The Xbox One S won't play games in 4K, but it has a feature that's even better

My colleague Jeff Dunn says it best in his explainer of HDR: "HDR creates a deeper, more realistic picture by dramatically expanding how bright and dark your TV can get, and how much color it can present."

Essentially, you get video games that "pop" and look better than if they're played on normal SDR (standard dynamic range) TVs.

It's clear from the example above, taken from the latest "Tomb Raider" game for Xbox One, that the HDR version has richer colors, more detail in the bright parts, and darker shadows that still maintain the details within, compared to the standard dynamic range (SDR) display.

Look at the giant hole at the top of the picture, and the dome of the building. You can clearly see more detail around the edges of the hole as well as details on the highest dome, compared to the standard display.

The SDR display's picture looks over-exposed and the colors appear washed out compared to the richer, deeper colors on the HDR display.

The darks are darker while still maintaining their detail, and the brights have more color and detail rather than appearing like white blotches. You can clearly make out the clouds in the HDR picture while they're harder to see in the SDR picture.

Same goes for these two images. You can still see details in the shadows on the rocks across the bay while keeping a stark contrast against the sunlit surfaces.

The water directly in front of the game's character also maintains its details in the HDR version, whereas the SDR version robs that particular detail.

So far, Microsoft says that "Gears of War 4," "Forza Horizon 3," "Scalebound," and "NBA 2K17" will all support HDR.

As far as other games go, Microsoft told The Verge that it "gave developers access to a small amount of additional processing power" should they want to build HDR support into their games. Essentially, it'll be up to game developers themselves. If they do, the Xbox One S will play those games in HDR.

Unfortunately, to take advantage of HDR on the Xbox One S, you'll need a TV that supports HDR.

And not just any HDR TV will do, as the Xbox One S supports a specific standard of HDR called "HDR 10." If your TV only supports the other standard, called Dolby Vision, then you might not be so lucky. It's like the HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle all over again.

So, if you've bought or plan to buy an Xbox One S, and you're considering upgrading to an HDR TV, make sure it supports HDR 10.

You'll also find that most TVs that support HDR these days will also support 4K resolution. That works out nicely with the Xbox One S' 4K video support for playing 4K videos. But again, keep in mind the Xbox One S doesn't play games in 4K. Instead, it'll upscale 1080p games to 4K, which often looks better than 1080p, but not quite as good as native 4K. Trusted Reviews reviewed the Xbox One S and concluded that it's "good at upscaling games."

If you were hoping the Xbox One could play games in 4K, you might want to wait until next year. Microsoft is planning to release another version of the Xbox One currently called "Project Scorpio," which will have all the power needs to support 4K as well as virtual reality headsets and Microsoft's augmented reality headset HoloLens.