AF8 Dolby Vision Blocky

[ScottyDoo1984]

Hi All,

seems to be a largely discussed topic but I can't find anything that helps. Dolby Vision sucks on my new AF8. My friend has the A1 and it's perfect but on mine any shadows or dark areas are really blocky. I am running the latest firmware and viewing from in built apps (Netflix, Amazon) any time the TV goes into Dolby Vision mode the problem occurs. In other 4K content the display is perfect so I think it's software related. Any help would be much appreciated.

thanks

[rogerhunt66]

I know this is an old thread, but did anyone ever get this resolved? I’m on the latest Oreo firmware, and dark scenes on any DV Netflix show are really blocky (Stranger Things season 3, Another Life). Switching to HDR on my X700 and the shows look significantly better with no blockiness.

[ScottyDoo1984]

Hi Roger,

If you call Sony support their solution is to send you a free 4k player,
either firestick or chromecast. The issue is with their software so if you
watch through a 3rd party player the issue should go away. Tbh by the time
they got back to me I had swapped the TV out for the LG.

[rogerhunt66]

Well, not a very helpful response from Sony:

”With reference to your reported Dolby Vision phenomenon, please be advised that the relevant department reviewed your case and the pictures attached.

We can confirm that the phenomenon experienced is intended to create a cinematic feeling when watching content.”

And with that, no further assistance can be provided and apparently the technical conclusion is final. It’s impossible to adequately convey the poor quality with a photo or video, but the picture quality is so obviously flawed, I’m not sure what to do next. The response has put me off ever buying Sony again. 

[ScottyDoo1984]

Hi Roger,

Very frustrating, I must admit I struggled to get support from Sony but they did eventually agree there was an issue and offer to send me out an external 4k player. Luckily I bought the TV from Richer Sounds who were fantastic, after I reported the issue to them the store manager came and did a home visit to see if there was any settings that could fix the issue and after seeing it he offered to swap for a similar model, I went for the LG and with the difference in price I got a new 4k AVR. 

I never actually confirmed if an external player resolved the issue but the guy from Sony that called me said they were aware of the issue and they where paying for external players while their engineers work on the issue. Which is annoying seeing as the response you got seems that they are still denying there is an issue in the first place. 

Edit: on a side not if you are still trying to prove the issue to Sony I found the Netflix series "haunting of hill house" was particularly bad so a good example to demo the issue. Good Luck 

[SRkirk88]

I just bought the Ag8 oled tv and I have similar issue with dolby vision content through the built in Netflix app, however I get alot of artifacts in the black bars as well and during dark scenes there is that much blockiness going on that the tv flashes, it almost like the overall brightness has been elevated significantly. However playing regular hdr content through prime video and 4k blu Ray's it's perfectly fine. I ran netlfix through my xbox one x, in dolby vision and its much better. Still get the odd artifacts flashing in black bars, however it's quite rear this probably more to do with how the xbox streams the content then the tv. So it's obvious has something to do with the android oreo update. For the moment I bought a roku streamstick plus until a fix comes out.