HDR
What HDR does to the picture, the difference between HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and whether to turn it on for games.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Where resolution adds more pixels, HDR improves the pixels you already have — it widens the gap between the darkest and brightest parts of the image and expands the range of colours the screen can show. A sunset looks properly bright, a dark corridor stays dark without turning into a grey smear, and you can see detail in both at once.
It is often the bigger visual upgrade of the two. Many people who compare a good HDR image at 1080p against a flat 4K image pick the HDR one.
HDR10 vs Dolby Vision — what is the difference?
HDR10 is the open standard supported by essentially every HDR screen and by every current console. It sets the brightness and colour information once for the whole piece of content.
Dolby Vision is a licensed format that adjusts those values scene by scene, which can look better on a screen that supports it. It is common in films and streaming, and on Xbox it is supported for games too. PlayStation consoles use HDR10 rather than Dolby Vision for games.
So for console gaming, HDR10 is the one that matters. Dolby Vision is mainly a films-and-streaming feature, with Xbox the exception.
Is HDR worth turning on for games?
On a screen that genuinely does HDR well, yes — it is one of the most visible improvements available. The catch is that many budget televisions claim HDR support but cannot get bright enough to deliver it, and on those sets HDR can look washed out or dimmer than the normal picture. If that is what you see, turning it off is the right call.
Worth doing on PS5 and Xbox: run the built-in HDR calibration in the console display settings. It takes a minute and matches the output to your specific screen, and skipping it is the usual reason HDR looks wrong.