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JippaLippa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 14, 2013
1,685
2,053
Hello everyone.

I always liked to consume content in high quality, but not having a TV, I decided to invest in a stream-box after learning that Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV don't provide 4K SDR/HDR playback in the browser or within the app (Like in the case of Apple TV), and I decided to go with a newly released 2021 Apple TV 4K 2nd gen, as I'm already in the apple ecosystem.

I have a display that's perfectly capable of displaying 4K HDR content (specifically an LG27UL850W) and a wired ethernet gigabit connection that reaches 98% of the speed (980MBps, which should be more than enough) going directly to the apple TV (the speed was tested with the tvOS speedtest app)

As a cable; I use a high quality certified HDMI 2.1 cable.

I installed the apple tv, configured it properly, balanced the colour and all but I noticed the quality is not that great, and It looks more like compressed 1080p footage than 4K; i have seen much better fullhd footage elsewhere.
I watched "Tiny World" (an original apple series that's specified to be 4K) and it looks more like 1080p...Similar results with other series.

That said, I found the most horrible experience with Amazon Prime Video, and I wanted to know if you experienced similar issues with it as I'm interested in knowing if the service/app is just bad or if it's something wrong with my region (we all know these services have varying quality based on location).
I tried watching literally all sorts of content that was marked as UHD or UHD HDR, but the footage looks incredibly compressed, even in high profile shows like the grand tour.
Also the interface for the Amazon Prime Video app has low resolution text...absolutely embarrassing in 2021.

I just wanted to know if it was the same for you, thank you very much.
 

JippaLippa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 14, 2013
1,685
2,053
Amazon Prime Video has the worst interface, even on an Apple TV. Amazon uses most of the application's space to do self-promotion (aka Amazon Originals) and will play advertisements for said content before an episode starts, even will binge watching one episode to another. I've never had an issue with the quality of the video playback, but I've never been wow'ed by it either. Amazon Originals may play better, I kinda stopped watching any Amazon Original several years ago on moral (anti-advertising) grounds.

Thanks for the answer.
Yes, the Amazon Prime Video experience has been pretty luckluster, even with high-profile amazon prime shows like the grand tour.

The quality was honestly quite bad.
And my connection is fast and stable...so that's not it.
 
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