Poor picture quality on Channel 4 on demand

[mattybake]

Is anyone else having similar problems? The picture quality watching programmes on Channel 4 on demand is terrible. It's nowhere near HD. 

Live TV on channel 4 and recordings of channel 4 are fine, but on demand is rubbish!

[Profile closed]

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@Midnight_Voice wrote:

...such a pity that it can’t record, and the world isn’t quite ready to give up recording just yet.

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According to the data, the world is, just not old fuddy duddies like you and I! 😁

[Garethrprice]

@Whittin1706 wrote “Or allow me to have an Apple TV as my second box as well as my main…….”

I can appreciate the massive difference in cost between supplying an Apple TV box and a mini box as a second box. Would there be an interest if EE were able to sell an Apple TV box, with the EE app fitted, at cost price to contract customers (as opposed to in their retail store)? 

[Midnight_Voice]

@Profile closed 

And anybody on EE, rather than BT, who elects for a Box Pro rather than an Apple TV.

I wonder if these percentages are available anywhere?

[Heyrocco]

I took out EE tv after moving home and BT/EE being the only provider available at the time. Wish I hadn’t because the TV experience is terrible. Every streaming app (Netflix, channel 4, iplayer, ITV x, Amazon prime, etc) through the EE TV box is standard definition at best. It’s not worth the money. 
I will be going back to Sky at the first opportunity. 

[Adjo7]

I have noticed the same. It’s terrible quality.

this is with a new EEbox and decent broadband. If I watch the same through the channel 4 app on my LGTV the quality is perfect. It’s an inconvenience having to switch each time I want to watch things on the channel 4 app, would love a fix from EE. 

[Profile closed]

@Adjo7 You won’t get one from EE as it is unlikely anything is broken.

The app output quality will be in the control of Channel 4. As most of us long standing TV customers know, BT/EE doesn’t have the negotiating clout or capability it seems to get the best versions of apps (or even competent ones), on their pro box platform (iPlayer and YouTube excepted).

The version on the Apple TV 4K is fully featured though.

[Tycow]

Hi all,

I am glad I found this thread, because I was worried my box was not working correctly; thank you for all for confirming that it is the Channel 4+ app and not the box itself.

https://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

I have used the above site to contact Channel 4 to ask whether they can enable HD playback for the EE TV Box Pro... might be worth sending a message, because if they get multiple people complaining they might fix it. The "my message is about" drop down box has an option for "Channel 4 streaming/on demand/apps", so would recommend using that.

This is the message I sent; free free to use as a template!

Hi,

I am trying to watch Channel 4+ on demand using an EE TV Box Pro. The box is capable of displaying HD and 4K programs, however the Channel 4 app built into the box only displays programs at SD. I have gigabit fibre internet, so this is not a bandwidth issue.

The other apps on the EE TV Box Pro (such as Amazon Prime and Netflix) work correctly and display their programs in full HD / 4K as required; the Channel 4 one doesn't. I am also a Channel 4+ subscriber, and other devices in my house work correctly.

This problem is not just with my box; there is a thread on the EE forums complaining of the same issue, including showing screenshots of the issue:

https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/TV/Poor-picture-quality-on-Channel-4-on-demand/td-p/1441803

An EE employee has commented that this is not within their gift to fix, and that Channel 4 are responsible for making the changes needed to the app that is on the EE TV Box Pro:

https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/TV/Poor-picture-quality-on-Channel-4-on-demand/m-p/1445305/highlight/t...

Can you please enable HD content for the app on the EE TV Box Pro?

Thanks,

ITVX has a similar site, so I'll be sending the same message to them!

https://itvx-form.kustomer.support/contact/itvx-contactform-S1iw1IuGo

Thanks all. 🙂

[th_2001]

It’s why I went for the Apple TV box, the apps on the pro box , whilst iPlayer had UHD the rest of the main channels are poor quality regardless of your upgrade to remove ads.  

[Tycow]

OK, had a reply from ITVX already:

Hi Tycow,

Thanks for contacting ITVX.

After looking into this from our side, the max resolution for Youview on the device Matrix is 576 for on demand services. This is the reason you unable to view the ITVX content in HD/4K. If you have any other enquiries please do not hesitate to reach out

This implies to me that it is outside of the control of ITV...? I did ask for clarification and ask whether they are saying that only Youview can sort it out, and the answer was yes. 

Thoughts?  🤔

[DarrenDev]

That's clearly not the case as there's plenty of higher quality video on all models of TV Box.  It could be that they deliver their content in a format that cannot be adequately secured though - 576p is the max resolution that can be delivered without DRM protection, so it could be that they're unable to support any of the DRM options offered on YouView boxes.