Why? My monitor burns my retinas out at 75% brightness. WHy do I want/need a 1000 nits display?
Okay for TV I can understand it but not pc monitors.
Current displays do not operate in the same way.
First of all HDR vastly increases the colour gamut from 16 million to over 1 billion colours. So finally proper or more natural colour tones can be better generated as can also the definition between the dynamic range of the sharpest whites and darkest blacks yet maintain much better detail.
TVs have more processing options than perhaps monitors will have to adjust the output, see video below to get an idea of how the Dolby Vision (technically superior) but on OLED with less nits compares to HDR with additional processing on a 1000+ nits LED.
So far LG is the only main backer for US/EU market to adopt Dolby Vision.
No games as yet have been announced to use it that I am aware of and likely requires licensing fees for the developer. Does not seem to be the demand for it over standard HDR for games. The UHD Premium Alliance is the alternative to form some kind of standard. Sony for example did not produce a model this year under the UHD Premium as the main specs were 1000 and Sonys is only approx 750 IIRC to fully support the HDR10 usage. Also models from Phillips and others are sold as being HDR compatible but again do not have the specs to offer 1000 nits. Perhaps by next year models they offer they will join Samsung SUHD in towards the "UHD Premium Standard". This way it helps a consumer knowing they at least are buying a model that has specifications desired to fully accommodate it.
So potentially a monitor with 600 compared to a model with 1000 can produce more range within scene's shown and while not perhaps making a massive difference at these levels it does mean that the quality will gradually increase. Unlike resolution that is harder to determine from a distance HDR will make more of an impact to general image quality.
HDR is best suited for relaxed or darker room environments.
Good HDR DEMO content available
HERE
See
Nvidia Gameworks Blog articles also.
This video goes into all the tech detail on the subject from Nvidia.
Xbox OneS will be the first device to have a full released title built with HDR in mind with Horizion 3. I am not aware if the PC version will support HDR from release or if it comes later by patch but certainly Microsoft are bringing HDR via DirectX12. I hope Digital Foundry or others look into it all in detail come the release. Other games were announced at E3 to also use it on PC but in time it will become more adopted.
It will make a big difference on good displays...
From Nvidia Gameworks Blog article...
HDR Left standard on Right. Notice the lack of detail in high contrast areas and how more natural HDR appears with no loss of detail lost in light and shadow areas.