Solving playback issues

[rdesalvo]

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?

[renojim]

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]

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 · Accepted solution]

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.

[UserOfStreamers]

@rdesalvo 

As you discovered, its mostly Hulu Originals that are 4K+HDR+5.1.

When offering 5.1/4K/HDR, it isnt just the app/device that determines it, its also the server-side per-platform provisioning that Hulu uses (e.g. The Android TV Hulu app doesnt offer 5.1/4K/HDR on all 5.1/4K/HDR-capable Android TV devices, despite using an identical app binary/version: Shield has 4K+5.1, but GCCWGTV/O4KSB have only 4K, and the TS4K has neither 4K nor 5.1)

Additionally, there is currently an issue impacting 4K/HDR on the Roku platform as well - 2016 model year 4K/HDR-capable models (4620/4630/4640) are not getting 4K/HDR via the Hulu app; its not clear whether this is an app issue or a server-side provisioning issue, but regardless it remains to be fixed.

Hulu does a platform/device check (using information provided by the app) at load time to determine whether to allow 5.1/4K/HDR (HDR10, HDR10+ or DV) for that platform/device - WebOS (LG) hasnt been allowed for HDR yet (even though the platform/app supports it); in fact, the WebOS app was only recently updated (2 months ago) to (properly) allow 4K on all 4K-capable LG models - prior to that (for a couple years), the app (brokenly) supported 4K only on newer model years.

So yes, the Hulu app/device has to have 5.1/4K/HDR support, but it also has to be allowed by server-side provisioning in order for it to be enabled, and Hulu has historically been very slow to allow/enable 5.1/4K/HDR on different platforms (and ocasionally breaks it).

Hulu has occasionally updated support articles indicating specific platform/device audio/video support that one can check from time to time for expanded platform/device support: 

https://help.hulu.com/s/article/video-quality

https://help.hulu.com/s/article/sound-quality

[oldbuzzard]

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.

[oldbuzzard]

I've never found a Roku that would stream Hulu in 4K on any show. And your LG Hulu app has likely been updated to support HDR, but it will also grey out periodically. 

[pdxmom]

I have Roku built in to my TCL 65” 4K TV. The Hulu App will play 4K HDR on Hulu Original “Shogun”, but won’t play 4K on movies that say they are 4K like “The Abyss” I can’t figure out why this is happening. Frustrated! 

[RokuCarly]

Welcome and thank you for posting here in the Roku Community, @pdxmom!

It is highly appreciated that you've reached out to us for support and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Rest assured that we will further assist you with this. 

Firstly, we should also consider if the movie or TV show you were streaming is 4K HDR supported because some shows are not being supported by this. No worries! Since this is an isolated case within the HULU channel, we suggest directly raising your concern with them and further clarifying why some of the movies available on their channel are not being supported by 4K HDR.

We hope this clears everything out and we hope you get everything sorted out soon. Let us know how it goes!

Best regards,
Carly

[oldbuzzard]

There are shows that are in 4Kbut not HDR or DolbyVison. So you won't see the flag that indicates HDR and the volume bar won't change color but you will get higher resolution. Check the content that doesn't display as you expected and make sure it's not 4K but not HDR.