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Xbox One X And S Dolby Vision Update: Things Just Got Even Better [UPDATED]

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[UPDATE: Since telling CNET that Dolby Vision would be coming to the Xbox One S and X 4K Blu-ray drives (as reported in the original story below), Microsoft is now no longer willing to confirm DV support for discs. It is now saying that it has 'nothing more to share at this time' beyond the fact that Dolby Vision is coming to the Xbox One X and S streaming services.

Given that this is a significant backtrack for AV fans, I've checked and double checked - but Microsoft really will no longer confirm its original statement.

My personal feeling is that Dolby Vision will come to Xbox 4K Blu-ray drives, but that Microsoft has got cold feet about talking formally about it until it's been able to test the system much more extensively . It's perhaps worth noting in this respect that the final word I got in my second response from Microsoft was this: "We are always looking at new ways to improve the Xbox experience but have nothing further to share at this time."

For what it's worth (!), the original story continues unchanged below.]

Last week Microsoft answered the prayers of AV fans by announcing that it would be adding support for the premium Dolby Vision high dynamic range format to its Xbox One X and S consoles.

Now it’s doubled down on that great news by revealing that the Dolby Vision support is going to be expanded to cover the consoles’ 4K Blu-ray drives (reviewed here).

The catch with the initial announcement was that it only confirmed Dolby Vision support for streamed sources - just Netflix, in fact. I speculated then, though, that if DV could be added for streaming, it seemed likely that it could also be rolled out across other parts of the consoles’ ecosystem.

Now a Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed to CNET that Dolby Vision is expected to be added to Xbox One X and S 4K Blu-ray playback via a further update in the Fall.

Photo: Dolby

This makes perfect sense, of course, given that 4K Blu-ray delivers the current last word in AV quality, and that Dolby Vision’s extra scene by scene data has proven consistently capable of boosting the dynamism, color finesse and even sharpness of the vast majority of 4K Blu-ray discs it’s been applied to.

As always with Dolby Vision, you will need a TV or monitor capable of handling the Dolby Vision format to enjoy the extra picture quality it can bring.

Microsoft has yet to confirm if support for Dolby Vision will also extend at some point to games. But it seems more than possible - especially given that a few PC titles have supported Dolby Vision for some time now. Maybe Microsoft is waiting for a developer to get a DV Xbox One X/S title in the works before making any announcements on that front.

It also remains to be seen if Microsoft will follow up its support for Dolby Vision by adding playback of the rival new HDR10+ ‘dynamic’ HDR format.

But for now let’s just celebrate what’s already confirmed as coming, as it really is a great achievement on Microsoft’s part.

If you liked this story, you might also like these:

Xbox One X And S Just Got An Awesome New Feature

Xbox One X 4K Blu-ray Player Review: Getting There

The AV World's Madness Is An Open Goal For The Xbox One X And S - And Maybe The PS4 Pro Too

Xbox One X Extends Its Advantage Over The PS4 Pro With Three Key New Features

Didn't Think There Was An HDR Format War? There Is Now

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