AU Optronics has recently announced a new 4K 85-inch TV panel with a refresh rate of 240 Hz and support for Variable Refresh Rate technology according to a recent report from DigiTimes. The panel is reported to support HDR however no exact specification was specified and will cover 96% of the DCI-P3 color space. The display also features proprietary technology including an anti-reflective coating and unique surface structure design to reduce glare. We are unsure what type of Variable Refresh Rate technology the panel will support or how much and when it may be available. The panel is not currently listed on the AU Optronics website but has reportedly won the 2021 Ministry of Science and Technology Central Science Park Fine Manufacturer Innovation Product Award.

NVIDIA today announced the G-SYNC HDR technology. An evolution of the company's proprietary adaptive display sync technology, which keeps the display's refresh-rates dynamically in-sync with the graphics card's frame-rates, G-SYNC HDR, as its name suggests, adds support for HDR (high dynamic range) displays. NVIDIA's partner display manufacturers such as Acer, and ASUS have each announced displays with this technology, which will will be available later this year.

NVIDIA worked with display panel maker AUOptronics to develop G-SYNC HDR. It leverages full 384-zone LED backlights, and a quantum-dot technology. The monitors rely on wide color gamuts, with 10-bit (1.07 billion color palettes) to bring HDR to life. G-SYNC HDR monitors come with support for the HDR10 standard. The year's most anticipated game, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," will come with support for G-SYNC HDR.

Display panel OEM AU Optronics announced development of a new 27-inch AHVA panel. AHVA, or advanced hyper-viewing angle, is AU Optronics' equivalent of LG's IPS panel technology, and is not to be confused with AMVA (advanced multidomain vertical alignment). Codenamed M270DAN02.3, the panel offers stellar refresh rates of 144 Hz, and native resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. Other vitals include 1000:1 contrast ratio, 350 cd/m² maximum brightness, sRGB gamut, and of course, 178°/178° viewing angles. Its introduction could spur growth of "gaming" grade monitors, which come with technologies specific to gaming PCs, such as AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync support, that dynamically sync the display's refresh-rate with the frame-rate of the graphics card, to minimize stuttering, and produce a fluid display output.

Fence-sitters in the massive LCD panel price-fixing case, LG, AUOptronics, and Toshiba, finally agreed to pay their share of fines to settle. The three combined will pay US $571 million in fines, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs. The amount includes US $27.5 million in civil penalties for eight state governments (Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin).

In late-December 2011, the first set of fines were collected from LCD panel majors Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, HannStar, and Chimei Innolux; who cumulatively paid US $553 million in the price-fixing case, as LG, AUO, and Toshiba abstained. AUOptronics was faced with the prospect of having to pay fines as high as US $1 billion. The case involves alleged price-fixing and cartel behavior by LCD panel makers in the period between 1996 and 2006, which stunted LCD panel development, and overpriced products to the consumers, by stifling competition.

One of the biggest suppliers of LCD panels to notebook and PC monitor manufacturers, AUOptronics, has been convicted by a US court on Tuesday, of price-fixing, a serious anti-competitive practice that cripples innovation and is bad for consumers and progress of the industry. The company faces fines as high as US $1 billion, which could amount to a big blow to the company that already finds itself facing losses.

AUOptronics' conviction follows the December 2011 mega-settlement of LCD makers including Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, HannStar, and Chimei Innolux. At the time, AUOptronics and LG Electronics were the only fence-sitters. LG Electronics agreed to pay a US $400 million fine, in 2008. AUOptronics' current position is that it finds the evidence presented against it, which led to the conviction as being "distorted and incomplete," and that it will appeal against the verdict. The quantum of fine levied against AUOptronics will surface in the months ahead.