Thanks for the thoughtful, detailed response. My Roku model is 3810R.
After troubleshooting, I've eliminated the network as a possibility. I have 300 Mbps. I recently upgraded my modem/router *and* placed it just feet away from the Roku. No difference. But I didn't expect there to be. If the network had been the issue, then either I wouldn't have been able to stream 4K at all or the 4K movies would have streamed in 4K sometimes and in HD at other times when the network was stressed. That's not the case. The *same* 4K movies always either stream in 4K or HD.
I also checked the wireless channel setting in the Roku, as you suggested, and it's 157.
Yeah, the 3810 is still a reasonable performer, and that channel number indicates you're using 5GHz. If you test your network connection in the Roku Network menu, what speed is it reporting?
Personally, I think this is another case of a provider "crippling" the performance of a competing device. We know for a fact that Apple will stream videos at a higher bitrate (possibly higher quality) to an Apple TV device over other devices. Similar to Google taking functions out of their app/channel for Roku devices that are available on Chromecast devices. And Amazon has some things that just work "better" on a Fire TV.
I suspect you're right. On one of my earlier calls to Apple (their customer support is a nightmare), the rep confirmed the problem was on Apple's end and that others had complained about the same issue. Once it was escalated to the technical team, though, they've acted like I'm the only person in the world with this problem. All they've given me are onerous troubleshooting tasks that solve nothing and denials that it has anything to do with them.
By the way, I checked the Roku internet download speed. 56 Mbps. My nearby laptop, however, is getting 348 Mbps.
Since it's on sale right now for $29, I've ordered the Roku Express 4K+. I'm hoping against hope that it will somehow resolve this issue.
Rowkuser wrote:By the way, I checked the Roku internet download speed. 56 Mbps. My nearby laptop, however, is getting 348 Mbps.
Since it's on sale right now for $29, I've ordered the Roku Express 4K+. I'm hoping against hope that it will somehow resolve this issue.
I will say that Roku devices older than my 4800 Ultra always seem to report slower than actual speeds. I think the change to the Realtek chip has improved reported speeds. My Premiere 3920 reports 25 Mbps when it's four feet from the access point, although that is 2.4GHz. But I can stream media from my home server that would exceed that bitrate (not by a lot, but still) without a problem.
One thing about the Express 4K+ (I have one of those) is that it can use a mini-USB Ethernet adapter. Some users have reported getting speeds higher than Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps). But Roku devices still have an overall performance limit of around 200 Mbps for processing video, so it isn't really important to go much beyond say 150 Mbps.
An update:
I replaced my Roku stick with the Express 4K+. During the Roku installation, I was able to verify that every part of my system (LG UHD TV/Sony receiver/Roku) is now running 4K/HDR10/60Hz. I reran the Apple TV video troubleshooting feature and it said everything is fine.
That resolved some issues. Nearly all the other 4K movies that previously played in HD are now streaming as 4K. However, the specific James Bond films I mentioned above continue to stream in HD, not 4K, and that's clearly a problem on Apple's side that can only be fixed by Apple. I let them know three weeks ago, and of course they have yet to fix anything.
