In its latest earnings call, Sky has announced that it will be bringing HDR support to its flagship Sky Q service in 2019, not 2018 as originally planned.
It’s been available for Netflix and Amazon for years, and has even made its way to BBC iPlayer for its recent Ultra HD trials, but it seems Sky is finding HDR a much harder nut to crack.
The firm previously announced that the technology, which allows you to see more detail in the brightest and darkest areas of the picture, would be available to Sky Q subscribers from the summer of 2018 (via WhatHiFi).
Related: HDR TV
However it’s since pushed the release of the technology back to 2019, meaning it will arrive after other highly anticipated Sky Q upgrades, such as the launch of its ‘dish-free’ TV option.
It isn’t all bad news though. Sky also used the call to announce its plans to deliver a truly hands-free TV experience. It already offers voice search and control through the Sky Q touch remote, but this relies on you holding down the voice search button to get it to work.
In the future, presumably Sky hopes that it could use a ‘wake word’ similar to the Amazon Echo or Google Home to allow people to use voice control without needing to touch a remote in the first place.
How important is HDR really?
HDR arrived just slightly after Ultra HD resolutions with the two combining to offer the next generation of TV content.
In fact, if you’ve got a TV that’s under 55-inches in size and you sit further that five feet away, we’d argue that HDR is the more noticeable upgrade for video content.
Read more: Best 4K TVs
As such, it’s a shame that it’s taking Sky such a long time to bring the technology to Sky Q, especially now that we’ve seen BBC adopt it so successfully for its Blue Planet 2, World Cup and Wimbledon Ultra HD trials.
Where do you stand on the 4K vs HDR discussion? Which is really the more important technology? Let us know @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
