iPhone 12/Pro Owners: How Are You Watching Your Dolby Vision Videos on Your TV?

[loybond]

Hey guys! With this being the home theatre subforum, I’m sure some of you have set up or will set up a system to watch your iPhone videos on your HDR TV.

I currently have a windows machine set up as a server, which syncs to google drive, and I have the choice of streaming locally or from google drive, usually using Kodi or sometimes VLC from an Nvidia Shield. Videos play in HDR no problem, but I don’t think I have any files in Dolby Vision. I’ve never seen the pop up for Dolby Vision outside of Netflix or Disney anyway.

I’m wondering how the iPhone 12 files will work... will it play in DV if I just stream it over the network? Let me know if you guys have any experience with this.

 

[HDFan]

I’m wondering how the iPhone 12 files will work... will it play in DV if I just stream it over the network?

Not much information yet on how all of this will work. Results vary depending upon how you stream, the device streamed to, etc. One report that you can't airplay DV to a LG TV, and only HDR to an Apple TV. Discussed at ~7:06 below:

iPhone 12 Pro display - HDVTest "blown away" by color accuracy

Vincent Teoh from HDVTest just did some extensive testing of the iPhone 12 Pro screen, comparing it with a $30K Sony professional reference monitor. He was blown over by the color accuracy. One test had better results than the $30K sony. It hit 1100 nits in peak brightness, 800 nits full...

forums.macrumors.com

Obviously we'll have more information as more phones appear in the wild. I'll try to test when mine arrives next week.

If you setup a Plex or Infuse server on your Windows machine and if your TV has the corresponding App you can get HDR, maybe not DV for DV movies. Don't know anything about the shield, if it has the apps, or how will work with iPhone DV videos.

 

[loybond]

Not much information yet on how all of this will work. Results vary depending upon how you stream, the device streamed to, etc. One report that you can't airplay DV to a LG TV, and only HDR to an Apple TV. Discussed at ~7:06 below:

iPhone 12 Pro display - HDVTest "blown away" by color accuracy

Vincent Teoh from HDVTest just did some extensive testing of the iPhone 12 Pro screen, comparing it with a $30K Sony professional reference monitor. He was blown over by the color accuracy. One test had better results than the $30K sony. It hit 1100 nits in peak brightness, 800 nits full...

forums.macrumors.com

Obviously we'll have more information as more phones appear in the wild. I'll try to test when mine arrives next week.

If you setup a Plex or Infuse server on your Windows machine and if your TV has the corresponding App you can get HDR, maybe not DV for DV movies. Don't know anything about the shield, if it has the apps, or how will work with iPhone DV videos.

Thanks for your feedback! Yup I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming weeks. I wonder if the Dolby Vision is intact when you copy or AirDrop files to a Mac.

 

[Fastfwd01]

I just put a few files from my phone (edited with iMovie on the phone) on my Plex server and they are playing back in Dolby Vision on my LG C9. I didn’t have to do anything in any settings. They just worked!

My LG or my router chokes attempting to playback with Airplay.

 

[Fastfwd01]

Update, Xbox One X with Dolby Vision enabled will not playback Dolby Vision with the Plex app on it. Only the LG Plex app works as of now in my setup.

 

[HDFan]

Only the LG Plex app works as of now in my setup.

Not exactly topical, but thought you might know. I was trying to test the LG Plex app with an iPhone DV video but ran into a problem. If I go to the library sorting option I can select a sort method (title, bitrate, etc.). When I press enter on my Harmony remote it changes the sort method (ascending/descending), but stays on that picked item. I can't get out of the pick list. Exit exits the app, 180 arrow doesn't do anything, nor do the forward/back buttons, etc. How do you get out of the picklist? This happens in multiple places in the app.

 

[Fastfwd01]

Not exactly topical, but thought you might know. I was trying to test the LG Plex app with an iPhone DV video but ran into a problem. If I go to the library sorting option I can select a sort method (title, bitrate, etc.). When I press enter on my Harmony remote it changes the sort method (ascending/descending), but stays on that picked item. I can't get out of the pick list. Exit exits the app, 180 arrow doesn't do anything, nor do the forward/back buttons, etc. How do you get out of the picklist? This happens in multiple places in the app.

I'm afraid I can't help with that. I know there is an 'early access' option in the settings for these Plex apps that is basically a beta version of their app and I generally prefer the old version. So, you might check to see if you have the 'early access' option checked in settings and revert back if so. Mine seems to sort just fine.

I am buffering like crazy on both the LG and Xbox One X, but that's not really anything new. It did that with my Galaxy S8 4k video too. I just spent some time tinkering with the server settings and app settings to see if I could iron it out and no go. I thought I saw some promise with turning off Direct Stream and forcing Direct Play, but it might only be marginally better if so. Frankly, I don't really have a clue what the difference is and that may not even play a role for all I know.

I'm not transcoding - so, that's not the issue either. My server could handle it if I did. I can force it to transcode to 1080p and it will play the 20Mbps stream just fine, but no Dolby Vision that route.

The Xbox does have the option to pass HDR content and mine is checked, but still no Dolby Vision.

I still really don't think it's my router. I can monitor it with the DD-WRT control panel that gives an array of stats and it's barely impacted by the 4k streaming. The data flow isn't smooth like a 20Mbps stream. This might just be something that Plex needs to work out with their software. I have never participated in their forums, but it might be a good place to find more information on it for anyone wanting to go that route for playback of the Dolby Vision content.


The LG C9 is supposed to have pretty beefy processing power. It does playback smoother than the Xbox One X which stuns me considering the kind of processing power it has. The Xbox sort of stutters even with 60fps source video and the LG plays it back smooth when it's not buffering.

 

[Fastfwd01]

Not exactly topical, but thought you might know. I was trying to test the LG Plex app with an iPhone DV video but ran into a problem. If I go to the library sorting option I can select a sort method (title, bitrate, etc.). When I press enter on my Harmony remote it changes the sort method (ascending/descending), but stays on that picked item. I can't get out of the pick list. Exit exits the app, 180 arrow doesn't do anything, nor do the forward/back buttons, etc. How do you get out of the picklist? This happens in multiple places in the app.

I just noticed that the preview version of the app is the only version that does playback Dolby Vision.

I also noticed that I get HLG HDR flagged from the LG if I select direct stream instead of direct play. I swear, I think it might look better in HLG HDR though.

The guys that are super into the Plex thing are most likely ripping discs with Dolby Vision and know way more about all of this than I do. I'm looking over in the Plex forums now.

 

[priitv8]

The guys that are super into the Plex thing are most likely ripping discs with Dolby Vision and know way more about all of this than I do. I'm looking over in the Plex forums now.

Thats the thing! I would be really, really surprised if iPhone would record and store same DV version that is on UHD bluray discs.
So ripped media playback has little in common with how the streaming DV looks. I can only guess, but I would imagine that Apple uses the streaming format.

 

[Fastfwd01]

Thats the thing! I would be really, really surprised if iPhone would record and store same DV version that is on UHD bluray discs.
So ripped media playback has little in common with how the streaming DV looks. I can only guess, but I would imagine that Apple uses the streaming format.

They are citing it to be "DoVi profile 8.4" over there. At least that's what one person posted. That's greek to me to be honest.

If they are ripping 4k discs and retaining the Atmos and Dolby Vision/HDR for their Plex servers then some of them are probably very well versed in all of the various formats it can be made to work with on Plex. I'm guessing some people are just pirating 4k copies and don't know much about them over there too.

I try to stay away from piracy over the internet. I backup my own Bluray discs and put the copies up on my Plex server. My knowledge is pretty limited when it comes to 4k.

I did skim through a FAQ sort of post about 4k on Plex and in summary it is apparently no easy job to pull off. It's not likely a setting that I can tweak on either end. Either it will 'Direct Stream' or it's hitting a hardware bottleneck in the chain. They specifically cite trans-coding of 4k is unlikely to be pulled off easily. It kills Dolby Vision anyway so that misses the point for our purpose. The bitrate of this iPhone 4k video isn't really all that high. I really don't think it's an issue for my router.

Maybe it can be converted to another format that is more easily played back that can retain the Dolby Vision. I'll eventually have to figure out how to edit these clips in DaVinci Resolve and maybe I'll find out if it is possible to retain the Dolby Vision or not and see if it can be made playable over my home network.

 

[Fastfwd01]

Another note. It plays back on my iPhone 12 Pro flawlessly (on the Plex app streamed from my server). It appears to be playing it in HDR/DV. No ‘buffering’, no stuttering, etc

I might believe the LG C9 could choke on certain files, but that Xbox One X would seem like it has more than enough power, but maybe not.

One thing I’ve noticed with IOS is how hard it seems to find file info in any of the native apps. The Plex app is giving a little file info on these video files.

 

[loybond]

I usually use Kodi to stream my videos from my server and Google drive, so far, I only get the HLG HDR popup.

I'll try Plex on my Nvidia Shield, the LG B9, and maybe even on my PS5 and Xbox Series X and report back.

 

[priitv8]

Profile 8.4 is something new. So far the common ones were 5 for streaming and 7 for bluray.
Bluray version is special case because standard demands that all bluray discs be backward compatible with HDR10.

 

[loybond]

I just noticed that the preview version of the app is the only version that does playback Dolby Vision.

I also noticed that I get HLG HDR flagged from the LG if I select direct stream instead of direct play. I swear, I think it might look better in HLG HDR though.

The guys that are super into the Plex thing are most likely ripping discs with Dolby Vision and know way more about all of this than I do. I'm looking over in the Plex forums now.

Can I ask where you got the preview version?

 

[Fastfwd01]

Can I ask where you got the preview version?

It actually seems to try to default to it on me usually. My apps for my LG tv and both Xboxes do it. You can look in settings and see if you don't have the option for either using the preview or the old version.

I'm not sure I mentioned that I did have my XBox One X set to the old version. The preview app does playback much better. The Dolby Vision clips look HDR, but they don't throw the banner notice on the LG C9 when I play them back through the XBox.

If you guys are really into this I bet it would pay dividends to head over to the Plex forums and share your experiences so they might give more attention to whatever needs the iPhone Dolby Vision file types require. It sort of looks like this could be the easiest way to playback these files on the big screens.

 

[Morac]

Has anyone tried playing a Dolby Vision video on an Apple TV from iCloud Photos?

When I try to do so with my Sony Bravia x930e TV, it plays in SDR.

Airplay does play in Dolby Vision, but it also does for old videos not taken on my 12 Pro Max, so I don’t know if it really is HDR or not.

 

[HDFan]

Has anyone tried playing a Dolby Vision video on an Apple TV from iCloud Photos?

When I try to do so with my Sony Bravia x930e TV, it plays in SDR.

SDR on an LG C8.

 

[boban61]

Here's my take. So I bought iPhone 12 Pro Max as a birthday gift to my wife. I recorded a couple of videos and tried watching them from a hard drive on my LG OLED B6. No dice, won't even play them. Then I thought I'll give it a try on my cousin's brand new LG OLED GX and .... It works!! Looks stunning! Dolby Vision logo appears in the corner. On another note it even blurs the background around a person when you're recording someone up close. I am amazed. So problem solved. All you need is a brand new LG OLED huh.