Apple TV 4K 2021 shows only HD video from all apps instead of 4K or UHD

I have been dealing with this issue since Monday. I swapped in the new AppleTV 4K on my LG OLED for the previous gen on Friday, but I didn't notice the issue right away because I only watched AppleTV+, iTunes purchased content and Disney+ until Monday. Monday evening I went to watch the last episode of "Jupiter's Legacy" on Netflix and one screen had some pretty obscure dialog. I went to turn on the subtitles via the pull down menu so that I could play with the new "circular scrubbing" by rewinding and I saw that there was just an HD badge in the info pane instead of the Dolby Vision badge I was expecting.

Since then I have played with all of the settings on the AppleTV to get this "fixed" but with no positive results. I finally started testing a theory that the AppleTV is actually playing the 4K stream, just the badge isn't right because the stream still looked good to me and because the TV flashes up either the Dolby Vision or HDR label when the stream starts from Netflix or Prime even though the info pulldown only shows HD and no mention of HDR or DV. Because the AppleTV upscales to 4K, my TV always reports 4K even if it is a title that is only available in 1080p. So I switched the max resolution on the AppleTV to 1080p and when I did that the TV of course only reports 1080p, but the Netfilx app shows only an HD badge on the title page of a 4K title. When I switch the max resolution back to 4K the 4K label (or the Dolby Vision label) returns on the title page. In both cases the info pull down in the player only displays the HD badge even though the played stream looks much better with the max resolution set to 4K. This of course could be because the AppleTV is no longer upscaling, so I tried to think of some other test.

Then I had the idea of playing "The Expanse" and checking the TV info, because it is oddly enough filmed with HDR not Dolby Vision. The TV will report the HDR profile for HDR, HDR10, and HDR10+ content. The TV reports that, even though the pull down info in the Prime app only displays HD, the stream is playing HDR with the bt.2020 profile. This HDR profile is only applied to 4K or 8K streams. This makes me think that the Prime stream is actually 4K. Additionally, YouTube reports over its completely different info function that it is playing a 4K stream.

I have a theory (a bit of a stretch perhaps) that this is just a labeling problem in the info pull down with apps that still use the "old" video API on the AppleTV. The video player or API set has been updated to work in the new "circular scrubbing" gesture with the new AppleTV. Netflix and Prime can use this new gesture, but they still use the old info pull down and so are somehow affected by this bug (partial use of the latest API set). The AppleTV player uses a new API set that has the info displayed at the bottom of the screen by pressing the back button. This player (AppleTV+ or purchased content) does not seem to be affected by the bug. YouTube and Disney+ appear unaffected by this bug, but both use a completely different proprietary player that does not behave at all like the AppleTV+ player and also does not yet support the circular scrubbing.  

Hopefully this is indeed just a software issue. Whether it be with Apple or some of the various streamers that need to update their apps to correct this issue. Those affected will have to wait on more info from Apple (perhaps a software update) or an App update from affected streamers. 

• video approximate-display-size: when i stream 4k content it says "-" (maybe there is the problem?) & with 1080 it says "3840 x 2160"
• natural-size: current resolution of the stream

pic 1 - 4k hdr10 source (natural-size: 3840 x 2160):

pic 2 - hd 1080 source (natural-size: 1920 x 1080):

I'm seeing the exact same issue on my 2021 Apple TV 4K. I also know it's an issue with the new box as my 2017 Apple TV 4K does show 4K and Dolby Vision badges on the info overlay. I'm using John Wick 3 purchased from iTunes as my test video.

Info on my setup:

• Samsung Frame 2021 4K TV connected with HDMI 2.0b cable
• Fast internet (500+ Mb/s) via a cat 6 ethernet cable.

On both the 2021 and 2017 Apple TVs I have the following Video settings:

• Format: 4K HDR
• Chroma 4:2:2
• Match Content: Range and Frame Rate

For iTunes Movie and TV Shows settings I have:

• Video Resolution: Best Available
• Quick Start: On
• Limit Purchase and Rentals to SD: Off

Both are running TV OS 14.6 which is the latest version.

except you're missing the point here..

Apple TV 4k v2 is telling Apps like Netflix, that it's an "Apple TV". Perhaps this is Apple changing their branding, perhaps it's a bug. Either way, the Netflix app, using that "Apple TV" label, is presuming it's on an original apple tv instead of 4kv2. Yes, the output of the 4kv2 is 4k to the TV, but if Netflix is playing HD content, then it's the 4kv2 which is upscaling the HD content to 4k, not Netflix playing 4k directly.

So, there's a few things that need fixing:

1. Apple should be reporting the proper hardware info to the apps, being more careful to separate out their branding labels from their non user facing hardware info labels.
2. Apps need to update themselves to be aware of 4kv2, and to show actual 4k content when connected to a 4k tv (which Apple TV 4k should be doing internally)

I tried another test to Airplay Dolby Vision/4K video from my iPhone 12 Pro Max. For this test, I am using the "Dolby Vision" logo that briefly appears at the top, right corner of the screen to indicate whether the video is streaming at 4K. I am assuming that when the logo appears, the video is 4K even if the "Info" section shows "HD".

I don't have an issue with Apple TV+, Netflix, or Disney+. I see the "Dolby Vision" logo appear for 4K content. My issue is with Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and Hulu. I could have sworn I had the problem with HBOMAX. It seems to work now. There was a recent update where HBOMAX changed their player. It now has compatibility issues with the Apple TV remote. But this is for another thread.

My test: From my iPhone:

1. I airplay'd Star Trek Discovery to the Apple TV 4K 2021. The "Dolby Vision" logo did not appear.
2. I airplay'd Star Trek Discovery to my LG CX. The "Dolby Vision" logo appeared.

When I tried this test with Hulu and Amazon Prime, the "Dolby Vision" logo did not appear on either. I think their iPhone apps might not stream 4K to mobile devices. I can't confirm this with Amazon Prime, but I can for Hulu. A 4K title on my Apple TV's Hulu app does not have "4K" in its description on their iPhone app.

Although "HD" appearing under "Info" is an Apple problem, I think not streaming the correct quality to get the "Dolby Vision" logo might be an issue for the streaming services like Paramount+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime where it doesn't appear as expected. Paramount+ only streams to some 4K devices. The 5th gen Apple TV 4K is one of them. Perhaps they need to update their code to recognize the Apple TV 4K 2021 model?

My Apple TV 4K 2021 video settings are:

• Format: 4K Dolby Vision
• Match content: Off
• Check HDMI Connection: Tested successfully for 4K video. My HDMI cable is HDMI 2.1and supports the higher frame rate.

And audio settings are:

• Audio Output: TV Speakers (I actually eARC from the TV to an integrated amp.)
• Audio Format: Auto, Atmos Available

as you can see in the pic below, it just seems to be labeling in certain apps. i've tested movies & tv shows in apple tv, netflix, disney+ & prime. all are streaming 4k content (hdr10, dolby vision & sdr) as shown under "natural-size: 3840 x 2160" via activated "playback HUD".

I think this is the real issue. I just had a long support chat with Netflix and they said that this AppleTV is identifying itself as “Apple TV” which in their system isn’t 4K (probably mixed up with the 3rd gen). Apple will either have to change the identifier or straighten things out with Netflix, Amazon, and others. See the chat with Netflix for more details.

I can confirm that the problem has been solved after updating Apple TV 4K 2022 with tvos 14.7 beta 2 (18m5533c) public.

The new 2021 apple TV 4K displays video in 4K with correct labelling on info page in both Netflix, amazon prime and itunes movie.

Amazon Prime

Netflix

Itunes movie

OK this first screen shot is HD content playing on the new Apple TV 4K with the latest update. You can see it is 1080p upscaled to 4K with an avg bitrate of 6.5Mbps

Now for 4K content, it CLEARLY shows it is receiving a 2160p feed, and displaying it as the same. Bitrate is also up to over 16Mpbs.

This is indisputably a 4K stream...period...if you are not seeing the same you need to make sure you have the latest software and a compatible HDMI cable.

as is mentioned: i tried every combination on 146 and 15 , so latest software.

cable is compatible. tested this before. (STB from provider)

the issue is always natural size 1920*1080 is reported by xcode also when playing 4k content from atv+, prime, netflix or iptv

no clue why this happens. display res is set to 4k

on 146 there was a label mismatch(4k reported as hd) this is solved but streams ar not 4k

shot from ted lasso with atv+ on atv 4k:

In my iCloud account under devices the new Apple TV 4K show up as “Apple TV” as opposed to the previous model (which I have) which shows up as “Apple TV 4K”

Can others check and tell if they see the same?

Aside from the model ID found under the physical device (A2169) everything else seem to indicate this is not a 4K Apple TV.

Something got mixed up somewhere… I hope Apple responds soon.

Some updates - Called Apple today and the support person looked through this thread and the Reddit thread. He was going to raise it internally.

I was also advised to try out an ultra high speed HDMI cable that is compatible HDML 2.1. I did the "HDMI Connection Check" which showed no issues (previous cable did).

My TV is a LG 49UF850T.

Cable is Comsol ultra high speed HDMI cable (48Gbps).

My internet connection has consistent 260Mbps+ down speed.

Tried Netflix, Disney+ with both "Ultra Deep Color" on and off for the HDMI port using TV settings. Issue still exist.

Netflix shows "ULTRA 4K" as an option but plays HD.

Disney+ doesn't show a video info panel but it looks HD. When I turn on UHD, it shows a HDCP connection error after playing a black screen for couple of seconds.

Also tried restarting the Apple TV a few times... no solution so far.

Check your box next to the serial number label. It might say 1080P. I was trying to figure out why my Gen6 didn't show 4k video option setting. I called Apple support with the s/n and noticed the 1080P. No where on Apple web site says Gen6 also comes in 1080P model.