Apple TV Plus content no longer plays in Dolby Vision

So after nearly a month of multiple threads on these forums reporting the problem, as well as various discussion over on Reddit, all it takes is one media article and Apple has this fixed literally within hours.

First of all, it does show that this was likely a simple server config error all along - not a downgrading of the video encodes themselves, but instead, just a silly mistake that got past unnoticed.

But the real issue is that Apple had multiple discussions of an ongoing problem on their own discussion forum, and multiple reports to support agents from people around the world, yet completely ignored all of it - or was completely oblovious to it - until "the media" picked it up.

Thanks to all who kept this discussion alive until someone with a platform noticed it :)

Hi All, I had the same issue. I replaced my HDMI cable with a high speed cable and it resolved my issue. It may be worth trying.

Just to let you all know:

There is a short article about this problem that has been posted to a very respected site “HEISE” in Germany pointing out this exact problem:

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Apple-TV-Dolby-Vision-Fassungen-der-Hauptserien-verschwunden-4594964.html

They also state that Apple has so far made no comment about the issue.

This problem has nothing to do with Netflix - if you're seeing content from other streaming apps not playing in Dolby Vision when it should, that'll be down to another issue somewhere in your setup (HDMI cables, TV input settings etc).

This problem is happening for people that usually get Dolby Vision on everything that supports it, but are finding that this particular Apple TV+ content does not play in Dolby Vision any more. It's an Apple problem, not a user problem.

Earlier in the thread I shared a link to another discussion where several users noticed that DolbyVision Apple TV+ content was displaying incorrectly. I believe Apple have incorrectly encoded their content for DolbyVision and this is why they have pulled it for now. I expect it will be back once they have sorted out this issue but I agree an official comment would be good.

I just noticed that although the show pages still have the Dolby Vision logo, the individual episodes now just say HDR. (While an episode is playing, hit Menu.)

I will also report this to Apple and point out this forum. What i have noticed is this: if I set Apple TV to fixed output of Dolby Vision then it also plays “SEE“ in Dolby Vision. But then of course everything is played in „Dolby Vision“ even YouTube and the menus.. the function „Match dynamic range“ should always put out the originally intended format. This worked the first two weeks of November but now it only plays in hdr. Except the show „Dickinson“ which correctly Switches to Dolby Vision as intended. So now I’m stuck setting Apple TV to fixed Dolby Vision output and am not even sure it’s really displaying „SEE“ in Dolby Vision. I’m really not sure it is. Cause when the service launched I was blown away by the amazing picture and lighting. Hence it was pure Dolby Vision for sure! Now it’s probably just HDR being forced to Output as Dolby Vision. It’s just not the same as it was. There sure is something fishy going on around here and I wonder how long it will take Apple to acknowledge and fix it! It was absolutely perfect just after launch. And all messed up now..

The same problem here in Spain. While we were watching nicely in DV until last week all the shows and trailers, this option (DV) suddenly disappeared earlier this week, so I can only display in HDR the Following:

The Morning Show.

See

For All Mankind

The elephant queen

I am very disappointed with this fact as it is worse quality than DV, so I expect Apple fix it as soon as possible.

The rest of shows, including Dickinson, The Gosht Writer..., Still in DV!

You’ve completely described what’s going on. I’m experiencing the same issue...called Apple about a week ago and the dude said I wasn’t alone so that made me feel better as it confirmed it was Not my specific equipment that was the issue. He said he’d run with it and notify me when there there’s a fix. I am hoping to see a software update soon as I’m a big fan of Dolby Vision.

This isn't a cable problem, it's a problem on Apple's end.

Meanwhile, for the third week in a row, "The Morning Show" plays in Dolby Vision in Australia, but doesn't everywhere else. The show's different title in Australia presumably means it has to be encoded separately, and whatever is screwing up the encoding of everything else isn't affecting that show in Australia. And yes, it streams in Dolby Vision just fine with my existing high speed HDMI cable.

I'm completely puzzled about why it's taking Apple so long to fix this. Their brand new flagship streaming service, which sells itself on quality, is streaming sub-par versions of most of its shows for no explainable reason, and has done so for three weeks.

I would have thought the various shows' producers would have been on the phone to Apple about this already, for example. Imagine going to all that trouble to grade your show in Dolby Vision and then see consecutive episodes released without it.

I’m finding that the DV aspect cut out after I’ve watched a few episodes of SEE, TMS and FAMK. The other shows on Apple TV+ appear to have retained their DV aspect (so far). I’ve called and explained this to Apple and their person said I wasn’t alone (which made me feel a wee bit better) and that they were on it. Hope so cuz I’m a fan of DV.

As I’ve stated on a few occasions....I called Apple Support and spoke to a supervisor dude. After a kenghty hold he said he found that I wasn’t alone with this issue and that they’d get in it. That was two weeks ago.

"Earlier in the thread I shared a link to another discussion where several users noticed that DolbyVision Apple TV+ content was displaying incorrectly. I believe Apple have incorrectly encoded their content for DolbyVision and this is why they have pulled it for now. I expect it will be back once they have sorted out this issue but I agree an official comment would be good."

The reason I disagree is that when apple tv+ first debuted at the beginning of November all of the shows were correctly displaying in Dolby Vision, so the encoding was correct. Now only the previews and three shows, Dickinson, Snoopy in Space, and one of the other animated movies is in DV. It's really inexplicable and apple's silence isn't helping.

Don't believe everything you read: based on my observations of the Disney show in question, it's most definitely HDR. I'm not sure what went wrong with that person's analysis but the show was graded with Dolby Vision and looks great on an OLED display; HDR isn't always about blinding "look at me" light sources!

Meanwhile, this week's episodes look to be playing in HDR10 again - except, not surprisingly, "Morning Wars", which continues to play in Dolby Vision in Australia.

One thing I've observed which may or may not be related; I notice Apple has started adding credit screens for foreign-language dubs at the end of a show's credits. But "Morning Wars" has no such screen (not surprising, I guess, since the only country that gets it is an English-speaking one).

Could it be that adding those credits at the end (probably as a separate, linked stream) be causing the HDR flag to be sent incorrectly? The actual video streams still have Dolby Vision listed as their stream type, and still seem to play correctly in Dolby Vision if you force it on as the default video output.

But that's all we can do in the absence of any word from Apple - guess and speculate. Hopefully this press coverage might start to get the word through to the TV+ people, who don't seem to have noticed the problem after four weeks of it happening...

Yes, exactly what I forgot to mention: If forced to Dolby Vision, bringing up the Menu during „SEE“ or „The Morning Show“ the Icon reads „HDR“ and not Dolby Vision like it should and did before. The Quality of the lighting is obviously decreased.

This is 100% an Apple Content Issue.

Doesn’t matter if you have Sony or LG: There is a Problem on Apple’s end and I have to say it’s quite embarrassing for this to happen within the first Month of launch already...