OnePlus 5, 5T devices can't play HD videos from Amazon Prime Video, Netflix platforms

As strange as it may sound, OnePlus 5, 5T and at least 3T devices cannot stream High Definition or HD videos from highly popular online streaming websites Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Google Play Movies etc.

The issue was first noticed by a user who posted it on the OnePlus forum. According to The Verge, the inability to play HD videos is mainly due to these devices not supporting Widevine Level 1 DRM. The devices currently supports only Widevine Level 3 which limits its support to Standard Definition (SD).

Here's the screenshot we took on OnePlus 5T:-

Another screenshot, this time taken on OnePlus 3T:-

Google Widevine is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption scheme which delivers content from publishers to a user’s device for consumption. There are two levels of Widevine Security Levels available on Android platform – L1, and L3. As mentioned above L1 level is required to stream HD videos whereas L3’s support is limited to SD.

However, The Verge spoke to the company’s spokesperson who confirmed that the company will soon rollout an update which will enable Widevine Level 1 on these devices. However, the representative refused to confirm by when the update will be rolled out. He also declined to comment on why the phones never supported them in spite of Google not charging license fees for Widevine products.

The issue comes as a surprise as OnePlus 5 and 5T devices pack extremely powerful hardware. The phone comes with the latest Snapdragon 835 processor and comes in 6GB and 8GB RAM configurations backed by an extremely efficient Adreno 540 GPU.

Ironically, 5T was launched just a few weeks back and one of the major updates from its predecessor OnePlus 5 was its new bezel-less display which now supports 18:9 screen aspect ratio.

Just to clarify, the issue arises only while streaming online on these websites and not playing HD videos which are stored on the phone’s memory. The issue also doesn’t affect one while streaming HD videos on YouTube.