Hello all!

Recently finally got a 4K HDR TV to go with my Apple TV 4K.

As far as I can tell, neither the Apple TV 4K’s Movies app nor macOS’s AppleTV app ever download the 4K media for local storage, but they always stream from Apple’s servers. Does anyone know of any documentation on this, and how the bitrate is determined? On iOS I see the file sizes for downloads for HD and below, but not 4K. On macOS, I see only HD as download option, and only streaming options for 4K (I was hoping to use Home Sharing from my mac perhaps).

I’m looking at getting the absolute maximum image quality, and when streaming from other services I’ve noticed some artifacting (color banding in gradients) that I think are related to the encoding and/or bitrate.

Thanks for any info! Google or ChatGPT did not help me much (I think mostly because ‘4K’ is in the product name).

  • sciencetaco@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The absolute best image quality (50-80+mbps) is going to come from having digital file copies of the 4K Bluray. Which you store on your local network and play back your AppleTV using apps such as Infuse. That requires ripping the discs yourself or aquiring them via questionable means. Otherwise streaming from AppleTV+ service with upwards of 30mbps.