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Samsung’s 2016 Smart 4K HDR TVs now support YouTube HDR content

About a month ago YouTube announced official support for HDR video, but only on a select few devices. Google’s new Chromecast Ultra, of course, brought along support for HDR, but few TVs natively support the feature. Google announced that Samsung’s 2016 UHD TV lineup would bring support, and starting today, that support is available.

HDR, for those who don’t know, is High Dynamic Range, or the improved contrast of colors and improvements to certain details such as shadows in video content. Even if content isn’t available in 4K, HDR content can really make things pop on screen. Netflix and Amazon have both committed to producing HDR content, and YouTube already has a handful of creators producing HDR content as well.

Now that Samsung’s 2016 TV lineup ─ including Quantum Dot and standard UHD TVs ─ supports YouTube’s HDR, we can only assume that other TVs and platforms will follow. Heather Thompson Rivera, YouTube’s Director of Product Partnerships, had the following to say on Samsung’s support of YouTube HDR:

We are thrilled to announce the launch of HDR support on Samsung’s Quantum dot TVs. By combining Samsung’s commitment to picture quality and our desire to offer the best content available, we will work together to build a strong ecosystem that improves HDR content creation and allows users to enjoy more diverse content in the best quality possible.

Samsung will be pushing an update to the YouTube app on its TVs over the coming days to enable HDR playback.

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