HDR/Dolby Vision not activating on TV when playing HDR File - Apple TV

[RanmaCanada 494]

22 hours ago, swallman said:

Almost 2 years and no resolution yet....gotta wonder what the holdup is?

The hold up is the Apple TV is a piece of crap that is not friendly to programmers who attempt to use it for playing stuff outside of the Apple ecosystem. There is a reason Android devices are so much easier to use.

[Lazarus_Long 80]

2 minutes ago, RanmaCanada said:

The hold up is the Apple TV is a piece of crap that is not friendly to programmers who attempt to use it for playing stuff outside of the Apple ecosystem. There is a reason Android devices are so much easier to use.

That's a cop-out/excuse.  I can name any number of other Apple TV players that have no issues with this.

[RanmaCanada 494]

Just now, swallman said:

That's a cop-out/excuse.  I can name any number of other Apple TV players that have no issues with this.

Groups with large staff who are paid. Apple TV is so bad that the Jellyfin team abandoned their client because of how difficult it was to work with. It's not a cop out, it's just reality that the Apple TV is garbage.

[Lazarus_Long 80]

2 minutes ago, RanmaCanada said:

Groups with large staff who are paid. Apple TV is so bad that the Jellyfin team abandoned their client because of how difficult it was to work with. It's not a cop out, it's just reality that the Apple TV is garbage.

That's the whole thing though - as a PAYING Emby customer, I'd expect them to have an application the Apple TV that works properly!  Infuse can do it, Channels DVR can do it, Plex can do it (etc.)  So yes, still a cop-out.  You can tell that the devs at Emby just don't seem to care about other platforms.

[Neminem 1518]

@swallman

Well Apple Tv is NOT a premier app...

Only if you want to watch Live TV, and that a server premier feature.

Emby Premiere Feature Matrix | Emby Documentation 

[Neminem 1518]

While we are at it Emby should do like Plex and raise there prices right.

Just because Plex does it

[Lazarus_Long 80]

7 minutes ago, Neminem said:

@swallman

Well Apple Tv is NOT a premier app...

Only if you want to watch Live TV, and that a server premier feature.

Emby Premiere Feature Matrix | Emby Documentation 

Not sure how Apple TV is any different than Android/Fire TV?  And to me, "Full Playback" means playing HDR movies in HDR mode automatically.

[Neminem 1518]

1 hour ago, swallman said:

That's the whole thing though - as a PAYING Emby customer, I'd expect them to have an application the Apple TV that works properly!

Sure but the app is free

[zaHrecsohbiw 14]

If you want DVP5/HDR10 HDR support in the Emby app, these rules still apply. Your media file needs to include only the listed audio formats and subtitle formats, be properly tagged, and stored inside an mp4 container. If you satisfy those criteria, you can in fact watch HDR content using the Emby app for Apple TV. 

Could this be better? absolutely. I'm still totally baffled as to why we don't have fMP4 support, and strict(er) transcoding rules for Apple [TV, iPhone, iPad] clients. And, for whatever reason, it seems as though the Emby devs are reluctant to comment on this issue. 

But you CAN have native player support of HDR content using the Emby App, as long as the media file is compatible. You just have to fully understand that Emby Server will refuse to properly condition the file on your behalf, and not inform you as to why it isn't working.

Save your money on infuse; transcode your media (and use the proper container) to support the Apple TV direct play requirements (unless you want dolby atmos support... then you're back to infuse)

 

default	16:21:25.347743-0700	Emby.tvOS	-[AVSharedDisplayManager setPreferredDisplayCriteria:forScene:]_block_invoke Requesting display configuration <FBSMutableDisplayConfigurationRequest: 0x302e25810> {
    refreshRate = 23.98;
    hdrMode = HDR10;
}

default	16:21:25.377737-0700	PineBoard	Received request to update display mode with reason: "Native mode switching", requested mode: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x30227cea0>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, HDR 10 4:2:2 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] }, current mode: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x3022cd680>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, SDR YCbCr 4:4:4 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] }

default	16:21:26.086779-0700	PineBoard	Current mode is now: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x30222c2a0>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, HDR 10 4:2:2 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] } for display ID: 506C0000-0000-0000-0D1F-0103807A4478~::~FwB9AwPnAA==

[Deihmos 169]

On 6/5/2025 at 7:40 PM, zaHrecsohbiw said:

If you want DVP5/HDR10 HDR support in the Emby app, these rules still apply. Your media file needs to include only the listed audio formats and subtitle formats, be properly tagged, and stored inside an mp4 container. If you satisfy those criteria, you can in fact watch HDR content using the Emby app for Apple TV. 

Could this be better? absolutely. I'm still totally baffled as to why we don't have fMP4 support, and strict(er) transcoding rules for Apple [TV, iPhone, iPad] clients. And, for whatever reason, it seems as though the Emby devs are reluctant to comment on this issue. 

But you CAN have native player support of HDR content using the Emby App, as long as the media file is compatible. You just have to fully understand that Emby Server will refuse to properly condition the file on your behalf, and not inform you as to why it isn't working.

Save your money on infuse; transcode your media (and use the proper container) to support the Apple TV direct play requirements (unless you want dolby atmos support... then you're back to infuse)

 

default	16:21:25.347743-0700	Emby.tvOS	-[AVSharedDisplayManager setPreferredDisplayCriteria:forScene:]_block_invoke Requesting display configuration <FBSMutableDisplayConfigurationRequest: 0x302e25810> {
    refreshRate = 23.98;
    hdrMode = HDR10;
}

default	16:21:25.377737-0700	PineBoard	Received request to update display mode with reason: "Native mode switching", requested mode: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x30227cea0>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, HDR 10 4:2:2 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] }, current mode: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x3022cd680>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, SDR YCbCr 4:4:4 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] }

default	16:21:26.086779-0700	PineBoard	Current mode is now: <PBSDisplayMode: 0x30222c2a0>{ 3840 x 2160 59.94Hz @2x, 16:9, HDR 10 4:2:2 P3 [non-virtual, non-promoted] } for display ID: 506C0000-0000-0000-0D1F-0103807A4478~::~FwB9AwPnAA==

As far I know there is no way to get it in the correct format without a mac using subler. I am also disappointed in the Apple TV app.

[Lazarus_Long 80]

On 6/5/2025 at 6:40 PM, zaHrecsohbiw said:

Save your money on infuse; transcode your media (and use the proper container) to support the Apple TV direct play requirements (unless you want dolby atmos support... then you're back to infuse)

Which begs the question of why Emby developers can't do this instead of relying on a 3rd party?

[Lazarus_Long 80]

In doing some more research on this, I wonder if this is due to Emby not using the built-in Apple TV video player?  I know that both Plex and Infuse use the standard video player (except the new "Plex Experience" app for tvOS seems to be doing something different).

Is it just a licensing issue?  MKV is used a ton more than MP4 nowadays...

[Luke 42077]

12 minutes ago, swallman said:

In doing some more research on this, I wonder if this is due to Emby not using the built-in Apple TV video player?  I know that both Plex and Infuse use the standard video player (except the new "Plex Experience" app for tvOS seems to be doing something different).

Is it just a licensing issue?  MKV is used a ton more than MP4 nowadays...

We use the built-in player when it supports the media that you're playing. For everything else we use mpv.

[Deihmos 169]

I can get HDR / Dolby Vision and Atmos audio if the video file is packed in an mp4. In the past, I used the sickbeard_mp4_automator tool. It auto remuxed videos to mp4 before being added to the library.   You are much better off using infuse. It is a much better video player. 

[Lazarus_Long 80]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

We use the built-in player when it supports the media that you're playing. For everything else we use mpv.

Is the built-in player AVKIT?  I was experimenting earlier with trying to get a file into the proper format and saw that it was being rendered by AVKIT but still wasn't causing HDR to kick-in on the TV.

[Deihmos 169]

1 hour ago, swallman said:

Is the built-in player AVKIT?  I was experimenting earlier with trying to get a file into the proper format and saw that it was being rendered by AVKIT but still wasn't causing HDR to kick-in on the TV.

HDR will work only work if the file is fully compatible and direct played. 

[Lazarus_Long 80]

7 minutes ago, Deihmos said:

HDR will work only work if the file is fully compatible and direct played. 

Yep I know. I’ve been trying to get it into a correct format using ffmpeg and this is the latest test and it still won’t trigger. Not sure what else it could be?  I did remove the audio track just to make sure it wasn’t causing any issues. 

It does show direct play with AVKIT as the renderer (not MPV)

Edited September 12, 2025 by swallman

[Deihmos 169]

In the emby app playback setting change playback to auto. Does it auto play with the native player? Also is HDR enabled on the Apple TV? Things like subtitles will need to be in movtext. 

[Lazarus_Long 80]

3 hours ago, Deihmos said:

In the emby app playback setting change playback to auto. Does it auto play with the native player? Also is HDR enabled on the Apple TV? Things like subtitles will need to be in movtext. 

Finally was able to find a sample video online that is in the proper format and would kick my TV into HDR mode.  Now trying to figure out what the requirements on Dolby Vision are lol...

[mata7 45]

emby team is working really hard on this, apple tv is a new streaming device and the emby team needs a little time to get it working, plus no too many people owns apple tv

[Deihmos 169]

2 hours ago, mata7 said:

emby team is working really hard on this, apple tv is a new streaming device and the emby team needs a little time to get it working, plus no too many people owns apple tv

The Apple TV has been around since 2007. The first Nvidia Shield came out in 2015. Maybe not a high volume of folks that use Emby are using an Apple TV, but that could be because of several reasons.

[SpencerTest 0]

6 hours ago, Deihmos said:

Edited September 20, 2025 by SpencerTest

[Lazarus_Long 80]

6 hours ago, Deihmos said:

The Apple TV has been around since 2007. The first Nvidia Shield came out in 2015. Maybe not a high volume of folks that use Emby are using an Apple TV, but that could be because of several reasons.

Yeah but it wasn’t really until the HD/4K models came out in 2017 with tvOS that sales took off. It’s still one of the best streamers due to hardware and zero ads. 
 

I think the biggest issue is the player that Emby is using for Apple TV (MPV) only supports very specific HDR media types. Not sure what Infuse and others use but maybe it would be worth looking at switching. Even ChannelsDVR now plays almost all 4K HDR/DV content without issues. I think it’s more resource constraints at Emby team. 

[Deihmos 169]

I'm not sure what the issue is, but there might not be enough Apple TV Emby users. I'd be happy if Emby on Apple TV had the same features as it does on iOS, though that might require a major overhaul. I also own a few Nvidia Shields, I much prefer the Apple TV for its superior interface and smooth performance.

Infuse is what I use. I find it to be a better player than anything you can find on Android or Apple TV. If only it could do Live TV.

Edited September 20, 2025 by Deihmos

[mata7 45]

23 hours ago, Deihmos said:

The Apple TV has been around since 2007. The first Nvidia Shield came out in 2015. Maybe not a high volume of folks that use Emby are using an Apple TV, but that could be because of several reasons.

i was being sarcastic :)