Google promised owners of its Pixel phones that they would be able to watch Netflix in HD. Owners, however, have been complaining that the feature never came.
Google Promised Pixel Owners for a Fix to Its Resolution Issue
According to the story by XDA-Developers, earlier this year, Google Pixel owners reported that the Widevine DRM level dropped down to L3. This means that DRM-protected content like Netflix won't be able to play in HD, bringing the pixel count down to 540p.
As per the report, it currently looks like any device starting with the Google Pixel 3 onwards could be affected by this. Back in April, Google acknowledged the problem and promised owners that they were working on a fix.
Google Pixel 3 Models and Up Affected
Eight months later, and as 2022 is fast approaching, there is still no fix to be found. To add on, users are still reporting problems with the Google Pixel 3 having only one more end-of-life update left.
A list of complaints was replied to by a certain user on Reddit gathered from around the internet, while more and more users have also recently complained about the same problem as well. Users even went on complaining that even the recent Android 12 update didn't fix the problem either.
Phones Get Downgraded to Widevine L3
The problem is known to pop up when a phone becomes downgraded to Widevine L3 as content that is DRM-encrypted becomes no longer decoded in the Trusted Execution Environment or TEE. In a number of cases, content protected by Widevine can only play in 480, which isn't the best scenario when trying to stream high-quality content.
A lot of premium Android devices that have the certificate by Google support Widevine L1, sometimes even in combination with some other DRM methods. With that, modified phones or basically uncertified phones, however, might only be capable of supporting L3 or L2.
No Timeline on When Google Will Fix the Issue
Software updates are also capable of causing Widevine DRM to revert to either L2 or L3. A certain service just like Netflix has been able to certify all Pixel devices for HD through Widevine L1, and the Pixel 3 is already certified for HDR.
As of the moment, it remains unclear as to what is really causing the current issue with users not appearing to get a good answer from Google. To add, Google has also not given a timeline as to when a future fix could come out.
Issue Doesn't Affect All Units
The issue, however, doesn't apply to all users, with XDA-Developer noting that their Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 6 Pro remain unaffected. Despite the exceptions, there has still been a significant number of reports from device owners regarding the issue.
As of the moment, only Google can confirm as to when the fix update will roll out.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
