Netflix has added support for HDR10 Plus – a move that will finally allow Samsung TV owners to take better advantage of their device’s ability to stream with better clarity and color. The streaming service now offers HDR10 Plus through its Premium plan, with the format accounting for around 50 percent of “eligible viewing hours.”
Samsung TVs notably lack support for Dolby Vision, an HDR format with dynamic metadata that optimizes tone and brightness levels for individual scenes. Samsung launched HDR10 Plus in 2017, which similarly makes adjustments to tone-mapping on a scene-by-scene basis, but without the royalty payments required for Dolby Vision.HDR10 Plus might be less common than Dolby Vision, but Samsung is the world’s biggest TV brand, holding a nearly 30 percent market share.
Without support for HDR10 Plus, Samsung TV owners have had to watch content on Netflix with HDR10. Unlike HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision, HDR10 uses static metadata for an entire film or TV show, a “one-size-fits-all” approach to tone-mapping that could produce less accurate lighting, especially in very bright or very dark scenes.
Though not many streamers other than Prime Video supported HDR10 Plus at launch, services have gradually hopped on board, including Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, and now Netflix. Other TVs from Panasonic, Hisense, and TCL also offer HDR10 Plus, but many support Dolby Vision, too.
Netflix enabled HDR10 Plus on the AV1 video codec, which means you’ll need a TV that supports the standard. Most TVs made within the last five years or so have already adopted AV1. The company says it plans on expanding its library of HDR10 Plus content to include all HDR titles by the end of 2025.
