At last Xbox users can enjoy HDR video quality on YouTube . The latest update of the application finally allows that if you have a compatible television, something already very common, you are not limited if you are a regular consumer of the content published on the platform.
YouTube and Xbox are finally well understood
It took a long time and the truth is that it doesn’t make much sense that it was like that or yes (they needed to support the VP9-2 codec that they use to efficiently encode videos), but sometimes these things happen. Although, finally, users of Microsoft consoles and especially of the latest generation can now enjoy all those content published on YouTube that offer HDR video quality .
As Google has published in its help section for YouTube:
You can now play YouTube videos on the Xbox Series X | S. In the YouTube app, you can view the channels you’ve subscribed to, search for content, and use your mobile device as a controller.
YouTube is available in 4K on the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X models. On the original version of the Xbox One, the maximum available resolution is 1080p. Viewers have the option to select HDR playback on the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X models.
This means that if you have a television or monitor that supports high dynamic range content (there are inexpensive models with HDR), you will be able to select the option that allows you to view this version of the content published on YouTube. And it is an important improvement that, as we have commented on some occasions, represents a much more interesting jump in quality even than the increase in resolution.
Therefore, if you have an Xbox Series X and S plus a panel TV with HDR support and 4K UHD resolution, you will enjoy the highest possible image quality . Although if the console you use to play content from YouTube is the Xbox One, don’t hesitate to activate it even though it doesn’t exceed 1080p resolution.
Xbox and HDR content playback
Microsoft’s Xbox consoles have supported the playback of HDR content for a long time, but for some reason not in all video applications out there. Yes, you could see this type of content through services like Netflix, but not YouTube.
With the latest update of the application this is over. So all you have to do is download it if you don’t have it yet, or update it if the answer is yes. Once you have it and you have logged in, in the settings you can choose which version you want to play of the video you are watching.
If there is an HDR version, it will appear in the same way as the different videos at different resolutions are seen. There is no loss, it is simple and you will notice the change, enjoying a better quality with more information in the dark and light areas. For example, you can try with this video New York video recorded at 8K resolution at 60 fps and HDR
