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 March 13 by ducky893

[alex77777 20]

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.

[ebr 16307]

5 hours ago, alex77777 said:

For some reason you have to disable all transcoding for the user that is using the Apple TV for proper Dolby Vision playback

This is not strictly correct as, I strongly suspect the reason you are seeing this is due to the audio format (probably TrueHD or DTSHD).

[ducky893 0]

@alex77777

Hey, thanks for your help. I tried it, including restarting the Apple TV after making the change. Dolby Vision still looks significantly worse in Emby; the colors appear dull and lifeless. In a direct comparison of the same scene, nothing has changed. I connected the Apple TV directly to the TV for testing (previously it was connected via the receiver). No change. In Infuse, the picture is much more colorful and not dull.

 

@ebrThe format is EAC3 7.1. I also have it in TRUEHD 7.1 and AC3 5.1. In Infuse, the images are significantly more colorful and have higher contrast.

 

 

[ducky893 0]

When I turn off Dolby Vision, the colors look perfect in Emby. And yes, it works with Dolby Vision in Infuse

The Emby developers should be able to test this easily. I hope so...

[alex77777 20]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

This is not strictly correct as, I strongly suspect the reason you are seeing this is due to the audio format (probably TrueHD or DTSHD).

I'm sure your right, I do notice a green tint on my dolby vision content when the stream is converted server side which is not there on infuse, when i disable those playback settings it looks exactly the same as infuse 

[ducky893 0]

I reactivated transcoding for my account and had the HDMI connection checked on the Apple TV. I also installed version 2.0.5 via TestFlight.

Overall, the picture is now much better. I’d say Infuse is slightly darker and richer, but it’s minimal. With the new quality (significantly better than yesterday), I’m also not sure which display is the correct one—Infuse’s or Emby’s.

 

Thank you for your help

[Luke 42186]

HI, we are working on improving this. Thanks.

[alex77777 20]

On 3/13/2026 at 4:46 PM, ebr said:

This is not strictly correct as, I strongly suspect the reason you are seeing this is due to the audio format (probably TrueHD or DTSHD).

i think this is something that needs to be looked in to. The audio is Truehd (I havent experimented with much with other audio formats), but when its converted server side it changes the colors of Dolby Vision content which is not seen when the transcoding permissions are taken away and the Apple TV itself is forced to convert it device side which would be the better way anyways since it it putting less load on the server and seems to be faster at loading the content, especially when it comes to transcoding subtitles on 4k content, it is a breeze when you have the Apple TV itself handle it rather than the server.