When did YouTube add HDR?

[Sheepish-Lord]

Just noticed yesterday my current gen ATV played a 2160 HDR video by default. Sadly, because I have my settings set to match content/frame rate it didn't actually change my TV to HDR like it would with say a movie but was cool to see it be a little more bright. Probably means I would have to force my ATV to use HDR full time which I'm not willing to do.

Anybody know when this happened?

 

[George Dawes]

I honestly prefer sdr to hdr , can’t see what the big deal is about hdr tbh .

 

[Nermal]

YouTube's had HDR for some time. I like this video as a bit of a 'demo reel'... and it was added back in 2016!

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

YouTube's had HDR for some time. I like this video as a bit of a 'demo reel'... and it was added back in 2016!

But on the Apple TV though?

 

[bozzykid]

But on the Apple TV though?

HDR support was added early last year. 4K HDR only works on the newer Apple TV 4K.

 

[w5jck]

First, just because the video is listed as HDR, it might not be. Go into the "NERD" stats in YT to see if BT.2020 is actually being used. Chances are you will see BT.709 instead, which is only SDR. I can tell the difference from watching HDR videos via YT on my ATV 4K 2017, which is only displaying them in SDR, and watching the same videos via YT on my Fire TV Cube or directly on my Sony Bravia's YT app, both of which deliver actual HDR.

Second, to @GeorgeDawes, HDR is definitely much better, but only when viewed on a TV that truly supports it well. Advertising of TVs is anything but honest these days. HDR TVs are often either not true HDR or they have such minimum specs that they do a lousy job of displaying it. If you ever see HDR on a really good HDR TV then you will understand that it is quantum leap beyond SDR with rich colors (over 1 billion) and details within shadows and bright areas that you never knew were possible with a TV. But if you don't have a good HDR TV and/or streaming services don't stream true HDR programming, then it will look bland because you are not really seeing HDR but only SDR.

 

[bozzykid]

First, just because the video is listed as HDR, it might not be. Go into the "NERD" stats in YT to see if BT.2020 is actually being used. Chances are you will see BT.709 instead, which is only SDR. I can tell the difference from watching HDR videos via YT on my ATV 4K 2017, which is only displaying them in SDR, and watching the same videos via YT on my Fire TV Cube or directly on my Sony Bravia's YT app, both of which deliver actual HDR.

Are you sure your Apple TV is in HDR mode? Youtube on Apple TV doesn't support content range switching, so it will only play HDR content if in HDR mode.

 

[giubeppe]

I just noticed today my Apple TV 4K (last gen) watching YouTube switched to HDR automatically on my LG OLED.
Forgot to mention I'm running the latest public beta (edited).