Channels 3.1.4 on tvOS 11.2 public beta - UK

Channels Apple TV
#1

So on tvOS 11.2 Channels 3.1.4 will force SDR - this solves the “dimming” issue when the on-screen display disappears.

However – I’m in the UK and TV here is broadcast at 50Hz. Channels now forces the display mode to 60Hz even though my ATV is set to 50Hz. There doesn’t appear to be a setting in Channels to alter this.

The juddering when watching broadcast TV is really annoying – please make the forcing of SDR/video-mode optional or at least provide the option of specifying the video mode you’re going to force. I’d much prefer the dimming than watch 50Hz content juddering when displayed at 60Hz.

Thanks.

#2

Hmm, we are not forcing any display mode in our app. The only setting we enabled is to tell tvOS that our app does not support HDR.

In some other threads, users reported that putting their ATV4K into 50hz output by default worked as expected. Apps like netflix which actually play 60hz video will automatically switch into that mode. Does this work for you?

See Apple TV 4K

#3

My default video setting on the ATV is HDR 50Hz. I have configured the ATV to “match video mode” and “match HDR”.

Netflix, BBC iPlayer, iTunes content all switches to the appropriate display mode to match the content being played.

For some reason Channels is closing the 60Hz SDR mode instead of 50Hz.

#4

So – if I set the ATV to SDR / 50Hz and then launch Channels no mode switching happens (presumably because I’m already in a SDR mode).

However if my default mode is HDR / 50Hz when Channels launches and switches to SDR mode it chooses 60Hz :frowning:

#5

Okay, that sounds like a bug with the new SDR mode we added. I will investigate how to force switch to 50hz.

@stoli412 @shepherdr Can you confirm that you’re also seeing this behavior with the latest version of the app?

#6

I’ve opened a bug report with Apple about this issue:

http://openradar.me/35451108

I also opened two other bug reports asking for APIs which would allow us to fix this in our app:

http://openradar.me/35450849
http://openradar.me/35451006

#7

Yes the force SDR does indeed change 50Hz to 60Hz even though it is only supposed to change depth rather than framerate. You don’t have to play a 50Hz video to reproduce this - the Channels menu system does it. I’m sure you can reproduce this on US TVs by setting the ATV to 50Hz. I assume in the US you can set 50 Hz and TVs can display this to reproduce the problem.

1 Like
#8

Checked out your bug requests. I think your request to Apple is very important for developers who use non-standard video players.

#9

Yes, seeing the same behaviour here…thought I was going mad. I set my ATV 4K to default HDR 50Hz. The latest Channels beta forces to SDR but also seems to switch to 60Hz.

I do think it’s a bug in the 11.2 beta…I think I’m getting similar behaviour with Plex as well. Though it’s difficult for me to diagnose more precisely because my new TV doesn’t display refresh rate (!). But I can tell something is off because I can see the judder.

#10

My TV (Sansung) will tell you the exact resoution and whether HDR or not by pressing the INFO button. Happy to test any issues.

#11

I did some testing and the APIs advertised to change the display mode are not actually present at all. The only way it works is if you use the system video player, which does everything automatically.

Hopefully Apple addresses this in upcoming betas.

#12

I’m not currently in the UK, but have a temporary solution: Set the ATV default to 50hz SDR. Then it will switch to both correct color mode and framerate when playing content.

#13

Please try upgrading to 11.2b5 (15K5105a) and see if they fixed the SDR/50HZ issue.

#14

11.2b5 appears to work fine. I set my ATV4K to 50Hz and Channels displays all my UK TV at 50Hz rather than switching back to 60Hz as before. All the other apps that use the standard player work fine. Older US 60Hz shows on Netflix (Fresh Prince of Bel Air is an example) switch correctly. UK shows like Doctor Who display at 50Hz. More recent 24P shows and movies display at 24P.
As I mentioned before I really would rather have Channels switch framerate per video rather than have to set the ATV to the domestic TV framerate. I don’t know why though other than the fact that it makes Channels the only App that I have to adjust my ATV to rather than the app adjusting to the settings I set my ATV to if you see what I mean. I know Channels will only get a single framerate per territory in practice but it could have different framerate recordings and live TV theoretically.

1 Like
#15

Thanks for confirming!

As of 11.2b5 we are still unable to set the frame rate on the ATV4K programmatically. The API Apple advertises causes the program to crash when we try to use it. We have heard nothing back on our bug report about the issue.

If and when frame rate control becomes possible, we will support it. However, as you noted, the need is theoretical only as there is no way to mix 50hz and 60hz content in Channels DVR.

#16

Okay great. I’m surprised an advertised API crashes in a beta5!! Guess that’s why beta5 isn’t GM. Everything else seems to work great now after the play/pause issues with beta3 and beta4.

#17

I wish I could say I was surprised too. But after everything else we’ve seen this year, apparently this is the new normal.

#18

Very sad state of affairs for Apple!