Netflix to offer HDR10 and Dolby Vision content on compatible mobile devices
We
already knew that the LG G6 is the first device on the market to have support
for HDR10 and Dolby Vision content. Now Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has confirmed
that starting with the LG G6 the company will be streaming content in both
formats on mobile devices.
Previously, Netflix only offered
HDR content on select devices, such as smart TVs, Chromecast Ultra, NVIDIA
Shield, Xbox One S and select Roku models. Dolby Vision was only supported on
select LG and Vizio televisions. With this, smartphones with an HDR display
will also be able to access Netflix' HDR library and if they also happen to
support Dolby Vision like the G6 then that content will also be available. As
before, you will have to subscribe to the four member 4K plan to access HDR
content.
Netflix is the second company to
bring HDR to the mobile platform. Last year, Amazon had announced HDR video
support on its Prime app for the Galaxy Note7. This year, Amazon will also
offer 4K HDR on the new Sony Xperia XZ Premium.
For a quick primer on HDR10 and
Dolby Vision, both are video standards for delivering high dynamic range video,
with HDR10 being open and Dolby Vision being proprietary. However, while anyone
and anything can implement HDR10, Dolby Vision is an end-to-end solution, with
Dolby controlling every part of the chain from the content to the device it is
played back on, and as such only select devices can implement it. This rules
out anything that does not have its own display (like a media player). It does
however result in a more consistent experience across devices unlike HDR10,
whose quality can vary from device to device. Still, regardless of the
standard, HDR video promises a wider dynamic range and improved color
reproduction and it's high time this got implemented in mobile devices that are
being used more and more to consume content every day.
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