Sony has confirmed that it will be pushing an update to bring hybrid log gamma compatibility to its 2016 and 2017 televisions.

Hybrid log gamma (HLG) is a new TV technology that's been developed in part by the BBC, but is seen as the potential future for broadcast high dynamic range. The advantage that HLG offers over systems like HDR10 or Dolby Vision is that you don't need any specific hardware and it's easy to work with for content producers, so it's widely compatible with existing devices.

Currently there's no real content available in the HLG format, but the BBC has run some trials with HLG. When LG launched its new series of OLED TVs in 2017, HLG was one of the formats added to that list, as momentum grows for this alternative HDR format.

Sony, during a showcase of the company's new televisions, confirmed that an over-the-air update will bring this compatibility to all the 4K HDR models from 2016 and 2017. There's no timeframe on when this will happen, but that might not matter - as there's currently no HLG content, this is really just a future-proofing move.

Sony's refreshed line-up of 4K HDR TVs in 2017 is led by the new OLED Bravia A1 sitting alongside the ZD9, the late-launching TV from 2016 that we rate highly. There's also a full refresh of TVs in XE range, broadly improving the XD models from 2016.