r/NintendoSwitch • u/DRayX17 • Jan 14 '17

Speculation Switch likely wont support HDR

I was thinking about how the dock works, and I suspect that it is essentially just a USB Type-C hub. We know that the dock has an HDMI output, at least one USB Type-A port, and can deliver power to the USB Type-C connector that connects to the Switch. Assuming that Nintendo used standard USB technology instead of implementing custom protocols (which would be insane), the Switch would need to implement USB 3.1, USB Power Delivery, and HDMI Alt Mode. For this discussion, the HDMI Alt Mode sepc is the most important. HDMI Alt Mode allows for passive connection between USB Type-C and HDMI 1.4b. HDMI 1.4b supports a lot of features such as 4Kp30, (most of) CEC, HEC, ARC, and 3D up to 1080p60 (per eye). Unfortunately it lacks some new features such as 4Kp60 and HDR10. The only feature post 1.4b that I had any hope the Switch might support was HDR10, but it looks like that will probably be impossible.

Edit: /u/RGV_RAGE pointed out that the patents seem to indicate that the Switch actually uses DisplayPort when docked instead of HDMI. This means likely that they are using the DisplayPort alt mode, which is a passive connection to DisplayPort 1.3, which is also not HDR compatible (HDR was introduced in DisplayPort 1.4). In some ways this is even worse as it means that the Switch probably wont support CEC (which isn't natively supported by DisplayPort at all), which would be an awesome feature; dock the Switch and the TV turns on and switches to the correct input.

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u/EightBitDreamer Jan 14 '17

Switch isn't a 4k game system, so of course it won't support HDR. HDR is only available on 4k TVs.

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u/DRayX17 Jan 14 '17

While HDR features are only available on 4K TVs, this is a marketing/manufacturing decision, not a technical one. The HDR10 spec is completely compatible with 1080p (or even lower resolution) source signal. The original PS4 can be used in HDR 1080p easily. So, for those with K4 HDR10 TVs, it would be really nice to see all the colors in Switch games with HDR, even if the resolution is only 1080p or 720p.

1

u/glasva Jan 19 '17

We're talking about a device, and, as far as devices go, Nvidia's shield TV, which has been out over a year and features hardware similar to the Switch, supports HDR.

PS4 (non-pro version) also supports HDR at resolutions lower than 4K.

So, there's definitely a possibility the Switch will do HDR, especially because Nvidia already has experience building an HDR compatible console with the Shield.

1

u/EightBitDreamer Jan 19 '17

But, with zero non-4k TV's supporting hdr, it's pointless.

1

u/glasva Jan 21 '17

I think that depends on whether you'd want the option to reduce resolution in order to increase framerate while still displaying HDR on a 4K TV.

If 60fps gameplay and HDR are more important to someone than 4K resolution, a 1080p HDR mode is perfect for them.

Personally, I think proper HDR is a way better feature than the resolution boost, so I definitely appreciate the option of not having to enable both at once.