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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.
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