Dolby Vision 2 is finally reaching real televisions. Select 2026 Hisense TVs are the first sets anywhere to carry the format, nearly a year after Dolby introduced Dolby Vision 2 as the successor to its decade-old HDR standard.
The upgrade lands as a firmware push, not new hardware. Content Intelligence is the headline addition. According to Dolby, the feature reads metadata baked into a title and adjusts brightness, color, and contrast scene by scene, automatically. A movie's darkest scene and a sunlit sports broadcast each get their own picture profile.
You will not need to dig through a settings menu to notice the difference. Dolby says the same automation extends to an intensity slider built into the TV's picture menu, letting you dial the effect up or down to compensate for glare or an off-angle couch, plus personalize the look to taste.
Hisense's highest-end 2026 sets get more. The UX, UR9, UR8, and U7 (U7 Pro in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Central and South Asia) are the first TVs in the world to run the premium tier, which Dolby calls Dolby Vision 2 Max. It adds Authentic Motion, a motion tool Dolby built to smooth judder on newly authored titles without triggering the soap-opera effect, plus Light Sense 2, which recalibrates the picture for whatever light fills the room.
Hisense says the rollout begins this week across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, with more of its 2026 lineup receiving the firmware in the coming weeks. CANAL+, iQIYI, and Peacock have committed to supporting the expanded format, Dolby says, though none has set a date for when Dolby Vision 2 titles actually reach their catalogs.
"Dolby Vision 2 sets a new standard for what television can look like, and today consumers can experience that difference for themselves," said John Couling, Dolby's senior vice president of entertainment.
"The moment users turn on their Hisense TV, they're immersed in lifelike visuals," said Sonny Ming, Hisense's general manager of TV product marketing.
What's still unclear is whether older Hisense sets qualify for a free upgrade, and whether Dolby Vision 2 ever reaches a TV lineup outside Hisense.
