Google rolls out HDR support for YouTube on specific devices
YouTube now supports HDR video. Users can immediately upload HDR footage to Google’s well-known video service. Viewers who have the right HDR-capable hardware at home can also immediately start watching the images with enriched colors.
YouTube mentions on its blog that “HDR images can be watched immediately on supported devices, such as HDR TVs with the new Chromecast Ultra and soon also all Samsung Suhd and UHD TVs from 2016.” At the moment it therefore only seems possible to watch HDR YouTube images with the Chromecast Ultra and an HDR-capable TV. YouTube also states that “as more HDR devices come on the market, YouTube will work with partners to enable streaming of HDR versions.” It is therefore not the case that every HDR-capable television can now play YouTube videos with HDR. YouTube and the manufacturer must therefore first arrange this among themselves.
Anyone who has a supported HDR-capable television can immediately try out the functionality with a playlist that YouTube has put together in collaboration with a few makers. When everything is in order and the images are displayed in HDR, users will see an HDR logo when operating the video. Videos uploaded to YouTube in HDR are still shown in SDR to users without the necessary hardware. YouTube has put some documentation about the process online.
HDR, or high dynamic range, ensures that there is more contrast between dark and light parts of the screen. Light parts are displayed brightly without loss of detail in the dark parts. The introduction of HDR on YouTube has already been planned and is more or less accompanied by the release of the ChromeCast Ultra, which will be available on November 8th. In addition to HDR, this also has support for 4k resolutions. Netflix and Amazon Prime now also have support for HDR with specific materials.
The simulated difference between sdr and hdr (Image: YouTube)