Apple TV YouTube App Rolling Out 4K Support

[CNiles38006]

I’m in New York, still no YouTube 4K playback for Apple TV. So if it’s region by region nothing here yet.

 

[CNiles38006]

How do you get 4K on an iPhone?

On my iPhone X through a browser I only get 720p. And 1080p through the app. Both on WiFi.

The supported iPhones are only doing “4K HDR” for YouTube videos that are HDR. If the video is non-HDR but 4K it will only play up to 1080p. Frustratingly in the iOS 14 betas we did see all 4K videos play as 4K. So no idea why YouTube removed that support in the iOS 14 final release. This all pertains to the YouTube app itself, as far as Safari browser on iPhone, yeah that only goes up to 720p.

 

[DaHood]

Fix the horrible remote.

 

[dannys1]

Yes that’s one of the handful of sets that does. Heh. Sony has two TV models that can. Ps4 and Chromecast Ultra can and that’s about it.

handful?? Every mid range 4k TV and above since 2017 supports HDR. LG alone have about 40 TVs that support Youtube HDR.

 

[tmanto02]

4K working for me! So frustrating that we’re only moving small steps at a time with no HDR or 60fps!

 

[hagar]

I don’t understand this obession with 4K on YouTube. Most content is not of production quality, there’s ads before and during videos, there’s no easy Up Next queue, the interface is hideous, the comments section is a sewer, the algorithm presents you with an endless stream of the same time wasting content, ... but hey, it’s in 4K!

 

[Superhai]

One other thing I wanted to mention, and why i'm doing a second reply to the post is: There is a difference between cinema 4k and consumer 4k. Consumer 4k is actually a bit lower resolution that true cinema 4k, hence why it's also known as Ultra HD. It's been a while since i've kept up with the differences, but the information provides, is the latest I remember when I researched the technology change.

What is to note about this is that except a few high end projectors, all consumer devices are 3840x2160 pixels. Cinema projectors also have to often divide the resolution on a 21:9 screen. Now newer cinematic projectors usually have higher than 4096x2160. YouTube accept 4096 just fine, actually it will tag anything from 3840 to 5000 pixels 4K, and then 5k, and 8k. There is videos on YouTube that are over 16000 pixels wide, and it will render, but still tagged 8k. This worth to be aware of as the little tag on the player and the resolution switcher does not refer to the same thing (one is horizontal resolution and the other is vertical). I have also seen that the players vary slightly on this.

 

[Superhai]

I don’t understand this obession with 4K on YouTube.

Well YouTube is huge, and a of course a small fraction is of high “production” quality, it is still a lot.
now you are right about ads and that the platform in itself gets worse by the day. But to me 4K is much sharper, but I have a 75” tv.

 

[ColdShadow]

I don’t understand this obession with 4K on YouTube. Most content is not of production quality, there’s ads before and during videos, there’s no easy Up Next queue, the interface is hideous, the comments section is a sewer, the algorithm presents you with an endless stream of the same time wasting content, ... but hey, it’s in 4K!

maybe the content that you watch are not production quality? or maybe you have a cheap TV.
most channels that I watch have high production quality and been 4K for a long time.
I used to have a Nvidia Shield before buying an Apple TV 4K and inferiority and quality downgrade of Youtube was very noticeable.

 

[Abazigal]

I don’t understand this obession with 4K on YouTube. Most content is not of production quality, there’s ads before and during videos, there’s no easy Up Next queue, the interface is hideous, the comments section is a sewer, the algorithm presents you with an endless stream of the same time wasting content, ... but hey, it’s in 4K!

I follow a fair number of tech youtubers and their production quality is generally pretty good, all the more when you are watching on a 55” TV (though the Apple TV has traditionally done a good job of upscaling 1080p content). Ads are history with Youtube Premium, there’s no comments when you are watching in the Apple TV app anyways, and since I have the bandwidth to support 4K streaming anyways, may as well.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I agree with you here. This is the main reason I've continued buying 4k content, vs just going back completely to 1080p and below content. There are times, I can notice a resolution difference, depending on the content. For example: For me the best sources of comparison, are Blu-ray discs. There is far more less compression artifacts and other things introduced in streaming to get in the way of getting a clean picture and sound for the best test and comparison results.

With this said, streaming has also gotten quite good as well and I like both forms of content delivery. I'm saying all this to say this main point: For me, I can't always tell a night and day difference between 4k, and 1080p, unless the 4k content also has HDR enabled. Now the fact is, HDR isn't limited to 4k, however, I've never seen 1080p HDR content, unless, you're gaming. What really stands out most to be about HDR is really the increased range of color variations, and shadow detail compared to SDR.For example sometimes if a movie has a lot of Red, or Blue in scenes, or even the disc menu, in SDR the color can look very hard and intense, or in broadcast terms hot, while in HDR it's softer and has more shades.

Yeah, 4k and HDR usually go hand in hand.

Bitrate matter. 4k youtube looks marginally cripers than 1080p. However 4k documentaries on Netflix look amazing regardless of whether they are in SDR or HDR.

As a youtube premium subscriber i am hugely dissapointed by how 4K playback on apple devices and in safari.

 

[CNiles38006]

I don’t understand this obession with 4K on YouTube. Most content is not of production quality, there’s ads before and during videos, there’s no easy Up Next queue, the interface is hideous, the comments section is a sewer, the algorithm presents you with an endless stream of the same time wasting content, ... but hey, it’s in 4K!

There are a lot of tech YouTubers that produce quality 4K content.

 

[scottlitch]

No support yet. I'm in Columbus. I've tried rebooting and deleting and reinstalling.

 

[mikeb13]

No support yet. I'm in Columbus. I've tried rebooting and deleting and reinstalling.

Same for me. I’m in Florida.

 

[Mayostudent]

Yay 2012!!!

 

[gregsapphire]

So I had limited 4K YouTube(4K30 SDR) option for the past few days and starting today it now is back to 1080p today. Sure love these server end limitations. This on going feud between Apple and Google is getting very annoying. Developer support for Apple TV has always been poor. App updates never come at the same rate as iOS/iPadOS. Apple should really have a good, better, best option for Apple TV so they can expand their marketshare bc the average user doesn't see the Apple TV as very compelling. Increase your market share and developers are more likely to update their apps etc.

 

[mikevangorkom]

4K appeared today for me on both AppleTVs.

 

[LegCortex]

As of early this morning, 4K YouTube is working for me.

 

[Sanlitun]

I’m getting the little 4K icon by some videos but certainly nothing is actually being streamed in 4K.

 

[Camelo1216]

Got 4k right now!!

 

[mdallen]

Still no 4K for me as of last night.

 

[mdallen]

Still no 4K for me as of last night.

[automerge]1602252706[/automerge]
I logged out and back into my YouTube account and now I have 4K.

 

[02275629]

Just checked 4K videos and I finally got 4K baby!!! wahoo! FINALLY.

According to the YouTube app "App Version" in Settings: 2.05.01.00/web_20201019_RC00

*** Edit: Not all videos are supported tho. Ugh. Only some 4K videos work. I noticed some 4K videos are limited to 1440P.

 

[CBlakeston]

I agree with you here. This is the main reason I've continued buying 4k content, vs just going back completely to 1080p and below content. There are times, I can notice a resolution difference, depending on the content. For example: For me the best sources of comparison, are Blu-ray discs. There is far more less compression artifacts and other things introduced in streaming to get in the way of getting a clean picture and sound for the best test and comparison results.

With this said, streaming has also gotten quite good as well and I like both forms of content delivery. I'm saying all this to say this main point: For me, I can't always tell a night and day difference between 4k, and 1080p, unless the 4k content also has HDR enabled. Now the fact is, HDR isn't limited to 4k, however, I've never seen 1080p HDR content, unless, you're gaming. What really stands out most to be about HDR is really the increased range of color variations, and shadow detail compared to SDR.For example sometimes if a movie has a lot of Red, or Blue in scenes, or even the disc menu, in SDR the color can look very hard and intense, or in broadcast terms hot, while in HDR it's softer and has more shades.

a fair few Netflix shows in the UK are 1080p Dolby Vision like Star Trek Discovery.

 

[CBlakeston]

handful?? Every mid range 4k TV and above since 2017 supports HDR. LG alone have about 40 TVs that support Youtube HDR.

that’s true in a sense.But also there’s a Huge difference between a TV supporting HDR as a feature in a checklist and displaying HDR content in a meaningful way. Many TVs sold since 2017 say they do HDR but often it can make the picture worse. When you see it done properly on a high end TV however it’s like night and day.