Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 12 submissions in the queue.
posted by hubie on Sunday February 18 2024, @03:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the pricing-up-yours dept.

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This discussion was created by hubie (1068) for logged-in users only, but now has been archived.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.
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 epitaxial on Monday February 19 2024, @06:37AM (1 child)

    by epitaxial (3165) on Monday February 19 2024, @06:37AM (#1345123)

    Amazon used to have good prices but now they're almost always more expensive.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19 2024, @12:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19 2024, @12:23PM (#1345146)

    And the reason they had good prices (on books) was very simple. Based on experience by my small, technical publisher, Amazon bullied the publisher by:
      - Demanding a much lower price than the long standing wholesale price paid by any other book seller
      - Demanding free returns back to the publisher for books that didn't sell
      - Listing books from the publisher as "out of print" (a lie) when the publisher didn't roll over and accept Amazon's terms