Katarzyna Petru
Disney+ is one of the largest streaming platforms in the world, but its reliability is increasingly being called into question. Users from various countries are reporting serious technical issues – from problems with 4K and HDR to lack of audio synchronization. To make matters worse, these problems affect nearly all popular devices.
Nvidia Shield – audio problems
The first complaints have started coming in from Nvidia Shield users. For months, they have been complaining about the audio sync issues when watching content in the standard mode for movies and series at 23.976 Hz. A temporary workaround is to switch to 60 Hz, but Disney has yet to release an official fix.
Apple TV 4K – HDR and frame rate completely broken
The situation is even worse on Apple TV 4K. According to FlatpanelsHD, the problems with the Disney+ app date back to 2024, but after the latest update, the issue became dramatic.
Reddit users report a broken frame rate matching mechanism – the effect is constant stuttering of the image and no proper HDR. Worse, in many cases, content is played back exclusively in 1080p SDR, despite subscribers paying for access to premium quality.
Some have found a workaround – setting the Apple TV to 4K 24Hz Dolby Vision forces it to work correctly. Unfortunately, this trick breaks other apps, so users have to constantly juggle the settings.
Samsung TV and Fire TV – no HDR, no 4K, no… anything
Owners of Samsung TVs also have no reason to be happy – Disney+ does not play content in HDR on many models, and 4K is limited to 1080p SDR. So far, there is no known workaround for this problem.
However, users of Amazon Fire TV have it the worst. Since August 20, the app does not work at all – it forces a download of a non-existent update. Attempts to reinstall only help partially, as the message quickly returns.
History That Likes to Repeat Itself
This is not the first time that Disney+ has disappointed. Back in 2021, thousands of Android TV users lost access to 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos, and the fix only appeared after several days. Similarly, Dolby Atmos has been "broken" multiple times by subsequent app updates.
For now, it’s hard to count on a quick solution. Disney's engineers are currently focused on integrating Disney+ with Hulu, and the new joint app is not set to launch until next year. So users are left with only waiting... or struggling with temporary workarounds.
