The YouTube logo appears on screen at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino on January 12, 2012. (Photo : Getty Images/ Ethan Miller)
YouTube announced today its new escalated video quality as its platform now supports high dynamic range, or HDR, video to cater the services being offered by the latest consoles through their HDR capabilities.
Being one of the main selling points of consoles like PS4 Pro and Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One Scorpio, Google has enabled greater video quality to support YouTube's display technology in order to enjoy content with increased clarity, color range and contrast.
According to Engadget, the HDR capabilities does not change the number of pixels, neither increase the pixels' volume, it captures its full-capacity by offering a wider range of color, contrast and brightness. The technology supports a wider range than the conventional gamma curve, copying the real landscape our eyes can perceive.
In addition, the HDR offers a wider range of contrast and brightness than standard HD or UHD, allowing the resulting images to show more detail in darker parts of the screen and highlight a wider range of colors.
Starting with the launch, users can now view YouTube videos in HDR on supported devices, such as HDR TVs with the new Chromecast Ultra, and soon on all 2016 Samsung SUHD and UHD TVs. These HDR-capable devices will be the first wave of users who can stream YouTube videos with an increase in clarity, color and contrast, according to the Youtube Official Blog.
Furthermore, the Google-owned company plans to work with partners to enable streaming in HDR. YouTube has equally advocated for its new video quality options in the past for 4K content, as well as for 360-degree video and live-streaming. The company's goal is to keep YouTube as the frontrunner for streaming and display technology against other video options like Netflix and Amazon.
As of now, YouTube has already partnered with famous vlog creators like MysteryGuitarMan, Jacob + Katie Schwarz, and Abandon Visuals to offer new HDR content in time for the launch. YouTube emphasizes that it is working with top channels and creators to fill out its HDR catalog in the coming months.
In their website, YouTube is giving creators specific instructions on how to upload videos on the latest HDR capability, requiring that videos must have HDR metadata in the codec or container to be played back as HDR videos on YouTube. The company worked with DaVinci Resolve in order to export media in their supported application, such as BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve 12.5.2.
