We recently reported that Polygon had received information from Microsoft confirming that the new Xbox Series X and Series S consoles would support HDR10+. Alas, that appears to have been a mistake.
During testing for our own Xbox Series X review, we were eager to find out if HDR10+ was indeed available, but quickly discovered that it's not mentioned in the otherwise exhaustive 'Video Modes' section of the console's settings. What's more, none of the streaming services that usually output HDR10+ (Amazon Prime Video and Rakuten, for example) could be persuaded to do so here, nor any of our HDR10+ 4K Blu-rays.
Microsoft has now confirmed to us that, unfortunately, HDR10+ is not supported after all:
“Xbox Series X|S support HDR10 for both games and streaming media and Dolby Vision for streaming media apps from partners such as Netflix, Disney+ and Vudu at launch. We also announced Dolby Vision support for games will be coming in 2021. While we don’t support HDR10+ at launch, we continue to listen to feedback from gamers and our partners. We have nothing to announce at this time”.
While Microsoft is right to point out that the Xbox Series X supports the more widely available HDR10 and Dolby Vision formats, it's still a shame to discover that HDR10+ isn't also on the spec list after all. Owners of Samsung TVs will be particularly disappointed, as their sets resolutely don't support Dolby Vision.
All told, though, we're not sure this is a huge problem. The only HDR format currently used for games is HDR10, which all HDR TVs support, and HDR10+ is still less readily available and less well implemented than the Dolby Vision format. It sounds as if Microsoft is open to adding HDR10+ in the future, too, so all may not be lost.
MORE:
Read our Xbox Series X review
See our Xbox Series S review
Sony PS5: everything you need to know
Take a look at our round-up of the best gaming TVs
