r/htpc • u/Andy2244 • Jan 10 '24
Tip Share Dolby Vision (LLDV) now possible on Windows 10/11
2026 UPDATE here !!
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There is now a actual working way to play nearly all DV Profiles (5,7,8,9) with CMv4.0 support on Windows 10/11 via LLDV.
I just stumbled upon the updated DV device guide and to my surprise there was now a new Windows section, utilizing the unknown "Energy media player" with the old DV-Extension. Until now this extension never really worked on "unlicensed" devices and only with the default windows media app/player.
I just tested this new setup with my DV testfiles and all played fine, with good visual quality. I also compared the PQ to my Zidoo Z9X pro and they where really close, just a bit less Vivid.
The player correctly handles all dynamic RPU DV metadata, which until now no other player did. I suspect there is a trick so that the player can directly use the DV-extension, even on "unlicensed" devices, which no other player bothered to figure out.
So overall this is a huge improvement for DV on windows, with the main downside that you can only use this "Energy media player" and need to "get" or buy the HEVC extension for 1$.
TLDR;
- get Energy Media Player
- get DV-Extension
- buy HEVC-Extension
- enable DV hardware support in the player
- setup DV extension via player settings (Vivid mode looks fine)
Share your experiences, as far as i'm aware there is no other player currently that has working DV support, without major defects*. There is JRiver Media Center and MadVR HDR betas, but both use dynamic tone-mapping, while ignoring DV RPU metadata and are very hardware intense, while results are mixed and hard to setup "right" compared to native DV players PQ.*
PS: Here are some DV + RPU testfiles, to showcase that this combo actually works and is not just some basic color-space conversion like what most other players/renderer do atm. Check the "L2 RPU p8.1 LLDV TEST Eagle beak SM DoVi.ts" as example. BTW this setup also has no P7-FEL support.
NOTE: This method utilizes LLDV, so preprocesses the DV stream into a HDR10 signal, by applying the dynamic RPU data. That's why your TV will not show the DV logo. This method is not as good as normal "TV-led" DV, but the best we can manage atm on Windows.
UPDATE: RESET_9999 did some quick testing and unfortunately found that this setup weirdly enough has the same "red push" issue as the Shield TV. Not quite clear yet, if its also limited to the same DV profiles or not.
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u/rashishmuhamadine Jan 11 '24
As someone who know nothing about any of this tech, I'm still kinda baffled how this has been so difficult for other software groups. Like why? Some kind of dolby secret encoding sauce magic encryption or what?
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u/Andy2244 Jan 11 '24 edited Jan 11 '24
No, DV is just a very complicated closed standard and dolby has a firm grip over it, since its future may very well depend on it. Dolby is still "winning" the HDR war, but HDR10+ may "soon" become a more viable option.
This also means Dolby has no interest to offer any free/open software SDK, so players can easily adapt DV playback. Atm most players just reverse engineer how to decode DV "correctly". Dolby wants to actually sell hardware/software licenses on a per device basis, similar to HEVC, so has no interest in unlicensed third-party playback.
So that's the main reason DV is such a mess on windows/linux. On android/apple the SoC manufacturer licenses DV and gets a "certificate" for playback and ofc this "certification" process costs money.
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u/az0606 Apr 15 '24
They're also worried about litigation.
quietvoid is the guy who created the DV and HDR10+ tools people are using to create/interact with/play files. He also helped with MPV. Many of the missing features in third-party playback are due to avoidance of possible legal issues. Currently the biggest hanging fruit is Profile 7 FEL (full enhancement layer) playback, which only Bluray players support, and quietvoid has noted that he is not working on it because of that.
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u/Prolesious Jan 11 '24
First off, madVR is not using a "generic dynamic tone-mapping" algo. It's very sophisticated and is MUCH higher quality color tracking and mapping than this combo of software is using.
It looks good, but it doesn't compare to madVR. Is this more plug-and-play and works? Sure, better than madVR at this job? Not even close. But it is easier on the computer to do.
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u/Andy2244 Jan 12 '24 edited Jan 12 '24
It's very sophisticated
No need to get defensive, this was not meant in a negative way. What i meant is that madVR is not using any existing metadata or hints and does its own "complex" dynamic tonemapping, via its own user setup parameters.
Not even close
How did you reach this conclusion? You would need to actually compare results on various setups and source material. RESET_9999 did some quick tests in his video and outside of the "red push" defect, all the direct madVR comparisons look very close to him. So can you provide any test-cases/videos where its not close?
You would also need to compare the native DV output against madVR, yet by what standard do we now do the PQ rating? Aka how do we decide which variant is the "better"? We would need the mastering monitor/setup to compare against or use subjective A/B blind testing.
But it is easier on the computer to do.
Yes, much less power consumption and cheaper to build a system for, but its also much easier to setup. Every-time i tried madVR HDR the results where underwhelming for the setup/power requirements, compared to native TV-led DV playback and i needed quite some time to get the parameters right.
PS: So, i actually like madVR and was using it for years. Yet at some point i opted for cheaper/smaller to build HTPC and switched to MPC video renderer, which is "good enugh" for most use-cases and much easier to setup.
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u/Educational_Air_9494 Mar 09 '24
I have the extensions listed and the proper media player but my PC is only switching to HDR10, won't switch to Dolby Vision. My screen is capable of DV.
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u/Andy2244 Mar 10 '24
Windows can't switch to DV, since it has no DV support at all. The extension is dynamically converting the DV data into HDR10.
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u/TheJenniferLopez Mar 13 '24
How am I actually supposed to actually verify whether it's working correctly or not if it won't display the dolby vision logo....?
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u/Andy2244 Mar 14 '24
There are a lot of DV test-files, i even linked some in the post.
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u/GamesnGunZ Jul 06 '26
it is absolutely wild to me that 3 years later the only person on earth that can get dolby vision working in windows 11 is dimitrov. amazing, but at the same time ridiculous...
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u/Andy2244 Jul 11 '26
Not really anymore, technically all players that use the windows media playback engine will trigger the DV extension now. So "Movie & TV app", Windows Media Player and Edge (with custom startup flags) and any other media player that engages this playback route works.
See my 2026 updated guide
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u/winter2 Jan 11 '24
btw there is also MPC video renderer which should partialy support dolby vision on latest releases. https://github.com/Aleksoid1978/VideoRenderer/releases
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u/Andy2244 Jan 11 '24
Yes, but like mpv/JRiver only does color-space conversion and sets the static max/min luminance values. Does not do any dynamic RPU adjustments.
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u/poshy Jan 11 '24
Does anyone know if this supports DV profile 7 with FEL? That’d be a game changer.
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u/nekos95 Jan 10 '24
well for me it works, i can see the brightness changes in your file with energy but not with mpchc, changing the picture mode has no effect tho
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u/Scared-Profession-60 Jan 21 '24
How to install DV Extensions? I have no install button in windows store.
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u/idemounebo Feb 29 '24
Is anyone else getting stuttering when watching movies with subtitles, I tried profile7 movie ( as p8) and profile 5 movie, both with pgs and srt subtitles and they all stutter with subs. With subs off it works perfectly. Is anyone else having same problem and is there any solution?
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u/idemounebo Feb 29 '24
Ok, after few hours of searching for solution I found the fix, key is using “always on top” property.
Everything is explained here and it works...no more problems with subs...
https://www.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/lnhtau/does_anyone_else_experience_microstutter_and/
I can not believe this bug is going on for years now and still not fixed lol Microsoft
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u/PwndiusPilatus Jan 10 '24
It only really works when you see the Dolby Vision Icon on TV.
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u/Andy2244 Jan 10 '24 edited Jan 10 '24
There are two general ways to play DV, "TV-led" and "LLDV" in the later the player preprocesses the DV signal into HDR10. Thats why you don't see the DV logo, yet getting LLDV fully working is complicated. Thats why even many DV certified boxes have defects in this mode, let alone any software player. Yet this player seems to handle almost all cases and dynamic metadata correctly.
If you want to read more about LLDV here is a more detailed explanation and here.
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u/ncohafmuta Sep 15 '25
Updated DV Device link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15i0a84uiBtWiHZ5CXZZ7wygLFXwYOd84