Amazon removes Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos from Prime Video's basic plan

Since 29 January 2024, Amazon has started showing advertisements on Prime Video. If people don’t want to see ads, they have to pay USD 2.99 per month in addition to what they are paying for the Amazon Prime membership. As it turns out, if people don’t pay the premium, they will not only have to see advertisements but they will also not be able to watch content with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on the platform. Instead, they will be restricted to HDR10+ and Dolby 5.1 (via 4K Filme, ArsTechnica, and Forbes).

According to Forbes, “In the ads-free account, the TV throws up its own confirmation boxes to say that the show is playing in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos. In the basic, with-ads account, however, the TV’s Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos pop-up boxes remain stubbornly absent.” The publication has verified the change on a TCL TV. 4K Filme, on the other hand, verified the change on LG and Sony TVs.

When Amazon announced the USD 2.99 per month premium, it didn’t say anything about access to Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Only after Forbes wrote an article about the latest change, Amazon confirmed that people who don’t pay the premium will not be able to access the content in those formats on the platform. So, it looks like Amazon has misled people. With that said, if you want to enjoy Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Amazon Prime Video, you will now have to pay the premium of  USD 2.99 every month.