YouTube adds HDR video support

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Yesterday, YouTube added support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) video. It is a huge deal for the nascent format, as finding a venue on the world's most popular video platform could force video producers and ordinary folks alike to shoot and upload HDR clips more often, proliferating the "true-to-life" standard.

Google said that you can now watch YouTube vids in HDR on relevant TVs with the new Chromecast Ultra dongle, and support for all 2016 Samsung SUHD and UHD TVs is also coming soon, and YouTube is going to partner for HDR streaming further down the road. If your gear doesn't have the HDR certification, videos will play in the standard range. Uploading HDR content is a more complicated ballgame, as you have to grade it according to the upcoming Rec. 2020 space, not the current DCI-P3 gamut support you can find on HDR devices, as Google wants to futureproof its support.

Apple's newest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus come with the so-called "wide color" displays, which is just Cupertino's term to say that they support the DCI-P3 gamut - one of the basic prerequissites for a device to be certified as compliant with the HDR-10 standard - but there are more conditions to be met, so it's not clear if those HDR YouTube clips will be any different when shown on the iPhone 7, compared to, say, the iPhone 6s. Nevertheless, HDR video support is a welcome addition to YouTube's quiver, as we are likely to see much more HDR-certified devices in the future, including phones.

source: Google

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