Disney+ just lost 4K and all HDR support in parts of Europe, so you have to ask what the point of a Premium subscription is — and this is exactly why physical media is on the rise

Disney+ subscribers in some European countries have lost 4K and HDR support, including basic HDR10 as well as Dolby Vision
This is highly likely to be the result of a patent dispute, which was the cause of Disney+ losing Dolby Vision previously, but Disney hasn't confirmed this yet
Premium customers are paying more for very little advantage now, but there's no word on a refund or compensation as yet

A few months ago Disney+ removed Dolby Vision in parts of Europe after a patent court ruled against the entertainment company, although it brought Dolby back the following month. But now there's a much more serious removal: 4K and HDR10 are gone for many European customers as well as Dolby Vision, and these are pretty core things you pay for if you have Disney+ Premium.

It appears to be another patent issue. In a statement to FlatpanelsHD, The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltic said: "Following a recent court ruling affecting the technology we use to deliver 4K UHD and HDR, we have temporarily removed support for 4K UHD and HDR on Disney+. We are disappointed and share our customers' frustration. We are working hard to restore support as quickly as possible."

We're not sure exactly which countries are affected yet, but it doesn't include the UK (or US) — we'll update with a full list when we can.

That isn't just frustrating. It's taken away a key reason for subscribing to the most expensive Premium plan (though you will still get Dolby Atmos and the ability to stream to four devices).

But still, if you're paying the extra price specifically to upgrade from 1080p to 4K HDR, right now you're paying extra for nothing, there's no sign of any compensation for customers so far.

Maybe we should all go back to Blu-ray

It's no wonder that many movie fans are moving back to Blu-ray. Between price rises, digital deletion of paid-for titles and external issues such as patent disputes taking away picture quality you had access to until two days ago, it's not a great time to be solely reliant on streaming.

This current issue isn't Disney's fault. The major streaming services have all been targeted by patent owners claiming breach of their intellectual property, and this appears to be another one of those cases; if so, it'll probably be resolved relatively quickly.

But it does make me wonder about the bigger picture here, because I think streaming is in danger of losing what made it so popular as we pay ever increasing prices for what we used to get as standard.

In this particular case the loss of 4K and HDR has been imposed by an external issue. But the highest quality options have been moving upwards into the most expensive tiers for a couple of years now, so unless you pay for the premium subscriptions you don't get the best quality.

That means what used to be a one-size-fits-all offer is now much more complicated and more expensive every year. For example, I'm in the UK, where Disney+ has three plans, only one of which gives you Atmos and 4K. Netflix has three plans too, once again limiting 4K to the most expensive tier.

My previously ad-free Prime Video subscription is so stuffed with ads now it's a hilariously miserable experience with me and the kids swearing at the screen, and Dolby Vision and Atmos became paid-for upgrades two years ago.

I'd bet that if you're reading this you probably subscribe to, or use the ad-funded version of, a music streaming service; they're so convenient that looking for pirated songs is more trouble than it's worth. But can you say the same for the movie streamers?

I don't condone piracy at all. But as someone who's been reporting on digital piracy since the days when Metallica didn't know what a Napster was, I've seen piracy ebb and flow in music and in movies, and it's very clear that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much money and how many lawyers you throw at it, you cannot stop digital piracy. What you can do — what Netflix, the OG streamer, did — is offer a better alternative that makes it unappealing.

In a world where perfect digital copies of movies and TV shows are only a few clicks away, the only way to prevent people pirating is to make your product better in ways that persuade people to pay for it, or to accept the advertising that pays for it.

And to me it looks like only one of the major streamers is doing that: Apple TV+. What I'd love to see is the other streamers doing what it does. What I fear, and which is more likely, is that Apple TV is going to end up doing what they do.

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.