Is lack of 4K content because of the tech or its out there?

by scrubadam

I noticed that VOD section for movies can be decent for 4K, but when it comes to TV streams its non existent. at Most you will get a few foreign channels.

Is this because the tech isn't there yet to stream 4K content live, or are there just no 4k channels. Sorry I haven't had cable in 20 years so I don't know if there are 4K abc's and NBC's etc.... Especially sports like ESPN and TSN.

So is it because the streams don't exist or is it because its just to much bandwidth? If we can stream 4K VOD why not live?

seanns32

Very very few live 4K channels available from the main channels. And when there is, it's usually only certain events (superbowl, etc). So hence if they don't exist on cable, they don't exist in the IPTV world.

meriirong

Legit services rarely broadcast in 4k so not gonna be much with IPTV

Pretend_Selection334

The reason you don’t see that many channels in 4K is because the tech is just not there yet. TV stations, satellite providers, cable companies and backhaul systems are being upgraded to handle the massive 4K streaming capacity that is needed but that takes many years and there just isn’t the incentive to do it given how they just spent millions of $$ upgrading from SD to HD in the last 20 years. VOD isn’t nearly as demanding as live streams because there are just many more people watching live streams than VOD.

pentangleit

It's an exponential increase in bandwidth and processing for a diminishing return over HD. No point.

cats-astrophe

Tech isn’t there yet. It would take a lot of money to switch out the broadcasting equipment to run 4K for all sporting events or channels. A lot is 1080p 60 fps

Danz001

It just isn’t worth the hassle in my opinion

Zagor64

As others have said. They just don't exist and it's not because the tech is not there it's because of cost for very little added quality. Basically it's not worth it to them because consumers don't care.

For the everyday consumer 4k is not that big of a deal when it comes to live tv or even streaming services. Heck ESPN is still a 720P channel.

Have you noticed that even 4k streaming services cut down bandwidth for their so called "4k" streams? A typical 4k movie on disk has a bit rate of around 60-70mbps while the same movie streamed in 4k on Netflix is around 15mbps. Why? Cost that is why, bandwidth is expensive.

sohaltang40

Most channels are still 720p. 1080 is twice the bandwide of 720. 4k is 10 times the bandwidth of 720. Most people just don't care and networks wont invest.

Bigger deal to me is 5.1 or higher sound. Most IPTV providers don't offer the audio that is broadcast by the networks. Just stereo 2.0. I use my over the air antenna to watch locals for this reason alone. I assume the reason is same as I mentioned above. Bandwidth and people just don't care.