Microsoft released a new Xbox One preview build to Preview Alpha and Alpha Skip Ahead Insiders yesterday, and the company used this opportunity to reveal the main new features coming with the Fall update for the Xbox One. After Redmond pioneered High Dynamic Range (HDR) support on consoles two years ago with the Xbox One S, Microsoft will introduce Dolby Vision video streaming support across Xbox One S and Xbox One X with the next major update for the Xbox One OS.
Until now, Microsoft has been backing the HDR 10 standard that is also being supported by many TV manufacturers as well as Sony on their PlayStation 4 consoles. Dolby Vision is a different HDR format developed by Dolby Laboratories, and compared to HDR 10 it supports dynamic metadata and 12-bit color depth.
“Dolby Vision enables select TVs to take HDR up a notch with scene-by-scene precision and accuracy versus standard HDR which uses one setting for the entire movie/show you are watching,” explained Xbox’s Brad Rossetti. “If you have a TV that supports the latest version of Dolby Vision and a Premium Netflix subscription jump in and experience Dolby Vision for yourself in the coming weeks,” he continued.
So yes, Dolby Vision support on the Xbox One S and One X consoles will only work with Netflix at first, while those with TV sets that support the HDR 10 standard can already enjoy HDR UltraHD Blu-ray discs, HDR content in several video streaming apps, and of course HDR games. It’s still not clear if Dolby Vision support is coming for more types of content in the near future, though it’s worth noting that the Xbox One already supports the Dolby Atmos audio technology for select games, TV shows, and movies.
In addition to Dolby Vision, the Xbox One Fall (1810) Update will also bring the new Xbox Live Avatars on the Dashboard, five additional languages for the Narrator feature, as well as some experimental features that have yet to be revealed. Anyway, the upcoming Dolby Vision support shows that Microsoft is still very serious about making the Xbox One one of the best media centers on the market, and it will be interesting to see if Sony will play catch up.
