Apple TV 4K - iOS 14 YouTube VP9 4K support

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Apple TV 4K - iOS 14 YouTube VP9 4K support

gehenna

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#275963 18-Sep-2020 21:51

4K YouTube is supposed to work on Apple TV now that iOS 14 is out. I should be able to select the ellipsis of something I'm watching and choose the quality. The maximum I'm seeing on 4K files is 1080p, where it should be 1440p or 2160p. Is this working for anyone else? There's a fair bit of chatter online about this working fine for people, both now and during the beta, so I'm not sure what's going on with mine.

corksta

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#2567865 18-Sep-2020 21:57

It doesn’t work yet, general consensus seems to be Google needs to update the YouTube app in order for us to be able to watch 4K content. Who knows how long it will take for them to do that.

gehenna

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#2567866 18-Sep-2020 21:58

Well that's a relief.

kharris

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#2568107 19-Sep-2020 16:39

corksta:
It doesn’t work yet, general consensus seems to be Google needs to update the YouTube app in order for us to be able to watch 4K content. Who knows how long it will take for them to do that.

Oh excellent. There will be no hurry there then.... and do we wait. Again....

Kirk

corksta

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#2568385 19-Sep-2020 23:03

I’ve just seen a Reddit post where a guy has uploaded a screenshot of a Twitter conversation with YouTube about this issue and their response was an update is “coming soon”.

The iOS app gets updated every week, the tvOS app hasn’t been updated since April so let’s see what their definition of soon is.

kharris

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#2575559 28-Sep-2020 20:07

corksta:
I’ve just seen a Reddit post where a guy has uploaded a screenshot of a Twitter conversation with YouTube about this issue and their response was an update is “coming soon”.

The iOS app gets updated every week, the tvOS app hasn’t been updated since April so let’s see what their definition of soon is.

The tvOS app has been updated but still no 4k support. Seems like no hurry then.

Kirk

Senecio

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#2581111 8-Oct-2020 10:36

I have YouTube 4K on my ATV 4K now. Over on the Whirlpool forums people are reporting the following process to get it going

Reset the YouTube App from within the app itself. This will log you out of your account. Delete the Youtube app and restart the ATV 4K. After restart download the app from the app store and sign back into your account. It seems a bit hit and miss but is working for most people. If successful you will see 2160p available as a resolution and the VP9 codec in stats for nerds.

Another caveat is that it can only play 2160p 30fps uploads for now. If the video is uploaded as 2160p 60fps then the ATV 4k will default to 1440p 60fps as the highest resolution that can be played. I don't know if this will be addressed in a future update.

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geekiegeek

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#2581202 8-Oct-2020 11:34

Senecio:

I have YouTube 4K on my ATV 4K now. Over on the Whirlpool forums people are reporting the following process to get it going

Reset the YouTube App from within the app itself. This will log you out of your account. Delete the Youtube app and restart the ATV 4K. After restart download the app from the app store and sign back into your account. It seems a bit hit and miss but is working for most people. If successful you will see 2160p available as a resolution and the VP9 codec in stats for nerds.

Another caveat is that it can only play 2160p 30fps uploads for now. If the video is uploaded as 2160p 60fps then the ATV 4k will default to 1440p 60fps as the highest resolution that can be played. I don't know if this will be addressed in a future update.

this worked for me. Thanks

gehenna

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#2581248 8-Oct-2020 11:44

Great tip thanks @Senecio

gehenna

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#2581318 8-Oct-2020 13:27

Working for me now

kharris

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#2581808 9-Oct-2020 10:30

gehenna: Working for me now

This worked for me last night but reverted to playing in HD today.
As there is a tvOS 14.2 update I’m going to completely reset my Apple TV and reinstall today.

Edit; after upgrade to tvOS 14.2 and complete reinstall of AppleTV I still can’t get it to play in 4k. It was last night but not any more.

Kirk

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#2581848 9-Oct-2020 11:18

Mine is still playing in 4K. I haven't updated to tvOS 14.2 yet. Some people are reporting that it remains after a reboot and per yourself some people are reporting that it reverts to HD after a reboot.

Its clear that this isn't the formal solution going forward. Whether its tvOS 14.2 or an updated app from google we're currently in a transition state and the process above just forces your ATV box to the VP9 source file for the time being.

I will continue to use my TV's built in YouTube app for the time being until it becomes more stable.

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kharris

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#2581874 9-Oct-2020 12:37

Senecio:
Mine is still playing in 4K. I haven't updated to tvOS 14.2 yet. Some people are reporting that it remains after a reboot and per yourself some people are reporting that it reverts to HD after a reboot.

Its clear that this isn't the formal solution going forward. Whether its tvOS 14.2 or an updated app from google we're currently in a transition state and the process above just forces your ATV box to the VP9 source file for the time being.

I will continue to use my TV's built in YouTube app for the time being until it becomes more stable.

Interesting. If I start the YouTube app it starts in HD but if I swap profiles to my sons account it will play in 4k. If I then swap back to my account it will play in 4k, until I start the app again... like you mentioned it’s pretty random.

Kirk

geekiegeek

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#2583500 13-Oct-2020 10:53

Noticed mine is back to HD again today. Will try adding another profile and switching between them to see if it resolves.

kharris

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#2584387 14-Oct-2020 16:53

geekiegeek:
Noticed mine is back to HD again today. Will try adding another profile and switching between them to see if it resolves.

I found that switching between the profiles didn’t work. I actually had to play a 4k video in the second profile and then switch profiles back.

Kirk

gehenna

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#2608346 22-Nov-2020 11:40

Seems to be getting more stable at running videos at 4k without manual intervention. No idea how this has been such a difficult launch for Google but there you go.