Vudu unable to play UHD movies on Firestick

[Steve]

Hello. I recently bought a new 4K Firestick and sideloaded Vudu. I frequently use Vudu to watch digital copies I own.

For the first few days using it there were no problems at all. It would stream any movie I owned whether UHD or HDX and Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos worked perfectly. Then one night it suddenly would not play anything in UHD. When trying to start a movie I get an error message that says "Encountered problems during playback. Please try again." It will play HDX movies with no problem.

Here is what I have tried so far to resolve the issue:

Unplugged Firestick for more than 30 minutes and plugged it back in.
Unplugged modem/router and plugged it back in.
Switched my Firestick to a different network connection (my router is dual band).
Force stopped Vudu and cleared the cache.
Uninstalled and reinstalled Vudu.

The network signal strength for my Firestick says "Very Good." The router is in the next room about 12' away from the Firestick.

I got this particular Firestick on July 18th and have had no previous problems with it. I made no changes to any settings prior to the start of the problem. Note that UHD content plays just fine through Netflix on this Firestick. Also note that UHD movies will play just fine on Vudu on my Xbox One X or my TV. I realize I could just watch through the Xbox or TV, but I prefer the Firestick because it's the only way for me to get Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos at the same time. My TV is a Vizio P65-C1 from 2015-2016 and does not work with the low latency version of Dolby Vision that Xbox consoles use.

I realize that Vudu isn't officially supported on an Amazon Fire device but that doesn't mean there isn't a solution to my problem. I posted about this on the Vudu forums a few days ago but my thread went off topic and got locked. A member there reached out to me via PM and informed me that his experience is the same as mine, so maybe this is something deliberate by Vudu? Their only response is that Vudu isn't supported on Amazon Fire.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

[tcripe]

I'm assuming its something wrong with the side download you have to do since there is no native vudu app on the firestick. I have the Fire TV Cube and Movies Anywhere works flawlessly with its native app. Maybe try a different streaming service and see if you're still having the same problem?

[Steve]

Thanks for responding.

Originally Posted by tcripe

I'm assuming its something wrong with the side download you have to do since there is no native vudu app on the firestick.

I would have thought the same thing except that it worked properly and consistently for several days and then just suddenly stopped working. Since Vudu isn't supported there are no automatic updates that would have stopped it from working.

I have the Fire TV Cube and Movies Anywhere works flawlessly with its native app.

I installed movies anywhere. For some movies it gives me the results I want, but not for others. For example Alita: Battle Angel will stream in 4k with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. However, Shazam will stream in 4k with HDR10 and Dolby Digital. Shazam should also have Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and it does (or did) when streamed through Vudu on the Firestick.

Maybe try a different streaming service and see if you're still having the same problem?

You mean like Netflix? If so, I already did and addressed that my post above.

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by Steve

I installed movies anywhere. For some movies it gives me the results I want, but not for others. For example Alita: Battle Angel will stream in 4k with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. However, Shazam will stream in 4k with HDR10 and Dolby Digital. Shazam should also have Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and it does (or did) when streamed through Vudu on the Firestick.

Well fwiw if it makes you feel any better Movies anywhere just started rolling out DV. And, they will be adding DV to previously released movies throughout the rest of this year.

[zionmatrix]

I found a workaround, for the 4K firestick anyway. So I've noticed that if you own a movie in HDX, it will play it, but if you have a UHD movie, it will not play it. It will give you the error. It won't even allow you to play it in HDX. This work around will enable you to at least play your UHD movies on your 4K fire stick in HDX. To do this, make sure you exit out of the Vudu app first. Then on your firestick, go to Settings, Display & Sounds, Display, Video Resolution. The default setting under Video Resolution is Auto (up to 4K Ultra HD) scroll down and select 1080p 60Hz. Then on the confirmation screen, select Confirm. This will change your video output settings of your firestick to only HD and not 4K. Now go open the Vudu app again and go to one of your 4k UHD digital copy movies and it will now display HDX and allow you to play it in HDX. Just do this every time you want to watch movies in Vudu and then switch the setting back to 4k on your firestick for everything else. I know this isn't the best solution, but at least you can now use the VUDU app to watch your UHD movies that are not available to stream in Movies Anywhere and are only available to stream through VUDU.