Watching TV in Ultra HD resolution: Here's how!
1.8.2018
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Thomas Kunz
When you buy a new UHD TV, manufacturers promise you the best picture quality thanks to ultra-high resolution and HDR. But the question is: where do you even get this UHD HDR content that really pushes your TV to its limits?
There's no doubt about it: from a technical point of view, today's UHD televisions deliver incredibly good images. So good, in fact, that even Andy W. Bohli, CEO of the Zurich-based company Imaculix, admitted to me: "You get a better picture at home on TV than at the cinema." That was just under two months ago. I met him back then when I took a look behind the scenes of the LED cinema at the Arena Cinemas in Zurich.
So there's hardly anything to complain about on the hardware side when it comes to the picture on a current UHD TV. So the question for you is: How do I even get access to the UHD HDR picture material?
In a nutshell, there are three important sources:
- Streaming via smart TV apps
- Streaming via set-top box or other media servers
- Buy UHD Blu-ray
And that's what this is all about. I'll go through all three options with you, show you their possibilities and limitations and tell you what requirements need to be met for your UHD home cinema to work.
First things first: there is little to no UHD live TV content available today. There are suppliers such as Swisscom that offer a few channels together with Teleclub for a correspondingly expensive subscription - almost all of them demo channels - but there's not enough meat on the bone.
So.
So here we go.
Streaming via smart TV: pre-installed TV apps
The quickest way to access UHD HDR content is via an app on your TV. However, this requires an internet connection with sufficient bandwidth. To stream UHD HDR content, most streaming platforms recommend a bandwidth of at least 25-30 megabits per second. So don't rely on your Wi-Fi; use an Ethernet cable. That way, you're sure to provide your TV with enough bandwidth.
When I talk about streaming apps, I mean Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube. There's a 99.9 per cent chance they're already installed on your TV. Open the Smart TV menu by pressing the corresponding home button on your remote control.
Netflix
In Switzerland, Netflix is the streaming supplier with the largest Ultra HD offering. However, it is only limited to its own productions - namely Netflix Originals.
Most Netflix Originals are streamed in HDR10 format. Netflix is streaming a steadily increasing number of in-house productions, such as "Lost in Space" or "Marco Polo", in Dolby Vision format. And where it says Dolby Vision, there is also Dolby Atmos sound. Simply put, this is the best possible picture together with the best possible sound.
So:
- About 860 series and 2200 films
- Available languages: German and original sound
- Costs per month: 19.90 francs for Ultra HD resolution
- Stream on a maximum of four devices simultaneously
- Where available, content in Ultra HD quality (approx. 140 in-house productions)
Amazon Prime Video
The subscription booster from online department stores' Amazon is now also available in Switzerland with an expanded range of series and films. The Prime Originals are available in HDR10. Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are not (yet?) available.
In Germany and Austria, Prime Video boasts:
- About 1700 series and 4300 films
- Available languages: German and original sound
- Cost per month: 7.99 euros
- Cost per month with annual subscription: 5.75 euros
- Stream on a maximum of two devices simultaneously
- Where available, content in Ultra HD quality (approx. 20 in-house productions)
It is difficult to give exact figures for Swiss customers. Until recently, we only had access to in-house productions - Prime Originals - in Switzerland. And then not even all of them. Since last April, significantly more series and films have been added. How many exactly? I have no idea. Amazon has no concrete answers, and the internet doesn't know either. Thank you, Amazon.
YouTube
If you read my articles regularly, you will already be familiar with this sentence: YouTube on the big screen improves your life.
Asking around my circle of friends, this option of streaming UHD content seems to be criminally underrated. Nobody does it except me. Yet the options for streaming series, documentaries and do-it-yourself shows are enormous - and free. In the article linked above, I explain in detail how best to do this.
I would just like to add one more thing here: You can easily stream ultra-high-definition content from YouTube via the Smart TV app. However, if you also want to play HDR films, this is only possible if you stream from your mobile via Google's Chromecast Ultra. This is apparently because YouTube does not work particularly well with manufacturers when developing smart TV apps. What a shame.
Reception via set-top boxes
When I talk about set-top boxes or network media players, I mean that you need additional hardware - a box - to receive the UHD content. The box itself streams from the Internet, preferably via Ethernet cable due to the bandwidth required. And from there it then goes to your TV.
Attention: For the line between the box and the TV to run fast enough to transmit UHD HDR content, you need a suitable HDMI cable with a high transmission rate, i.e. 18 gigabits per second.
Here is a small selection that can cope with this:
Apple TV 4K
An Apple TV box has been around for a while. But this one has only been around since September last year, and it can transmit Ultra HD content.
What else can Apple TV do? Basically, it's a box with direct access to the iTunes store, where you can buy or rent current and less current cinema films. You can find a current overview here. The box automatically recognises your UHD TV and plays the content in the highest quality format available for the respective device. In other words: Ultra HD, HDR10 or Dolby Vision. From autumn, selected films will even be available with Dolby Atmos sound: Nice!
Apart from this, the Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube apps are pre-installed on the box. An extremely comprehensive package, in my opinion, albeit at the typically horrendous Apple price per box.
Shield TV
Nvidia launched a real powerhouse onto the market at the beginning of last year, which is a games console and media streaming platform in one.
This is what you can stream with it:
- Series and films via streaming apps such as Netflix or Prime Video
- Series and films via Google Play
- UHD content from YouTube
- Music from Spotify, Google Play Music or Apple iTunes
- Over 100 games in console quality
- Stream games from your PC (the PC must be switched on at the same time)
On the console itself, you can also download films or series directly from the internet in UHD HDR quality, save them and play them on your TV. However, the storage space of 16 GB is limited. Fortunately, the memory can be expanded via USB or NAS. Again, make sure that your internet has enough bandwidth for streaming.
And because the whole thing runs on Android, you can integrate the console into your smart home and then control it.
Chromecast Ultra
This small network media player from Google can stream almost anything from your mobile to the big screen, in particular:
- Series and films via streaming apps such as Netflix or Prime Video
- Series and films via Google Play
- UHD content from YouTube
Positive: It's easy to set up (I've described how in this article, below) and doesn't require an additional HDMI cable; that's already part of the design.
Negative: You need your mobile to control everything. A blessing for some, but more of a curse for me, because I like to put my mobile away when I'm watching TV.
UHD Blu-ray with player
They still exist, the UHD Blu-rays. In the age of fibre optics and streaming platforms, I doubt whether there will ever be another physical storage medium to replace the UHD Blu-ray.
What I think is so great about these discs: I have something in my hand, and it's not just the film or series itself, but also lots of bonus material. What's more, practically all Blu-rays have a Dolby Atmos soundtrack in the overall package.
To play a UHD Blu-ray, however, you need a corresponding player: this can be a UHD Blu-ray player or an XBox One X. Again, you should use an HDMI cable with a sufficiently high transmission rate.
Conclusion: UHD, you have to watch it
Pardon the casual title. But seriously. Buying a new TV means you've taken a first step towards a high-definition future. If you only watched live TV or bought cheap Netflix subscriptions that only had full HD quality despite having a UHD TV, it would be like buying a fancy Ferrari.would be like having a fancy Ferrari that you drive like a Fiat Punto with 180,000 kilometres, no air conditioning and a damaged gear stick.
Therefore: make sure you get your Ultra HD material! Thanks to Netflix or Prime Video, you're more than well stocked up on series. Thanks to the smart TV app or streaming via set-top box and network media player, you won't have any problems accessing the suppliers.
When it comes to cinema films, it's more difficult. Netflix and co. do offer some of them, but never in Ultra HD resolution: In-house productions in Ultra HD and HDR? Yes. Cinema films? No. You will only be able to watch the latter in Ultra HD if you buy the UHD Blu-ray for the film or own an Apple TV box.
To make sure everything runs smoothly, you should remember the following two things:
- Streaming: Then you should have an internet bandwidth of around 25-30 megabits per second
- Transmit via box or player: Then you should have an HDMI cable with a transfer rate of around 18 gigabits per second
Have I missed something? Or do you know another way of watching Ultra HD material on the telly that I haven't listed? Then let me know in the comments!
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
