Disney+ subscribers in some European international locations have misplaced entry to superior HDR options like Dolby Imaginative and prescient, TechRadar and FlatpanelsHD report. The difficulty was first noticed by German Disney+ subscribers on Reddit, however at the moment additionally impacts subscribers in Portugal, Poland, France and the Netherlands, based on FlatpanelsHD.
“Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist for content material on Disney+ is at the moment unavailable in a number of European international locations because of technical challenges,” Disney mentioned in an announcement. “We’re actively working to revive entry to Dolby Imaginative and prescient and can present an replace as quickly as doable. 4K UHD and HDR assist stay out there on supported units.”
If the problem is in truth a technical one, it looks as if it may very well be round for the long-term. Disney has eliminated any reference to Dolby Imaginative and prescient from its Disney+ video quality support page in Germany. As of now, the corporate lists HDR10 as its default HDR format, regardless of Dolby Vision support being a function of Disney+ for a number of years now.
FlatpanelsHD writes that the true challenge could be authorized, moderately than technological. An organization referred to as InterDigital won an injunction in a German court towards Disney in November 2025 as a result of it violated at the least one of many firm’s patents on streaming video know-how. The injunction particularly requires Disney to cease violating InterDigital’s patent on “a way for dynamically overlaying a primary video stream with a second video stream comprising, for instance, subtitles.” It is not fully clear how that performs into the corporate providing Dolby Imaginative and prescient in Europe, however it might clarify why subscribers in Germany had been a number of the first individuals to note Dolby Imaginative and prescient’s absence.
Engadget has contacted Disney for extra details about Disney+’s lacking HDR assist and whether or not InterDigital’s injunction performed a task. We’ll replace this text if we hear again.
Mentions of Dolby Imaginative and prescient had been additionally stripped out of the US version of Disney+’s video high quality assist web page. InterDigital hasn’t gained an injunction within the US, however the firm is pursuing a patent case towards Disney in the US District Courtroom for the Central District of California. That does not essentially imply Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist will probably be taken from US subscribers subsequent, however it does recommend there’s extra occurring right here than simply technical challenges.
Replace, February 6, 3:44PM ET: The unique model of this text included point out of Disney+ shedding HDR10+ assist in Europe, however Disney says it by no means supplied HDR10+ in that area. The article has been up to date accordingly.
