Recently, Apple TV+ streaming in HD instead of 4K on my device via EE contract

[sja441]

Hello everyone,

I have access to Apple TV+ through my EE contract. Until recently, I was able to stream content in 4K without any issues. However, recently, I’ve noticed that the quality has dropped to HD, even though the content supports 4K and my internet speed is sufficient (above 60 Mbps).

Importantly, the Apple TV+ app now explicitly shows HD quality for the  contents that was previously in 4K, indicating that this is not just a temporary network issue but a deliberate change.

Has anyone else experienced this issue recently, where Apple TV+ is explicitly showing HD quality? Could this be a permanent change in EE’s service offering, a decision by Apple TV+, or something else? I’d appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to resolve this or confirm if this is indeed a new policy.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @sja441 

Welcome to the community.

Are you able to try another HDMI cable, to see if that makes a difference? It may also be worth checking the output settings on the Apple TV and TV devices too.

Let us know if any of that helps.

Chris

[sja441]

Thank you, Chris, for your message.

My device is a smart projector (Samsung Freestyle 2nd Generation-FHD), connected via ultra fast WiFi—not HDMI. I double-checked every possible scenario in both the Apple TV app and Samsung settings, but nothing worked. Other streaming apps like Rakuten and Prime Video play 4K movies perfectly fine, so the issue isn’t the device or connection. Even the Apple support adviser acknowledged that the current streaming quality isn't what it should be. At this point, the only explanation I can think of is that Apple has reduced the streaming quality on Apple TV+, either on its own or possibly as part of some agreement with EE. The strange thing is that the Apple TV+ menu indicates 4K quality, but when streaming, the actual playback is in HD (not even FHD). I’ve attached some photos to illustrate this discrepancy. this problem(two weeks) is new and I did not have such problem before

 

[DarrenDev · Accepted solution]

The only thing EE handles here is the payment.  There are no tiers to Apple TV+ subscriptions - everyone gets access to the same content, available to stream up to the maximum quality, regardless of who the payment is handled by.

It's not uncommon for service providers to downgrade quality on devices when there are known issues with performance or security - it's possible that Apple have downgraded quality your device, maybe temporarily, or maybe permanently. I would have liked to think that they would have told you that when you called them though.

I would recommend giving Samsung support a call next - whilst they can't generally help with specific apps, they can go through some diagnostics, and also reach out to Apple on your behalf (I know this, as they've contacted my team previously about issues with the EE TV app).