Question regarding Boost Pass on Fire TV and Apple TV!

[Anonymous User]

So I have both devices having previously used the Apple TV for everything but noticing the picture looks like a stream rather than broadcast, I’ve decided to switch to the Firestick.
Is this because of the 60fps and if so, is there going to be a 50fps option for Apple TV any time soon? Match Frame Rate doesn’t seem to do anything to help here. 

Similar question regarding the Match Frame Rate option on the Firestick. When I have it set to Auto, NowTV doesn’t seem to switch to 50fps causing the same issue? However I can set the output to 50hz in the Firestick settings and the picture is silky smooth. Am I missing something here or is this not enabled?

Bonus question pertains to leaving the stick at 50hz... what do Netflix and YouTube prefer? I much prefer the Firestick remote and am happy to use it over the Apple TV provided the framerate issues are sorted soon!

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

Regarding the Apple TV box, i am assuming you have a generation 4 or higher spec box ?

I don't own a Fire Stick which is compatible with the NowTV App (only gen 1 Fire TV devices) but i have read that Auto Frame Rate on the NowTV App for the Fire Stick doesn't currently work or is broken.

Perhaps a Fire Stick owner can confirm either way ?

If it was me i would force 50hz playback when watching NowTV which is the matching frame rate.

Should you force 60hz on 50fps or 25fps content material you will see judder because of the non frame rate matching.

[AlexB83]

@Anonymous User 

Yes I have just got a fire stick and this is a bit of an issue. 

I have found the following apps play better at 60hz 

Apple tv

Netflix 

Ones which play better at 50hz

Now tv 

BT sport 

BBC iPlayer

(I suspect all UK based apps)

Then Amazon seems to vary somewhat depending on what you want to watch and YouTube plays fine for me either way.

I got the fire stick with the main reason being able to watch in 50fps and to have a BT sport app neither of which LG TVs support. So I have my tv all set up to use native LG apps for stuff which plays better on 60hz and then fire stick playing the ones for 50hz and have my tv remote controlling my fire stick 

[Hooba]

Your best bet is the set the AppleTV video output settings to 50hz, and match frame rate to on.

That'll give you smooth play back on NowTV and all the other UK app, and will then switch to whatever framerate that Netflix / Prime etc requires for whatever content those apps are playing. Will then revert auto to 50hz for UK apps.

[Anonymous User]

@schnapps 

Yes, 4th generation Apple TV box. I don’t really understand why they wouldn’t put 50fps in the Apple TV app...?

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

With the generation 4 Apple TV box with Boost and set to 50hz six of the Sky Sports live channels (i.e. Main Event, Premier League, Football, Cricket, Golf and F1) should look silky smooth like your Fire TV Stick forced at 50hz.

The only reason i asked which ATV model you owned because what you described sounded like you was using an Apple TV 3 box which doesn't offer Boost at 1080p 50fps and the sports streams are all 720p 25fps and looks shocking on the Apple TV 3 non Boost supported box.

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

I am also assuming you have deleted the old NowTV App and using the new version of the NowTV App from your Apple TV box Apps Store ?

[Hooba]

There is no FPS setting on the Firestick.

There is no FPS setting on the AppleTV.

This is because FPS is what is sent to the devices. Neither device has a setting for what is being sent to it, either by NowTV, Netflix, whatever else.

But both devices have settings for how the device should display the picture (the output). This is the 'match frame rate' setting. This is 'Hz' i.e. how many times per second the display should be refreshed.

Ideally a feed in to either device that is 50FPS, should output (have the display refreshed) once every 50 seconds. So the aim should be to 'match' 50FPS input material, to a 50Hz output rate. This is what 'match frame rate' on either device should so.

But - the NowTV app, on neither appleTV nor Firestick, supports match frame rate. But Netflix and Prime do. So - set the output to 50Hz and NowTV will play fine on either device. And Netflix and Prime (that do support match frame rate) will play fine too.

[Anonymous User]

Ahh! I thought I’d tried forcing the Apple TV to that setting but it doesn’t appear like I had. Looks perfect now. So Boost does work on Apple TV?

I also set it to match frame rate and finally Netflix is playing back at 24fps. Excellent. 

Thanks so much guys. 

A quick question... does the YouTube app not do the match frame rate thing?

[Anonymous User]

I’m confused - just to be clear, the Apple TV Now app with boost is outputting at 1080p, right? Is there any way of testing this? The Firestick app has the numbers top right but I can’t see anything on Apple TV?

I had both running concurrently on two HDMI inputs and to me the Firestick looked a little more crisp(?) which is odd as I often find that Apple TV looks the best of all on most apps?