VESA Unveils DisplayHDR True Black 1000 And ClearMR 21000 For Cutting-Edge OLED Panels

CES 2025 is less than a week away, and you know what that means: all sorts of fancy new technology that you probably can't afford. Just going by the numbers, most of the folks reading this are probably using significantly sub-par monitors in comparison to what's available on the market these days, but progress doesn't stop, and so it goes that there will be some gorgeous new gaming monitors shown at CES 2025.

We don't know much about the specific monitors, yet, but we can assume that they're going to have astonishing contrast ratios and heretofore unseen motion clarity. We can assume that because VESA just dropped an update to its DisplayHDR and ClearMR certification programs that adds new categories above the preexisting charts specifically for new displays that exceed the previous specs.


For DisplayHDR, the new spec is TrueBlack 1000. DisplayHDR TrueBlack is a special category of the DisplayHDR standard that is essentially meant for OLEDs. It has strict requirements on the maximum luminance of black pixels that LCDs simply can't meet. However, because OLEDs don't get as bright as LCDs, it topped out at TrueBlack 600 in the past, with a requirement of 600 nits peak brightness.

Now, the new category raises the requirements for maximum luminance to—you guessed it—1000 nits. The display only has to produce that brightness value on 10% of its area; the full-screen brightness requirement is 500 nits, which is still quite high for an OLED. Other requirements are largely the same as the TrueBlack 600 standard, including BT.709 coverage, maximum black luminance, and response time.

Meanwhile, the ClearMR specification, which measures motion clarity by comparing a ratio of clear pixels versus blurry pixels, got three new categories: ClearMR 15,000, 18,000, and 21,000. These new values are necessary because virtually every 360-Hz monitor can easily surpass the previous maximum of ClearMR 13000—to say nothing of the new 480-Hz monitors that are growing in popularity.


Interestingly, ClearMR testing specifically disables backlight strobing technologies and black frame insertion features, as it would put products using those features far ahead of products that don't. VESA doesn't say that, exactly, but it's clear if you read between the lines that the organization believes that displays with active motion blur reduction technologies are obviously superior to those without, at least in terms of clear motion. Maybe that's obvious, but it's nice to see those techniques validated.

VESA itself will apparently have "VIP suite" at the Palazzo Hotel during CES 2025 to show off new products that meet the new standards, but the association's press release includes statements from Samsung and MSI talking about those companies' upcoming products that apparently prompted the creation of the new standards. It's all too easy to ignore advances in display technology, but the new monitors are crazy, and if you're still cranking along on some old 1080p TN LCD, it's high time to start thinking about an upgrade.