How to get HDR working again with new Sony and Apple TV setup

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Can someone help me to get HDR working again with my new setup?

I recently purchased a Sony X950G TV and the Sony HDR-Z9F 3.1ch Dolby Atmos Sound Bar.

I use an Apple TV for my streaming. Both tvOS and Plex app are the latest version as I just checked before writing this post.

I have my Apple TV HDMI going into my sound bar HDMI and then the HDMI out of the sound bar going into the eARC HDMI on the TV. Enhanced HDMI is enabled on both devices and the Apple TV shows Dolby Vision enabled and also Dolby Atmos is available. I have the match framerate and match dynamic range both enabled on the Apple TV.

Previously, with my TCL Roku TV I would always get HDR or Dolby Vision icons and it worked fine. However the Apple TV was plugged directly into the TCL TV.

With my new setup, I get HDR with native applications and movies (streaming, disney+, etc) but with Plex I now only get an SDR version of the HDR movie. I can tell because I can’t select the HDR profiles for display when the movie is playing.

One example is the following:

Video: 4K (HEVC Main 10 HDR)
Audio: TRUEHD ATMOS 7.1

Is this not supported at all? Is there something I can do to make it support it? I haven’t changed any settings on the Apple TV or in the Plex app since switching the TV and sound bar, but now I don’t get HDR anymore.

Please let me know what additional information you need from me.

Edits and additional information:
I have the new enhanced player enabled.
Plex is showing direct stream of video.
Plex is showing transcode of TRUEHD to FLAC.
TV is still showing non-HDR (SDR) settings.
I asked Plex to analyze media again.

2

If the Apple TV is connected directly to the TV, do you get HDR playback? If so, then the issue may be with the soundbar’s passthrough capabilities.

3

Yes, I need to try this when I’m at home again. Didn’t even occur to me to try it that way because I didn’t notice until a few days after having everything configured. I just assumed it was doing HDR but realized it when I wanted to change the brightness during a movie.

Both HDMI cables are the ones that came with the Apple TV and the soundbar and seem to be of the correct specification.

EDIT: Also going to pick up a new HDMI cable on my way home to try a few different configurations.

1 Like
4

Connected the Apple TV directly to the X950G. I also purchased a new HDMI cable. I still get the same functionality. I double checked that enhanced HDMI is enabled. And I went through all of the HDMI settings in the Apple TV to ensure it’s set properly and executed the HDMI cable check.

At this point I have no idea why it’s not playing HDR for me.

5

post a screenshot of your plex server dashboard while playing a problem video.

neither apple tv, nor smart tvs will support TRUEHD/ATMOS.

its possible that your soundbar may not either (it probably supports streaming atmos, which is dolby digital+atmos).

if the audio is being transcoded, and subtitles are enabled, then plex will transcode the video, resulting in loss of HDR.

6

The soundbar should support everything. With the same Apple TV and the old TCL Roku TV I was able to play HDR videos. Now I’m afraid something is not properly configured with the new TV.

The full specifications are here https://www.sony.com/electronics/sound-bars/ht-z9f/specifications

HDMI input

Dolby® Digital, Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby® True HD, Dolby Atmos®, Dolby® Dual mono, DTS®, DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio™, DTS-HD Master Audio™, DTS-ES, DTS 96/24, DTS:X™, LPCM (2ch/5.1ch/7.1ch), DSD (2ch/5.1ch),

The part I’m concerned with is not getting HDR even though Plex says it is direct playing the HDR video file.

Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 11.34.54 AM

1 Like
7

yeah it sounds like something specific to the tv.

I would start flipping every switch/option in the tv settings to see if something makes a difference.

I’d also check the sony support site if any tv firmware updates or known issues are available.

1 Like
8

So, turns out it’s 50% I’m an idiot, and 50% terrible UX. The TV uses the exact same interface for HDR10 as it does for SDR. However, if you dive into the setting deeper on the TV it’ll eventually show that it is HDR. So I think it’s working as intended. I wish I could find some content locally that is Dolby Vision just to be certain.

Oh well, I needed another HDMI cable anyway. Thanks for the suggestions.

9

there are a few DV demo files available. google will help you.

to use them in plex, just create a ‘misc videos’ library and dump them in some sub folders organized however you want.

there won’t be any metadata pulled by plex since they are not traditional movies/tvs.

1 Like
10

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