Amber Neely
After quietly removing the feature in 2018, Hulu has brought back 4K to their streaming service — this time, exclusively to the Apple TV 4K and the Chromecast Ultra.
In 2016, Hulu had added support for 4K content to its streaming service, and subscribers could stream Hulu Originals and select films in 4K on gaming consoles like the XBox One and PlayStation 4. In early 2018, Hulu had quietly removed this feature, with the intention of adding it back eventually.
As reported by Streamable, Hulu has finally brought back support for 4K streaming, exclusively to the Apple TV 4K and the Chromecast Ultra. At this time, there appears to be no mention of releasing 4K streaming to other hardware or reinstating it on gaming consoles.
Hulu had made the announcement without much fanfare, seemingly only in response to twitter user @RALPH4lyf, who had addressed the 4K issue the day of the release.
We have good news! 4K streaming was just re-released today on select devices: https://t.co/5BjUFgexXk. You'll be able to watch any of our Hulu Originals in 4K. We hope this helps!
— Hulu Support (@hulu_support) July 9, 2019
Subscribers will be able to stream Hulu Originals — such as The Handmaid's Tale, Catch-22, and Castle Rock — in 4K. Hulu's 4K UHD streams at 16 megabits per second, so users who wish to take advantage of this will need to have a fairly robust internet connection.
Hulu's 4K streaming supports Standard Dynamic Range, not HDR10 or Dolby Vision, so users may notice a decrease in contrast and color depth compared to other 4K content.
Many subscribers have complained about both the limited availability of 4K titles, as well as the fact that it is currently restricted to two devices. In comparison, Netflix has over 600 titles in 4K and Amazon Prime offers all original content and a few films in 4K as well.
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15 Comments
4K alone is overrated IMO. Without HDR-10 or DV, it’s just a lot of extra bandwidth unnecessary for the average home TV viewing experience. The one exception is sports programming but from this announcement it doesn’t seem to be supporting that, at least initially.
I think more people would see a noticeable improvement with HDR instead of 4K. The latter can only be appreciated if the viewer is sitting in the '4K zone' relative to their screen size and visual acuity. HDR can be more readily appreciated and isn't dependent on viewing distance.
In sets with HDR 4K is probably a given. But I wouldn't get a 4K set without HDR. If not already, soon they'll be a standard, not optional, team.
How can I verify that a broadcast from Hulu is in 4K? I don't see anything in the program info.
Does this impact sound options at all on AppleTv? I think previously shows were only offered in 2.1 sound.
Just a few minutes ago I was thinking to myself...
Wouldn't Apples service use the most expensive 4K cameras? Apple can afford it.
Believe it or not a lot of "4K" content isn't actually filmed in 4K. This requires newer digital cameras. I hope Apple TV+ will be the first service to offer full 4k/Dolby Vision content on every show and movie. Wouldn't THAT would be great!