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Because YouTube uses VP9 encoding, while Apple uses HEVC. Both now support AV1, and therefore iOS and TVOS are now able to play YouTube 4K.

It's a bit unreasonable to expect any device to offer unlimited compatibility with every standard on Earth "from day one."

I wasn‘t aware that YouTube used a different standard. Thanks for the clarification!

But I still find it odd it wouldn’t support the standard used by one of the largest (if not the largest) video platforms.
 
And miss out on ad revenue from Apple users? I don’t think so.
Haha I don't think the lack being able to watch content in 4K is going to stop Apple users from watching YouTube. I'm sure Google has that in mind for sure.
 
Well if it requires 60fps then I am pretty sure that is not going to do well with A10X. Do All 4K YouTube video default to 60 frames? Or only selected?
Only if the video uploaded is 60fps, MOST of them aren't but for the ones that are YouTube does not store a 30fps version - they are all in 60fps. It would have to drop down to 1080p60 or maybe 1440p if it can handle it. Doesn't seem like a problem to me but maybe they have their reasons.
 
I wasn‘t aware that YouTube used a different standard. Thanks for the clarification!

But I still find it odd it wouldn’t support the standard used by one of the largest (if not the largest) video platforms.
Safari on Mac also can't play 4K YouTube. It's standards wars. On one hand, VP9 maybe deserves to win because it's free. On the other, H.264/5 maybe deserves to win because it's already ahead and has the hardware acceleration.

Ever wonder why Meet uses your entire CPU just for a video call? No hardware acceleration, even on Google's own Chromebooks. iChat AV worked better in 2003.
 
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Interesting, well I didn't see Google being dragged to court for not supporting industry-standard format!
VP9 should be an option but not the only choice.

Also, does Apple TV 4K hardware even support VP9??


It isn't the only option. I mean google also supports H264 (which ironically it has to pay a license for). Which is what you are getting if your device can't support VP9. It just doesn't stream 4K via H264 becuase it would be bandwidth intensive (but totally possible). It uses H264 for 1080p and lower videos, which is what you get if your device can't do VP9 (and VP9.2 if you want 4K AND HDR).

Its exactly like Apple not supporting DTS on the audio side, an industry standard, and instead just supporting Dolby Atmos/DD+ or PCM stereo rather than paying for a DTS license.
 
Safari on Mac also can't play 4K YouTube. It's standards wars. On one hand, VP9 maybe deserves to win because it's free. On the other, H.264/5 maybe deserves to win because it's already ahead and has the hardware acceleration.

Ever wonder why Meet uses your entire CPU just for a video call? No hardware acceleration, even on Google's own Chromebooks.
Safari on Big Sur CAN play 4K YouTube...
 
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It isn't the only option. I mean google also supports H264 (which ironically it has to pay a license for). Which is what you are getting if your device can't support VP9. It just doesn't stream 4K via H264 becuase it would be bandwidth intensive (but totally possible). It uses H264 for 1080p and lower videos, which is what you get if your device can't do VP9 (and VP9.2 if you want 4K AND HDR).

Its exactly like Apple not supporting DTS on the audio side, an industry standard, and instead just supporting Dolby Atmos/DD+ or PCM stereo rather than paying for a DTS license.
H265 is supposed to be "better" per byte than VP9. Subjective of course, but either way they're probably close enough.
 
Shield TV is a very popular streaming box. Fire TV is also based on Android TV, for what it's worth.
Hard to tell since they don't release numbers. Found this discussion.
The only person I know who uses it is a guy who exclusively uses cheap stuff and pirates everything. Most people have never heard of it. It's Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, or most of all, just smart TVs.
 
I don't usually install releases on day one but I did for the TVOS update because my workflow as a creator is 4K and I primarily proof my videos on my AppleTV so I was stoked to finally be able to watch the videos in 4K as the only way up until now was to go to my Youtube page using Firefox to watch my videos.

Looking forward to that update, Google.
 
I think 60fps is the trip up. None of the implementations on Apple TV can handle that thus far. I would rather them just drop it but I don't know what is going on behind the scenes.

I find this interesting - here’s the V9 video I downloaded (you might be right) the source is 24P

if you look at the info page of VLC and Plex on ATV, you can see it knows it’s a V9 source and it is doing 4k on the fly transcode to H264 at a really high bit rate with no freezing.

This means the current ATV can do it

 
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I'm going to theorize that they won't be able to get this to work.

It's enabled on iPhone XS or newer AKA A12 or newer - they didn't enable it on iPhone X which has an A11, I don't think they will be able to get it to work with the A10X in the Apple TV. It's effectively software decoding VP9, and I don't think the CPU/GPU can keep up with every video.

I'll be happy when I'm proven wrong.
Only 4K HDR works on iOS iPadOS with A12Z and A13 chips for me. Everything has reverted back to 1080p if not true 4K HDR.
 
In all fairness the TeamYouTube Twitter account is run by either bots or morons. Many large content creators have reached out to them for help for various things and it’s always a pain to get a resolution. Folks at the company can’t even call each other, it’s all done via email. Rules are applied unevenly, different reasons are given depending on which bot/person is running the account. 😂 Wouldn’t surprise me if it is something that YouTube needs to enable on their end.

I honestly don't think anyone actually works at YouTube, it's all algorithms and scripts. They may have a dude that comes in at night to make sure the servers are still running and that the lights still work. Otherwise, you try to get hold of an actual human for help or a problem? Nope. No one is there.
 


One of the tvOS 14 features that's meant to be included in the update is support for 4K videos for the first time, but as many MacRumors readers have noticed, 4K video content is not available after updating to the tvOS 14 update released earlier this week.

youtubeatvno4k.jpg

Selecting a 4K video on a 4K Apple TV upgraded to tvOS 14 limits the video playback to 1080p, which is the same playback quality that was available before.

Apple's Apple TV 4K website continues to say that 4K support for YouTube videos is a feature that's supposed to be included in tvOS 14, but it is missing in the release version of the software.

youtubefeatureapplesite.jpg

It's not clear what's going on, but there have been many upset Apple TV owners complaining on Twitter. Some users have said that 4K playback was working as expected with YouTube during some of the betas, but functionality was erratic, so perhaps there are bugs that need to be worked out.

It may be that YouTube needs to push an app update for the feature to work, and YouTube's Twitter support team seems confused. Just yesterday, a TeamYouTube account said that 4K resolution YouTube can't be delivered to the Apple TV 4K because it does not support VP9, so it seems YouTube's own staff is confused by the feature.


We've asked Apple for insight into when the 4K functionality might be available, and will report back if we hear anything.

Article Link: tvOS 14 Not Supporting 4K YouTube Videos Yet
It’s not available for the iPad Pro either.
 
The YouTube Apple TV has been broken for months... all the overlays appear in the center of the screen. Horrid Google cross platform trash.
 
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Apple has also dropped the ball on NextGen TV support too. They have no interest in ATSC 3.0, which all American TV stations will eventually be switching to support live 4k TV. Yes, technically, there is no impediment to live TV on an iPhone as tiny ATSC 3.0 chips are available. Both Google and Apple are against live TV on cell phones as they would allow free access to content that you otherwise would have to pay them for and the carriers are similarly against it. It's likely that America will once again be last on new tech again.
 
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