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rdesalvo's avatar
rdesalvo
Binge Watcher
4 years ago
Solved

4K playback not working on Hulu app on Roku Premiere

I have a Roku Premiere, which is listed on Hulu's site as a device that supports 4K playback. I realize that Hulu has very limited 4K content, but when I try to play a title in 4K such as Pistol, the Roku will only play the HD version. Clicking the gear wheel during playback of the video doesn't give an option to switch between 4K and HD. 

I should mention that my Roku is connected to an LG OLED TV. Through the Roku, I have been able to play 4K and HDR content via Vudu, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. Hulu is the only app that I've found on the Roku Premiere that refuses to play a 4K video, so I know it's not the HDMI cable or connection to the TV. Anyone have a suggestion about a setting to adjust to force Hulu to stream 4K video on the Roku Premiere?

app playback
  • rdesalvo's avatar
    rdesalvo
    4 years ago

    After tinkering around and doing some testing, I figured this out. The Roku Premiere does indeed stream 4K and HDR content from Hulu... there is just very little 4K content with HDR, so it was difficult to tell, but finally saw it for myself with an episode of Pam & Tommy in 4K HDR. Oddly, on my LG OLED TV from 2016, the native Hulu app will stream 4K content but NOT HDR (I tried with Pam & Tommy). The Netflix, Disney+, Vudu and Amazon Prime native apps on the LG TV will all stream 4K and HDR, with some like Disney+ even streaming DolbyVision.

    Hulu has some work to do with its native app on LG TVs as well as its library in general to catch up with the other streaming services.

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  • renojim's avatar
    renojim
    Community Streaming Expert
    4 years ago

    It may or not be relevant, but there have been multiple Premiere devices.  It's the model number that matters.  You can find it under Settings->System->About.

    • rdesalvo's avatar
      rdesalvo
      Binge Watcher
      4 years ago

      The Roku Premiere is 3920X and the Roku software is 11.0.0. The Hulu app version is 6.60, which is the latest version. Both are listed here as being able to play back 4K video: https://help.hulu.com/s/article/supported-roku

      I'm at a loss. As I said, this Roku Premiere plays 4K content from other services and, according to Hulu's own site, I have all the necessary software updates. 

      • rdesalvo's avatar
        rdesalvo
        Binge Watcher
        4 years ago

        After tinkering around and doing some testing, I figured this out. The Roku Premiere does indeed stream 4K and HDR content from Hulu... there is just very little 4K content with HDR, so it was difficult to tell, but finally saw it for myself with an episode of Pam & Tommy in 4K HDR. Oddly, on my LG OLED TV from 2016, the native Hulu app will stream 4K content but NOT HDR (I tried with Pam & Tommy). The Netflix, Disney+, Vudu and Amazon Prime native apps on the LG TV will all stream 4K and HDR, with some like Disney+ even streaming DolbyVision.

        Hulu has some work to do with its native app on LG TVs as well as its library in general to catch up with the other streaming services.

  • oldbuzzard's avatar
    oldbuzzard
    Streaming Star
    2 years ago

    4K doesn't work on the Hulu app on ANY Roku product. I recently replaced my 4660 with a brand new, top of the line Ultra and it doesn't support 4k on Hulu either. It will detect it when you select a show (shows as 4k HDR) but when you actually play the show, its just normal HD resolution. Hulu apps are poorly designed in general, the one for LG OLED sets is terrible and greys out (picture acts as if you don't have enough bandwidth to stream HD) and there are all sorts of forum posts about that too.