Redakcja Choose TV
Disney+ is gradually restoring high picture quality after issues related to a patent dispute. In 11 European Union countries and Brazil, movies and series are again available in 4K and HDR10. There is, however, a catch: the features work only on selected devices, and popular Apple TV 4K and Nvidia Shield set-top boxes still remain unsupported.
New codecs solve some of the problems
It all began with a patent dispute between Disney and InterDigital over HEVC. As a result, Dolby Vision and 3D disappeared in June, and in July 4K and HDR10 were also removed in certain countries.
Disney+ has found a partial solution. Since August it has been restoring 4K content using the VP9 codec, and now it has begun reintroducing HDR10 using VP9 Profile 2.
According to Disney, the entire previous library of 4K and HDR10 content is once again available in those formats. Unfortunately, Dolby Vision still has not returned.
Not all TVs have regained 4K and HDR
The biggest problem remains compatibility. The new solution works, among others, on selected Google TV and Android TV devices, on LG TVs with webOS from 2020, on Hisense TVs with VIDAA from 2019, and on Amazon Fire TV devices.
The situation is worse for users of Apple TV 4K and Nvidia Shield, who in countries subject to the restrictions still cannot use 4K and HDR. Samsung TVs running Tizen are also missing from the list of supported devices.
Importantly, Poland is not among the 11 EU countries affected by these restrictions. The changes concern, among others, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The patent dispute is still ongoing, and InterDigital has also extended it to include VP9 technology. So further changes to 4K and HDR availability cannot be ruled out.
Sources: FlatpanelsHD, PRAD
