Disney+ suffers a huge performance drop for AV enthusiasts across Europe – check to see if you're affected

Disney+ is reportedly in the throes of a patent dispute that has affected its picture quality in some regions.

The streaming service is said to have ditched Dolby Vision and HDR10+ standards, as well as 3D, across the EU – with users in Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Poland said to be affected.

FlatpanelsHD also claims that viewers in Nordic countries are reporting a similar lack of the high-end HDR standards on shows and movies, like Tron: Ares.

Disney itself claims that it is down to "technical issues", although it is coincidentally timed with a patent dispute case currently underway in Germany. If so, that could lead to the problem rolling out to other regions, too.

"Dolby Vision support for content on Disney+ is currently unavailable in several European countries due to technical challenges," said the streamer to FlatpanelsHD.

"We are actively working to restore access to Dolby Vision and will provide an update as soon as possible. 4K UHD and HDR support remain available on supported devices."

What is the Disney+ patent dispute

The patent dispute has been filed by American company InterDigital, which has been awarded an injunction against the service by a German court.

This, it says, restricts the service from using the disputed technology in Germany. And considering how the EU operates, that seems to be why other European countries have been "switched off" as well.

The latest injunction specifically relates to HDR streaming technology, and was actually issued by the court last November.

It's not yet known whether Disney has filed an appeal.

As FlatpanelsHD notes, Disney+ has also removed all references to Dolby Vision across its European and US support pages.

As things stand, we can still stream 4K content in the UK with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It works on multiple devices, including Sky Stream and Apple TV 4K boxes. HDR10+ is also reportedly still available in the country.