Press
Amazon’s streaming service Prime has recently started advertising. Now customers will probably have to be content with lower video quality.
Munich – The customers of Streaming-Service Amazon Prime has to accept losses again: In February 2024, Amazon began placing advertisements on Prime Video. Now the streaming quality is also suffering because Amazon has removed support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for the standard tariffs.
Lower quality discovered at Amazon: Streaming provider in need of explanation
Amazon is reluctant to comment on details about Prime, so it is up to customers to gradually find out what exactly is changing on the platform. The tech website 4KFilm discovered Prime Video streaming content on the ad-supported tier in HDR10 with Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The observations were made on smart TVs from Samsung, LG and Sony. Amazon also recently eliminated a popular payment method.
An Amazon representative confirmed, among other things, The Vergethat this was an intentional measure and that the company limited support for the two Dolby standards to the ad-free level.
Amazon confirms that Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are only available in the ad-free subscription
Katie Parker, spokesperson for Amazon, explained: “Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos features are only available with the ad-free option and for relevant titles.” So the best quality for Prime movies without the ad-free subscription on Amazon will be 4K resolution with HDR10 and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.
The cost of a monthly Amazon Prime subscription is 8.99 euros, and the annual subscription currently costs 89.90 euros. With the ad-free option (2.99 euros more per month), Prime Video costs 125.78 euros for an annual subscription, which means a price increase of 35.88 euros.
Amazon currently only advertises in a few countries
Currently, Amazon only runs ads in the US, UK, Germany and Canada, but could expand to more regions later this year. Presumably, support for Dolby Vision and Atmos in those regions only has also been removed from the ad-supported tier.
If you don’t have a high-end TV with Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos support, this change probably won’t affect you. (cgsc)