When Amazon announced late last year that ads would begin playing during films and shows starting January 29 unless users upgraded to a more expensive option, they didn’t mention anything about playback quality changing. This left users around the globe scratching their heads when Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos options seemingly disappeared from the app.
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As first reported by German website 4KFilme, reports of the missing playback options prompted users to test if the features were available across a variety of TV manufacturers. After publications began pointing out the options were still available via Prime’s premium ad-free tier, it was theorized that this was possibly a technical issue related to needing to switch playback modes during ads. However, Amazon has since confirmed to Forbes that this was an intentional choice.
This means in order to enjoy Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, users will now need to upgrade to Prime Video’s ad-free tier for an extra $3 a month. Users who don’t upgrade can still enjoy 4K, HDR10, HDR10+ and 5.1 surround sound options.
