Microsoft Corp. has begun implementing Dolby Vision HDR gaming on its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles for a select number of testers ahead of a global rollout expected later this year.
It’s an exciting development that means the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles are the first ever dedicated games machines to support Dolby Vision in addition to the base HDR10 format. Microsoft first said it was working to bring Dolby Vision to the consoles in September.
Dolby Vision is a proprietary, dynamic HDR format found on premium Smart TVs that works by adjusting the picture in games on a scene-by-scene and frame-by-frame basis. It helps to create more detail with better colour accuracy by constantly making adjustments to the picture so that each image on the screen is optimized.
Dolby Vision’s implementation on the Xbox consoles was first reported by the German language website Xbox Dynasty and quickly confirmed by John Archer in Forbes, who said that a number of users with compatible Dolby Vision TVs have reported that HDR games were playing in Dolby Vision following a software update last week. For now, Dolby Vision on the Xbox Series X and Series S is only available to people who are members of the Xbox’s invitation-only preview club Alpha Ring, which is a community of hardcore gamers that get to test new features ahead of their general release.
Dolby Vision currently only works with 4:2:2 60Hz game content at this time, Archer reported.
Microsoft said in a statement to Archer that the feature is “currently in testing” and that it will have more to announce on the new functionality and its general availability “soon”.
Interestingly, it appears that all HDR titles on the Xbox Series X and Series S are being shown in Dolby Vision, even those that don’t explicitly support the format. That suggests Microsoft is forcing Dolby Vision to be applied to all HDR game titles, but it remains to be seen if it will do that when the feature is made generally available.
Still, the early reports are encouraging, with most users saying that black levels, brightness and colour saturation of HDR games appears to be much more refined than it was with the HDR10 format.
The Microsoft Xbox consoles both already support Dolby Vision in regular video content, and the addition of Dolby Vision for games content too will give it a big advantage over its rival Sony’s PlayStation 5. That’s because the PS5 doesn’t currently support Dolby Vision for either video or games content.
In a video, HDTVTest reviewer Vincent Teoh explained that Dolby Vision on the Xbox may also provide an advantage to LG Electronics and its new OLED TVs such as the LG CX and C1, ahead of Sony’s rival OLED A90J and A80J OLED TVs. LG’s TVs are able to deliver the very best picture thanks to their ability to play Dolby Vision content at 4K@120fps. Teoh says this isn’t possible on Sony’s new OLED TVs, as those features are mutually exclusive.
Microsoft has previously promised that it will launch Dolby Vision for gaming sometime later this year.
