Hulu has finally enabled HDR support for a handful of movies and TV shows in its content catalog, long after rivals like Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video started offering it. For the unaware, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Without delving too much into the technical depth here, HDR essentially provides better control over elements such as color reproduction, shadows, brightness, and contrast, offering a more pleasing and realistic visual experience.
Just like hi-def music listening, users need a compatible device to view the HDR content in all its glory. But not all HDR is created equal, and it's further divided broadly into three classes: generic HDR10, the open-standard HDR10+ that was developed by Samsung, and HDR with Dolby Vision. Each has its own set of advantages and limitations related to certification and licensing. But at the end of the day, the goal is to offer a better viewing experience, and that’s what services such as Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, Vudu, and YouTube have been providing for a bunch of their video content for a while now.
And this comparatively superior industry-wide HDR content availability makes Hulu’s latest move a bit surprising, given the fact it has over 40 million subscribers and a decent video library — but took so long to embrace HDR. The Walt Disney Company and Comcast-owned streaming service mentioned on its support page that HDR-ready Roku boxes, Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube devices (HDR-compatible and running Fire OS 6), Apple TV 4K (Gen 5 or later), Chromecast Ultra and Vizio TVs with HDR support can now stream HDR content from its library of TV shows and movies. A few notable omissions are Samsung and LG’s proprietary TV operating systems and the Hulu app for game consoles.
Better Late Than Never
Hulu notes that a select few titles from its portfolio can now be streamed in HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and HDR with Dolby Vision on compatible devices. And to make identification of such content easier, the details page of a TV show or film will prominently flaunt the HDR badge. Unfortunately, the streaming service has not provided a list of all HDR-ready content available on the platform. However, a good samaritan on the AVS Forum shared the aforementioned list that includes Hulu originals — both TV shows and movies.
The Hulu movies that are currently said to support HDR output are Nine Perfect Strangers, The Handmaid's Tale, Little Fires Everywhere, Dollface, Hellstrom, The Great, The First, High Fidelity, CastleRock, Wu-Tang, Future Man, Woke, The Looming Tower, The Act, Catch-22, Reprisal, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The Runaways. The list of HDR-supported movies is quite brief and only includes RUN (2020), Happiest Season, WeWork, Bad Hair (HDR but no 4K Badge), and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. However, Hulu subscribers are advised to check the video library as more content will likely be added to the HDR viewing list down the road. We'll also have to wait for word on the availability of 4K content with HDR in the near future.