Amazon Prime Video has dropped support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on its free tier, a couple of weeks after incorporating ads in the same plan.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed this change to The Verge, pushing users to pay for the HDR and surround sound capabilities. With that change, free tier users will now have to watch videos in HDR10 and listen to audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 at best.
Dumping Dolby Suite in Prime Video
As if the current downgrade with ads isn’t enough, Amazon Prime Video’s free tier is now dropping support for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. German site 4KFilme first spotted this change, later confirmed by The Verge.
A spokesperson talking to The Verge said the change isn’t a bug but intentional. People wanting Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision should upgrade their Prime Video tier to a paid plan, which also cuts ads. Even then, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are available only for select titles.
Free-tier users, on the other hand, will fall back to watching Prime Video content in HDR10 for video and Dolby Digital 5.1 for audio. While it’s undesirable, Amazon hopes to push more users to upgrade to the paid tier.
A couple of weeks ago, the platform started inducing ads in the free version of Prime Video in the US and plans to do the same in more regions. Though this could dissatisfy many customers, the change could also bring some revenue to Amazon, which, too, is struggling with competition like any other OTT.
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