How to know if your mobile phone plays Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon Prime Video to the highest quality

The greater part of streaming platforms offers different qualities of playback to its users. These have settings in the respective apps, although the companies also limited aspects such as the resolution or the HDR to the Android mobile very select. How do you know which ones are compatible with the maximum quality? We teach you to find out.

The mobile not only provides access to messaging and games, also watching movies and series is usually one of the ways to take advantage of the increasingly large screens of phone. And Netflix tends to be one of the most used, also other platforms such as Amazon Prime Video or Disney+: all offer a catalog more or less bulky that can be displayed in different qualities. As is often the case, not all mobile phones can access the best conditions of reproduction. But do you know why and how to discover if your mobile phone is suitable? The key is in Widevine, system file protection or DRM.

Widevine, DRM that dictates the quality of reproduction

It is one of the key aspects in any Android phone and the first thing you should look for to know if your cell phone may or may not play streaming content at a high resolution. Widevine is a system of protection, or DRM, that ensures the playback of protected content so as to avoid the copy, and that can be shared. On Android the majority of platforms using this system. And the manufacturers certify their handsets with Widevine to enable them to access the streaming applications.

One of the key aspects in the DRM Widevine is that this divides the devices in two levels for their ability to reproduction: L1 and L3 (Widevine has a level L2, but not used in Android). In terms of resolution, so they work both certifications:

• Those mobile certified Widevine L3 will have access to the playback in Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon Prime Video to up to a maximum of SD resolution (standard or basic, up to 720p).
• Widevine L1 enabled playback in high resolutionabove 720p. The process of decoding is more demanding than Widevine L3, so that many mobile mid-range to lower you are not certified to the higher level (the reason tends to be due to the hardware content). In addition, having a mobile certificate with Widevine L1 implies that it is also compatible with the lower level, L3.

Have a phone with Widevine L3 or L1 makes all the difference in a remarkable manner since the quality of the reproduction differs greatly between one and another. It matters little that your mobile phone must have a screen to FHD if you are certified Widevine L3: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and other platforms as usual just downloaded the SD version of the streaming; so you may see the content somewhat pixelated.

How do you know what level of Widevine includes your mobile? You can check this in the following way:

• Download an application that can read the certification of DRM. For example, DevCheck Hardware and System Info. This app offers a multitude of information with everything that takes your Android, both in hardware as in software.
• Open the application and go to the tab ‘System’.
• Down to where it says ‘Widevine’, and see the level of security, ‘Security level’. There will appear if you have a L1 or L3. In the case that your mobile is lacking of certification Widevine that part should appear in white.

With Widevine, you can access content in SD resolution or HD, depending on the level of security in the DRM. And if your mobile phone does not incorporate any certificate of any kind, as is the case of the ROMs cooked, maybe you can use some module Magisk, as this XDA Developers.

Can your phone play Netflix in HDR?

Apart from the resolution, which marks a fundamental aspect of the quality of any video, Netflix offers playback on HDR only for a few phones. And here does not affect your mobile phone must have a display compatible with the standards HDR: Netflix only play that way if the phone is certificate for the platform to do this.

To know what mobile phones are compatible with Netflix in HDR you need one of the following devices:

To fulfill those requirements does not imply the highest quality

Ok, your mobile phone is compatible with Widevine L1. Even is certified to play content in HDR. Now: are you always going to access the streaming available with maximum quality? The answer is no because they are also other factors at play.

In addition to the compatibility with the certificates and standards of reproduction, the streaming depends on the quality of your network, regardless of whether it is WiFi or mobile. This way, if your Internet connection is saturated probably only be able to access the playback in SD. Even you’ll appreciate scenes terribly pixelated with drops of ‘frames’, against that you can’t do anything. And there is one last point to keep in mind: most of the streaming platforms has reduced quality for the confinement

therefore not appreciate the picture 100 % sharp in all phases of the day (the platforms have decided to reduce the ‘bitrate’ or bit rate, the amount of information that is transiting per second).

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How to know if your mobile phone plays Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon Prime Video to the highest quality

it was originally published in

Xataka Android

by
Ivan Linares

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