Apple TV’s only support DV profile 5 natively, so that is all Plex can support. I don’t know exactly what Infuse does but I’m guessing it’s software decoding locally which would explain the saturation issue. Plex cannot do that.
Thanks for the info, What’s strange is though, I have videos in Profile 5, which do not trigger the DV on my TV and playback in the AV player. However Profile 8 trigger the DV on the TV and direct plays with the MPV player.
Not a big fan of Infuse. Really dislike the interface.
Looks like Apple TV also supports profile 8. Not sure why the profile 5 one doesn’t work for you, but I don’t think it will work with AV player. I don’t believe DV support was ever added in our app with that player. What happens with MPV and profile 5?
Profile does play, but uses Copy (Direct Streaming) and AVPlayer. It does play in HDR but not DV. Profile 8 seems to play fine as DV using Direct Play and MPV player.
I don’t know how to force profile 5 to play in the MPV Player. If you could tell me how to do that I will test it. Thank you,
This one plays in AV Player:
This one in MPV Player:
Does the file have HDR10 fallback?
I’m confused. Are you manually changing the player? It should use the player you select, not switch between them.
No. All but profile 5 files use MPV Player and they all Direct Play. Profile 5 files play using the AVPlayer and Direct Stream. All done automatically. Player info I am getting from the AppleTV is using is from the info panel on the AppleTV when playing a file.
In the settings I have Allow Direct Play on. Use Old Player to off. Am I missing something?
I do remember reading that certain DV files will direct stream using AVPlayer rather than direct play using MPV Player.
You’re correct. Plex automatically uses AVPlayer for DV P5 playback.
And because AVPlayer doesn’t support MKV, those can’t be Direct Played. (But Direct Stream itself isn’t a problem.)
DV P5 in Apple’s preferred format of MP4 works perfectly. The TV activates DV mode. All looks good. (And these Direct Play)
DV P5 in MKV works, but Plex triggers HDR10 mode. In this mode the ATV performs tone-mapping. It looks good but there’s no dynamic brightness.
If the AppleTV is set to a fixed DV mode it works perfectly, including dynamic brightness.
There was an interim/test/dev PMS build that correctly triggered DV mode.
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Brilliant info thanks.
So, if I repackage the P5 MKV to P5 MP4 using subler (on my mac) it should play as a DV and not HDR10? Or is there another tool (with a GUI) that I could use?
DV P8 MKV files play as DV using the MPV player with Direct Play.
I just tested Subler with a DV P5 test file. I don’t think it can “fix” all files. It worked for me with one MKV test file, so it’s worth testing. But it didn’t work with another MP4 test file, where it seemed to preserve the original format.
Alternatively you can switch the ATV to a Dolby Vision mode, and disable Match Dynamic Range.
I haven’t investigated P8 behavior recently. I can’t say if it’s being processed correctly. It might be working perfectly! Or it could be forcing the display into DV mode, while only decoding the HDR10.
I’ll check with some test files. Can you PM me a link to a file you’re using?
Just tried with a real show. Used Subler to produce an DV P5 MP4 file and it works!!! Thank you.
But, P5 tends to play a bit brighter than P8 MKVs. Infuse seems to do the same thing.
I’ll PM you the link to the file with DV P8 MKV
Let me know how it goes.
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This is very helpful information.
So just to clarify, to play DV P5 files packaged as an MKV with dynamic brightness, I should set the ATV to a Dolby Vision mode and disable “match dynamic Range”, correct?
Secondly, are there any downsides to disabling “match dynamic range”? For example will other file types not play correctly in Plex (or possibly affect behavior of media playback with other ATV apps, etc).
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Downsides to disabling ‘match dynamic range’ will result in all videos being played in DV, including SDR videos. They will look ‘different’. Also AppleTV interface is designed for SDR so will look over bright. Having the TV in HDR or DV all the time will use more power. From what I’ve been told.
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It depends a fair amount on the TV.
Dolby Vision is strictly “better” than SDR or HDR10, supporting any color or brightness that SDR or HDR10 media and standards might include. So there’s almost zero theoretical downside while playing media.
In practice things are different. TVs do a lot of processing in all of their modes. For instance … how bright should SDR content be? 100 nits? Well … I’m not a purist, and I want mine to be brighter. And the TV is happy to be much brighter than 100 nits when in SDR mode. But how bright should SDR content be when in HDR/DV modes?
The Apple TV’s interface used to look weird in DV mode, but it looks fine now. I also don’t think it’s brighter, but again: your TV might have higher default brightness when in a DV mode.
The other advantage of disabling the Match ... options is that it removes the black flash when starting/stopping playback. 
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Ignoring their static power requirements, power use should be based on how much light is emitted. Right? Maybe I’m missing something.
I can’t think of any reason power consumption would be meaningfully higher when displaying SDR content in DV mode, unless the screen is actually brighter.
On my TV I think it’s the other way around. SDR content seems dimmer in DV mode.
Holy crap you just fixed a problem I didn’t even know I had. My brain has filtered out that black screen, but now that I disabled that option, moving between apps feels a thousand times snappier.
Thank you for the in depth reply!
The purists will tar & feather us, but the black flash infuriates me.
I’m not convinced that 24p is a good thing anyway.
The newest ATV is supposed to include VRR. Hopefully a tvOS update will make frame-rate changes instant and invisible.
So, should I leave my TV in DV mode and turn match frame rate and dynamic range off? And let the AppleTV do the tone mapping etc for SDR content and non DV HDR content?
Drives me nuts too, and on top of that, it really hurts the WAF.
I’m apparently especially sensitive to pulldown judder, so frame rate matching really does make a difference.
But there has been some progress. A number of modern TV’s (like the LG OLED’s) automatically fix the pulldown to the native film frame rate, even in a video feed of 60p like most modern playback devices use. I’m sure it’s not perfect, but it’s good enough that I’ve found it acceptable compared to normal pulldown judder. My biggest complaint is that networks still use 30fps for their logo animations, which mess up the interpolation for a second.
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Is this not fixed yet? Got my first weird pink and green video today plus a bunch of the “color space not supported” when playing via web.
Really wish we could ease up on adding all the streaming junk and fix the fundamentals (video playback across all devices).
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