A large part of the year 2017 was spent with fans anticipating and then appreciating the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T smartphones. The two devices while largely the same, get an impressive improvement in terms of processor and display. However, what remains missing on both the smartphones is a support for viewing HD videos on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
But, as reported by both The Verge and Android Police OnePlus has promised that it will be adding support for HD for the two new devices soon. A company spokesperson says that a future update for the OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5 will enable Widevine Level 1. Though, it is still unclear when this support will be rolled out.
While the displays of the two smartphones feature high definition resolution, they don’t support the correct DRM level for HD playback. The deficiency was first noted in a thread on the OnePlus forums, which pointed to lack of support for Widevine Level 1 DRM, which platforms like Google Play Videos and Netflix require for HD streaming.
The OnePlus 5T currently supports Widevine Level 3, which only covers standard definition streams. The Verge recently reported that both the OnePlus 5T and its predecessor, the OnePlus 5, are currently unable to stream Netflix or Amazon Prime Video higher than SD resolution.
Android Police explains “earlier, OnePlus‘ devices were only certified for the “L3” security level, which blocked them from playing back content at higher resolutions. Higher certifications require more secure implementations for content processing and control, and Level 1 requires that all of these operations happen in a so-called “Trusted Execution Environment,” (or TEE) which isn’t implemented on the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T.”