Xbox has started testing Dolby Vision for gaming on Series X and S
Xbox Alpha Ring Insiders have started testing Dolby Vision for gaming on Xbox Series X and S.
The announcement came from Larry Hyrb, Xbox’s “Major Nelson,” via Twitter. This marks the first time that Dolby Vision is available on consoles for gaming. The Series X and S (as well as the One X) already supported Dolby Vision for certain video apps like Netflix.
Bringing Dolby Vision for gaming to the Xbox Series consoles was the plan from the beginning, but currently most Xbox Series hardware only supports HDR 10. Of course, if you want to take advantage of Dolby Vision when it eventually comes to your Series X or S console, you will need a TV that can support the format.
So what’s the difference between Dolby Vision and HDR 10? While HDR 10 only supports 10-bit color, Dolby Vision supports 12-bit color, which means literally 60-plus billion more colors than HDR 10. Sounds impressive, right? Well, there’s a huge catch.
You see, there are very few displays on the market right now that support 12-bit color, and no consumer TVs support it. Samsung’s 2021 line of Neo QLED TVs will support 12-bit color, but they won’t support Dolby Vision, so it’s kind of pointless for Series X and S gaming.
Now, where does that leave Xbox Series X and S owners? Dolby Vision will probably look a little better than your standard HDR 10, but the display tech just isn’t there yet to fully take advantage of what Dolby Vision offers.
Still, Xbox is fully in next-gen mode now, as it has been releasing several updates lately that improve the Series X and S experience. Most recently, it updated those consoles’ Quick Resume feature and has FPS Boosted nearly 100 games.
Michael Goroff has written and edited for EGM since 2017. You can follow him on Twitter @gogogoroff.
