Who’s streaming 4K HDR10 from Amazon Prime Video?
3TL;DR? Having problems streaming most 4K titles and HDR never activates. Suggestions?
A few weeks ago my ancient behemoth 65” rear projection Mitsubishi TV moved on to the great beyond. Unfortunately, a couple weeks too late for me to snap up a Black Friday deal on a new TV, so I’ve been patiently waiting for a deal on a 65” 1080p dumb TV.
Then I tripped into a decent price on a 65” Vizio 4K (about $540). UHD, HDR10, streaming apps and SmartCast… all the bells and whistles you can find for under a thousand bucks.
I got it all set up yesterday and tried out the 4K capability streaming from Amazon Prime Video via the integrated app. Many titles Amazon specifically listed as 4K UHD won’t actually stream in 4K. A few exceptions: Specter (James Bond movie) will reliably hit 4K within a minute or two, Z (Prime Original series) will get there after a few minutes, Grand Tour eventually steps up to 4K, as does Le Mans. But most titles won’t ever stream more than 1080p.
Also, none of the HDR titles ever enable HDR. I’ve tried several, but no joy. Most won’t even hit UHD, but those that do never activate HDR.
Is anyone having any luck reliably streaming 4K? I suspected maybe my network wasn’t up to the task, but if that was the case it seems none of the UHD titles would hit 4K. But some titles will do 4K every time (within a minute or two).
On a side note, I queued up Spectre on the internal streaming app, and also on my Xbox One in 1080p. After 4K kicked in on the TV I queued the Xbox to the same scene and flipped between the two, comparing image quality. TBH, there’s a difference if you scrutinize, but 4K is not what I’d say is a remarkable improvement. I’m hoping HDR will tip the scales and will make a noticeable difference.
Anyone with 4K streaming experience, I’d appreciate hearing about how it’s going for you…
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If you use your cell phone as the video screen for streaming, you don’t care about all that. : )
(I do feel empathy for your problems).
@f00l Aye, you may speak the truth. But my eyes aren’t young and I struggle with anything closer than elbow distance.
@ruouttaurmind
Ha ha. Bet my eyes are older than your eyes.
But I have biological bifocals. So I can’t really say if it would work for others.
@f00l Additionally, I tend to do stuff when “watching” TV. I’m not really one to sit in the recliner staring at the screen most times. So lugging around my tablet while a show is playing… not all that feasible for me.
I’m out, although I do stream AMZN & Netflix. You might need to find some sort of geeky forum out there to ask. Maybe a Vizio forum?
@therealjrn Ya, there are several reddit topics, but sussing out the meaningful information proved a monumental task. I thought I’d throw the dice in here and hope for the best.
Interestingly, I was asked to help solve an issue almost identical to this with a Vizio last year and the solution was firmware. Hope it helps.
@Pavlov Thanks for the suggestion. When I set up the Vizio it’s initial setup wizard checked for firmware updates and installed appropriately. Now it checks on a regular basis and will notify me of available updates when I turn on the TV.
Interesting development though: I used the Netflix free trial promo installed in the TV and signed up for a month of 4K streaming. Every title which specifies UHD hits 4K within a few seconds. Those that offer HDR enable HDR the moment it begins streaming. So… Netflix is very reliably streaming 4K and HDR with no exceptions.
I guess Amazon’s app and/or streaming servers must not be up to par.