This week, ahead of IFA 2025, Dolby Dolby Vision 2 announced the next gene version of its advanced HDR format. It is available in two variants: Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby Vision 2 Max, which adds even more improvement in image quality and will only be supported on TVs that meet certain benefits benchmarks as certified by Dolby.
The big question, of course, is which TVs support it and whether current TVs can be updated with it if they have the right specifications.
So we approached the producers of the best TVs for official comment and talked to people in the industry to get the view behind the scenes. For the most part, TV producers Cagey about it, but we have some specific answers and some more unofficial information from those who know.
Which TV producers will support Dolby Vision?
Hisense
Let’s start with Hisense because it is the official launch partner with Dolby for Dolby Vision 2 .. It is confirmed that at least a small part of its current elite TVs, including Hisense UX116 RGB Mini-LED TV (which we recently tested) will have support. Exactly how many current TVs will be updated is unclear, but I would expect the focus to be more on its admission to future TVs.
Lg
LG is also a remarkable one because it is only TV -maker that officially says it is not Works with Dolby Vision 2 Support. LG told Techradar “We are currently not planning to support Dolby Vision 2 Hdr.” Not only that, but LG told us “Our understanding is an upgrade (any brand) is not possible as Dolby Vision 2 improvements are hardware -related, not just software.”
I’ll be back to the comment on upgrading existing TVs later because it doesn’t seem exactly to be exactly (which you might guess from Hisense’s plans).
Samsung
Samsung has not given an official answer to the question of Dolby Vision 2 support, but it is my understanding that it does not plan to change its many years of attitude towards HDR-expecting that Samsung will remain with HDR10+ in the foreseeable future.
TCL
TCL also did not give an official answer to the question of Dolby Vision 2 support but there was one subtle Tips on its attitude towards its stand on IFA. See if you can see it in this photo.
My understanding is that if Dolby Vision 2 derives support from the most important streamers, we should expect it to arrive at TCL’s future TVs without much delay.
Sony
Sony told me: “Dolby is one of our important partners. Our current TVs are compatible with Dolby Vision and Atmos. Then we’re in discussion with Dolby? Yes, but at the moment we don’t really have a clear statement to make about Dolby Vision 2.”
More to come …
Several other TV producers did not respond at the time of writing, and I was unable to get any tips from all over the industry about their plans.
How about updating existing TVs?
I have tried to dig into LG’s statement of upgrading not to be possible, and it seems that there may be some confusion. Dolby declined to respond officially to this requirement, but my understanding from discussions with people in the industry is that it should be theoretically possible to upgrade some Existing TVs, but it’s a small list and it’s still not 100% straightforward.
LG’s statement that Dolby Vision 2 requires a hardware upgrade appears to be true, but that hardware in question is built into Mediatek’s Pentonic 800 processor for TVs already used in several TVs available to buy today (including from Hisense, surprisingly). As you’ve just read above, Hisense has plans to add support to at least one existing TV using the Medatek chip.
But it also seems that even if a TV uses this chip, there may be another part of its specification or performance that would block Dolby Vision 2 certification, so having the chip guarantees nothing. And the chip is only in a limited number of TVs that are all released within the last six months.
Even in addition to whether it is technically possible to upgrade existing TVs, there is also the question of motivation. A TV industry -Insider I was talking to said that even if TVs can be upgraded, we generally should not expect TV producers to spend time, money and effort when there is no Dolby Vision 2 content available and we do not do that when this content arrives.
When I read between the lines, I also guess that there is a financial element – TV manufacturers prefer you to buy a new set to get Dolby Vision 2, I expect.
Which is a bit of a shame because it would be great to have Dolby Vision 2 on cheaper TVs as it is an impressive upgrade on budget screens.
