DisplayHDR 400 vs 600 vs 1000: What Each VESA Tier Actually Requires

DisplayHDR 400 does not require local dimming. A monitor can pass without any hardware that dims the backlight zone by zone, which is why switching HDR on a 400-certified display often looks much like SDR. The upper tiers separate themselves on black, not on brightness. VESA's published tier table tightens the maximum black level from 0.4 cd/m² at 400 to 0.1 at 600, 0.05 at 1000 and 0.02 at 1400, while the True Black tiers for OLED sit at 0.0005 cd/m². The number in the badge describes brightness; the condition that produces the visible difference is further inside the table.

The tier table, rewritten as numbers

Certification bundles minimum peak luminance, maximum black level, colour gamut coverage and the required style of local dimming. Organised by tier, the published criteria look like this.

Some conditions apply to every tier. The VESA performance criteria (CTS 1.2) require at least 99% BT.709 coverage and a 10-bit-per-channel video signal input across the board, and version 1.2 added rise time, luminance accuracy (Delta-ITP), a 96-colour accuracy set and black-crush behaviour to the measured items. Note also that an 8-bit panel can still certify as long as it accepts and processes a 10-bit signal — easy to miss when reading a spec sheet.

Divide brightness by black and the badge stops explaining things

Dividing peak luminance by the maximum black level gives the contrast a tier can theoretically deliver. Placed next to the certified figure:

Three things surface. Going from 400 to 600 raises peak brightness by 1.5 times but improves black level fourfold, so most of what the upgrade buys sits on the dark end. Only the 1400 tier computes higher (70,000:1) than its stated contrast (50,000:1), because certified contrast is measured with bright and dark areas displayed simultaneously — corner boxes and checkerboard patterns — which does not reduce to simple division. And True Black reuses the same number 400 while sitting three orders of magnitude away in contrast.

The DisplayHDR number tells you how bright a display gets. The tier itself is really about how dark it can go.

Why True Black is a separate family

True Black 400, 500 and 600 top out at a modest 400-600 cd/m², yet exist as their own OLED and micro-LED tiers because self-emissive pixels switch off to reach 0.0005 cd/m² and the response requirement differs too. According to a summary of the published criteria, True Black allows two frames for a black-to-white transition where the LCD tiers allow eight. In a bright room the lower peak brightness is a real limitation; in a dimmed room, an LCD carrying the same number is not a comparable device.

Who each tier fits, and when to wait

Judged on published certification criteria alone, the split by use case is fairly clean.

• Documents, web, coding: DisplayHDR 400 is rarely worth paying extra for. At the same price, put the budget into panel type, uniformity and resolution
• Video and HDR content: 600 is the practical starting line, since 500 and 600 are the first tiers where local dimming enters the requirements
• HDR gaming: 1000 and above, or True Black — the range where full-array dimming is mandated
• Wait: if a spec sheet says only 'HDR support' or 'HDR10 compatible' with no tier, it has not been certified. A 1000-tier product that declines to state its dimming zone count is also a reason to hold off

Sources

• VESA Certified DisplayHDR — tier comparison
• DisplayHDR Performance Criteria (CTS 1.2)
• HDR True Black 400, 500, 600 criteria summarised
• HDR Certification Levels Explained: 400, 600, 1000 & More