Disney has revealed that it’s finally adding Dolby Vision HDR to its future 4K Blu-ray disc releases, with the first new films to support the format set to include two recent blockbusters.
The company told Forbes' journalist John Archer that Deadpool & Wolverine, which will launch on Blu-ray on October 22, and Alien Romulus, set for release on December 3, will be the first of its movies to support Dolby vision HDR since it stopped supporting the technology back more than six years ago.
Previously, the last Disney film released on Blu-ray to support Dolby Vision was Star Wars: The Last Jedi, back in 2018.
Dolby Vision is one of the most advanced and popular HDR formats and it’s supported by perhaps the most extensive range of high-end televisions available, as well as many lower-grade televisions such as the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED models. The technology helps to boost the picture quality on compatible displays by enhancing the colours, contrast and brightness to create a much wider dynamic range that’s better able to deal with highlights and dark tones in the same scene. That said, the real impact of Dolby Vision HDR is determined by the capabilities of the actual TV the content is being watched on.
Until now, Disney has only really supported the standard HDR10 format on its Blu-ray discs, aside from a few select movie releases such as the Star Wars films many years earlier. It isn’t clear why it has only now decided to start supporting Dolby Vision, given that the technology has long been established. However, it’s notable that Disney does support Dolby Vision on its streaming service, Disney+.
One possible factor might be Sony’s recent acquisition of Disney’s physical media production business. Sony is a big fan of Dolby Vision and its TVs have long supported the format, as have many of its Blu-ray media players.
In any case, the news will be welcomed by fans of physical media, which has long been in decline, with many companies shifting away from it in favour of streaming content.
In recent times, physical media does appear to be enjoying a resurgence of interest, though. Earlier this year, two major U.S. stores revealed they will start stocking Blu-ray discs once again, after previously deciding to stop selling them. And in the U.K., the high street retailer HMV revealed that physical media sales are actually rising.
With Disney now bringing Dolby Vision to its 4K Blu-rays, that’s yet another signal that the industry is not giving up on physical discs just yet, which is good news for anyone who is miffed about the recent price hikes by the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and, recently, Disney itself.
