Netflix has announced that it is adding support for the HDR10+ advanced HDR format, which is a Dolby Vision rival, and is supported by players such as Samsung, Panasonic, Hisense and TCL.
You will need a Netflix premium account to access HDR10+, and Netflix said it will initially be available in 50% of the “eligible visualization hours”, including new versions and films and programs existing on the platform.
It is not clear exactly what is understood by “eligible visualization hours”, but I consider that it means that it does not necessarily in 50% of the HDR titles, but only half of the total number of hours of content it is possible to see in HDR.
In any case, Netflix says that your plan is to have HDR10+ support in each movie and HDR show by the end of the year.
This is great news for the owners of Samsung’s best televisions and the best Samsung phones, because these are not compatible with Dolby Vision HDR, in the world of televisions, Samsung is the only brand that does not support the format on its premium televisions.
HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are superior to regular HDR (officially called HDR10) because they can admit a broader dynamic range to make the most of the brightest and bolder televisions today, but they can also embed the assignment of scene tone by scene, which means that instead of your television you have to work the best way to obtain all the detail of a super -dark scene, such a scene, this information is included In video transmission.
It should mean less impressed highlights, less crushed blacks and a general aspect that is closer to the original master version of one of the best Netflix films or one of the best Netflix programs.
Dolby Vision is generally considered technically superior, and is more widely compatible in both hardware and transmission services, but despite this, the support has been growing for HDR10+ in recent years, and is already available in Prime Video and Apple TV+. Now Netflix has joined the party.
Don’t wait for a new dawn for HDR10+
Although HDR10+ is available in the largest transmission service in the world, I do not hope to see long -term holdouts in the format, LG and Sony, which supports it on its televisions.
I asked LG about the potential to support it now that it is in more transmission services (and there are some great 4k Blu-rays that use it) directly during a launch event for its 2025 televisions: Read our five-star LG C5 review if you are interested more in that, and it is told “We do not believe in that.”
Sony has not yet announced its 2025 TVs, but we have seen a demonstration of its next-generation RGB mini-lid LED technology, and the company seemed impassive due to the idea of adding new formats during that launch event.
One thing that pointed out is that, although the support for HDR10+ is growing, it tends to be an additional alternative to Dolby Vision in the best transmission services, not a replacement, so when supporting Dolby Vision, the company is providing all the advanced HDR support that you think is necessary.
That approach backed by how Netflix is adding its support: the company confirmed that it is asking the production companies and studies that provide the Dolby Vision version, and then adds the HDR10+ support as part of its technological pipe. This means that anything with HDR10+ logically must also have Dolby vision support.
Even so, this is ideal for Samsung owners in particular, who can obtain a good image impulse, especially for their less brilliant televisions, such as their lowest and low -level OLEDS models, which do not have a high -end brightness, so the tone mapping is really important for them.
