Apple TV Now Plays YouTube Videos in 4K -- With Limits

As promised, the Apple TV is finally starting to play YouTube videos in 4K -- with caveats. From a report: Users on Reddit and elsewhere are starting to see YouTube 4K support enabled on the media hub when it's using at least tvOS 14. However, you can only watch in Ultra HD at 30 frames per second, and without HDR. Don't expect to make full use of that posh new TV just yet, although 60FPS video will play at up to 1440p. It also said current iPads and iPhones should support 4K video with 60FPS and HDR, although support looks to be be inconsistent at this stage. Apple TV support also isn't universal, at least not yet. YouTube appears to be delivering the update remotely rather than tying it to an app release.

Is there really that much?

[cayenne8]

Is there really that much 4K content available on YouTube?

I've rarely seen any or at least rarely seen any offered.

Re:Is there really that much?

[slaker]

There's fucktons of 4k content on Youtube. It's certainly arguable that not a lot of it NEEDS to be; even Photography related channels (e.g. Tony and Chelsea Northrup) have said they switched back to 1080p and no one noticed, but a lot of talking head style vloggers have been using 4k for a while since it's basically "free" in terms of their recording and editing technology now. Almost any interchangeable lens camera, any GoPro, even most Smartphones can record in 4k. It's a good idea to record in 4k even if you're ultimately only going to be displayed in 1080p because Youtube is going to recompress anything you give it and that's unavoidable, so if you care about video quality, you're better off feeding it the best video you can within your bandwidth and disk space limitations.

My friend's makeup tutorial channel with 120 subscribers can still see her put on eye shadow at 4k. She's just shooting on a $50 GoPro Clone, but details matter for what she's doing and it doesn't take her any longer to edit the 4k than 1080p on the PC she's using.

Re:

[EvilSS]

There is (or was, not sure if it still works that way) a difference in the way Youtube handles the videos on their end. When you upload a 4K video, it goes through a separate pipeline going to VP9 and that pipeline resulted in lower resolutions being encoded at a better bitrate than if you uploaded a native 1080p video. So even if your viewers were not watching at 4K, the 1080p or 720p version of your videos they watched looked better. A lot of Youtubers started uploading at 4K to take advantage of it. Like

Re:

[saloomy]

Is this issue a problem with the AppleTV not having the horsepower to drive 4k @ 60hz @ HDR with all the decoding going on, or is this simply a matter of Google updating their app / servers?

Re:

[EvilSS]

No idea. Apple made a change in Apple TV OS that had something to do with it, and Youtube is making changes on their end as well. The core issue, as I understand it, had to do with Youtube using VP9 and not H.265 but I have no idea what the under the hood issues are with making it work and the limitations involved.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

The core issue is that Apple uses H.265 and Google/YouTube uses VP9.

So you can blame Apple for not supporting VP9 even though they can't magically change their already-sold hardware, or you can blame YouTube for not supporting H.265

And if you blame MPEG for their licensing requirements, remember that it's only 20 cents per device with a maximum cap of 25 million dollars, so really blame Google instead for being cheap fuckers.

Re:

[saloomy]

Cant Apple just install a VP9 codec into their OS as an OS update?

Re:

[jonbryce]

Yes, but it would have to run in software rather than on a dedicated hardware encoder. The CPU might not be up to the task.

Re:

[bn-7bc]

A minir nit pick, I doubt rhe atv gas any enccoder, beond the one requered to stream things over the hdmi pirt, what the apple hw lacs is a hw decoder for vp9

Re:

[jonbryce]

The Apple TV 5 has the A10X Fusion chip, and that includes an HEVC hardware decoder.

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[ZombieCatInABox]

The Apple TV 4k is perfectly capable of driving 4k 60hz HDR video. That's precisely what it was designed for.

The problem is a "mine is bigger than yours" battle between Apple and Google over VP9 and h.265 codecs. Basically, Google wanted to support only VP9 and Apple, only h.265. Recently, both companies seem to have come to an agreement.

Re:

[timeOday]

Not all 4k looks better but when I see a really cool video that is very sharp, I like to watch it at my computer desk with the 4k display and in that context, you can certainly tell. High framerates and resolutions are wasted on talking heads but I like to ride mtb/mx and the first person or drone videos of high quality and sharpness do enhance the "you are there" feeling.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

It's not technically free, since you have to edit in 4K.

Most of the big YouTubers you know are doing it in 4K, and pretty much every Tech YouTuber has a video showing off their new video editing rig that they upgraded to in the past 3 years or so.

So they upgraded so they can edit in 4K (which is huge since few use HEVC, and stick with h.264) and upload their source video in 4K.

But yeah, they record in 4K given most cameras (real camcorders, real cameras, dSLRs, smartphones, GoPros, etc) all record in 4k30

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

Some of the 4k urban exploration videos are nice to look at. Abandoned power plants and estates that are hundreds of years old without vandalism or graffiti.

Love those 4K Ads!

[mspohr]

YouTube has become a nattering wasteland of ads and trivial content. Why would I care if I can watch it in 4K?

Re:

[Luthair]

I'd say Youtube has a lot more interesting content at 4k than streaming services like Netflix which have decided to replicate cable TV and create giant dumpsters of trash.

Re:

[mspohr]

Depends on how you define "interesting content".

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[geekmux]

I'd say Youtube has a lot more interesting content at 4k than streaming services like Netflix which have decided to replicate cable TV and create giant dumpsters of trash.

Interesting? Those on Netflix are at least paid actors, as opposed to endless streams of pointless content coming from professional attention whores on YouTube who "contribute" by discussing other people's content.

And Netflix basically replaced cable. With regards to dumpsters of trashy content, what exactly did you expect? Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

You're watching the wrong channels if that's all your finding on YouTube.

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[EvilSS]

"as opposed to endless streams of pointless content coming from professional attention whores on YouTube who "contribute" by discussing other people's content." Stop looking at the Youtube trending page. There are a ton of great channels with original content but they are not found there. The History Guy, Technology Connections, Scott Manley, This Old Tony, Forgotten Weapons, Project Farm, EEVBlog, Mentour Pilot, Techmoan, bigclivedorcom, abom79, LGR, Retro Man Cave, ElectroBOOM, The 8-bit guy, just to name

Re:

[Luthair]

Any hobby has many creators with original and unique content on YouTube, if all you're doing is watching vloggers thats on you.

Your "posh new TV" has youtube built in

[Trailer Trash]

Your "posh new TV" has youtube built-in, so whether apple supports it or not is irrelevant.

With limits

[ACForever]

that could be used to describe how all apple products function.