Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Prime Video Cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos Support From Ad Tier—and Didn't Tell Subs

posted by hubie on Sunday February 18 2024, @03:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the pricing-up-yours dept.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/prime-video-cuts-dolby-vision-atmos-support-from-ad-tier-and-didnt-tell-subs/

On January 29, Amazon started showing ads to Prime Video subscribers in the US unless they pay an additional $2.99 per month. But this wasn't the only change to the service. Those who don't pay up also lose features; their accounts no longer support Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos.

As noticed by German tech outlet 4K Filme on Sunday, Prime Video users who choose to sit through ads can no longer use Dolby Vision or Atmos while streaming. Ad-tier subscribers are limited to HDR10+ and Dolby Digital 5.1.

4K Filme confirmed that this was the case on TVs from both LG and Sony; Forbes also confirmed the news using a TCL TV.
[...]
Amazon announced in September 2023 that it would run ads on Prime Video accounts in 2024; in December, Amazon confirmed that the ads would start running on January 29 unless subscribers paid extra. In the interim, Amazon failed to mention that it was also removing support for Dolby Vision and Atmos from the ad-supported tier.
[...]
As Forbes' John Archer reported, "To add a bit of confusion to the mix, on the TCL TV I used, the Prime Video header information for the Jack Ryan show that appears on the with-ads basic account shows Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos among the supported technical features—yet when you start to play the episode, neither feature is delivered to the TV."

Previously on SoylentNews:
Amazon Adding Ads to Prime Video in 2024 Unless You Pay $2.99 Extra

[I chose to pay the $2.99 extra, because why else am I using a streaming service? In the event I feel like it's not worth it, I'll just dump them.]

Original Submission

 
This discussion was created by hubie (1068) for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Prime Video Cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos Support From Ad Tier—and Didn't Tell Subs | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 13 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by EJ on Sunday February 18 2024, @04:26AM (2 children)

    by EJ (2452) on Sunday February 18 2024, @04:26AM (#1344979)

    Meh. Probably just give us a few dollars in digital credits if they lose. The lawyers are the only ones who get paid.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Tork on Sunday February 18 2024, @04:48AM (1 child)

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 18 2024, @04:48AM (#1344981) Journal
    Well, almost. You gotta take into account that the defendant pays out AND they have to change their behavior. If Amazon pays, they'll resent it the same whether it goes to the lawyers or their customers. It won't even matter if Amazon makes an extra eleventy trillion dollars that year. We're not talking about entities that think things like "I made enough this year."
    --
    🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by weirsbaski on Sunday February 18 2024, @11:36AM

      by weirsbaski (4539) on Sunday February 18 2024, @11:36AM (#1345018)

      Meh. Probably just give us a few dollars in digital credits if they lose. The lawyers are the only ones who get paid.

      ... If Amazon pays, they'll resent it the same whether it goes to the lawyers or their customers. ...

      Not totally true. For the part that Amazon pays the lawyers, they have to pay actual dollars.

      For digital credit to the plaintiffs it either blanket-credits customer accounts (which means subscribers have to stay on longer even if they considered dropping, which is an Amazon win) or worse it gives credit toward purchases made within the service (and what's it cost Amazon to stream an extra "$5" movie purchase? 50 cents?).

      I've thought that class-action wins that pay plaintiffs entirely in company-credit should also pay the laywers mostly in company-credit, because clearly the lawyers agreed that credit is acceptable. But there's probably a down-side I'm not seeing.