Netflix 4K/Dolby Vision - Bluetooth issue (KD-49XF9005)

[lpanos]

Hello,

I have the Sony Bravia KD-49XF9005.

Software version Android Tv Oreo 6.6520.

When I use my bluetooth speakers or headphones, Netflix 4K/Dolby Vision content won’t play-neither they appear as a preview icon.

When I turn off tv’s bluetooth, they appear again and the content goes 4k/Dolby Vision again.

I tried both uninstall updates in Netflix app and cleared cache and data. Also, I reset the TV, but still nothing.

Please is there a solution?

Thanks

[Sean_Mc]

Hi there,

Welcome to the Sony Community.

I'm looking into this and will update the thread whenever I have an answer. In the meantime, perhaps another member of the community might have a solution.

Best wishes,

Sean Mc

[digitalray]

hi i have that problem too.. for a year now!

netflix doesnt get back to me with any solution or explanation.. 6 support people couldnt help me at all.

its so annyoing.. i buy an expensive sony tv and expensive sony headphones and whenever i connect them with the tv, the signal changes from Dolby Vision HDR to normal HD.

disconnect and Dolby Vision turns on again.

i tried everything, factory rest, delete app cache, uninstall netflix updates.. really anything.

nothing works.

and everyone plays like they dont know anything about this problem, although it exists for several YEARS now and every forum has people complain about it.

[DarranA]

Hi there,

Having searched for information for you the following thread has the same issue:

http://bit.ly/2MqQqoi

User : Fontmeister experimented with an old Bluetooth headset and had the same issue. Concluding that any Bluetooth headset connected caused this issue. 

It seems to relate to Netflix rather than a Sony issue.

On this thread: http://bit.ly/2MnY9mH someone has found a solution to this issue that seems to relate to downloading the latest version of the app from the Google Play store.

However I suggest that you speak to Sony Support in order to determine that your Sony equipment is not the issue.

I realize that you have contacted support before; I am assuming you contacted Sony? As frustrating as it is If the solution above does not work for you I would advise you keep at support and also Netflix. As of right now it is hard to determine whether this is a Sony side issue or a Netflix related software issue.

I hope the solution I found above works for you though.

Regards,

Darran

[digitalray]

Hi,

thanks, i've read the threads so far, but there is no solution.

uninstalling updates, installing the app new, deleting app cache and data and even factory reset didn't help.

updating from the store didn't help either as the app updates itself automatically, so there are no new updates.

HDR / DV with Bluetooth works fine in other apps like Google Play Video, so i guess it's not an Android System Bug or a limitation of Sony Hard / Software but rather how netflix handles hardware device information input from the Sony TV.

first i thought that their media streams are video/audio linked so they just dont deliver this combination of 4k hdr and low quality bluetooth audio, but in modern tvs this is probably not the case and everything gets packed in a container format like mp4 with h264 and some audio codec. netflix would either do this on the fly or have several combinations of video / audio streams of every movie which they just stream.

maybe when using bluetooth audio which is a very low quality usually, the standard video quality adjusts to a maximum of 1920x1080 for an overall quality adjustment. so netflix would'nt offer a a stream of bluetooth low quality audio combined with 4k hdr.

but so many people use bluetooth headphones on their 4k HDR TVS, and even soundbars connect with bluetooth, which would make 4K HDR Content not viewable anymore.

that doesn't make sense at all..

[rooobb]

This happened in the past and was fixed by subsequent release of the app by Netflix.

In august appeared this article in the support page that now states it is normal operation...

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00202828

[digitalray]

that's unbelievable..

they fixed it in the past and now we have to live with not beeing able to watch 4k or hdr with bluetooth headphones connected ?

so they were able to fix it, but now it's not working anymore and they just say live without 4k and hdr when using your bt headphones ??

[rooobb]

It is strange for me too since I cannot find a valid cause for it (prime video i.e. is not affected by using a BT device so it should not a limitation of the TV)

[rooobb]

BTW I just checked that is spread to other devices (i.e. Firestick https://www.reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/aokg18/netflix_content_not_playing_in_4khdr_when_fire/)

[digitalray]

i don't think Dolby Digital 2.0 would be the culprit, because if they only have DD 2.0 stereo streams and bluetooth can't deliver them, it wouldn't be possible to hear anything, even from DVDs that have DD 2.0 and 5.1 streams just like netflix. Even TV streams in DD 2.0

So what would happen if the Sony TV takes a DD 2.0 Signal and decodes it to a normal Stereo Signal for output to the bluetooth headphones (it's even encoded again for bluetooth anyway), why should that affect the netflix stream ? netflix is still delivering DD 2.0 to the Sony TV.

i doubt that theory from the linked thread.

even if DD had something to do with it, why would the video signal change to 2K and turn off HDR... doesn't make sense..

if they were able to fix it before, it's a software issue that only netflix is having, most probably with android.