BBC trials 4K Planet Earth II in HDR on iPlayer -- but you probably can't watch it

There are a growing number of ways to enjoy Ultra HD content on your 4K TV or monitor. Just a couple of days ago, Google added 4K movies to Google Play.

Now the BBC announces it is trialing 4K high dynamic range (HDR) video on its iPlayer streaming platform, and I can confirm, having watched it, it's absolutely stunning stuff. However, you shouldn’t get too excited about it, yet -- there are a couple of big catches that will mean you probably won't be able to watch it.

It’s only a test right now, and it only involves four minutes of footage from the BBC’s acclaimed Planet Earth II series. You of course also need to be in the UK to use iPlayer.

Planet Earth II is the perfect choice for trialing 4K on iPlayer, as the quality of the program is exceptional.

"One of the clips is a frog on a leaf with lots of rain, and the reason this is so interesting is that the redness of the frog is a really deep Ferrari red that you would never get in broadcast television at the moment", explains Phil Layton, head of broadcast and connected systems at BBC Research & Development.

"We want to show that this is how the BBC could make ultra-high definition HDR material available to iPlayer. And we want to use this as a trigger to work with manufacturers to get their products updated so there's a pathway there for future on-demand BBC content".

For now, only Panasonic's latest screens support the test's underlying technology, known as hybrid log-gamma (HLG). I’m lucky enough to own a compatible Panasonic 4K TV, and having watched the four minutes of footage, I can confirm it’s truly jaw dropping stuff. Amazon’s The Grand Tour looks amazing, but there’s something even more impressive about watching wild animals so close up, and in such high definition, and I can’t wait until the BBC rolls this out for real.