You are in the market for a Samsung TV but you want to make sure that your viewing experience with your new TV is anything but subpar for the best brightness, color, and sharpness. Are you able to have the most advanced HDR format, Dolby Vision, on your new Samsung TV?

Samsung TVs do not support Dolby Vision, due to additional manufacturing costs and additional license fees. However, depending on the Samsung TV model it may support its own processing system and hardware HDR10+, without the need for Dolby Vision.

Turning on the HDR10+ function on your Samsung TV is rather easy and adds to the watching experience. Read on to find out more about HDR and how to turn HDR on your Samsung TV.

How Do I Know If My Samsung TV has HDR?

Depending on the model of the Samsung TVs you can press the info button the remote will bring up an information bar at the top of the screen. Look for an indicator in the top right corner that says “HDR.”

Here is how to check:

●Open Expert settings – the settings for turning HDR support on and off are found in the picture settings menu.

  • Turn on HDR+ mode – To turn HDR support on or off, find the HDR= mode in the Expert Settings menu. Using the toggle button you can deactivate HDR or enable it again.

● Once HD is enabled on the TC, you should be ready to go as long as the content you have chosen is HDR compatible.

Which Samsung TVs Support HDR10+?

The· HDR10 + website states that over 700 models of TVs, Blu-Ray players, and mobile devices are compatible with the HDR10 + format.

All Samsung UHD TVs manufactured in 2016 will have HDR10 + functionality. However, in the Terrace, Cyril, Flame, or the latest QLED and Mini LED models – the range is even better for displaying HDR10 + content. HDR10 + Adaptive adjusts the image according to the ambient light using the TV light sensor. In other words, viewers can experience a movie-like experience regardless of the viewing environment.

If you have a Samsung TV manufactured between 2016 and 2020, make sure the firmware has been updated to take advantage of the HDR10 + features.

What is HDR?

HDR stands for “high dynamic range” which increases the contrast between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks a TC can produce. As a whole, it is able to deliver more colors, better contrast levels, and increased brightness compared to HD.

To get the best viewing experience on your Samsung TV, you are able to turn on HDR10+, which is Samsung’s royalty-free dynamic metadata HDR system.

HDR unlocks:

  • More Vibrant ColorsHigher Levels of Contrast Significant Brightness

With a broader color gamut over Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), HDR opens up more hues that TVs could not produce for so many years.

As a result, HDR allows for more realistic content to be presented on today’s 4K TVs. SDR can only present a fraction of the color depth that HDR can. For example, SDR displays can only showcase 256 shades of red, green, and blue, while HDR can showcase 1,024 shades.

The two major players for a better HDR experience are Dolby Vision and HDR10. However, you are typically able to find more devices that support HDR10+ as their format – as opposed to Dolby Vision supported products.

Dolby Vision Vs HDR10+

The difference between the two formats is that Dolby Vision is considered to be more accurate than regular HDR (displayed in HDR10 format) because the content can be encoded frame by frame. This means that what you’re watching is brighter in color and needs to be tailored to the features of the type of TV you are using.

HDR10+ is an HDR format created by Samsung, but content creators and manufacturers don’t have to pay hefty fees to use it. Standard HDR10 uses static metadata, which means that the brightness settings are set at the start of the content you’re watching and don’t change whereas HDR10+ applies a layer of dynamic metadata to the HDR10 steam. Like Dolby Vision, HDR10+ enhances the HDR images in each frame or scene, so you get better color and much more tonal detail.

Conclusion

Dolby Vision may be the better option as it produces better brightness, color and is supported on TVs like LG, Vizio, TCL, Hisense, and Sony. However, HDR10+ continues to be the most accessible HDR format from a content and device point of view.

HDR10+ may offer many of the same benefits as Dolby Vision, but its slow adoption among TV makers, content creators, and distributors makes it lack in the HDR space vs Dolby Vision. This could however change in the future.