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Amazon will stream movies and TV shows in vivid HDR later this year

Amazon will stream movies and TV shows in vivid HDR later this year

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Already delivering 4K movies and TV shows to its customers with Prime Instant Video, Amazon is now setting its sights on what's next: HDR video playback. The company has announced that it will begin streaming content in High Dynamic Range (HDR) at some point later this year, though it's not yet naming which titles will be given the treatment. Amazon says TV shows, movies, and its own original programming will be available in HDR, which offers more vibrant imagery compared to traditional video output. It's brighter, more colorful, and truly stunning — but you'll need a TV that supports it.

We've seen some of those at CES over the past two years, but you still can't walk into a Best Buy and leave with a set that includes HDR (or Dolby Vision) playback. That's changing this year, with top-of-the-line 2015 TVs from Sony and Samsung set to include the feature, though each company brands it differently. Like Amazon, Netflix has also said it will begin streaming select content in HDR later this year. Still, the list of content in HDR will likely be very tiny at first — and that's a feeling we're familiar with. The selection of movies and TV in 4K remains so-so, but hopefully the UHD Alliance will be able to improve the outlook on both fronts as the year presses on.