4K 60 FPS support on the 1st Gen Apple TV

From the device specifications I see that the first gen apple TV supports 2160p but there is no mention of the frame rates. From testing, it turns out that only 2160p at 24 fps is supported. Any clues as to why it doesn't support 50/60fps yet ?

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 16

Posted on Oct 26, 2023 5:20 PM

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Posted on Oct 26, 2023 7:03 PM

60 Hz (fps) output is supported for Apple TV 4K (1st generation) [A1842], but it also depends on some other factors. As it has an HDMI 2.0 port, the HDMI bandwidth used should stay below what that port can manage. 4K HDR 60Hz with 4:4:4 chroma would exceed that. The solution is to set chroma to 4:2:0 (or 4:2:2), which is fine, as all streaming video is encoded as 4:2:0 anyway. That would bring the HDMI bandwidth below the limit.


Else you may have other components in the setup with lower HDMI ports or cables, restricting the max video specification further.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 26, 2023 7:03 PM in response to Charles_Bronson

60 Hz (fps) output is supported for Apple TV 4K (1st generation) [A1842], but it also depends on some other factors. As it has an HDMI 2.0 port, the HDMI bandwidth used should stay below what that port can manage. 4K HDR 60Hz with 4:4:4 chroma would exceed that. The solution is to set chroma to 4:2:0 (or 4:2:2), which is fine, as all streaming video is encoded as 4:2:0 anyway. That would bring the HDMI bandwidth below the limit.


Else you may have other components in the setup with lower HDMI ports or cables, restricting the max video specification further.

Oct 28, 2023 7:20 PM in response to Charles_Bronson

Not sure what the defaults are, if there are any. But an initial install should take the connected screen into consideration, and configure to what should work “best” for most users. Connections to a different screen after initial setup should probably best start with a Reset Video Settings, again to adjust for the detected specifications of the connected screen.

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4K 60 FPS support on the 1st Gen Apple TV

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