AppleTV 4K - UK Channel 4 App users

[stocklen]

Hi All

So, recently I was watching 'generation Z' on my Apple TV's Channel 4 app, and was really surprised at the terrible picture quality.

its not so much the picture as a whole, but there is a LOT of noise in the background and a lot of 'pixelation' so a darker area in a scene will have very visible big black squares in it etc.

My TV is a 4K OLED and im used to the PQ being significantly better.

On the AppleTV of course, in the UK, we are reliant on the App developers to give is the best possible experience and as we all know, in the case of BBC iPlayer they really cant be too bothered with the AppleTV platform and we dont get UHD support etc - so my expectations with iPlayer are sufficiently low.
Channel 4, on the other hand, always seemed fine to me.

Just to check to be sure, I tried the Channel 4 app on my Firestick 4K Max, and the PQ was a lot better. Not flawless, but those annoying pixelations were gone.

Now, worth mentioning that my AppleTV is ethernet connected, and my Firestick is Wifi connected.

it just seems like PQ is deteriorating on the platform in general and im wondering if anyone else has noticed.
Maybe it's a TVOS issue. Maybe its the app developers issue.

 

[kiranmk2]

I suspect it is the broadcaster at fault here. I personally haven't noticed any issues with Channel 4, but I tend to stream shows with fairly slow camera movements (Generation Z seems like it would have a lot of fast motion).

I think the issue with iPlayer UHD does lie with Apple as TVOS only supports HLS whilst the BBC uses MPEG-DASH for UHD streaming. I see it as HLS is the HEVC (paid) option and MPEG-DASH is AV1 (the open source) option. Given the delay in Apple supporting AV1 hardware decoding, I'm not holding my breath on TVOS supporting MPEG-DASH anytime soon...

Why iPlayer and Channel 4 only stream to TVOS in 720p is a mystery though...

 

[DHA]

Yep C4 is pretty poor, probably the worst for picture quality on UK based apps. The live broadcasts are lower quality than if you steam later. BBC is better but when you compare to other live TV (the discovery+ app for example with UHD football) it is poor in reality.

 

[stocklen]

I have a tiny update but relatively significant.

Ive reserved a few bits and pieces on optimal AppleTV settings and I have now switched on 'match frame rate and content'.
Although this make Youtube a total pain in the backside with constant black screens and cutting out audio whenever one of a thousand ad breaks are presented in a 10 minute video....
it has actually rectified the Channel 4 issue - although only so much as Channel 4 looks 'as good' as it does on the Firestick 4K but still pretty poor.

Many people seem to advocate making the picture SDR also, but if you do that you lose the mesmerising HDR screensavers so worth keeping it set to HDR even though that apparently affects non HDR sources.

 

[DHA]

I have a tiny update but relatively significant.

Ive reserved a few bits and pieces on optimal AppleTV settings and I have now switched on 'match frame rate and content'.
Although this make Youtube a total pain in the backside with constant black screens and cutting out audio whenever one of a thousand ad breaks are presented in a 10 minute video....
it has actually rectified the Channel 4 issue - although only so much as Channel 4 looks 'as good' as it does on the Firestick 4K but still pretty poor.

Many people seem to advocate making the picture SDR also, but if you do that you lose the mesmerising HDR screensavers so worth keeping it set to HDR even though that apparently affects non HDR sources.

I might give that a shot, I have frame rate matching on only (in part due to the YouTube issue you mention)

 

[stocklen]

I might give that a shot, I have frame rate matching on only (in part due to the YouTube issue you mention)

Its certainly made things better for me.
Youtube is incredibly unwatchable - I dont know why the ads are in a different frame rate or dynamic range than the videos they appear in... but they are....
You lose so much audio and ive also found the YouTube app will just quit a video or quit altogether after an ad finished but with still a lot of the video remaining.

 

[DHA]

Its certainly made things better for me.
Youtube is incredibly unwatchable - I dont know why the ads are in a different frame rate or dynamic range than the videos they appear in... but they are....
You lose so much audio and ive also found the YouTube app will just quit a video or quit altogether after an ad finished but with still a lot of the video remaining.

I was trying to watch something last night on YouTube after changing to match dynamic range and it just wouldn't play - black screen no sound and it just hung. Had to force quit the app.

 

[DHA]

Have just sent feedback to Channel 4 about the app picture quality - doubt it will change but thought I would at least let them know its poor

 

[stocklen]

its a shame really

Love the AppleTV been using it for years and its the only reason I was able to ditch far more expensive Sky and Virgin due to the up next functionality.

Its frustrating that its so nearly there but there remain a few irritating niggles.

1. Top of the list - Netflix refusing to play nice with up next. Tubi also but its far less significant that Netflix. They seem happy to expose their content to Amazon's Firestick as you can have a watchlist there with their stuff.... so why not Apple? seems petty minded to me.

2. Picture Quality from certain apps - as per this thread.

3. BBC Iplayer being so backward on the platform. No UHD, etc etc etc.

4. The 'apps and channels' bafflingly not working with iPlayer and ITVX even though they are integrated with up next and the TV app in general anyway.

 

[DHA]

Yeah it's almost there, but apps made by other companies are the issue I feel.

Channel 4 replied to my feedback - "we are sorry you can't launch the channel 4 app, have you tried re-installing it"