Days after adding Dolby Vision support to the Prime Video app on tvOS for Apple TV 4K, Amazon has quietly removed the offering.
Earlier this week, Apple TV 4K owners rejoiced as the Prime Video app added Dolby Vision for select titles. Initially, the first four episodes of the hit tv show, The Rings of Power, appeared with the HDR technology which led users to believe that other Select shows were imminent — now it looks like the support rollout could be a mistake.
Just a day after adding the limited support, the episodes of The Rings of Power have returned to HDR10, Dolby Vision’s competitor created by Samsung.
Will we get Apple TV Prime Video Dolby Vision support soon?
In September 2022, Amazon began to offer select Prime Video titles in Dolby Vision HDR following years of exclusively offering Samsung’s HDR10+ equivalent. The update has been compatible with FireTV devices and Smart TVs ever since — Apple TV 4K hasn’t been as lucky.
The update to tvOS on Apple TV 4K was initially spotted on Reddit (opens in new tab) when a user started to watch The Rings of Power on their OLED. Following a report from FlatpanelsHD (opens in new tab), the episodes were indeed streaming a 4k Dolby Vision image with an average video bitrate of approximately 20 Mbps. This discovery was found on the Prime Video app version 1.2.34 with Apple TV 4K (2021) and Apple TV 4K (2022).
It is yet to be seen if this was an early reveal of an upcoming announcement or a mistake on Amazon’s part to enable the Dolby Vision format. Amazon hadn’t responded to iMore’s request for comment at the time of publication.
The Apple TV 4K gained Dolby Vision support in 2017 and added HDR10+ last year to the best Apple TV, the new 2022 model. The addition of HDR10+ to the latest devices was met with huge excitement due to Samsung’s dominance as a TV manufacturer and the format being favored across most top streaming services.
The addition of Dolby Vision in the Amazon Prime Video app would be a great benefit for Apple TV 4K, we’ll have to hope it will return soon.
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