And I told you that you won't get a distorted image if you tonemap it properly. The algo takes the details that are normally clipped into white or black (if you just do a simple collapse at some particular exposure) and combines them into one LDR result. You don't have to take my word for it either, there is a free tonemap plugin for HDRShop you can try on various HDR images and see for yourself. Try googling for it, there used be a link on debevec's site but i dunno where it is now.

BTW most high end VFX places now use HDR renders as a matter of course, simply because they can comp and rework them much better then LDR ones. That's why ILM devd the OpenEXR format in the first place.

About the monitors i have no idea how or what they are doing, just that the tech is in dev and its for LCDs IIRC. Again, google is your friend...

EDIT : Found the HDR display one:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/10/03/brightside_hdr_edr/1.html

Aint progress fun :)