Apple TV 4K: No support for 4K Videos from iCloud Photos!?

[cynics]

As far as I can tell, aTV 4K does not play back 4K@60fps at all. I have not managed to get any 60fps 4K clips to play back, I only get the "not supported format" message on the screen.

Your software doesn't like your media. Could be a million different reasons from incompatible video and/or audio formats, medias encode is too complex for the software and/or hardware, etc.

Keep in mind the player software still needs to support a format/codec regardless of whether the hardware can natively or not.

This 4k 60fps h265 video will play on the ATV4K using Infuse 5. I'm using a NAS with no server/transcoding software to verify all the decoding is being done on the AppleTV via software/hardware.

 

[priitv8]

My video is iTunes compatible, see the attached detail from Media Info. Also iTunes happily ingests it.
Briefly I had thought that the problem is in the Main@L5.1@High profile.
SES Astra demo you referred to, has Main 10@L5.1@Main.
But to be frank, the QT player of tvOS still does not play it!
Infuse is a different story, it seems to be decoding on its own devices and does not rely on the QT engine from Apple.

 

[luis888]

iPhone X 4K60p is 50Mbits/sec, 4K30p is 30Mbits/sec, no way that it can stream from iCloud to Apple TV4K even with fiber without lags. Imagine 10.000 user streaming at the same time, it can even get lags on a local wifi or ethernet cable with file acces to mac.
You tube stream 4K30p BUT compressed with a bad quality may be 8Mbits/sec.
The only real way to get real 4K60p is to download the video file to local disk or fast usb stick and plug that into the 4K TV.
[doublepost=1510941384][/doublepost]iPhone X 4K60p is 50Mbits/sec, 4K30p is 30Mbits/sec, no way that it can stream from iCloud to Apple TV4K even with fiber without lags. Imagine 10.000 user streaming at the same time, it can even get lags on a local wifi or ethernet cable with file acces to mac.
You tube stream 4K30p BUT compressed with a bad quality may be 8Mbits/sec.
The only real way to get real 4K60p is to download the video file to local disk or fast usb stick and plug that into the 4K TV.

 

[Ted13]

iPhone X 4K60p is 50Mbits/sec, 4K30p is 30Mbits/sec, no way that it can stream from iCloud to Apple TV4K even with fiber without lags. Imagine 10.000 user streaming at the same time, it can even get lags on a local wifi or ethernet cable with file acces to mac.
You tube stream 4K30p BUT compressed with a bad quality may be 8Mbits/sec.
The only real way to get real 4K60p is to download the video file to local disk or fast usb stick and plug that into the 4K TV.

10K viewers at the same time means nothing. You can have millions of people streaming 4K video at the same time from Netflix and Amazon Prime. I guarantee Netflix sends out vastly more video then iCloud. And all the 4K I’ve seen on Netflix has been flawless. And no, I don’t have fiber - but the good old fashioned coax cable (not replaced since the 1980s) that Spetrum (ex TWC) runs in NYC manages 350Mbps. Internet speed is not the issue

 

[MrChuckles]

The easiest way I found to play 4K videos from an iOS device is to use Screen Mirroring. It actually is the only way I have found so far to play 4K videos from my phone to my AppleTV 4K.

 

[anticipate]

The easiest way I found to play 4K videos from an iOS device is to use Screen Mirroring. It actually is the only way I have found so far to play 4K videos from my phone to my AppleTV 4K.

I think this has since been resolved? I’m playing videos and they seem like they are 4K from the iCloud Photo Library now? I am on tvOS 12.1 beta

 

[aLPav]

I think this has since been resolved? I’m playing videos and they seem like they are 4K from the iCloud Photo Library now? I am on tvOS 12.1 beta

Are you sure? I don’t know should I buy  TV if it’s not stream my videos in 4K from iCloud Photo Library... I am thinking about Chromecast Ultra...

 

[andyp350]

I know this is an old thread but I’ve just switched to a 4K tv and Apple TV 4K and was really disappointed that my 4K videos in the photos app looked so awful. Airplayed them from my phone and they looked fantastic but it’s a shame you can’t play them from the native app.

 

[priitv8]

I know this is an old thread but I’ve just switched to a 4K tv and Apple TV 4K and was really disappointed that my 4K videos in the photos app looked so awful. Airplayed them from my phone and they looked fantastic but it’s a shame you can’t play them from the native app.

What does it mean “awful”.
They definitely are downscaled to 1080p in iCloud, but they dont look awful to my eye. Check the developer HUD to see how much bandwidth is required and how much is available.

 

[andyp350]

What does it mean “awful”.
They definitely are downscaled to 1080p in iCloud, but they dont look awful to my eye. Check the developer HUD to see how much bandwidth is required and how much is available.

Awful compared to how it looks when airplayed. Definitely not a bandwidth issue.

 

[priitv8]

Awful compared to how it looks when airplayed. Definitely not a bandwidth issue.

Still, "awful" can mean whatever. Resolution? Sharpness? Pixelation? Color saturation?
Why not bandwith issue? How are your devices connected to internet?
Does your airplayed content originate from your iDevice? If so, then you will get 4K picture over AirPlay but 1080p over iCloud.
I jusy checked - the 4K 60fps video I filmed on my iPhone takes 53.5Mbps. The 1080p copy on iCloud photo library is 1080p, still 60fps and demands 30Mbps.

 

[andyp350]

Still, "awful" can mean whatever. Resolution? Sharpness? Pixelation? Color saturation?
Why not bandwith issue? How are your devices connected to internet?
Does your airplayed content originate from your iDevice? If so, then you will get 4K picture over AirPlay but 1080p over iCloud.
I jusy checked - the 4K 60fps video I filmed on my iPhone takes 53.5Mbps. The 1080p copy on iCloud photo library is 1080p, still 60fps and demands 30Mbps.

Just clearly not 4K 60fps like it is when I AirPlay, I don’t see the need to delve into every detail of how it looks different, my point being is that it’s not coming through as 4K 60fps on the photos app on the Apple TV that’s all there is to it really.
I know it’s not a bandwidth issue because I have a very fast fibre connection and have no problem streaming at full quality at any time.

 

[dgsgc]

A year later and this issue still persists.

iCloud photos on the Apple TV 4K does not play in 4K 60fps. It does look they are now playing in 4K 30fps but the bitrate is so low that I agree with andyp350 in that they look awful.

Obviously everyone has different standards but the 30fps to 60fps is clearly visible in anything with motion.

 

[kendo88]

Guidelines for Apple TV 4K Development | Apple Developer Documentation

Follow these guidelines when developing for Apple TV 4K.

developer.apple.com

never will. cannot stream 4k60

 

[dgsgc]

Such a joke, I get that not everyone would have the internet speed to stream 4k60 but at least let us use home sharing within the photos app.

not the ruined homeshare/computer scenario were stuck with now.

 

[satcomer]

There was are many places in America where real high speed Internet connections is not available!

 

[dgsgc]

That’s obviously why streaming is adapative and will work for any network speed.

This issue is having an iPhone that records in excellent bitrate 4K 60fps.
And Apple give me no way to watch that on my Apple TV using the photos app.

Unless I am doing something wrong? The only way I can get home sharing to work is using the computers app on the Apple TV.

I love the organisation of photos on the Mac but it’s so frustrating where I’m watching YouTube videos in 1080p that have better quality than what I see from within the photos app.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Guys in all fairness, since the photos app on your Mac and iPhone give a great quality simply use that. I must admit that I don't use iCloud for photos at all - I much prefer to use my Mac as a central media hub for photo albums and sync them to my iPhone. You have full control of that. AND with Catalina, you don't even have to open iTunes (Apple TV / Music) app anymore to access on the Apple TV.

Putting your personal things into the unencrypted iCloud is not the best idea when it is so easy to sync your devices from your Mac.

 

[priitv8]

Unless I am doing something wrong? The only way I can get home sharing to work is using the computers app on the Apple TV.

Why not AirPlay?

 

[dgsgc]

Hardly the convenient experience that using the Apple TV and the remote though.

Sitting at my mac air playing to the tv is surely not what we’re expected to do to get the full quality that our iPhones offer.

Don’t get me wrong I’m a fanboy and love everything about the Apple bubble but they are really dropping the ball here.

Youtube 1080p videos should not be better quality than what I get through iCloud in the native photos app. Yes I’ve uploaded a video as a test.

Let’s forget 4K 60fps for a moment. The videos are being transcoded in such a low bitrate it’s embarrassing.

I wonder if using 4K night actually be making it worse. I wonder if the bitrate is limited in iCloud streaming and the 4K resolution is eating that bitrate.

Would be crazy but I wonder if it’s worth testing.

 

[priitv8]

Let’s forget 4K 60fps for a moment. The videos are being transcoded in such a low bitrate it’s embarrassing.

I think it is all about storage requirements.
Native 4K 30fps video out of iPhone requires 22GB per hour, so it becomes an issue quite soon.
The basic free plan would not even fit a second of it...

 

[dgsgc]

No doubt, but again, let those of us who want to pay for it use it. I already pay for the 2tb tier, I’d happily pay more if I could have better quality.

 

[priitv8]

No doubt, but again, let those of us who want to pay for it use it. I already pay for the 2tb tier, I’d happily pay more if I could have better quality.

Still, why exactly iCloud? Why not your local cloud?

 

[dgsgc]

Not sure what you mean?

If you mean home sharing it’s impossible to use. Not only do you miss out the date structure, there’s no moments or shared library’s. Plus it takes forever to load the thumbnails and it insists on doing it everytime I open home sharing. Not workable at all which is a shame as the one part that does work is that videos look great.

And yes I’m on a wired gigabit network. But generating thumbnails for over 25k photos and videos isstupid every time I open the home sharing app on the Apple TV.

 

[priitv8]

Not sure what you mean?

Just that there are alternatives.
Maybe Flickr or 500px? Both photography-specific.
But we were talking about videos, so YouTube comes to mind. Sadly the tvOS app does not support HDR on YT.