Dolby Vision Profile 7 & 8 support (.ts/.mkv files)

I assume this is the same situation with MKV’s created from UHD discs using the latest MakeMKV version? These work on the latest Plex beta on the Nvidia Shield. Would be amazing to get this working on the Apple TV 4K.

Yes same issue with those mkvs. Apple TV only supports profile 5 DV which isn’t generally on UHD discs.

Did this change recently? Plex latest TestFlight definitely supports profile 7.

Profile 7 is dual layer, which is not supported on the Apple TV.

There is also plenty of fake DV floating around. That is, videos with DV headers and metadata. Some apps get tricked into playing these in DV, but the video itself contains HDR10 colors, so playing the video in HDR is the correct way.

AFAIK, there is no method to convert dual-layer to single-layer DV at the present time.

1 Like

I’m confused here.
MakeMKV has had the ability to create a Single Layer Profile 7 whilst retaining Dolby Vision for the last few months. It’s how many of us with an NVidia Shield has been watching them.

  • MakeMKV v1.15.3 (1.10.2020 )
    • MakeMKV now can extract Dolby Vision metadata from elementary stream data and rebuild missing or invalid DV descriptors

These are definitely not “Fake DV.”

I can assure you the latest Plex Testflight plays them just fine as DV (as long as the Atmos soundtrack is disabled.)

Further to this one high-end tracker has just released the very first 1080p Single Layer Dolby Vision encode. Here’s the Media Info for it. It (2017).txt (7.5 KB)

Here hopefully if the link works is a 1 minute (crap quality) video of Plex triggering Dolby vision on two Profile7 Dolby Vision files. Sadly the Dolby Vision logo itself is highly reflective.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SYOkeWXm0_Fy47IU4IdN-ybZ-rMrGXy4/view?usp=sharing

2 Likes

Yes, it really is confusing. DV has so many different variants it’s hard to keep them all straight. There is single-layer with no fallback, dual-layer (with fallback, obviously), and single-layer with fallback.

The specs from the IT sample show this is profile 8, which technically has one video track, but includes an HDR10 fallback.

HDR format : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.08.03, BL+RPU, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible

What I imagine Plex is doing is playing the underlying HDR10 video, but switching your TV to DV. This is technically incorrect, as the video being played is the HDR10 video, without the extra DV info. You could get the same effect in Infuse by enabling DV in the Apple TV settings, and then disable match dynamic range.

What MakeMKV can do is recreate dual-layer DV files, and keep the separate HDR10/DV info. For example, it cannot combine dual-layer videos (IE UHD Blu-rays) into single-layer (without fallback) DV profile 5 video.

There are other apps which capture the HDR10 video, but add metadata for DV Profile 5. This is also incorrect, as the underlying video is just HDR10 and not DV.

Analyzing the underlying video takes a bit of work, but a super-quick way to check if something is actually single-layer (with no fallback) would be to play a sample in IINA on Mac (which does not support DV).

Here’s a comparison with the samples found at: Dolby Vision streams | Dolby Developer

Profile 5 (no fallback)

Profile 8 (with fallback)

As you can see, IINA is unable display the correct colors in the DV-only file. But is able to display the correct HDR10 colors in the file with fallback.

7 Likes

But that surely wouldn’t make the files look IDENTICAL to when playing back on the Shield in DV.
Nor unless I’m still missing something why the same file in Plex on the ATV 4K looks completely different when Atmos is enabled and does indeed force HDR playback.

Anyway, no worries. It is what it is.

Can you try this to compare?

  1. Set Apple TV to Dolby Vision output
  2. Disable Match Dynamic Range (you can keep match frame rate enabled)
  3. Play one of these videos in Infuse (your TV should show DV logo) and compare to your Shield
4 Likes

I just did and I concede. I really appreciate the clarification and I’m sorry for doubting you.
So Plex are simply enabling Dolby Vision mode on the ATV 4K when playing back these files?

2 Likes

Awesome! Thanks for doing that.

Yes, it seems Plex is simply switching to DV for these videos…which are actually playing in HDR10.

5 Likes

So I just tested the 7.11 beta of Plex and they have dual layer profile 7 Dolby Vision playing in tvOS and iOS now. Trick is you can not have the lossless audio track selected. Being that infuse will direct play the lossless audio tracks I am hoping they find a way to make this happen!

Do these steps and as I just found out thanks to James pointing this out it’s almost certainly NOT the case.
It’s simply triggering Dolby Vision UI when it plays media back. Even SD will trigger DV with those settings.
It seems that Plex is just fooling us. That said it does still look pretty nice.
Even if only for eliminating the dazzling white forced subtitles on HDR10, I would still be happy to see it as an option in Infuse.

With regard to subtitles, you might give the ‘light gray’ color option a try.

This can be adjusted in the Subtitles section of the Playback Menu (swipe down while a video is playing).

1 Like

Hi! I believe my question is relevant to this post, if not please correct me. I am trying to play an mkv file with DV although I am getting only the HDR mark on my LG B7. There is a post saying “It is DV but since its the new single layer version mkv it only plays on Nvidia Shields & Plex. On everything else it will say HDR10 instead of DV.”

Since I am not using neither a Shield (ATV 4K here) nor Plex (playing my files directly from my PC via a NFS server) is there a way to see the file in DV? Thanks!

Can you post up the specs?

It sounds like it may be a single-layer with fallback.

You’d like the MediaInfo details? Or something more? MediaInfo states the file as HDR10 whereas it is stated in the filename that the file is a DV one.

MediaInfo should be enough.

1 Like

Also make sure you have the latest version of mediainfo. They added support for DV in mkvs not too long ago

3 Likes

MediaInfo 20.09

image

Can you select the 3rd tab, and copy/paste the specs?

Screen Shot 2020-12-02 at 9.00.59 AM