Up to now, the highest DisplayHDR certification available was DisplayHDR 1000, which (among other things), required that a display be able to hit a brightness of 1,000 nits. That's the point where HDR truly shines. Well, there's now an even higher tier for ultra-bright monitors: DisplayHDR 1400.
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced the new certification in conjunction with the first major update to its DisplayHDR program as a whole. Going forward, the updated DisplayHDR version 1.1 spec "includes tighter performance requirements, including for luminance and color gamut," and also new test requirements like active dimming.
"Since we launched the DisplayHDR compliance test specification nearly two years ago, display manufacturers have made excellent progress in refining the performance and capabilities of their HDR displays beyond what was originally defined in the standard. To represent the gains that the display ecosystem has made in that time, VESA has updated the DisplayHDR standard with substantially tighter performance metrics," stated Roland Wooster, chairman of the VESA task group responsible for DisplayHDR, and the association’s representative from Intel Corporation for HDR display technology.
Monitors that have already been certified are not required to pass the more stringent criteria—VESA says many of the displays that passed the original spec would also pass the new 1.1 spec anyway.
As for the new DisplayHDR 1400 tier, certified monitors will need to be able to hit an eye-searing 1,400 nits brightness level. Asus is on track to the be the first with its new ProArt PA32UCG, which it's billing as the "world's first pre-certified DisplayHDR 1400 monitor."
The PA32UCG actually goes beyond the new tier's requirement, with a claimed 1,600 nits peak brightness capabilities. It also offers a sustained 1,000 nits brightness.
It's not built specifically for gaming, though Asus is pitching the 32-inch IPS monitor at game developers. To that end, it offers a 4K resolution and 48-120Hz variable refresh rate, along with true 10-bit color support and 1,152 zones of local dimming.
Asus is planning to launch the PA32UCG in the first quarter of next year. There's no word yet on price.
