YouTube, the video behemoth has added support for HDR to its video streaming platform. High Dynamic Range (HDR) videos have a broader range of colours and higher levels of brightness between blacks and whites making images look more detailed.
To appreciate the quality of HDR, users will need to watching the content on HDR supported devices. A HDR encoded video will look odd if played on a non HDR device. HDR is a growing video format, Xbox One S and PS4 recently added support for the playback of HDR content.
YouTube is not the first one in the streaming business to add HDR support, Netflix and Amazon Video have been offering the same for months now. Netflix and Amazon Video are services for watching movies and TV shows whereas YouTube is the hub for watching all kinds of videos. It is a move worth noting.
YouTube’s David Mercer says that this is a big move for YouTube and that HDR is all about whiter whites and blacker blacks which may sound corny but when actually seen through the eyes, it can be quite spectacular.
Many TVs now support the new format but it is quite rare on laptops and desktops. However Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Adobe’s Premiere are all for HDR.
To tackle the problem of watching HDR content on non HDR devices, YouTube will automatically create a standard dynamic range (SDR) format video from the original HDR video. This might sound perfect but however doing this may destroy the quality of the video; converted videos cause color shift which results in unnatural looking videos.
YouTube says it’s working on improving its converter technologies, till then YouTuber’s will have to upload HDR video and also an adjusted SDR version of the same which obviously will appear on different pages.