Samsung Confirms No BBC iPlayer HDR Support For Its 2016 TVs - And Explains Why
Blue Planet II was not available in HLG to Samsung 2016 TV owners. And nor will any other iPlayer HLG content.
Cue much speculation about whether Samsung had somehow fallen out with the BBC - even though the Blue Planet II footage was available on the brand’s 2017 models.
In response to ongoing questions I’ve been getting from owners of 2016 Samsung TVs in the UK, I’ve finally been able to get not just absolute confirmation from Samsung that BBC iPlayer HLG support will never be coming to its 2016 sets, but a technical explanation for why this is the case.
The issue is that the BBC’s HLG streams uses the so-called DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) system, as per European broadcaster streaming guidelines. And support for this format is apparently too complicated to be added via a mere firmware update to the software platform inside Samsung’s 2016 TVs.
It seems unfortunate that Samsung didn’t foresee this situation; after all, the BBC is using a Europe-approved delivery system, not just some proprietary one-off platform it’s rustled up by itself. It has to be said, too, that Panasonic and LG’s HDR 2016 TVs do support the BBC iPlayer’s HLG streams.
Even Samsung's flagship TV for 2016, the KS9500, won't be able to play BBC HLG streams.
The fact that Samsung has delivered support for other HLG sources on its 2016 TVs means it can argue that it has made good on its HLG promise. It’s worth adding, too, that Blue Planet II in HLG isn’t (currently) available on the iPlayer any more.
However, we can be pretty certain that Blue Planet II won’t be the last show the BBC makes available for streaming in HLG (indeed, the BBC's original UHD/HLG trial of Planet Earth II is still available). And unfortunately it seems now certain that the many owners of Samsung 2016 TVs in the UK won’t be able to watch them.
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">Towards the end of 2016, Samsung publicly stated that its 2016 4K HDR TVs would be upgraded to cope with the new broadcast-friendly Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) high dynamic range format. Samsung appeared to finally live up to this promise in the spring of 2017, when a firmware update enabled playback of HLG-encoded files. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, though, things became a bit awkward (in the UK, at least) in December 2017 when the BBC made its Blue Planet II series available in HLG HDR on its BBC iPlayer catch-up TV platform. Owners of 2016 Samsung TVs found that despite their sets supposedly supporting HLG, they weren’t able to play the HLG-formatted Blue Planet II shows.
The BBC’s website provided a long list of TVs that would be able to play these HLG files - including the whole of Samsung’s 2017 HDR TV range. But Samsung’s 2016 models were conspicuously absent.
Blue Planet II was not available in HLG to Samsung 2016 TV owners. And nor will any other iPlayer HLG content.
Cue much speculation about whether Samsung had somehow fallen out with the BBC - even though the Blue Planet II footage was available on the brand’s 2017 models.
In response to ongoing questions I’ve been getting from owners of 2016 Samsung TVs in the UK, I’ve finally been able to get not just absolute confirmation from Samsung that BBC iPlayer HLG support will never be coming to its 2016 sets, but a technical explanation for why this is the case.
The issue is that the BBC’s HLG streams uses the so-called DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) system, as per European broadcaster streaming guidelines. And support for this format is apparently too complicated to be added via a mere firmware update to the software platform inside Samsung’s 2016 TVs.
It seems unfortunate that Samsung didn’t foresee this situation; after all, the BBC is using a Europe-approved delivery system, not just some proprietary one-off platform it’s rustled up by itself. It has to be said, too, that Panasonic and LG’s HDR 2016 TVs do support the BBC iPlayer’s HLG streams.
Even Samsung's flagship TV for 2016, the KS9500, won't be able to play BBC HLG streams.
The fact that Samsung has delivered support for other HLG sources on its 2016 TVs means it can argue that it has made good on its HLG promise. It’s worth adding, too, that Blue Planet II in HLG isn’t (currently) available on the iPlayer any more.
However, we can be pretty certain that Blue Planet II won’t be the last show the BBC makes available for streaming in HLG (indeed, the BBC's original UHD/HLG trial of Planet Earth II is still available). And unfortunately it seems now certain that the many owners of Samsung 2016 TVs in the UK won’t be able to watch them.
--
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy these:
Samsung, Panasonic And 20th Century Fox Join Forces To Attack Dolby
Samsung To Sell OLED TVs Again, Claims Report
Samsung 2018 Flagship 4K QLED TV First Impressions
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