BT Sport Ultimate (4K HDR) not working on Samsung Smart TV ue55ku6500

[bizz007]

I am not getting 4k option anymore on this model under device checker. it use to show all green ticks until recently. I am getting a bit tired of the amount of issues with BT sports app over TVs and tablets. Can someone tell me why i am not given the option to view 4k for a service i pay. i get the HDR option if its available and all other apps can run 4k HDR with no problem. My TV is 4k and 10bit enabled.

ue55ku6500

[DarrenDev · Accepted solution]

We have been forced to add content protection this season, as part of our updated contracts with the football leagues.

Our tests have proven that your 2016 model TV isn't powerful enough to be able to process our new piracy-protected 4K video, so has had to be limited to 2K video.  This is now permanent I'm afraid.

[bizz007]

Ok so other apps im sure have piracy protection enabled but they are not facing this issue. its like BT just want to be in a league of their own. So the solution is buy a new tv and then in a few years its going to be outdated for bt's new policy. So pay for ultimate service but then not get it. Thanks BT. The sooner sky win back CL rights the better for the UK population. painful to deal with this company. Worst Internet provider, Worse TV box provider, Worst Telephone provider. You must have some special coding abilities that you develop a pile of poop compared to Sky and other apps. Apparently isnt powerful enough. 

[DarrenDev]

I have to question whether you'd even have noticed that the quality is "only" 2K HDR if we hadn't told you on the device checker @bizz007 ?  I doubt it.

We do everything we can to support devices for as long as possible, but technology moves on and devices become outdated.  There's nothing we can do about it.

[bizz007]

No i knew it wasn't 4k. I even rang up BT about it but never got a response. The device checker was showing 4k and HDR enabled until recently. I assumed it was a bug. Yes i was pretty annoyed im paying for a service that im not getting. How many people are going to start checking there device types to see if they are compatible with your unique software. A person buys a 4k or a Full HD device then they expect that feature to work. 

Then recently i stumbled across your forum and realised BT has a whole bunch of issues. the 30 sec delay made it become unwatchable for football. its been going on for more than month i remember it was happening since the west indies vs pakistan cricket was on. 

Also BT windows 10 app another app that doesnt even have any catchup option like Sky. The TV guide UI is pretty lame and when you minimize the app or toggle onto your web browser while its running it actually stops/pauses until you bring the app in front again.  the background app running feature is enabled on win10

[DarrenDev]

You're paying for a BT Sport service that you have the ability to get, if you have supported hardware.  Paying a subscription does not guarantee that we're going to support the 3rd party hardware that you're watching from forever.  If you were using a BT TV set top box, then of course we would guarantee that it remained compatible or a suitable box replacement was made available.

The Windows 10 app is years old, and past end of life.  It will not be updated to support catch up content, as the web site offers all those options (and more) without the need to install a custom app.

[bizz007]

its not about being forever your argument isnt valid. like i said if a device works correctly in 4k hdr for other apps then it should work for you too. if you pushed out 8k content then yes id understand my tv isnt compatible.  Netflix and amazon neither have issue running 4k and HDR at the same time and the results are amazing. Why can you not allow the option to select Auto for bitrate or even 30/60 fps option like content on youtube so the so called underpowered devices have a chance to run it. The app needs that functionality. 

i just checked it on the lenova tablet and it seems to be smooth after about a minute or so but the quality is probably 480p

[DarrenDev]

The player is already in "auto" mode, where it'll play the highest quality it can - even if the hardware can't keep up (resulting in the judder you see on your tablet).  In the mobile app we have the option to tell it to auto drop quality if the hardware can't keep up, so that's what I've enabled for your tablet.  That's not an option on Samsung TVs, so unfortunately we've had to artificially limit it, to prevent your TV giving an awful experience.

Your TV is currently limited to 1440p50.  If we offered a 25/50fps option in the app, your TV might be able to cope with 2160p25 however that would be a much worse experience than 1440p50.

[bizz007]

ok so you dont even offer 30 or 60 fps the normal standard for video content. right so why isnt there an option in the app to enable disable HDR and bump it up to 2160/50ps so it does not have to run both HDR and 4k at the same time. Like you mentioned for the lenovo tablet why can you not reduce the 4k hdr 50 bitrate to slighly less on tv's.  if HDR causes extra stress on devices their definitely needs to be an on off button for it. this overall would work for future devices. i dont think its too difficult in settings to have enable HDR on or off. 

the tv at the moment works in hdr so at 1440p 50. i'd prefer it could be toggled on or off for hdr and maybe push 2160 at 50. was this tested?

[DarrenDev]

The standard frame rate in the UK is 25/50fps - not 30/60 as found in other parts of the world.
Your TV cannot cope with 4K in SDR either, otherwise we'd have just turned off 4K HDR.