Samsung smart TV owners just got a welcome image upgrade

One of our ongoing irritations when we rate the best TVs is that Samsung doesn't support Dolby Vision HDR: it wants everybody to use the HDR10+ format it helped create with firms including Amazon. 

That's a problem if, like me, you use services such as Apple TV+, which didn't support HDR10+. But Apple has made two changes that mean you can now enjoy HDR10+ on the best Samsung TVs. The first change is in the Apple TV operating system, which now supports HDR10+ on the device; and the second is in the Apple TV app on Samsung TVs, which has just been updated with HDR10+ support too. The update will be coming to Apple TV on other platforms too, but Samsung is the first to get it.

How to get HDR10+ video on your Samsung TV

If you use an Apple TV or the Apple TV app, you should see HDR10+ content in both the Apple TV+ streaming service and in iTunes movie rentals too. However, it won't apply to every title: Apple can only deliver HDR10+ if the movie producers have provided them with the film or show in that format. 

This should deliver even more content in the not too distant future: Google is working on a new video format, codenamed Project Caviar, to take on Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, and it's apparently going to be based on HDR10+. Unlike the Dolby technologies, manufacturers won't have to pay a royalty to use the new standard – and that could mean it could supplant Dolby within a few years because it's not just a Google thing: the Alliance for Open Media also includes Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Meta, Roku, Vimeo and many more.