Popular streaming service Netflix today announced the addition of High Dynamic Range (HDR) support on Windows 10 for both the Edge browser and the Netflix app.
With this update, Netflix members who have a supported device and a premium plan can enjoy movies and shows on Netflix in HDR.
“With HDR enabled, fans can immerse themselves in the delicious colors of Chef’s Table, the terrifying depths of the Upside Down in Stranger Things 2, and enjoy the upcoming Netflix film Bright starring Will Smith. And this is just the beginning! Today, we have over 200 hours of HDR entertainment, and in 2018 even more HDR PCs will enter the market and support the growing number of Netflix originals,” Netflix said in a blog post.
The HDR support is the culmination of a multi-year collaboration between Netflix and a number of industry partners. Intel’s 7th generation and higher CPUs provides the capability needed to play the Netflix HDR10 encodes.
In addition, both Intel and Nvidia have developed GPUs that use 10 bits-per-channel for each of the RGB colours, increasing the colour space that can be represented. With this new hardware available in consumer PCs, Netflix and Microsoft partnered together to put the software pieces in place.
Microsoft has added the necessary OS and browser changes in their Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and integrated additional APIs to complete the video player work.
You can stream Netflix in HDR on your Windows computer in the Microsoft Edge browser or the Netflix app available from the Windows store.
To stream in HDR content on your Windows PC, your system must meet or exceed the following requirements:
If using integrated Intel GPU:
If using discrete NVIDIA GPU:
