Does Apple TV 4K convert programs to HDR and or DolbyVision?

That’s completely incorrect.

The single biggest flaw in the AT4K is the fact it upscales all content- including 1080 p and even SDR content to whatever the output it originally selected - likely HDR 4 K at 60 hz or DV at 60 or 30 hz. The box upscales everything and often the result is horrible. A good 4K TV like the LG OLEDs should upscale us and Sd content much better.

The AT4K does allow a user to manually switch output to virtually any setting that solves the problem but the issue is virtually no owner is going to go through this major hassle each time.

Read the Verge’s excellent review that details this major problem. Hopefully Apple will understand they need to have an auto output mechanism currently lacking big.

I've had a 4k HDR player - Oppo UDP 203 - since it was released in late 2016 and it's currently running through a Denon AVR-X4300H to a Sony A1E 65" OLED. All of these are 4K HDR10 and Dolby Vision capable, and I have had zero issues playing HDR10 content. I have not had any Dolby Vision content to check yet as there are not many DV 4k discs yet.

Every 4K HDR Blu-ray player I've ever seen automatically tells the TV to switch between SDR and HDR mode depending on source material. I was very surprised to find that the ATV5 outputs everything at one setting regardless of source content. I tried 4k 60 Hz and 24HZ, HDR and SDR, and whatever the ATV5 setting is, all content is output in that format. Apple's stated reason is to avoid delays in switching between HDR and SDR. It's more likely it's due to the basic design of the ATV - which has always output to a single resolution and never been able to switch on the fly based on program content. I have owned all 5 generations of ATV's so I know this has always been the case.

Why the ATV 4K cannot do what every 4K HDR Blu-ray player can do - change between HDR and SDR based on program material is a major "miss" by Apple. SDR content should be displayed in SDR, as it was intended, period. It should not be reformatted to display in HDR, forcing the consumer to recalibrate the TV's HDR mode to approximate the intended SDR image. And if the TV is adjusted/calibrated to make SDR look as intended in HDR, the HDR calibration may be compromised.

The problem many here are having - especially with Sony HDR TV's - is that my experience with the 2016 models (I have a 930D 55") is that they can only display HDR in either Cinema or Vivid modes, there is no "Standard" HDR mode. So if you normally run SDR in Standard mode, the change to Cinema in HDR mode results in a dimmer, softer, more yellow image. You can go into the picture settings on the Sony and change from Cinema to Vivid, but it's not the best solution either.

I believe the picture settings in SDR and HDR modes are saved separately for each input, so you can adjust the settings and/or fully calibrate the TV to your preference. You can change the settings on "Cinema" HDR to something you prefer. However, in HDR mode some settings are not adjustable.

The A1E allows HDR in "standard" mode, so the image doesn't change as much, however I can see that it is in HDR mode all the time if the ATV5 is set to HDR.

I just got my ATV5 yesterday, so I will do some testing with HDR and SDR content in HDR and SDR modes on the ATV to see if there is any major difference. However, my first thoughts as I researched this issue was to return the ATV5 and stick with my ATV4 until the ATV5 is updated to change from SDR to HRD based on program content.

Apple tries to upscale everything to whatever you have set the box at. Upscaling SDR content to HDR is really poorly done and ugly.

Let me try to clear this up. I'm talking about the resolution here, not the colour range (i.e. normal or HDR).

Suppose you have a HD television. This has four times the pixels of an SD television, so if you feed it with an SD picture the incoming video has to be fitted to the increased number of pixels. The simplest way of doing this is for each pixel of the SD signal to be fed to a group of four HD pixels. This would make the set look exactly like an SD set. Most sets find a way to smooth out the 'stepping' this can cause, and interpolate a bit so that the four pixels are graduated, taking into account the surrounding pixels. This is upscaling.

Similarly if you have a 4k television, there are four times the number of pixels of an HD television, so an HD signal has to be upscaled in the same way. The best sets do a very good job of this - they can't make it look exactly like 4k, but it's an improvement on basic one-to-four pixels. So when the set receives HD video, or SD for that matter, it knows what that is and upscales accordingly.

The 4k Apple TV does the upscaling itself; so that HD or SD material it streams is converted by similar means to 4k and fed to the set. As the set is receiving 4k video it doesn't perform any upscaling - it has no way of knowing that the contents of the video are HD or SD. There have been complaints that Apple's upscaling algorithms aren't as good as the better television sets, but you don't have a way of feeding the set with HD or SD and letting it do the work. (For example see this review which goes into more detail.)

The term 'upscaling' applies only to the conversion of the resolution - the number of pixels. Moving on to the colour range, the ATV's output is in HDR at all times, provided the set can handle it; however normal colour video can't be uprated to HDR because additional information is required, which isn't there; so the image, though technically HDR, still looks like normal colour (or possibly worse depending on how it's handled.)

It shouldn’t. Content needs to be mastered for HDR, whether HDR10 or DV. Auto conversion is going to have marginal and unpredictable results. They need to support native playback for non-HDR 1080p and 4k content

@JMGNYC and @tobiasellier: This is the way the Apple TV is designed. Upscaling has to be done at some point when you are watching SD or HD on a 4k television; depending on how the ancilliary equipment is designed the upscaling can be done by either the television or the device. The ATV does the upscaling itself and feeds everything to the TV at the highest quality the TV can handle. This means that menus and any overlays to the programme are in top quality. There is an issue with exactly how well the ATV is doing the upscaling (and upgrading of the colour range). Hopefully Apple will get across this.

You can go into the Settings/Video/Format and switch to whatever the native output of the program is. unfortunately this is not convenient to do, and requires you to know the format of each thing you watch.

Not much to add - the need to manually switch the output formats feels like a joke. E.g. my Sony 4K projector can only handle 4K HDR 24p - so I set the output to that format.

ATV 4K HDR content looks great - hard to tell a difference compared to the same content from an UHD disk. But: given the above settings, the ATK 4K seems to be sending everything to the projector in HDR - even if the content isn't available in HDR on itunes. I tested it with "LIFE" on Saturday - the projector received "HDR" content from the ATV 4K - but that movie isn't available on itunes in 4K HDR.

While I understand apple's intention to make things simple for the majority of users. They should implement some quick way to adjust the output parameters of the ATV 4K.

There's no upscaling SDR to HDR going on and furthermore going from SDR to HDR is not upscaling, you appear confused about what's going on.

I’m very happy with Apple’s upscaling of the resolution. That’s not my issue. What I’m unhappy about is the Apple TV forcing my TV into HDR mode for an SDR video and messing up the colors. I’m also unhappy about having to switch between HDR and Dolby Video modes depending on the content.

I doubt I will ever be happier using this box as intended with it defaulting to HDR mode regardless of the content. I see only negatives to that.

Yup. There's up to 14 steps required to switch from one source to another and back again.

1) Let's say I'm watching CBS streaming programming in 1080p 60Hz SDR, and I want to watch a movie on iTunes. I press the mic button and ask Siri to take me to Settings.

2) For the sake of brevity, let's say I only go to Settings to change my video format. So it's already on the last mode I selected.** From there, I swipe down to get to the "Other" options, to take me to the second page of format settings.

3) On the second page, I scroll down to 4K 24Hz HDR.

4) Then it asks me to confirm the setting (in the event my TV does not support it).

5) Then I tell Siri to take me to iTunes, where I watch my 4K HDR movie.

6) After the movie I want to go back to CBS, so I ask Siri to go back to Settings.

7) Hopefully Settings is still open to my last selection.** If so, I have to hit the Menu button to take me back to the main video format page.

8) Then I scroll up to the 1080p 60Hz SDR setting and select it.

9) I confirm that setting.

10) I ask Siri to take me to CBS.

**if for some reason the Settings have reverted to the main Settings menu, as sometimes happens for no reason I can correlate, I have to add the following steps:

1) Navigate to the audio/video settings menu and select.

2) Navigate to the Format menu, and select. Then proceed from step 2 above.

3 & 4) Repeat steps 1 & 2 if necessary to revert, and proceed from step 7 above.

There's a number of things Apple could do to speed this up and make it more convenient, short of automatic switching for a native source, as it should. For instance, there's no reason I can't just tell the ATV what resolutions my TV accepts after testing, so that they do not require confirmation after each selection. Moreover, I should just be able to tell Siri to: "switch picture format to 4K 25Hz HDR", and have it happen without even leaving the app I'm currently in, or worst case scenario, taking me there so I can visually confirm it. Even better would be to identify my common supported resolutions by category so I could just say "4K HDR movie", or "HD TV show", etc.

The bottom line is that the ATV should add the following options for audio and video output.

1. Auto or Best Available (switches depending on source)

2. Pass Through (passes audio or video to HDMI output without any adjustments or decoding)

This is what the vast majority of A/V devises do. Option 2 being the most important since it is widely known for the best picture and sound you let the TV handle the video and the A/V receiver handle the audio. Now someone is going to point out that not everyone has an A/V receiver. Personally I find that to be highly unlikely because anyone that springs for a 4K TV should also care about the quality of the audio, as well, and has speakers that require amplified audio signals from an A/V receiver, not to mention DD HD, True HD, DT, DT:X, and Atmos sound processing and needed source switching for the TV required for a typical, high end home set up.

Why Apple omitted these rudimentary features in a high end, expensive media server is beyond my belief. It seems that whoever decided on the user interface for ATV didn't consult with anyone that has knowledge of what is required for a typical home theater set up. What we need to do is let Apple know in any way possible that the vast majority of their users will not purchase or be happy with the Apple TV 4K until these audio and video options are included. If these needed changes can't be done via a firmware update, in my opinion this media server is second rate and not up to Apple's standards, or what is needed for a typical 4K home set up.

Agree with what CNET said, ” It’s confusing and should be fixed”.

Maybe, maybe not, however, the original question wasn't confusing nor was the answer from Roger which more than adequately addressed it. The rest of the thread is just people piling in to moan about something else and doing so whilst obviously not really understanding what they are talking about. Now that's confusing.

Well, it forces my TV in HDR mode and then plays 1080p SDR content and it looks really bad. My TV reports that it is getting a 4K HDR stream, not a 1080p SDR stream so the Apple TV is doing something. I would call it upscaling. If I am confused what is going on why don't you explain it to me then.

Thanks for the explanation.

I understand about the pixels. Comparing my Apple TV 4 (which sent 1080p to my 4K TV) to my Apple TV 4K in 4K SDR mode the picture quality is basically equivalent. So I think the pixel upscaling on my TV (1080p stream upscaled on the TV) to the upscaling on my ATV 4K (1080p source upscaled on the ATV 4K) is about the same.

However sending a 1080p stream from my ATV 4K set to HDR is over sharpened, over saturated, and the black levels appear different in very dark or light areas. It is simply not as good a picture as having my ATV 4K in 4K SDR mode.

So what is happening to a 1080p stream (from HBO for example) between 4K SDR and 4K HDR setting on the ATV 4K and is there away to better the picture quality?

Plus my TV supports both HDR and Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision movies look better with the DV setting on the ATV 4K and HDR movies look better with the HDR setting on the ATV 4K.

This leaves me the the feeling I have to keep changing the ATV 4K setting depending on the content type.

- Switch to 4K SDR setting for most apps that only stream 1080p or even Netflix shows in 4K SDR

- Switch to 4K HDR setting for HDR movies from iTunes

- Switch to 4K DV setting for DV movies from iTunes or Netflix DV titles.

IMO the ATV 4K should just pick the right mode depending on the content type.

I'm hoping to replace my Roku Premier+ once Amazon comes to ATV. Roku seems to be much more intelligent about it leaving itself in 4K SDR mode and only going to HDR mode when it starts playing an HDR title. The transition is very smooth only noticeable because and HDR symbol briefly displays in a corner of the screen.