ATV 4K is a Scam! Not Truly Delivering 4k/HDR

[Poontaco]

Excellent info.
I wonder if the problem is the bitrate being so low compared to uhdbd4khdr.
Thanks!

"uhdbd4khdr" Hahahha. Oh man, that is hard on the eyes. I'm guessing #1; you spend some time on torrent sites, and #2; you're not a fan of linguistics.

Let me know if I deciphered that correctly; Ultra High Definition Blu Ray Disc 4K High Dynamic Range?
(Or how I would say 4K HDR on Blu Ray)

 

[TrueBlou]

I think there is only one app to play? movie app? I have about 213 purchased itunes movies in there.
Oh maybe you mean hbo? i haven tried that yet.
And netflix, I dont have the 4k option.
I did try 4k Amazon app direct on my tv and it was still better than iTunes movies.
[doublepost=1506606701][/doublepost]

This is new info for me.
I don't know what that is.
Where is it and what is it for?
Thanks.

Basically when you have Quick Start switched on, iTunes videos will start playing immediately in the best quality available for your internet speed. When it's switched off, there will be a degree of buffering before the file starts to play.

For some reason this buffering seems to be the culprit of using the 1080P format by default so for now at least it's best switched On.

You can find it in Settings -> Apps -> iTunes Movies & TV Shows

 

[DNichter]

This stuff is too confusing. I guess the only solution is for the Apple TV to adjust to whatever content is playing.

 

[PabloSRT8]

"uhdbd4khdr" Hahahha. Oh man, that is hard on the eyes. I'm guessing #1; you spend some time on torrent sites, and #2; you're not a fan of linguistics.

Let me know if I deciphered that correctly; Ultra High Definition Blu Ray Disc 4K High Dynamic Range?
(Or how I would say 4K HDR on Blu Ray)

LoL, Im at work, had to do it fast... hahaha
[doublepost=1506612327][/doublepost]

Basically when you have Quick Start switched on, iTunes videos will start playing immediately in the best quality available for your internet speed. When it's switched off, there will be a degree of buffering before the file starts to play.

For some reason this buffering seems to be the culprit of using the 1080P format by default so for now at least it's best switched On.

You can find it in Settings -> Apps -> iTunes Movies & TV Shows

Oh man, cant wait to get home and try that!
thanks.

 

[2010mini]

OP what is your set up? Because as of right now, only a few TVs can properly display ATV4K images. Or any other 4K streaming devices.

There is another user who posted their impressions and it is on the opposite end of the spectrum from yours.

 

[bruinsrme]

Interesting. Mine is great as long as I’m using UHD blu-rays.
I know that for our 2016 8000 series there are two or three different vendors for the led panels. And if you get lucky, you end up with the better one.
Maybe I did and maybe you didn’t? I don’t know.
But my blu-ray hdr 4K physical disc look 100 percents better than what my ATV4k is putting out.
[doublepost=1506601911][/doublepost]

My ATV4k is set as 4K 60hz hdr 4.2.2
Also tried 4.2.0
Made no difference.

Yes the 2016 8000 series= 65" seemed to have the luck of the draw when it came to the vendor, banding, light bleed and so on. The 60" has light bleed like a stuck pig.

Next year will be a good year to purchase a new set. Have been a samsung fan but I will be open to an alternative.
[doublepost=1506612722][/doublepost]

This stuff is too confusing. I guess the only solution is for the Apple TV to adjust to whatever content is playing.

it is very confusing.

I was an audio/video snob. One thing I realized I was so worried about perfect I forgot how to enjoy watching a movie.

I had all high end amps, processors, tv's and speakers.

Now I have an xboxS and apple tv, bose sound bar and sub. I enjoy watching tv again.

 

[DNichter]

Yes the 2016 8000 series= 65" seemed to have the luck of the draw when it came to the vendor, banding, light bleed and so on. The 60" has light bleed like a stuck pig.

Next year will be a good year to purchase a new set. Have been a samsung fan but I will be open to an alternative.
[doublepost=1506612722][/doublepost]

it is very confusing.

I was an audio/video snob. One thing I realized I was so worried about perfect I forgot how to enjoy watching a movie.

I had all high end amps, processors, tv's and speakers.

Now I have an xboxS and apple tv, bose sound bar and sub. I enjoy watching tv again.

Yea I try not to worry about it too much. I set my TV at a 4K HDR setting that I think looks best across all scenarios and I'll leave it at that. I do hope Apple will work on optimizing by content though. Fixing the complications in audio/video would truly be revolutionary haha.

 

[alexh516]

This is kind of an update to an earlier post I made.

The ATV is a massive disappointment. It is just fundamentally broken. The problem with it not being able to automatically switch resolution is even more disastrous than I initially thought. I totally take back everything that I said about early reviewers.

If I have my mode set to Dolby Vision and I run across a movie that's in 4K/HDR then it will either hang and not play at all or play that content in Dolby Vision. This tells me the box isn't actually streaming in proper HDR at all, much less 4k because I swear these streams are 1080p and my TV is just upscaling it as I've said before, I usually, CAN, tell the difference.

Logically thinking, how can this box actually detect the appropriate stream to pull from the ATV Webservers if it has no way to actually, automatically DETECT what content is actually streaming? Now I know what the catch is to the free 4k/HDR upgrades. It's not delivering the proper streams at all. It's almost as if it's a "placebo" affect.

I look at the same 4K movie on my Shield (which I hate) or my Vudu app on my TV and it's night and day difference.

Returning my ATV and will just use my ATV 4 until this garbage is fixed.

So, your assumption is false, as well as the thread title's claim that it is a scam. There are flaws with the new apple tv, but they are not what you are claiming them to be...

The ATV 4k is displaying true 4k HDR content, provided you have a TV that supports HDR/DV, the right cables, set your input to support HDR, and are connected to a solid wifi connection or eth cable. The problem is that the set is displaying everything in HDR mode (if you set it to HDR). This results in regular content being processed into faux HDR. However, this does not affect actual HDR content or DV Content. Furthermore, it is absolutely possible for a box to detect the appropriate stream to pull from either iTunes, Netflix, etc. As those content suppliers detect if the user device is capable of HDR, 4K, etc.

 

[mmm1345]

So, your assumption is false, as well as the thread title's claim that it is a scam. There are flaws with the new apple tv, but they are not what you are claiming them to be...

The ATV 4k is displaying true 4k HDR content, provided you have a TV that supports HDR/DV, the right cables, set your input to support HDR, and are connected to a solid wifi connection or eth cable. The problem is that the set is displaying everything in HDR mode (if you set it to HDR). This results in regular content being processed into faux HDR. However, this does not affect actual HDR content or DV Content. Furthermore, it is absolutely possible for a box to detect the appropriate stream to pull from either iTunes, Netflix, etc. As those content suppliers detect if the user device is capable of HDR, 4K, etc.

Actually it DOES impact HDR content if the box is triggering the wrong HDR flags on my TV.

If Transformers is encoded in 4K HDR yet the Box is displaying it in Dolby Vision that is a SERIOUS issue. TVs handle DV Content differently than HDR 10. It's rendering the content in fake HDR when it triggers my Dolby Vision. NOT the TRUE HDR encode. Again I tested the same UHD Movies on Vudu on other 4K streaming devices and it is MILES better and the HDR looks correct.

TVs process DV and HDR differently so when the box is not sending the TV the correct information, then the end result is FAKE HDR content. So when I have to go out and manually change it to 4K/HDR and the stream quality is already awful, I don't have any faith or trust that I'm watching the 4k/HDR format that I'm supposed to be watching. The experience is pretty much ruined for me.

I'm not even a video/audio phile, but I can See the difference and I own a TV that supports everything, I have proper cables and a rock solid internet connection. This is not acceptable. Stop defending this garbage.

 

[TrueBlou]

LoL, Im at work, had to do it fast... hahaha
[doublepost=1506612327][/doublepost]


Oh man, cant wait to get home and try that!
thanks.

Well fingers crossed it’s something as simple as that. Maybe just flicking the switch will improve your enjoyment of the Apple TV by a big margin.

 

[bruinsrme]

Yea I try not to worry about it too much. I set my TV at a 4K HDR setting that I think looks best across all scenarios and I'll leave it at that. I do hope Apple will work on optimizing by content though. Fixing the complications in audio/video would truly be revolutionary haha.

I think the issues are complicated by a number of things.
One being the quality of the source.
Second the compression of the source data
Third the quality of the incoming signal

Read the review of any high end TV and they will rip it apart. Look at some of the A/V forums. They shred products and each other over the most minuscule defect. The Chroma bug killed me. I never noticed it until I read the forum. then I spent more time looking for defects than watching.

I have the ATV 4K on my Samsung 8000 JS series. It looks good. I like the white circle on the Menu button.
I also have the previous Oppo blu-ray player. it was awesome but surely not at the cost of time for the constant tweaking.

ATV 4K is excellent for the average consumer, IMO

 

[mmm1345]

I think the issues are complicated by a number of things.
One being the quality of the source.
Second the compression of the source data
Third the quality of the incoming signal

Read the review of any high end TV and they will rip it apart. Look at some of the A/V forums. They shred products and each other over the most minuscule defect. The Chroma bug killed me. I never noticed it until I read the forum. then I spent more time looking for defects than watching.

I have the ATV 4K on my Samsung 8000 JS series. It looks good. I like the white circle on the Menu button.
I also have the previous Oppo blu-ray player. it was awesome but surely not at the cost of time for the constant tweaking.

ATV 4K is excellent for the average consumer, IMO

I like to think of myself as the avg consumer. I'm not a videophile, but I know garbage PQ when I see it.

 

[bruinsrme]

I like to think of myself as the avg consumer. I'm not a videophile, but I know garbage PQ when I see it.

Just curious, how do the screen savers look compared to the streaming media?

 

[mmm1345]

Just curious, how do the screen savers look compared to the streaming media?

looks fine to me...

 

[bruinsrme]

looks fine to me...

When amazon first came out with their 4K media I was pretty underwhelmed.

Just for giggles, what are you watching

 

[thasoul]

i added in my app a 4k 444 and 422 test image but I also don´t get full colors, but configured to 4k 60hz 444

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/4k-photo/id1205635608?l=de&ls=1&mt=8

anyone also having this issue?

 

[mmm1345]

This is kind of an update to an earlier post I made.

The ATV is a massive disappointment. It is just fundamentally broken. The problem with it not being able to automatically switch resolution is even more disastrous than I initially thought. I totally take back everything that I said about early reviewers.

If I have my mode set to Dolby Vision and I run across a movie that's in 4K/HDR then it will either hang and not play at all or play that content in Dolby Vision. This tells me the box isn't actually streaming in proper HDR at all, much less 4k because I swear these streams are 1080p and my TV is just upscaling it as I've said before, I usually, CAN, tell the difference.

Logically thinking, how can this box actually detect the appropriate stream to pull from the ATV Webservers if it has no way to actually, automatically DETECT what content is actually streaming? Now I know what the catch is to the free 4k/HDR upgrades. It's not delivering the proper streams at all. It's almost as if it's a "placebo" affect.

I look at the same 4K movie on my Shield (which I hate) or my Vudu app on my TV and it's night and day difference.

Returning my ATV and will just use my ATV 4 until this garbage is fixed.

Update

Watched Transformers tonight and that PQ was solid. Still radically compressed and a little soft, but definitely in 4K and the DV really popped.

 

[PabloSRT8]

Update

Watched Transformers tonight and that PQ was solid. Still radically compressed and a little soft, but definitely in 4K and the DV really popped.

Received my second ATV4k and it looks the same.
Watching man of steel eight now and it looks like Blu-ray.
Tried everything I learned here.

So yours is working good now?
[doublepost=1506644801][/doublepost]Ok, man of steel does not look blurry like dispecable me 2 did ( by blurry I mean very little blur, just enough to take 4K detail away)
I own turtle ninjas on 4K HDR UHD Blu-ray and I kept playing the same opening scene back to back with iTunes turtle ninjas.
There’s definitely a difference.
The disk looks sharper, less noise in the background, and the dynamic range is so much wider.
But ATV4k is less than $200 and they selling 4K movies for under $15 so I shouldn’t complain.
They even converted dozens of movies I already owned to 4K.
I’ll just have to stop asking so much from it.

 

[err404]

I own turtle ninjas on 4K HDR UHD Blu-ray and I kept playing the same opening scene back to back with iTunes turtle ninjas.
There’s definitely a difference.
The disk looks sharper, less noise in the background, and the dynamic range is so much wider.

Umm, of course the UHD disk is better. If you expected otherwise, you have seriously unrealistic expectations. The disk is at least 5x the bitrate. While I expect 4k streaming quality to rise, it will never reach the quality of the disk within the lifetime of the Apple TV 4k.
That said, I do think that the dynamic range will improve.

 

[Tech198]

Well... all that extra file size accounts for something right ?

You don't expect a 4K movie to have a smaller size over 1080 version, even with efficient compression. That's not the same as better compression.

 

[z06gal]

I leave mine on 4kSDR until I play a 4k HDR movie. When i enable that on the Apple tv and then set my projector to HDR mode, I am extremely happy with the picture quality.

 

[BigAppleNYC123]

I’m not sure who sold you that “high-end” HDMI cable, but I hope you realize there is no such thing. HDMI is HDMI. As long as it’s the latest specs, a $10 cable works just as well as an $85 one. My guess is that you were upselled by a greedy commission happy store salesman with a monster HDMI cable or something similar...

Sorry but I can’t support this anymore. I just plugged. Anew hdmi cord into my Apple TV because my old cord didn’t support hdr. That all hdmi cords are equal is a myth.

 

[Packers1958]

4K streaming at 20 to 25 Mbps is about the same rate at SDR blu ray discs. That's why 4K streaming looks like blu ray. UHD discs are twice the bit rate as SDR blu ray.

 

[err404]

Sorry but I can’t support this anymore. I just plugged. Anew hdmi cord into my Apple TV because my old cord didn’t support hdr. That all hdmi cords are equal is a myth.

The important thing to note is if your cable is to spec. HDMI 2.0 is a very high speed transmission, so older cables made to the 1.0 spec MAY not cut it for 4k. But an HDMI 2.0 cable need not be expensive.

 

[palmerc]

This is kind of an update to an earlier post I made.

The ATV is a massive disappointment. It is just fundamentally broken. The problem with it not being able to automatically switch resolution is even more disastrous than I initially thought. I totally take back everything that I said about early reviewers.

If I have my mode set to Dolby Vision and I run across a movie that's in 4K/HDR then it will either hang and not play at all or play that content in Dolby Vision. This tells me the box isn't actually streaming in proper HDR at all, much less 4k because I swear these streams are 1080p and my TV is just upscaling it as I've said before, I usually, CAN, tell the difference.

Logically thinking, how can this box actually detect the appropriate stream to pull from the ATV Webservers if it has no way to actually, automatically DETECT what content is actually streaming? Now I know what the catch is to the free 4k/HDR upgrades. It's not delivering the proper streams at all. It's almost as if it's a "placebo" affect.

I look at the same 4K movie on my Shield (which I hate) or my Vudu app on my TV and it's night and day difference.

Returning my ATV and will just use my ATV 4 until this garbage is fixed.

Setting up the Apple TV 4K with your TV can require some doing, because my TV for example didn't want to display HDR in 'computer mode' and then you have to turn off all the built-in processing garbage on the TV. Took me a half hour of futzing with it.

Apple recommends this cable to pair with the box and I can attest that a cable can work on an older TV and then when connected to a different TV fail. The Belkin HDMI cable rated for 4K $29.95 on apple.com.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HLL52ZM/A/belkin-ultra-high-speed-hdmi-cable-2m