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palmerc

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2008
350
225
As reported by jasper1977 in his post here, Craig Michaels from Apple has confirmed that there is no 24Hz output capability in the ATV4K. Because of this, 24Hz content (typical movie rate) is output at 60Hz instead (typical TV rate), which causes a framerate mismatch leading to visual judder.

If you would like to see this change, please leave feedback at the following link. It will take less than 1 minute. Apple claims to read every single one:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Before you take the time to respond to me about how nothing will come of this... well you might be right. But the time you took to knock me down is time that you could've posted feedback to Apple instead.

Ridiculous request. The problem isn't Apple it's the TVs.

Sure, you can find a few (expensive) TVs that support 24Hz refresh, but almost everything shipping is 30 or 60Hz fixed on the HDMI side or the TV will resample to a final refresh rate like 60 or 120Hz. Until HDMI 2.1 lands on TVs (next 2 years) allowing for variable refresh this is much ado about nothing.

Read on...

You only want to watch programming at its native frame rate. That said, it is WAY more complicated than simply setting your Apple TV 4K to 24Hz.

Whatever you choose it is going to be a compromise and that is if and only if the TV respects the input frequency the way you think it does. For example, what if your TV screen is still refreshing at 60 or 120Hz as some do? Do you truly know what is happening on the TV end? Do you even trust the software running on your TV to do the right thing? Probably not, and configuring a TV to not perform additional image processing/color correction/motion compensation can require time and research.

Using 60Hz is a compromise, but it is a well understood compromise. For one, the user interface, apps, games and TV programming will look great at this frame rate. The one thing that might not be ideal is film, most often recorded at 24FPS (but not always), which will of course introduce things like judder because of 3:2 pull down. However, this problem isn't new and it isn't really addressed simply by setting your output to 24Hz. Even if we assume some films are best shown at 24FPS and your TV will refresh at a multiple of that frequency you're compromising every other use of the box.

The best thing for everyone is to wait for HDMI 2.1 and variable refresh rate TVs so everything just works. Until that time 60Hz is the best compromise and will provide the best overall experience.
 
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andrewstirling

macrumors 6502a
May 19, 2015
715
425
Ridiculous request. The problem isn't Apple its the TVs.

Sure, you can find a few (expensive) TVs that support 24Hz refresh, but almost everything shipping is 30 or 60Hz fixed on the HDMI side. Until HDMI 2.1 lands on TVs (next 2 years) allowing for variable refresh this is much ado about nothing.

What a fantastically ill informed post!
 

AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Nov 10, 2010
5,821
3,714
Just set my ATV 4K up and just noticed there isn’t a 24Hz option. It’s at 60hz and asked me to turn on Deep Clour on my TV.
 

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,907
Ridiculous request. The problem isn't Apple its the TVs.

Well, that's your opinion. Personally I don't think it is ridiculous at all. My points:
  • It turns out that Craig Michaels was wrong and the option is in fact there. Since they implemented it, it's obviously not a "ridiculous" feature.
  • The ATV4K is being presented and priced as a premium player with premium features.
  • Many other much cheaper devices do it just fine.
  • Many devices have been doing this for many years.
But, moreso than all that, I don't understand why people are taking the time to argue against this. What do you have against having the option to play content at its correct framerate? You're literally arguing against more options and features. What a weird stance for people to take.
 
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andrewstirling

macrumors 6502a
May 19, 2015
715
425
Well, that's your opinion. Personally I don't think it is ridiculous at all. My points:
  • It turns out that Craig Michaels was wrong and the option is in fact there. Since they implemented it, it's obviously not "ridiculous".
  • The ATV4K is being presented and priced as a premium player with premium features.
  • Many other much cheaper devices do it just fine.
  • Many devices have been doing this for many years.
But, moreso than all that, I don't understand why people are taking the time to argue against this. What do you have against having the option to play content at it's correct framerate?

Exactly. It’s been over 12 years since I’ve owned a tv which won’t play back films in their native framerate. I’m actually astonished that devices exist which don’t!
 
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AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Nov 10, 2010
5,821
3,714
Watching Narcos on Netflix via ATV and every 10 minutes or so the subtitles go off? Exit out, then back in and they’re on again?!
 

xsmett

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2015
229
232
Sure, you can find a few (expensive) TVs that support 24Hz refresh, but almost everything shipping is 30 or 60Hz fixed on the HDMI side. Until HDMI 2.1 lands on TVs (next 2 years) allowing for variable refresh this is much ado about nothing.
You must be from Apple. :D
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
I am looking for another EDID feeder for something else, but I cannot find one which can be set to 1080p/24 2D.
 

cyb3rdud3

macrumors 68040
Jun 22, 2014
3,344
2,089
UK
Ridiculous request. The problem isn't Apple its the TVs.

Sure, you can find a few (expensive) TVs that support 24Hz refresh, but almost everything shipping is 30 or 60Hz fixed on the HDMI side. Until HDMI 2.1 lands on TVs (next 2 years) allowing for variable refresh this is much ado about nothing.
I’m sorry to say but this is very very wrong. I can’t remember the last screen that couldn’t do 24Hz.

Every device I have does this. My Oppo 203 happily runs at 4K/60Hz for its UI and the switches to the native frame rate for the source material that is being played.

Totally seemless process. Apple just have this very wrong which is a real shame.
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
Because it does matter. The cinephile is the one who’s supporting the progress of 4K. Not heavy AppleTV users with small sets where it’s not noticeable.

Cinephiles and techies are not the bulk of the market. We would like to think so. But it is not true. The bulk of the 4k buying market will watch content using the tv speakers. Manufacturers spent a lot of time getting that segment of the market to buy. Cinephiles and techies are a lot harder to sell to.
 

HAudidoody

macrumors member
Aug 24, 2013
31
29
Ridiculous request. The problem isn't Apple its the TVs.

Sure, you can find a few (expensive) TVs that support 24Hz refresh, but almost everything shipping is 30 or 60Hz fixed on the HDMI side. Until HDMI 2.1 lands on TVs (next 2 years) allowing for variable refresh this is much ado about nothing.

I just wanted to note this has to be one of the most ignorant posts I've ever read on the internet. For those who might be willing to believe this, please don't.
 

Krevnik

macrumors 601
Sep 8, 2003
4,100
1,310
The other question is what content supports 24Hz? My Fire TV supports auto-switching to 24Hz, but the only time it happens is with MrMC playing BluRay/DVD rips. Amazon/Netflix just stay at 60Hz and, I'm guessing, the material they are streaming is encoded at 30Hz...

It’s easier to encode in the native frame rate of the source (24p) in Netflix’s case and let the streaming client do the pull down. But Netflix likes to have “one app everywhere”, and so they are getting squeamish about supporting device-specific features.

The place where having to set the display frequency yourself is gonna suck is broadcast stuff like Sling/etc or OTA with a HomeRun HD (they encode to 30p or 60i for the channels, sadly, so the streaming apps pass along the broadcast feed). And YouTube where 60fps and 30fps is much more common.

So, yeah, nice to know it does support 24Hz, but I’ll see how much YouTube and the like bug us, along with the low UI frame rate.
 

AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Nov 10, 2010
5,821
3,714
Well if the film is shot at 24fps (which almost most are) then outputting at 24Hz will result in the best playback experience. Same goes for HD films and SD.

I’ve found the HDR 24Hz in settings. Does this mean A; my TV supports this and B; is it best to leave it at this setting?
 

andrewstirling

macrumors 6502a
May 19, 2015
715
425
I’ve found the HDR 24Hz in settings. Does this mean A; my TV supports this and B; is it best to leave it at this setting?

This will be the best frame rate for watching 4k films. You probably need to switch to a non HDR mode for watching HD films though. Hopefully Apple will see sense and set a ‘native’ output mode which switches according to source.
 
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AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Nov 10, 2010
5,821
3,714
This will be the best frame rate for watching 4k films. You probably need to switch to a non HDR mode for watching HD films though. Hopefully Apple will see sense and set a ‘native’ output mode which switches according to source.

Thanks. Don’t really understand it but it seems most people are using this setting. Would this be good for HDR on Netflix?
 
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