GuideWatching
Picture and sound
Dolby Vision, HDR, frame-rate matching, surround sound and Atmos, and which player to use.
Everything here is in Settings then Playback. The defaults suit most setups; the settings below are for when something doesn't look or sound right.
Resolution and HDR
- Preferred Resolution: Highest Available, or a cap of 4K, 1080p, 720p or 480p when there's more than one version to choose from.
- HDR When Available: prefer an HDR version when there is one.
- On iPhone and iPad, Resolution on Cellular sets a separate cap away from Wi-Fi, and Auto Rotate to Landscape turns the phone for you.
- On Apple TV and the Mac, Max Streaming Bitrate limits how much your media server sends, from Original down to 4 Mbps. Lower it if a server far away keeps buffering.
Matching your TV (Apple TV)
Match Frame Rate switches the TV to the film's own frame rate, so 24 fps film plays at 24 without judder. Match Dynamic Range switches between SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision to suit what's playing. Both need the matching options on in the Apple TV's own settings, under Video and Audio then Match Content.
Dolby Vision
- Dolby Vision profiles 5 and 8 play as Dolby Vision. Profile 7, used on many UHD Blu-ray copies, is converted to 8.1 by Convert Profile 7 to Profile 8.1.
- Never Use Dolby Vision plays the HDR10 picture underneath instead. Useful if your TV handles Dolby Vision badly. Profile 5 files have no HDR10 picture underneath, so they still play in Dolby Vision.
- macOS never shows Dolby Vision; the Mac plays the HDR10 picture.
Sound
- Surround Sound (Apple TV and Mac) sends the full multichannel soundtrack to your receiver or soundbar.
- Dolby Atmos (Apple TV) sends Atmos to equipment that supports it. Strand checks once what your TV or receiver accepts and remembers, checking again every two weeks or when the equipment changes.
- Choose your Audio Language and a fallback on the Playback page. Original picks the language the film was made in.
Which player
Player Selected (Player on the Mac) chooses what plays your films:
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Internal | The default. Dolby Atmos and song identification need it. |
| Internal (Legacy) | The older engine. Try it if playback freezes on an older Apple TV. |
| Infuse, VLC, Outplayer, SenPlayer, VidHub and others | Opens the film in that app, if you have it installed. |
Apple Vision Pro always uses Internal.
The extras
- Full-file Scrub Previews (Apple TV and Mac) shows a picture from anywhere in the film while you scrub.
- Show Progress Bar shows how far a film has loaded while it starts.
- Skip Details on Continue Watching starts playing straight from a Continue Watching card instead of opening its page first.