Time to get a new smart TV – YouTube now supports HDR video

Folks who have been sitting on the fence about getting one of the newer smart TVs to hit the market in 2016, YouTube might have made up your mind for you. The Google-powered video service has added support for HDR (high dynamic range) video, following on the heels of Netflix which already offers the technology to subscribers with compatible hardware.

Netflix and YouTube are not the only places you can go to get your HDR on, though. The Xbox One S and the PlayStation 4 Pro are also offering it to users who have screens that support the improved lighting technology — which might account for why YouTube has chosen now to jump on the bandwagon. Gameplay video uploads are a profitable part of the service, after all.

HDR videos won’t look any different from conventional videos if you’re running them on conventional screens but uploaders who have included HDR metadata in their video (which only slightly complicates the upload process) will be able to display the tech on HDR-ready screens.

If you want to see what your screen can do with HDR (provided you have something that’ll actually display the improved colour range), you can hit YouTube’s developer-created playlist for a taster. We’re expecting more to come as HDR content disperses more widely around the world.

Source: Geek.com