Samsung TV owners will soon be able to take advantage of High Dynamic Range video on YouTube, depending on their TV model.
Anyone with a 2016 Samsung Quantum Dot TV or UHD TV will be able use their televisions to view HDR content via the YouTube app, for the first time ever. The update “will launch progressively throughout the world from December”, according to Samsung, although it’s not clear when it will arrive in the UK specifically.
Speaking at the announcement, Seline Han, Samsung’s VP of the Visual Display Business, said: “With the global availability of YouTube’s HDR, we at Samsung are thrilled to support the best HDR viewing experience and a wide range of HDR content for users to enjoy.”
“We are confident that our TVs will bring to life an immersive HDR viewing experience – all from the comfort of our users’ homes,” Han added.
HDR, or High Dynamic Range, is an image reproduction technology that allows for significantly improved colour and light in video. For instance, it offers a wide range of darks and lights, allowing for deeper blacks and much more accurate highlights. It also offers a wider range of colours, meaning the image you see should be more accurate to real life, assuming no other funky post-processing is going on.
But viewing HDR content isn’t simple. First, you’ll need to find HDR-friendly video, which isn’t abundant – there’s barely any on YouTube, although the roster of content is growing. Then, you’ll need a TV or monitor that supports HDR content, like Samsung’s 2016 range of QDTV and UHDTV televisions.
In a bid to bolster its HDR content offering, YouTube has worked with content creators like MysteryGuitarMan and Jacob + Katie Schwarz to create new HDR videos. And Samsung says that additional YouTube creators will be given the opportunity to create HDR content using specialist production facilities in Los Angeles and New York City, to further grow YouTube’s HDR ecosystem.
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of HDR support on Samsung’s Quantum Dot TVs,” said Heather Thompson Rivera, YouTube’s Director of Product Partnerships. “By combining Samsung’s commitment to picture quality and our desire to offer the best content available, we will work together to build a strong ecosystem that improves HDR content creation and allows users to enjoy more diverse content in the best quality possible.”
YouTube has its own 4K HDR playlist, which you can check out here.
Related: Best 4K TV 2016
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Do you own a HDR TV? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
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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.
