Emby 2.03 on tvOS: Dolby Vision looks dull / flat

[ducky893 0]

Hello,

With Emby TVOS 2.03 on my Apple TV 4K, movies play perfectly in 1080p. However, as soon as I play a 4K movie with Dolby Vision, the colors and exposure become dull and flat.The same movie plays correctly via Infuse or Plex (on the Apple TV 4K). In all cases, it’s direct play.

If relevant, here are the details (it is an MKV file):
Title 4K Dolby Vision HEVC
Codec HEVC
Dolby Profile Profile 8.1 (HDR10 compatible)
Profile Main 10
Level 153
Resolution 3840x2160
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Interlaced No
Frame Rate 23.976
Bitrate 63 Mbps
Video Format Dolby Vision
Primary Colors BT.2020
Color Space BT.2020NC
Color Transfer SMPTE 2084

Edited 5 hours ago by ducky893

[alex77777 19]

For some reason you have to disable all transcoding for the user that is using the Apple TV for proper Dolby Vision playback (this can cause issues with other devices this user uses so I would recommend making a separate user just for the Apple TV). The Emby Server for some reason wants to convert the stream server side when the Emby App is capable of doing it on the Apple TV itself which causes the issue with Dolby Vision. By changing these settings it also allows for direct streaming of other things such as PGS subtitles which puts less load on the server and makes the Apple TV a smoother experience. Hopefully they change this in the future but for now this is the only way to get proper playback for the Apple TV with the Emby App. Let me know if you need more information or help.