The days of calibrating your TV when starting a new game could be quickly coming to an end thanks to a new technology called HDR10+ Gaming.
Unveiled in a blog on Samsung’s website, HDR10+ Gaming aims to give gamers an automatic solution for calibrating key settings like brightness, contrast, and gamma for a “true reference mode”.
Besides calibrating the TVs settings, HDR10+ Gaming enables features like Variable Refresh Rate on Samsung's new TVs and monitors, which should help smooth out fast motion.
The catch? Games must be optimized for HDR10+ Gaming. Samsung says Sabre Interactive - the publisher behind Redout 2 and Pinball FX - already has games in the format, and Samsung is expected to debut more at CES 2022.
PC gamers will get HDR10+ Gaming first, but console gamers will have to wait
In terms of supported hardware, you’ll need a Samsung 2022 monitor or TV, as well as an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series, RTX 20 Series, and GTX 16 Series GPU. Those cards should all receive an update early next year to support the format.
Unfortunately, Samsung’s post doesn’t mention big console platforms like Microsoft’s Xbox Series X or Sony’s PS5, which means console gamers might not see support for a while.
That said, HDR10+ Gaming does offer some nice benefits that truly take advantage of the latest HDMI 2.1 specification and could be a real boon to gamers who’ve struggled in the past to get the perfect display settings.
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Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.