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-   -   HotStar: Why no 4K sports coverage? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/244852-hotstar-why-no-4k-sports-coverage.html)

After watching Formula 1's Drive to Survive on Netflix in 4k resolution it really highlights what we are missing on platforms like Hotstar giving us only 1080p.

Request all here who agree it would be great to watch all sports in 4k.. reach out to Hotstar on Twitter/Facebook etc to urge them to upgrade video.

I have already messaged them multiple times on Twitter :D

It's easier said than done. Cricket streaming in India has pretty much the largest audience for a sporting event in the world(thanks to the sheer popularity and our population). Hotstar has pretty much risen to have the best capacity to cope with it( consider that even giants like Youtube went down when they tried to live stream NFL, not even in 4K). And don't worry about it, when Hotstar was launched, their streaming ability was pretty much crap and even their movies were capped at 720p. And now they are upto 1080p in streaming and 4K HDR with dolby atmos sound for their movies. All for nearly 80 percent off the Disney plus pricing (in other markets). Hard to pick on them.

Streaming in 4K takes nearly 3-4 times more data and compression that has to be done in real time and at both ends. This is currently not very practical and could be a possibility a few years into the future.

P.S. you saw the highlights in 4K, not a livestream. That's a piece of cake compared to livestreaming in 4K.

Netflix charges 799 per month for 4K versus 999 per year of Hotstar?

I'll be happy to first get rid of these crypto ads during broadcast. This is a bigger irritiant than the resolution itself.

Keeping aside the resolution talk, the step-child treatment of F1 by Hotstar is pretty sad. No archives. Only the current GP shows would be there. No extras. Nothing much on pre-race or post-race. Might be how their contract is setup but it is pretty disappointing as a fan. Not like at least F1TV is active in India.

If I browse the Hotstar app in my Samsung TV, I have to literally type F1 in search box to find it. No navigation path.

Even though Hotstar advertises 4k HDR with Dolby sound I am yet to come across one title which has 4k. Let me know what titles are 4K.

The Live telecast on Hotstar is mostly meh compared to Full HD of set top boxes. Don't trust just do a side by side comparison. Hotstar doesn't even look full HD for live sports telecast and motion handling is extremely poor.

I still have Tatsky boxes at home and am planning to go for Binge and reinitiate the minimum monthly stuff and use it to watch at least sports till the time OTT channels provide good quality sports telecast. Even SonyLiv quality is extremely poor compared to set up box.

Binge/Binge+ is quite cheap compared to taking yearly subscriptions individually.

Netflix and Amazon can continue to be stand alone but rest of OTT put together is a lot cheaper on Binge and they are sure to add further OTT platforms as well. Currently some 12-13 channels @ 299/month.

Are you on hotstar premium tier? Most of the recent Disney titles are 4K HDR and some with Atmos as well. You can try the Mandalorian and some of the recent Marvel movies.

SonyLiv has a lot of catching up to do. But hotstar is more than enough for live streaming and of course you cannot match a livestream with a TV broadcast, it is much more data intensive and not to forget much more expensive as well. 2 months Tata sky hd can pay for the whole year of hotstar. clap:

Yes am on the premium tier. Recently watched Sang-Chi and checked the video details and it showed Full HD resolution only - 1080ip. I can check again. Unlike Amazon and Netflix the titles don't show if they are Full HD or 4 K while browsing and that makes it more difficult to know which are the ones on 4K

Following is the statement from Hotstar website. Maybe that is your case for concern? I have a Samsung TV whose OS I suspect is built on Android but I have not seen any 4K content there. probably because I don't stream Disney stuff much.

I have a LG OLED which has LG WebOS. So not sure if its enabled or not. Will see if there is an update which may fix the issue.

LG and Samsung TVs have an issue playing 4k in Hotstar. My Sony Android TV played Shang chi in 4k flawlessly. Same for other Marvel stuff. Best workaround for those TVs is to get a firestick or wait for Hotstar to update for other OS as and when they want to.

Its not a problem. The option isn't there at all. It didn't just strike me that it could well be a app issue.

4K firestick costs a cool 6k+. I was recently checking Tata Sky binge and they still don't have an option of 4 K firestick. For existing customers the firestick comes free. Most of my yearly subscriptions are still on. Will wait for the subscriptions to end and may be by that time Tata Sky may be offering the 4K firestick.

Unfortunately they don't allow Tatasky subscriptions on external firesticks.

Definitely a limitation in your TV app, I see 4K and HDR labels on my TCL Android TV.

Rather than 4k I think hotstar need to up their frame rate for live sports. The only reason I still have DTH is because live sports looks very weird on hotstar.

Thanks for the info, but with internet speeds in India most can handle steaming in 4k (Our backend) hope they look at bringing 4K forward a bit.
We need higher frame rates for sure.

they have a few, tweet them, they will give you a full list.

Hotstar cant be played at 4k on TV direct, only through Jio/Firestick etc.

Think as other members mentioned it works on Android TVs. Absolutely correct on the frame rates though. For some reason the movies looks perfectly fine but live sports looks weird

Only reason I have not cut the cord yet. My Tata Sky membership is still active though I have not made any monthly recharge since almost 10 months now