I don’t think I agree with that at all. Color banding is a problem with NTSC - 540 interlaced, and lower resolutions too. If you have a smooth gradient that shows color banding, spatial resolution is completely irrelevant. Pixelation is a separate, orthogonal issue. It would be trivial to show color banding, and the need for dither, on a 16 x 16 pixel image.

HDR is what changed - it requires more than 8 bits per pixel, by definition!

Again, if you only have LDR (low dynamic range), the human visual system’s “just noticeable difference” or JND in the perception literature demonstrates we only need 8 bits when looking at things under ‘indoor’ lighting conditions. You don’t need dithering if you use LDR on a single specific 8-bit display. You do need dithering when either moving to a different display than the one you started with, or using an HDR display - capable of displaying more than 8 bits of color resolution.