asus PG27UCDM and MSI 272URX displays, which reach 240Hz. All three monitors are expected to launch at CES 2025 later this week, so we may not have to wait long to find out.
“We are pleased to be able to show a select number of products that have met these new higher performance tiers on both standards at CES next week,” said VESA’s Chairman of the task group for DisplayHDR TrueBlack and ClearMR, Roland Wooster.
