Digital Foundry: the best 4K TVs for HDR gaming
Looking to future-proof yourself with your next TV purchase? We've got you covered.
The Xbox One S brings the HDR experience to gaming, in addition to supporting the latest 4K video formats and standards - and where it leads, others will follow. Expect PlayStation Neo to embrace the same technology, and of course, next year's Xbox Project Scorpio is a given. Meanwhile, Nvidia has already demonstrated HDR-compatible upgrades for PC gaming. Some of the demos we've seen look pretty impressive, but in order to take advantage of this new format, most users will doubtless require a brand new display that has the technology to handle both UHD resolution and high dynamic range.
In fully supporting the new UHD formats, there are several key factors that need to be considered. Ideally a display should conform to UHD Premium standards (full details in the sidebar) in order to provide the most accurate HDR presentation. This essentially lays down the minimum requirements for colour reproduction and contrast performance for both LCDs and OLED UHD screens, so HDR material is displayed as close to as intended as possible. And of course, a low level of input lag is an absolute must to ensure that videogames feel responsive to play.
Now, achieving all these standards is impossible at lower price points - and even some higher-end models struggle to get perfect performance, so a few compromises are inevitable when choosing your next display purchase. For example, colour, contrast and dynamic range vary between models and panel types. OLED display technology is the current king of the hill here, but the current price premiums can be crippling. However, even accepting that some compromises may need to made, a low level of input lag remains essential when gaming, and finding a display that keeps latency to a minimum while supporting HDR can be a minefield.
On first impressions, the Samsung KS7000 shapes up nicely: all the key UHD specs are adhered to, a VA panel delivers deep black levels, while game mode lowers input lag to just 21ms - all for a respectable £1300 for a 49-inch screen. However, the caveat here is that HDR content can only be displayed using movie mode, which results in a whopping 112ms of lag - so while the KS7000 attracts excellent reviews for its quality, and is a great buy for 4K gameplay, it falls out of contention if you're looking for UHD gameplay with HDR enabled.
This is something that isn't made clear on most AV review sites, making an informed purchase decision for HDR gaming something of a crapshoot. Right now, the best bet is to find a display with low input lag in cinema/movie mode, which at least guarantees that HDR content won't be spoiled by an unexpected increase in controller response if game mode is rendered unavailable.
So just what are the best 4K HDR screens for gaming? To prepare ourselves for the new wave of high dynamic range console and PC gaming, we decided to put our money where our mouth is. We would assess a range of potentially viable screens, and at the end of it, we would be buying the screen that ultimately offers the best balance of performance, features and low latency. To that end, our local Sevenoaks Sound & Vision allowed us within their showroom to road-test every single UHD screen they had available, where we would specifically measure latency with a
Leo Bodnar lag tester.
We came back with some interesting results, along with a shortlist of display's suitable for gaming for both HDR and regular SDR content. It's by no means a complete list, but good recommendations can be made for both entry-level and higher-end price points.
Panasonic DX750: The best mid-range HDR screen for gaming
With regards to overall price/performance ratio, the Panasonic DX750 immediately stood out during our testing, and it's the display we ultimately chose for HDR duties at the Digital Foundry office. The key selling point here is that game mode offers up a respectable 43ms input lag and can be used with HDR without degrading picture quality at all. All the core video processing remains intact and we get a natural HDR presentation combined with responsive controls. The panel also offers up superb black levels for an LCD that appear suitably inky in low light conditions, and delivers a colour gamut that only falls a little short of UHD Premium standards (86 per cent DCI P3).
The display ticks many of the boxes we are looking for, it's enough to deliver a solid HDR experience. However, the edge-lit design means that the screen is not capable of accurately dimming dark areas found in scenes with both bright and dark content visible at the same time. So content with mixed brightness can look washed out in darker scenes, but this also applies to most HDTVs with limited dimming capabilities. Peak brightness is also limited to just over 500 nits (rather than the 1000 specified for UHD Premium), meaning that specular highlights won't appear as provinces compared to on UHD Premium sets. For the price, though, it's the best HDR display for gaming out of the ones we've tested, and it's possible to have low input lag while displaying accurate images after calibration. £1180 for a quality 58-inch 4K display? Sold.
Panasonic DX902: Low input lag, high-level performance
One of the promising performers is Panasonic's flagship DX902 set, which hits all the required standards and delivers a fairly quick 38ms input lag in the true cinema preset, with and without game mode activated. As with all of Panasonic's 2016 range, game mode works in conjunction with other picture modes (such as cinema) allowing for accurate images and HDR with low input lag.
Dedicated gamers should be able to enjoy most titles without the experience feeling compromised. A VA panel gives us deep blacks, while the use of FALD (full array local dimming) should help with maintaining these when bright and dark images are on screen at the same time when using HDR. The dynamic backlight implementation isn't without drawbacks such as occasional banding or haloing in demanding content, but is the only way for an LCD TV to handle the increases contrast of HDR without sacrificing black levels.
The downside, is that you're looking at around £2,700 for a 55-inch screen, which is the smallest size for this model. And for that kind of money OLED becomes a viable option - such as the LG B6V. Or you could go high-end and pick up the E6V instead, if money is no object.
LG E6V: The OLED state of the art
LG's E6 sits just below the top of the range and delivers a vastly superior image to the Panasonic DX902 due to featuring incredibly deep black levels with excellent colour accuracy and contrast. It also supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10 standards. Game mode provides a very respectable 33ms response time for regular content, though this goes up to 64ms in movie mode, so there is the potential for HDR gaming to feel a touch sluggish for those sensitive to input lag. That said, the outstanding contrast levels on offer mean that standard range content can almost appear as impressive as a true HDR presentation, and as a TV for standard range (SDR) gaming, it's quite possibly the best available right now.
Panasonic DX700: Low input lag at entry level prices
Not everyone has thousands to spend on a new UHD TV, though, and it's between the £800-£1500 price point for 40-55-inch screen where most purchases are likely to be made. It's possible to grab some real bargains by opting for an entry-level HDR display, although inevitable the experience won't be as impressive compared to UHD Premium branded sets, you can get a decent HDR experience, but not one that shows the true potential of the format. The Panasonic DX750 is our top pick of the bunch in this price bracket, but the DX700 is a cheaper alternative.
It delivers similar performance in a few areas and shaves off around £300 of the price: it comes with a VA panel delivering deep blacks and input lag comes in at 41ms with game mode, true cinema and HDR enabled. Colour gamut also covers 86 per cent of DCI P3. However, the compromise comes in the form of just 350 nits of peak brightness, limiting the impact of HDR - it doesn't go much brighter than regular HDTVs and the use of edge lighting means only specular highlights and dark scenes really benefit from the new format. Viewing angles are also limited, which is something to bear in mind.
LG UH850V: Dolby Vision and HDR10 in an affordable package
The LG UH850V offers up 48ms of latency in cinema mode, which should provide a fairly responsive gaming experience when using HDR. It also delivers around 500 nits of peak brightness, and the colour gamut hovers around 90 per cent of DCI P3, so HDR can still provide an upgrade over standard range content. Dolby Vision is also supported, giving users more choice in terms of HDR content to watch However, contrast is limited by an IPS panel, which only produces greyish looking blacks and limits dynamic range in mixed contrast scenes. However, viewing angles are generous and this makes the display more suitable for off-axis viewing.
Why HDR might not be the right tech for you
It's worth bearing in mind that once you have an HDR capable TV in hand, expectations should be managed in terms of the kind of upgrade on offer with many displays. For example, entry-level sets are unable to really show off the full capabilities of tech owning to LCD backlight limitations and lack of direct local dimming. You simply cannot make dark areas appear darker when there is mixed content on-screen with edge-based dimming, partially limiting higher dynamic range to brighter scenes. FALD (full array local dimming) does a much more convincing job and the results can look excellent. However, occasional halos or banding can be an issue with more difficult content, and this something only a self-emitting pixel display - like OLED - can avoid.
Outside of gaming, there's the issue of how HDR content is actually authored, and how this effects the experience across various viewing environments. HDR material itself is mastered to be displayed in a low light environment, making it unsuitable for viewing in bright daytime conditions. When HDR content is displayed, the backlight needs to be maxed out in order to display the increased brightness range for specular highlights, while the baseline white level is capped at a much lower 120 nits.
This is fine when viewing in a dark room, but in bright environments it's impossible to bump up the backlight any further in order to raise the baseline light output for normal details - essentially, all the headroom available during standard range content is being used to display highlights, so cannot be used to create an overall brighter image. As such, outside of bright highlights, HDR content with look dimmer than a standard range presentation when viewed in daytime conditions. To cut a long story short - if you game a lot in the day-time, the chances are that HDR will actually produce a worse image based on the technology currently available.
LG E6V
LG UH850V Panasonic DX750 Panasonic DX700 Samsung KS7000 Samsung KS9500
Panel Type OLED IPS VA VA VA VA
HDR Support UHD Premium Yes Yes Yes UHD Premium UHD Premium
Colour Gamut (DCI P3) 96% 90% 86% 86% 96% 96%
Black Level (nits) 0.000 0.084 0.029 0.046 0.030 0.014
Peak Brightness (nits) 640 550 500 350 1000 1200
Movie/Cinema Lag 64ms 48ms 105ms 119ms 117ms 124ms
Game Lag 33ms 31ms 41ms 41ms 21ms 21ms
So with that in mind, we get the feeling that HDR is designed primarily for dedicated AV enthusiasts rather than the average viewer, and of course the limitations in current panel technology obviously played a part in creating the mastering standards. And as a result, those who are expecting to gain the benefits of HDR during daytime viewing may be disappointed, limiting the mass-market appeal of the technology.
That said, there's no doubt that HDR is a game-changer in the appropriate conditions, with wider colour gamuts and expanded dynamic range helping to deliver a much bigger upgrade to picture quality over the raw increase in pixel counts alone. However, it's early days for the HDR format, and it's clear that both hardware and content providers are still getting up to speed in terms of how best to implement the technology across a range of different displays. On top of that, providing a low input lag picture mode with HDR is something that clearly hasn't been factored in with this year's line-up. Of course this is likely to change as soon as the number of HDR-enabled games increases, though it may take some time.
For those not interested in HDR, the Samsung KU6400 (KU7000 in North America) offers up great 4K performance at a low price point. Extremely low input lag, deep blacks and good colour accuracy all provide a solid experience. The KU6000 (KU6300 in the US) is the cut-down option, with a standard rec 709 colour gamut (the KU6400/KU7000's is slightly wider) and a direct backlit display rather than an edge-lit set-up.
Right now options are somewhat limited for gamers in need of a low latency screen for HDR. And balancing out a good ratio of price versus performance alongside the different panel types and standards (which can dramatically affect HDR performance) isn't as easy as it should be. The Panasonic DX750 hits the sweet spot for displays around the £1000 mark in terms of both screen size and feature set, while the LG UH850V provides a good alternative for those who prefer the wider viewing angles of an IPS panel.
In terms of higher-end models the Panasonic DX902 stands out as an excellent choice delivering solid performance in many areas. Alternatively, more casual gamers and those not too sensitive to input lag would do well to check out LG's E6V OLED (or perhaps the cheaper B6). At 64ms input lag is certainly tolerable for more casual HDR gaming, and you get the added benefits of superb contrast and native black levels that exceed even the best Plasma HDTVs.
Of course if HDR isn't of importance, there's a much larger selection of excellent displays with low input lag. Most of Samsung's 2016 line-up features under 25ms latency with game mode enabled and feature VA panels for dark black levels. The KU6400 and KU6000 stand out here with very good performance at low prices, and we'll be reviewing one of these Samsungs very soon. Those who prefer the wider viewing angles provided by IPS panels would be wise to look at the LG UH850V, which achieves a respectable 31ms in game mode. Meanwhile, those looking for a replacement for the excellent Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas should certainly check out LG's range of OLED screens. Game mode in the E6V is decent at 31ms, and performance in other areas is vastly superior to even the best LCDs on the market. Just be prepared for a truly wallet-lightening retail experience.
Many thanks to Sevenoaks Sound and Vision for allowing us direct hands-on access to every display tested in this article.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-the-best-4k-screens-for-hdr-gaming?
The Best 4K HDR TVs for Your Xbox One S
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Xbox One S is out August 2nd but in order to take advantage of all of its features, you’re going to need a compatible television. Microsoft’s mid-cycle refresh of the Xbox One may seem like a minor upgrade on paper, but the inclusion of HDR and 4K will make games and movies more immersive than ever. At least until
Project Scorpio comes bearing VR support.
So before you head out and buy an Xbox One S, take a look at your current TV and decide if it's worth upgrading to get the most out of Microsoft’s new console. If you are upgrading your TV, here’s what you need to know to get the best Xbox One S experience.
What is HDR?
HDR stands for “
high dynamic range” and has been used in the photography world for a long time. You may have noticed a “HDR” mode on your iPhone or Android, which helps capture more detail in dark or overly bright areas. HDR for televisions also aims to increase the level of realism and detail, but for video instead of still images.
With HDR, blacks will be deeper and darker and whites will be whiter. You’ll also get a wider range of colors with HDR to help reproduce subtle color differences. The goal of HDR is to provide a picture that’s more true to real life and while the effect is subtle, it’s noticeable when compared alongside non-HDR content.
HDR10 vs Dolby Vision
Here’s where HDR gets tricky - currently, there are two standards of HDR: HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Here’s what you need to know about each standard:
HDR10
HDR10 (aka HDR1000) is the open industry standard that has been adopted by TV manufacturers like Sony, LG, Samsung, Sharp and more. Movie studios behind HDR10 include 20th Century Fox, Netflix, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and others. Every upcoming 4K capable Blu-ray player will support HDR10.
Dolby Vision
Dolby Vision is a proprietary standard created by Dolby and it promises some technical advantages over HDR10. Dolby Vision features 12-bit color depth vs HDR10’s 10-bit. Dolby’s standard also cranks out more nits of screen brightness than HDR10, which is great if you have a TV that can get that bright.
HDR10 vs. Dolby Vision: Which is better?
On a technical and theoretical level, Dolby Vision is superior. However, HDR10 wins by being the more widely adopted standard that doesn’t require specialized hardware. If you have the means to purchase a TV that supports Dolby Vision, you can do so without too much worry, as that TV will also be able to support HDR10. However, you’ll risk paying more for a Dolby Vision supported TV if that HDR format fails to get traction.
If all you want to do is to use your Xbox One S to its fullest potential, then a 4K HDR10 TV will be just fine, as there are no plans for the console to support Dolby Vision.
What 4K HDR TV should I buy?
LG 65EF9500 ($4,499)
If cost is no object, the
LG 65EF9500 is one of the best 4K UHD TVs you can buy right now.
PCMag says, “Once again, LG has produced an OLED display that offers the best picture you can buy.” The TV features an OLED display, which produces the blackest blacks and more vibrant colors than even a plasma TV could provide. It features great video processing and has a striking look with its 0.25-inch thin body. It also supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10, so your Xbox One S will work well with it, and you'll get the most out of any media that supports Dolby's proprietary technology.

Samsung UN65KS8000 ($2,799)
If you don’t drive a Bugatti and maybe want to feed your kids instead of blowing all your money on a TV, the
Samsung UN65KS8000 is a great high-end choice. It supports HDR10, which will work great with the Xbox One S, and offers 4K resolution upscaling for all the 1080p content you’re likely still consuming. You’ll still get a gorgeous life-like picture, but just a tad less dynamic and eye popping as the LG.

Vizio P Series ($1,000 - $3,799)
Vizio has long been known as a budget brand, but the
Vizio P Series proves the company can stand with the best. The P Series offers outstanding picture quality and also features a unique Android tablet remote, plus it has Google Cast and smart TV features built in. However, it doesn't actually support Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats yet.
Vizio plans to patch in support, so while the Xbox One S will conceivably pair perfectly with the Vizio P Series, you will be waiting on an update patch before it can take full advantage of all of the console's features.
Samsung UN55KU6300 ($898)
If you’re on a budget, the
Samsung UN55KU6300 is your best bet. It offers both 4K resolution and HDR10 support for your Xbox One S. You don’t get the flexibility of having Dolby Vision support, but if all you want to do is play games and watch Blu-ray movies in HDR, the UN55KU6300 will do just fine. You do give up some color reproduction and brightness for this budget set, but if you’re upgrading from an old 1080p TV, you’ll be blown away by its sharpness and colors.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/07/28/the-best-4k-hdr-tvs-for-your-xbox-one-s