Do it in ‘Dubly’: Dolby Vision HDR comes to Xbox One S and Xbox One X

By Gabe Gurwin Published July 16, 2018

Xbox One X review both — Les Shu/Digital Trends

The Xbox One S and Xbox One X currently support HDR10, making games, television shows, and movies pop with a wider range of colors, but what if we could do it in “Dubly?” (to offer a Spinal Tap reference). If you’re a member of the Xbox Insiders program, you can now use Dolby Vision HDR — kind of.

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With the latest Xbox One system software update available in Preview, Xbox One S and Xbox One X users can now enable Dolby Vision HDR for streaming video. If you want to use Dolby Vision — or any other type of HDR — for Netflix, you’ll need to pay extra for a subscription to Netflix Premium, which also allows you to watch content at 4K resolution.

Dolby Vision is quite similar to HDR10, which is the more popular of the two formats and is the only one supported for games on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Dolby Vision supports a higher color depth than HDR10, as well as higher theoretical brightness, and it more easily adapts to your individual display.

HDR10 has been more widely embraced by television manufacturers, and companies like Vizio later added support for the format through a firmware update. With updates, it should now be possible for televisions using HDR10 to add support for Dolby Vision, if you find yourself preferring it.

You’ll still have to use HDR10 if you want to see high-dynamic range content in your video games, however. It’s particularly impressive on the Xbox One X on games that also feature native 4K resolution and 60-frames-per-second gameplay, bringing you closer to the action without having to launch a full-on assault on your eyes. Though Xbox One S isn’t capable of rendering games at 4K, it does support HDR, so you’ll still be able to see the crisper colors on the less-expensive console.

The Xbox One system update also includes a few quality-of-life and accessibility features to make your experience even simpler. The console’s search function can now find games in your “ready to install” section so you can locate them more quickly, and the Narrator tool added support for Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch.

If you aren’t a member of Xbox Insiders, you should expect to see the latest system update in the near future.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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