Apple TV seems to think my TV supports Dolby Vision

[JPR1986]

First time poster. Just wanted to see if anyone else was having the same issue that I am.

For the past couple of weeks I've noticed that certain content on the Netflix app and from iTunes doesn't have particularly good picture quality.

I was unsure what the issue was, but now think I have it worked out.

The issue seems to be that my Apple TV/Netflix app seems to think that my TV supports Dolby Vision, which it doesn't. My TV (Philips - 55PUS6401/12) supports 4K HDR10 content, not Dolby Vision.

According to the Netflix help page;


How can I find titles available in Dolby Vision or HDR?
If you have an HDR capable TV and the 4 Screen Netflix streaming plan, available titles will display an HDR logo next to their description:

.

If you have a Dolby Vision capable TV and the 4 Screen Netflix streaming plan, available titles will display the Dolby Vision logo next to their description:

. On Cast TVs, you will see a similar Dolby Vision logo on the loading screen:

.



On season 2 of Jessica Jones for example, when I navigate to the content on the Apple TV Netflix app, it shows the Dolby Vision logo. When I try to play the content, the image become really grey and graining. I have a 60mb+ internet connection, and all content marked as HDR plays fine.

The same applies to content bought from iTunes. The Secret Life of Pets is very dark, with unbalanced colours and a grainy image quality, but HDR content bought from iTunes looks great.

Im talking with Netflix at the moment and will update if I get any response worth sharing. So far they have agreed that as my TV doesnt support Dolby Vision, that I shouldn't see the DV logo next to any content.

In the mean time has anyone else had this issue, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance

 

[martinm0]

Interesting, and strange. I have not seen this issue reported before.

For now, you can just set the ATV4K to HDR and turn off Match Dynamic Range feature. That will force everything to play in HDR. Or you can set to SDR and then just change the settings when you want to watch HDR content. Annoying, but it will at least suppress any DV formats from playing.

 

[tonyk23]

First time poster. Just wanted to see if anyone else was having the same issue that I am.

For the past couple of weeks I've noticed that certain content on the Netflix app and from iTunes doesn't have particularly good picture quality.

I was unsure what the issue was, but now think I have it worked out.

The issue seems to be that my Apple TV/Netflix app seems to think that my TV supports Dolby Vision, which it doesn't. My TV (Philips - 55PUS6401/12) supports 4K HDR10 content, not Dolby Vision.

According to the Netflix help page;


How can I find titles available in Dolby Vision or HDR?
If you have an HDR capable TV and the 4 Screen Netflix streaming plan, available titles will display an HDR logo next to their description:

.

If you have a Dolby Vision capable TV and the 4 Screen Netflix streaming plan, available titles will display the Dolby Vision logo next to their description:

. On Cast TVs, you will see a similar Dolby Vision logo on the loading screen:

.



On season 2 of Jessica Jones for example, when I navigate to the content on the Apple TV Netflix app, it shows the Dolby Vision logo. When I try to play the content, the image become really grey and graining. I have a 60mb+ internet connection, and all content marked as HDR plays fine.

The same applies to content bought from iTunes. The Secret Life of Pets is very dark, with unbalanced colours and a grainy image quality, but HDR content bought from iTunes looks great.

Im talking with Netflix at the moment and will update if I get any response worth sharing. So far they have agreed that as my TV doesnt support Dolby Vision, that I shouldn't see the DV logo next to any content.

In the mean time has anyone else had this issue, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance

I noticed that my Samsung (4K HDR10) is also reporting Netflix in DolbyVision from the 4K Apple TV but the picture looks great and the TV reports that it is showing HDR. 4K HDR content looks great from Amazon, Netflix and Infuse through the 4K AppleTV. I not sure why but for me the 4 K AppleTV has always displayed DolbyVision when HDR content is available.

 

[cynics]

On the AppleTV content defaults to the best the CONTENT is available in. So you will see DV where its a available and HDR(10) where DV isn't available.

HDR10 is extracted from DV, however they choose to implement this using Dolby's tools is up to the content provider.

Jessica Jones in 4k has very noticeable, sometimes distracting graininess. This is present on my LG Dolby Vision set, Samsung HDR10 (only) set and in there associated smart tv netflix apps (which display "HDR" in Netflix on the Samsung app). With Jessica Jones specifically its looks like they arbitrarily cranked the brightness in mastering causing a lot of noise in the image. Only on my iMac at 1080p does Jessica Jones look "ok".

You seeing Dolby Vision means you'll be getting HDR (just without the scene by scene metadata of DV) however don't expect the world with streaming content. You can verify this by setting the ATV to 4k SDR closing and reopening the netflix app, content will display "Ultra 4k" in place of DV. Also keep in mind things like grayness and graininess have little to do with HDR at all. A movie or show will be mastered specifically for the content, a dreary murder mystery colors wont "pop" like specific fantasy adventure movies.

On Netflix watch Cosmos Laundromat. It should say its DV however you'll be able to tell its in HDR from its vivid colors and brightnesses.

Honestly I think you are fine, but your expectations are too high for ALL content. Welcome to the club...

 

[ActionableMango]

Honestly I think you are fine, but your expectations are too high for ALL content. Welcome to the club...

Well his description is normal for Jessica Jones, but The Secret Life of Pets shouldn't be "very dark", quite the opposite I would think. So indeed I think something is wrong.

 

[satinsilverem2]

dont forget part of the Dolby vision spec is to include HDR-10 inside.

 

[priitv8]

dont forget part of the Dolby vision spec is to include HDR-10 inside.

But this is not universal requirement. HDR10 is included in some of the profiles only. Some profiles are not backward, or anyward, compatible at all.

 

[Michelasso]

The crazy things is that I get the

logo as well in Star Trek Discovery (my TV supports HDR10 only), and then when I play it, it shows it's only HD...

yes, I know. It's some idiotic deal with CBS. It's just that after seeing it's Dolby Vision one would expect to see the video in 4K. Also I didn't remember it was in Dolby Vision when I watched the first 10 episodes.

 

[herbius]

Has anyone found a fix for this?

I've go the same issue, HDR content (including screensavers) is showing very dark compaired to the menu for example. Netflix is also showing the DV logo, while my TV is not DV compatible.

 

[priitv8]

Netflix is also showing the DV logo, while my TV is not DV compatible.

I do not think streaming services make any distinction what HDR modes does your display support.
This logo in Netflix or iTunes shows, that the content was mastered in DoVi.
If your screen really supports DoVi, then you shall see corresponding option (in addition to common SDR and HDR) in the Settings > Audio & Video settings.
tvOS will handle the conversion between HDR modes and gammas.
It will convert whatever HDR stream input to the output encoding set in A&V preferences.
It actually is able to convert HLG to HDR10 as well, although not advertised anywhere.
Brightness / gamma differences in HDR picture modes relate to tv calibration. DoVi and HDR10 do not even have any difference in brightness levels (same gamma curve).