It’s been a long time coming, but Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console can finally play YouTube videos in HDR; these include the Series X, Series S and One X.
Back in 2017, Google promised to bring HDR to Microsoft’s Xbox platform. Apparently, it was a difficult task to get the game console to play HDR, because some years have passed since then. Well, better late than never.
Incidentally, the Xbox is not alone in playing YouTube content “underpowered”. The brand new PS5 can also still(?) not handle it. Its predecessor PS4 had no trouble with it. In short: there seems to be no real logic in the rollout of features by Google. The fact that the Xbox is now the first (or last, depending on the perspective you choose) is perhaps a little something to make up for.
TV and video also HDR compatible
Remains the question whether you will see HDR on your Microsoft game console. It is first of all dependent on the connected TV. Is that a HDR non-capable device, then it won’t work of course. The displayed video itself must of course be recorded in HDR, and that is still only a small part of the YouTube offerings. So if your device can not play HDR, it is not something that dramatic.