If you feel like you’re familiar with the existing HDR formats, you have a new one to learn. Dolby Vision 2 from Dolby Laboratories enhances existing Dolby Vision content with smarter image processing, while introducing a new format standard with improved scene-specific brightness, contrast, motion and optimization. The new format became available to owners of certain television models in early August. Some existing TVs will be able to start using the new HDR format through firmware upgrades, starting with Hisense TVs.
You might expect popular premium TV brands like Samsung and LG to be among the first to jump into the Dolby Vision 2 (DV2) pool. After all, these two brands regularly top the rankings for the best smart TVs. However, neither brand will receive firmware upgrades for Dolby Vision 2 in the immediate future. Instead, Hisense TV owners in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region will receive the upgrades first. Many firmware upgrades will be completed by the end of August, while all should be completed by the end of September.
The Hisense TV models receiving the firmware upgrade first include the UX, UR9, U7 and U7 Pro models. These TVs run on Google TV or VIDAA OS platforms and include the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, which supports DV2. DV2 is expected to be included in other TV brands and models in the near future, including some models from TCL and Philips before the end of 2026, but no official announcements have been made beyond Hisense TVs.
What does it mean if your Hisense TV now supports Dolby Vision 2
If you have one of the Hisense TV models that will work with Dolby Vision 2, you may not need to do anything to prepare or install the firmware upgrade. If automatic firmware updates are enabled on your compatible Hisense TV, everything will happen in the background via an over-the-air update. You can also check for the upgrade by checking for pending system updates in the Settings menu of your Google TV or VIDAA OS interface.
You may not notice a major improvement in your screen quality after upgrading. If you’re watching movies, TV shows, or UHD Blu-rays that already support Dolby Vision, for example, you should notice some improvement, as DV2 should be able to enhance existing metadata found in Dolby Vision-enabled content. But it may be a more limited visual improvement compared to watching new content rated for DV2.
Some streaming services (like Peacock) have announced that they will offer new programming that natively supports DV2. Live sports on Peacock will likely be able to benefit immediately from DV2, for example. Existing content, however, will need new metadata to take full advantage of DV2’s features, which may take time for distributors to convert. Other streaming services and content creators may wait to begin directly supporting DV2 in new and existing content until compatibility appears on more TVs.
Why LG and Samsung might not support DV2 on their TVs
Many LG TVs already support Dolby Vision. To check your TV’s compatibility, look in the TV’s settings menu and see if Dolby Vision is listed among the available HDR formats. Some cheaper (non-OLED) LG TVs do not support Dolby Vision. A new picture mode from LG for OLED TVs could explain why the manufacturer might choose not to support DV2, at least for now. LG announced support in mid-2026 for a picture mode called Creator Original and included it in a few of its 2026 OLED TV models. Many of the features in Creator Original are similar to those available in DV2. This feature doesn’t mean LG will never support DV2, but the manufacturer is giving customers another option while DV2 tries to establish itself in the market.
Samsung, meanwhile, is leading the development of the HDR10+ format, which is a royalty-free option compared to Dolby Vision. For this reason, Samsung TVs have never supported the Dolby Vision format, making it unlikely that Samsung will support DV2. If you stick to high-end Samsung or LG TVs, you may not notice a huge difference between the picture quality found with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, as both options should deliver impressive results.
