I see. Good thing is most DV files I have actually do have a HDR fallback.
But, can you explain the legal reasons in detail?
Is it because other contracts you have restrict transcoding DV without paying royalties?
Because that makes me think that DV is not mainly a HDR technique but rather a DRM. That would be good to know.
On the other hand: any chance these legal reasons might disappear in the feature by e.g. paying dolby and then enabling tonemapping DV → HDR10 for plexpass users?
Dolby Vision is a Dolby product, with all definition, licensing, etc. controlled by Dolby.
Plex is a commercial company. They must license codecs used in Plex Media Server.
Plex does not have a license to transcode Dolby Vision video.
Even if Plex could legally use a reverse-engineered method to transcode DV (I don’t know if they can), it is not in their interest to do so. Dolby could revoke, or refuse to renew, licenses for their other codecs, which would have a huge impact on Plex’s business.
DVp5 is used by streaming services.
Were Plex to enable DVp5 transcoding, they’re basically saying, “Look! We can transcode illegally downloaded content!”
They would most likely be sued by Apple, a $2.8T company with $200B in cash, Amazon, a $1.5T company, and Netflix, a puny $200B company.
Were Dolby to license DV to Plex, they would potentially put at risk revenue from above mentioned companies, which is obviously larger than whatever Plex would pay for said license.
Perhaps I should add a new rule to the 4k ‘rules’:
Avoid dolby vision at all costs if you just want stuff to play, or use dolby vision only if you are prepared for the frustrating limitations.
Yes. Assuming you mention profile 5 specifically though.
Generalising Dolby Vision would just be utter nonsense.
Well, in my experience, it has never been worth the problems. 4k hdr alone was enough hassle, but that has come a long way.
DV will always be plagued with issues, because dolby, and because multiple different incompatible profiles, and an infinite number of different tv/player capabilities/limitations.
Again with profile 5 I agree. Profile 7 or 8 play HDR fallback if the client/TV doesn’t support the particular profile.
That’s on all smart tv apps, Android apps and Apple apps plus HTPC.
Hell on Apple devices Plex decided Dolby Vision is “so cool” they went out of their way to pretend to play Dolby Vision, they made a shiny blog post about it, but that’s another story.
But not even a Dolby Vision unfriendly Samsung TV will have an issue playing a profile 7 or 8 Dolby Vision file. It will just use the HDR10 metadata.
100% agreed, and bravo on the summary.
I think there’s another subtle element to consider: the entire sales-pitch premise of Dolby Vision is end-to-end color management on Dolby Vision-enabled devices.
It’s more difficult to pretend that Dolby Vision is entirely about quality and fidelity and the Director’s Visual Intent while also supporting transcoding on intermediate devices.
And the files being pirated are parts-bin monstrosities, with the HDR10 (or HDR10+) taken from one source and the DV metadata taken from a DV P5 source. The DV metadata isn’t even appropriate for pairing with an HDR10 base.
I just picked up a Shield Pro because Atmos but I’m disappointed about DolbyVision. I’ve been using Jellyfin as a workaround for those files, but I wonder why Plex has to transcode DV in the first place? My TV is definitely DV capable (Sony Bravia) and as it’s showing DV controls in the menu instead of HDR10, I’m assuming Jellyfin is not transcoding.
Or am I missing something (long thread, just went back a few months!)?
I agree that in some cases they are exactly that.
But you seem to be generalising that that is what all profile 8 files are so I don’t know what to say…
Other than “a big thank you to Apple for the native Profile 8 support. I hadn’t realised your catered to pirates now”
I don’t think I understand your response. I intended my comments to apply to the pirated P8 files that have clearly been through a blender. Apple devices gaining P8 playback support isn’t the issue - and I wasn’t talking about recorded-on-iPhone files.
There’s no single source for media with that combination of elements. Streaming sources use DV P5 because it’s actually superior for that purpose.
The piracy mash-up files aren’t ideal. The dynamic DV metadata they include wasn’t created against the HDR/HDR10 base layer.
It seems odddddddd to chase the DV logo but not worry if the metadata matches the base.
Yeah I think that, every time I play a profile 7 in Plex on Apple TV.
A pretty DV logo but no DV. Plex seem to think it’s ultra cool though. All the shills have nothing to say on the subject for some reason. Plenty to say on their knowledge of DV elsewhere bizarrely.
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