LOS ANGELES—4K was on everyone’s lips at this year’s E3. We heard this buzz term (which has come to mean 3840×2160 pixel resolution) so many times that we almost made a drinking game out of it.

But the other buzz phrase for new TV sets, HDR, turned out to be a lot less prevalent.

I went to E3 expecting Microsoft, Sony, and other major game-hardware companies to pound on tables and emphasize how awesome their newest products looked with HDR features turned on. Instead, I left E3 wondering when the technology’s most likely ambassadors will get around to converting the confused masses.