Apple TV Plus content no longer plays in Dolby Vision

The German IT portal heise.de asked Apple for a statement on the 22nd and still didn't get an answer:

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

So it's not just you, even the press doesn't get any statements.

It is very likely that Apple withdrew all ATV+ DV content because some users had problems with it.

That can happen. But what bothers me is that there is no official information from Apple. Not even a simple statement like "we're aware of the problem and are working on it".

In case Apple reads this: you are currently doing everything you can to destroy the reputation of Apple TV+ even before it is properly established in the market.

I wouldn't pay a single cent for ATV+ right now and wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.

Do your homework! You can't afford such a thing at the moment, with the few contents that are offered and the basic functions that ATV+ are missing but every other established streaming platform has.

It's highly unlikely that Apple deliberately disabled Dolby Vision for supposed user complaints on some displays - because they have not disabled it across the board. "DIckinson" still streams in Dolby Vision, and like I've mentioned above, new episodes of "The Morning Show" in Australia continue to be in Dolby Vision as well, presumably because they have to be seperately encoded due to the title change.

Perhaps they made some change intended to tweak compatibility on third-party devices running the TV app, and in the process have broken Dolby Vision support on their own Apple TV 4K device.

We can only speculate, but either there's literally nobody paying attention to quality control at Apple TV+ or nobody who works there actually uses the service. I cannot believe that Apple isn't aware of this problem by now, after *three weeks* of complaints.

I'm surprised the US tech sites haven't cottoned on to this either.

NeonKitten wrote:

It's highly unlikely that Apple deliberately disabled Dolby Vision for supposed user complaints on some displays - because they have not disabled it across the board. "DIckinson" still streams in Dolby Vision, and like I've mentioned above, new episodes of "The Morning Show" in Australia continue to be in Dolby Vision as well, presumably because they have to be seperately encoded due to the title change.

This may be the case for the Apple TV 4K, but not a single show plays in Dolby Vision via AirPlay2 anymore. As mentioned: the trailers of the ATV+ shows still play in Dolby Vision without any problems.

I'm surprised the US tech sites haven't cottoned on to this either.

I don't get this either.

I noticed the same thing. I think it's just an acknowledgment that the show is NOT in Dolby Vision, which we already knew.

I've talked to tech support 3 times and have gotten almost nowhere. They seem to acknowledge the problem but will not utter a word about a fix, etc. The latest tvOS software came out end of Oct, before Apple TV Plus started in the beginning of November when DV worked fine. So I can't see how this is a software issue on our end. This has to be the server, or something related. Apple broke it in a day, but I now fear there will be no fix or it's a long way off. I wish Apple would realize that keeping us in the dark is far worse with long term repercussions. It would be easier to tolerate with some substantial feedback from Apple, but that won't occur. This is the worst Apple fail I've seen in a very long time. There are workarounds for many of apple's bug, but not this one.

They might have displayed correctly for you, but they didn't for many others across a number of brands. Who knows what the issue was, but that many people were not imagining it! Even now there's still a DolbyVision trailer for 'See' in the Apple TV app which displays the same issues on my LG display. If you find the thread it includes photos of the issue so you can see for yourself.

I still can't believe that rare decoding problems on specific devices would have made Apple disable Dolby Vision across all platforms and retroactively disable it on some shows - but NOT disable it on others. And also not disable it at all on "Morning Wars" (the Australian version of "The Morning Show"). And let's not forget that the video streams are still encoded in Dolby Vision - they're just not playing that way.

If there was a particular TV having issues with Dolby Vision then surely it would make more sense for Apple to suggest those users disable Dolby Vision on THEIR end while it gets investigated - not just turn it off for everyone.

No, I still think this is a workflow screw-up that somehow hasn't been escalated to the people who need to know about it yet.

There are also now stories on MacRumors and Cult of Mac so it’s getting some traction. Interestingly, Nilay Patel (Editor of The Verge) tweeted about it having noticed the problem for himself on 23rd November but I don’t see any articles about it on that site.

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, it finally appears to be fixed. I'm certainly happy about that. What saddens me it that what I'll remember about this is my disappoint in the way it was handled, leaving so many folks frustrated from the lack of communication. I don't think any company helps themselves by leaving their customers in the dark.

My LG OLED frequently goes black with Apple TV 4K, and I have to switch to another input and back to get the picture back. (I believe it usually occurs when the picture is switching from non-HDR to HDR or vice versa.) What you're experiencing sounds a little different because it only lasts a few seconds and then comes back.

If you haven't already, I'd try replacing the HDMI cable with a Premium Certified high-speed cable and/or try another input.

I will try another input. HDMI cables are high speed, 18gb.

House was new construct, so I had wires all put behind walls and PVC tunnel to pull new cables/wires thru when needed. I thought 18gb would be good enough, but maybe have to go to 48gb??

Looks like were finally getting some attention:

https://9to5mac.com/2019/12/06/dolby-vision-on-apple-tv/

is it plugged in directly to the lg or receiver?

I was found the exact same thing. Of course, it’s not true Dolby Vision like you mentioned. If you have your Apple TV set to Dolby Vision but enable match range, it will play See in HDR. If match range is off, it’ll stay in Dolby Vision like you said. But if you push the menu while watching to bring up the show info, the Dolby vision icon won’t be there.

Like Zero0_gow3, I have a Roku (Ultra, 2019) and a Fire TV (the box, not the stick). They both used to get HDR10 from Apple TV+ (I use a projector, so no Dolby Vision for me), but now both are giving only SDR from Apple TV+, though Disney+, VUDU, and Amazon Prime Video come through in HDR10.

I hope Apple is monitoring these forums and is aware of this problem - it's not a good way to launch a service for a company that prides itself on "forcing the future."