Sony addresses Dolby Vision compatibility problems on their 4K TV

Passes the buck to other manufacturers

Starting last week, after promising Dolby Vision at CES 2017, Sony finally began to deliver firmware updates to televisions with the X1 Extreme processor (Z9D, A1E, X940E, X930E) that would bring the much awaited HDR capabilitiy.

Unfortunately for Sony and owners of their TV, the update wasn't met with much praise for a good reason — as it stands, the only way Dolby Vision works is via onboard apps like Netflix. That means owners of the Apple TV 4K, which now has access to a vast library of 4K Dolby Vision content, and the Oppo 4K Blu-ray player were out of luck. After a lot of outcry from the community, Sony revealed that the Dolby Vision profile they implemented only worked internally and did not support HDMI input.

Here’s their statement on the topic:

Select Sony TVs will support Dolby Vision with the software update to be rolled out in Europe within February, 2018. After the Sony TV receives the software update, devices with Dolby Vision playback (such streaming media players and UHD Blu-Ray players) that are connected to the Sony TV by HDMI will also require a software update to support Dolby Vision playback through the device. For more info on the timing of an update to a particular player, please contact the player’s manufacturer.

Remember my article from earlier in the week how Sony’s home theater lineup is broken? Yea, add this to the mix. This news is maddening on a few levels. Clearly Sony knew this was the route they were going down months ago so why they didn’t feel it be prudent to pass along this info ahead of time is baffling. Did they think people would simply shrug at this?

At CES 2018, Sony unveiled the X700 4K Blu-ray player with Dolby Vision. As it stands, that unit won’t be able to deliver Dolby Vision content without a new firmware update which it likely already has and if not, it will certainly ship with. This is also where the root of this whole debacle lies.

You see, apparently there are multiple Dolby Vision profiles that exist, some of which require processing to happen locally while others require all computations to take place externally. The version that Sony has deployed only allows that to happen locally which is why the onboard Netflix app will work and not the version on Apple TV 4K despite it offering Dolby Vision support. In order for devices such as that, the Oppo 4K player, or Sony’s own X700 to work, they need a firmware update that offers a matching profile that Sony has deployed for their TVs.

The fact that I’m reporting this is nuts. It’s not like there exists that many Dolby Vision compatible devices in the market so the fact that Sony didn’t work with Apple and Oppo to ensure this firmware was available from them at launch is absurd. From the birdies I’ve spoken with at Apple, this is the first they’ve ever heard of this which could mean no update is arriving from Cupertino for some time. Hopefully that’s not the case.

It’s clear that at Sony’s home theater division, there’s tunnel vision taking place with little insight as to what other products Sony itself is working on, let alone the marketplace. At best, this is a communication blunder from Sony — if we hadn’t been led to believe for a year that Dolby Vision was arriving on their TVs with no limitations, they wouldn’t be receiving the blow back that they are (and really, sandbagging is PR 101).

At worst, this is a technical challenge that is clearly solvable had Sony opted to work with Apple, Oppo, and whomever else so when this update was released, it would actually have been useful for everybody. As it stands, all Sony has is a bunch of angry owners who bought their flagship TVs with a promise that has yet to materlize.

For those wanting additional information on Dolby Vision and this entire clusterfuck, here’s a great video by Vincent Teoh:

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