Sony has announced that all PlayStation 4 consoles are getting high dynamic range (HDR) support via a firmware patch coming next week.

HDR is a feature of newer TV sets that allows for a greater range of luminosity to be displayed. That is, it expands the range of both contrast and colour significantly compared to a non-HDR TV.

Many tech reporters believe that a TV's contrast ratio (how bright and dark the TV can get) and colour accuracy are more important than its resolution (pixel count). In other words, a 1080p resolution TV with excellent contrast and colour looks better than a 4K resolution TV with average contrast and colour.

Note that TV HDR is not the same as photo HDR, where two or more images are combined to show some aspects of both.

It's also worth noting that most existing games won't support HDR – it's something that needs to be built into a game. Right now the main source of HDR material is UHD/4K Blu-rays, but Streaming services like Netflix also offer some HDR content.

Existing games that will support HDR include: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Killing Floor 2, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Infamous: First Light, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Paragon, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

Upcoming games confirmed for HDR include: Insomniac's Spider-Man, For Honor, Watch Dogs 2, Days Gone, Farpoint, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Mass Effect Andromeda, Final Fantasy XV, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition,
and Dishonored 2.

"With the proper display, all 40 million PlayStation 4 owners can join the HDR revolution," said president and global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Andrew House this morning.

However, he didn't confirm which version of HDR Sony would use: HDR-10 or Dolby Vision.

The Xbox One S uses HDR-10, but vanilla Xbox One consoles are not capable of HDR output at all.

However, the Xbox One S can play ultra high definition (4K) Blu-ray discs – something neither the PS4 Slim nor the PS4P can do – something Microsoft was quick to point out this morning:

This means if PS4P owners wish to watch something in 4K, they'll need to stream it from Netflix or YouTube.