iPlayer 4k/HDR etc?

Scam

Scam

Scam

Soldato
Joined
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Ok so what am I missing here? Have SkyQ and an AppleTV 4K (older generation) which I generally use for streaming apps. Want to watch BBC programs like The Night Manager or Attenborough’s new show, yet on Sky they show as HD only (on demand), and if I go to iPlayer on my AppleTV it just says nothing about HD or 4K :confused:

Surely it’s possible to watch bigger budget programs like The Night Manager in 4K/HDR? :confused: How?
 
iPlayer is getting dated and needs an overhaul.

iPlayer 4K on AppleTV boxes doesn’t work because Apple has deployed a version of the HLG libraries that isn’t compatible.

Other devices that do work (eg. Fire TV Stick 4K Max), the picture is great, but the sound is typically PCM 2.0.
 
Scam said:
Does it tell you within the iPlayer app that the program is 4k? There’s nothing on the program page which is daft.
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Yes on my TV it has UHD is colorful letters above the program.

But to be honest they are few and far between, they seem to much rather use 1080p forever.
I watched "can you keep a secret" last night in UHD on bbc iplayer.
 
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After doing some quick research it seems that yes the AppleTV app does not support 4K/HDR. I never knew.

So I’ll have to try the SkyQ app. Apparently that only works either “newer” of the UHD SkyQ boxes whatever that means.
 
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VincentHanna said:
Your TV doesn't have an app?
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I’m sure it does but I have a SkyQ box and an AppleTV (the latter of which I normally use for apps). I really don’t need to be having to use another device because the BBC and Apple can’t get on. It’s hard enough explaining to my girlfriend that that show was on Netflix so that’s the AppleTV, no that’s that remote, the other show is downloaded from Sky so that’s the Sky remote, no the Amazon app is pants on Sky so use the AppleTv, no that’s that remote, no that’s shows on Apple so it’s the AppleTV, no you can’t turn it down on that remote because we’re watching on the Sky box, no we can’t just have “normal TV” because it doesn’t exist anymore… I could go on :o
barmyllama said:
Doesn't iPlayer use HBLG for HDR?
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Sounds like it, and they’re the only streaming service that does?
 
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Scam said:
Just looked on iPlayer on my SkyQ box. No 4K.

According to this I have a v2 box which for some inexplicable reason means I can’t watch 4k/HDR on iPlayer. How dumb https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/UHD-on-BBC-iPlayer-not-working-on-SKY-Q-Box/td-p/4963187

I would have thought its more bother and cost to keep all the different manufacturers TV apps up to date compared to for instance Sky or Apple.
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A google suggests that the V2 Sky boxes were released without the HDR abilities of the V3, probably because HDR was formalised as a standard something less than a year before the V2 boxes came out, which means the V2 boxes would likely have been in development and production long before the standard was actually set and even if they were designed to in theory work with it when it was set it might not have been possible (or not for the BBC to do).

As for keeping the TV apps up to date, that's probably pretty simple as the TV apps are running as software over the OS, and a relatively limited number of OS's and base hardware sets, so a version of the app can likely be rolled out that looks at the hardware it's on and simply turn on or hide features depending on what the hardware and OS say is there.
Most of the TV apps for things like Netflix, Iplayer, Prime Video seem to update very rarely.

At one point the BBC was running something like 20+ encoders for Iplayer, so it's very unlikely they just don't do HDR on your chosen devices because they don't want to, it's almost certainly going to be either an issue they can't overcome, or one where the decision was made that for the number of users who would be affected (and have no other option*) it simply wasn't a good use of resources.


*Remembering that most TV sold in the last ~10 years have been smart, you need the TV display to support HDR, and pretty much every HDR TV does have smart features including the ability to run their own versions of the apps.
 
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Scam said:
I’m sure it does but I have a SkyQ box and an AppleTV (the latter of which I normally use for apps). I really don’t need to be having to use another device because the BBC and Apple can’t get on. It’s hard enough explaining to my girlfriend that that show was on Netflix so that’s the AppleTV, no that’s that remote, the other show is downloaded from Sky so that’s the Sky remote, no the Amazon app is pants on Sky so use the AppleTv, no that’s that remote, no that’s shows on Apple so it’s the AppleTV, no you can’t turn it down on that remote because we’re watching on the Sky box, no we can’t just have “normal TV” because it doesn’t exist anymore… I could go on :o

Sounds like it, and they’re the only streaming service that does?
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It sounds like you are making it far more complicated than it needs to be
 
Werewolf said:
A google suggests that the V2 Sky boxes were released without the HDR abilities of the V3, probably because HDR was formalised as a standard something less than a year before the V2 boxes came out, which means the V2 boxes would likely have been in development and production long before the standard was actually set and even if they were designed to in theory work with it when it was set it might not have been possible (or not for the BBC to do).
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I don't think that's the case. V2 boxes appear to run HDR absolutely fine, I certainly notice the difference when watching F1 etc. It seems to be more of an iPlayer thing.
Werewolf said:
As for keeping the TV apps up to date, that's probably pretty simple as the TV apps are running as software over the OS, and a relatively limited number of OS's and base hardware sets
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Yet I've seen lots of cases where people have older TVs that can no longer update streaming apps because they just stop supporting them. Compared to your 'standalone' boxes such as Sky, Virgin, AppleTV, FireTV there's a million more TV manufacturers out there to support. So I don't understand why that would be their priority. I've honestly always leaned into using my AppleTV or SkyQ box than using a TV app.
VincentHanna said:
It sounds like you are making it far more complicated than it needs to be
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Well, currently I have my Sky remote and my AppleTV remote on the coffee table in the lounge. My girlfriend already gets confused, so now I have to find the TV remote and have that out for iPlayer? Meh.

I don't think I'm the one making it more complicated, it's the BBC that won't support a popular device like AppleTV or older SkyQ boxes of which I'm sure there are millions in the UK.
 
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Scam said:
I don't think I'm the one making it more complicated, it's the BBC that won't support a popular device like AppleTV or older SkyQ boxes of which I'm sure there are millions in the UK.
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When almost everyone already has the app built into their TV but wont use it because they have to pick up the remote, thats not really on the BBC.
 
Scam said:
After doing some quick research it seems that yes the AppleTV app does not support 4K/HDR. I never knew.

So I’ll have to try the SkyQ app. Apparently that only works either “newer” of the UHD SkyQ boxes whatever that means.
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It is even worse for AppleTV as it only shows a max of 720p.
 
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