Plex Players & Dolby Vison Color Space support

Plex Players
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Server Version#: 1.32.6.7557 current Windows 10/11
Player Version#: current

Videos playback in HDR10 is fine but now I have some encoded with Dolby Vision and I get a Color Space error and the Player is not able to play the video.

Will the players be upgraded to support Dolby Vision soon or can they be patch by a codec?

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It also depends on the TV / display you are using.

Plex does not have a license from Dolby to transcode and tone map Dolby Vision video.

Dolby Vision Profile 5 is the type used by streaming services. It does not contain a HDR10 compatibility layer.

If you try to play a DVp5 profile video on a non DV compatible display, one of two things will happen:

  • Playback will fail and Plex will display the “Color Space Not Supported” error message.
  • The file will play, but the colors will noticeably wrong, usually pink/purple/green.

Other DV profiles, such as 7 & 8, have a HDR10 or HDR10+ compatibility layer. If you try to play one of those videos on a non-DV display:

  • Plex will play the HDR10/HDR10+ video instead of DV
  • Plex will try to transcode & tonemap HDR10 to SDR if PMS is configured to do so in Settings → Transcoder.

To see the Dolby Vision Profile, look at the Plex Media Info for the file or examine it with MediaInfo.

You can also look at the media pre-play screen in Plex Web, Plex Desktop and some other clients…
Dolby Vision media without a HDR10 compatibility layer displaysVideo 4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10).
Dolby Vision media with a HDR10 compatibility layer displaysVideo 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10).

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In short no DV support but possible HDR10(+) support for some levels of DV with HDR depending if PMS is configured.

Good info definitely gives me good direction I’ll have to chew on this a bit more.

Thank you very much FordGuy61

One of my FAV Fords was the 69’ Ford Mustang Mach 1 but the best Ford I owned was a 63’ Ford Fairlane, it wasn’t pretty but it was a tough car.

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