Issue
It’s dark outside, and you’re looking at Disney Plus. It’s so dark that you’re likely to be eaten by a grue . Was this really what these filmmakers were thinking?
Quick fix
Dolby Vision should be turned off, as well as HDR, in the settings menu of your set-top box.Although I don’t know why Disney Plus has an HDR issue, here’s a quick fix (as seen on Apple TV).Screenshot taken by Sean Hollister/The Verge
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HDR is my favorite. Every modern movie, TV series, and game should benefit from the amazing clarity that extra dynamic range can provide — especially on my OLED TV where the bright, beautiful colors and inky darks are enough for an art-lover to weep.
The Disney Plus streaming service doesn’t seem to like HDR. At least, not the Dolby Vision variety.This problem was not unique to me.
I enjoyed The Mandalorian. It was a show that featured spaceships in brightly lit spaceships and scorching deserts. The WillowTV series was my next stop. It features many episodes that take place at night in a darkened castle.
We could talk hours about the many bad choices that led me to watch the Willow TV Series — let’s just be honest, mistakes were made by both me and the showrunner. I also have words for Alex Cranz .
Perverse curiosity led me to Reddit late at night. It turns out that it may have less to do a recent trend of filmmaking choices and more to do with some strange quirk about how Disney Plus passes Dolby Vision HDR through my set-topbox!
After reminding myself that HDR doesn’t make things brighter (it’s supposed make them brighter , and darker, hence the “dynamic range”) I set up my HDR settings.
The fog lifted, and I was able to see clearly.HDR on vs. HDR Off. (Turning off DolbyVision was less subtle. )
Here’s an easy test to determine if Dolby Vision and HDR are keeping your eyes closed. Pause, rewind and wait until thumbnails appear like the ones shown in my image slider. You might try changing your HDR settings if the difference is stark.
