More HDR is coming to Sky Q – and it will be easier to find

By Tom Parsons
last updated

And that's just part of the Sky Q Christmas update

Sky Q HDR
(Image credit: Sky)

Sky has announced that more than 40 HDR films will be made available to Sky Q subscribers by Christmas. 

That may not sound like a huge number when compared to the vast HDR catalogues of some streaming services, but it's worth remembering that Sky only boarded the HDR train in May of this year and has until now been focused on documentaries and TV shows (plus adding Netflix and Disney+).

The HDR TV show offering is being extended, too, with the hugely popular Gangs of London and Chernobyl, among others, imminently getting the high dynamic range treatment, but it's undoubtedly the HDR films that will generate the most excitement during the festive period.

Probably wisely, Sky's offering looks to lean heavily towards family-friendly fare, with the Back to the Future trilogy, all eight Harry Potter films and Dolittle among the titles mentioned so far. The excellent Le Mans '66 is on the list, too, and Sky promises that Bad Boys for Life will also be in HDR when it premieres on Sky Cinema in December. In fact, it's worth pointing out that all of these HDR films will be available as part of the Sky Cinema package, rather than on the pay-as-you-go Sky Store.

Identifying HDR content is about to become easier, too, with a dedicated 'HDR' label appearing on appropriate content in the place of the existing 'UHD' tag (all HDR content on Sky will also be in UHD).

Sky Q HDR

(Image credit: Sky)

Sky has a few other neat little tricks on the way to Sky Q boxes in the next few weeks, including the ability to watch recordings, on-demand content and integrated apps even if your satellite signal is lost, and some tweaks to the UI and voice search that are designed to more quickly get you to a personalised selection of content.

Not included among the Christmas treats is HDR sport, but we already knew that would be the case: Sky is still promising that Premier League football will be available in HDR in 2021, as will the delayed 2020 Olympics.

If all of this talk of new HDR content coming to Sky Q is tempting you to take the plunge, you may well be interested to learn that there are some excellent Sky Q Black Friday deals and early Black Friday TV deals available right now.

MORE:

What is HDR? Everything you need to know about high dynamic range

Disney+ review

Read our Sky Q review

Beef up your Sky Q box's sound with the Sky Soundbox

Tom Parsons
Tom Parsons

Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.