XBOX Series X - HDR only available at 4K? Unavailable at lower resolutions?

If by "standards" you mean special rules that require a game to have at least 4k and HDR, then no.

Game publishers decide for themselves what "Xbox One X Enhanced" features they implement.

They could have the game running with more graphical fidelity like HDR and more detailed 3D models while using a lower resolution, or reduce graphic effects to get a full 4K rendering, or reduce resolution to get solid 60FPS and so on.

If a game is "Xbox One X Enhanced", it means it has game enhancements that are not available on the Xbox One S due to lack of processing power, which can be a combination of higher resolution, HDR, smoother framerate, etc.

HDR can run on any resolution, it's just a matter of Xbox being the only device that does not support it on lower resolutions other than 4k, which is quite stupid if you ask me.

you need hdr for 4k output

Actually, you don't.

Uhd and hdr are required for 4k output

You need UHD, in the sense that you need the TV to support 3840 x 2160 resolution, but you don't need HDR enabled to reach 4K. UHD 4K is the amount of screen resolution available measured in pixels, HDR is the ability of the TV or monitor to display more
natural colours.

Note that the Xbox One S can do HDR in games that support such a feature, but regardless of what resolution you set, all games max out at 1080P internally. If the display is 4K, it will remain in 4K, but games will only be upscaled. Only the Xbox One X
can play Enhanced titles in 4K natively.

You should be able to disable HDR, how you disable it depends entirely on your TV. Disabling HDR via the TV settings should not disable 4K screen resolution. Indeed, some Xbox One games do not support HDR, Fallout 4 on the One X can play in 4K for instance,
but it does not support (or indeed have an option for) HDR.

On my Sony Bravia Android based TV, I had to go to the main settings and enable HDR functionality. Even then, I had to set the HDR setting to 'Auto' on the HDMI port I have my console connected to. If you have HDR set to 'On' all of the time, non HDR games
will display the wrong colours, look oversaturated. With 'Auto' enabled, HDR will only operate when it detects an HDR supported game. This may not be a feature of your display however.

What make and model is your TV?

The series s isn't meant to run at 4k

1440p or 1080p at most with 60hz to 120max

With most only supporting 60fps

The reason why you are getting bad results is the series s can't handle 4k with hdr and vvr and you are going to drop a lot of frames because you are using the hardware past its limits

Games will put.down the resolution as needed but you won't like the results

The Xbox series x and xbox one x are 4k consoles

Hi Lucas,

As the others have mentioned you do not need to have a 4K TV to play on the xbox.

If you have an Xbox One original, Xbox One S or Xbox One X and only have an HD ready TV that supports 1080p, then your xbox will play in that resolution accordingly.

If you have an Xbox One X, and a 4K TV, then your resolution will be in 4K.

Some 4k TV's have a feature called HDR, this is an added feature that is also available on the Xbox one X, and improves the colour quality of your videos and games.