Xiaomi is gearing up to launch the Redmi Note 9 series next week, which is great, but we are here to talk about one of the biggest shortcomings of its predecessor – the Redmi Note 8 Pro. The device launched back in mid-October earlier last year to much fanfare. It was (and still is) an attractive all-around budget smartphone but there’s one looming concern that hasn’t been addressed until date – HD streaming support.
Yeah, the Redmi Note 8 Pro does not support HD playback on both Netflix and Prime Video. It may come as a surprise to some of you but the feature has been lacking since launch. You can head over to Mi Community, Reddit or Twitter to see Redmi Note 8 Pro owners requesting Xiaomi to resolve the issue. It has been impossible for users to watch HD content for the past four-odd months, with the MIUI 11 update that rolled out back in November offering no respite. You can see a few user reactions and tweets right here:
Now, you must be wondering – how is it possible that the Redmi Note 8 Pro doesn’t come with Widevine L1 support? Well, in fact, it does. Redmi Note 8 Pro comes with Widevine L1 certification out-of-the-box, which means it should be capable of playing HD content on popular streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, and others.
But, that’s not the case due to a botched up Widevine implementation. As you can see in the screenshots below, Redmi Note 8 Pro packs Widevine L1 support but a software glitch seems to have rendered the certification useless. Both Netflix and Prime Video don’t show the “HD label” next to movies or TV shows. And well, if you needed more confirmation, the ‘Playback Specification’ option within the Netflix app says that the device has “Widevine L3” certification and the maximum playback resolution is “SD” (standard quality).
It’s not like all the streaming platforms don’t recognize the Wideline L1 certification. A recent report in FrAndroid, a French publication, showed the ‘MyCanal’ streaming app supports HD content playback on the Note 8 Pro – without any hiccups. Xiaomi has already acknowledged the HD playback issue, with Alvin Tse, GM for Xiaomi Indonesia, tweeting that the company is working on it and an “Android Q (now known as Android 10) update in 2020” will fix the issue.
It has been a couple of months since that statement but sadly, the Android 10 update is yet to make its way to Redmi Note 8 Pro users. Xiaomi rolled out the MIUI 11 update to the device a long time ago but users are still waiting on the Android 10 update to finally be able to stream HD content on Netflix and Prime Video. Well, the Android 10 update started rolling out to Note 8 Pro users in Russia and Europe just recently and has also surfaced in Pakistan, so we can expect the update to land in India sometime later this month. You will then finally be able to stream HD content on Netflix and Prime Video without any hiccups.
Though it’s sad to see Xiaomi not attend to this major issue on priority, we will update you on the rollout and whether the Android 10-based MIUI 11 software supports HD playback or not in the coming days.
