Both Google and Roku have upgraded the media streaming capabilities of their devices by adding support for HDR10+. Assuming you have a compatible setup, it could make a big difference to the quality of the content being watched.
In a press release, HDR10+ Technologies confirmed that support for the video technology has been added to Google’s Chromecast with Google TV, as well as the Roku Express 4K+, Roku Express 4K, and Roku Ultra (2020).
For background, there’s two competing HDR standards: Dolby Vision and HDR10. Dolby’s solution offers an edge over HDR10 by including support for dynamic metadata, which allows the brightness boundaries to be changed on a per frame basis for the content as it plays. HDR10+ upgrades HDR10 by adding dynamic metadata and therefore allowing it to better compete against Dolby Vision.
Mark Ely, Vice President of Retail Product Strategy at Roku, confirmed support by saying, “At Roku we are dedicated to providing consumers with easy-to-use products that offer a lot of value and choice. We recently announced Roku OS 10, a free software update rolling out to Roku devices, and we have enabled HDR10+ on the all-new Roku Express 4K+, Roku Express 4K and Roku Ultra (2020) products for an even more vivid and bright viewing experience on TVs that support it.”
To take advantage of HDR10+ you need a compatible media streamer, a HDR-capable TV, and of course streaming services offering HDR10+ content. As HDR10+ is a royalty-free, open format (unlike Dolby Vision), support is likely to grow, and having it listed as a feature on hardware and services will only become more important. With that in mind, Paramount+ also recently announced support.
