[Updated] YouTube TV poor picture/video quality or bitrate issue to be addressed in 2023 but with some tradeoffs, says product engineer

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on December 29, 2023) follows:

YouTube TV is a streaming service that offers live and on-demand television programming, including local sports and news. The platform recently acquired the rights to air NFL Sunday Ticket.

We also recently covered a story about the potential surge in prices of NFL Sunday games on YouTube TV, which has some concerned about access to games on Sunday afternoons.

However, users of the platform have reported (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) a range of problems with the video and picture quality including poor resolution, which seem to occur more during live events like the recently concluded World Cup or NFL games.

YouTube TV poor picture/video quality issue

Several YouTube TV subscribers have been criticizing the poor video quality of the streaming service. The poor resolution, low bitrate, and blocky or patchy videos have constantly been ruining their experience.

watching Sunday night football on peacock looks so much better than yttv. yttv looks like garbage. PLEASE FIX THE PICTURE QUALITY YTTV
Source

Did they lower quality for World Cup just to push the 4K package? I swear the video quality is so bad for these games. I feel it was done purposely and for that I’m dropping them after years of being a sub.
Source

The affected subscribers have taken to forums and social media platforms to express their concerns and dissatisfaction with the platform. The issue, luckily, has been addressed by a YouTube TV engineer.

Statement from the product engineer

According to a statement given by a YouTube TV engineer, the company is aware of the issues with poor picture or video quality and is working to address them.

However, the engineer cautioned that any improvements made to the bitrate or quality of the streaming service will come with some tradeoffs. But there was no clarification of what these tradeoffs would be.

They also added that YouTube TV is working on investing in high-quality technology like VP9 video codec in order to make the picture quality much better in the upcoming year. This should be in time for the next NFL season.

However, it is unclear what specific measures they are taking or when they will be available to subscribers.

For now, you may have to continue dealing with the annoying video quality issues, at least until the platform addresses them in 2023.

We hope the improvements will be made as soon as possible so that viewers can enjoy an impeccable watching experience. Until then, keep tabs on this story for updates on any further developments.

04:52 pm (IST): Users are asking questions on when YouTube is going to rollout the promised picture quality improvements. And here’s what YouTube support replied:

We’ve indeed been rolling out several incremental improvements through the summer with many more to come – video quality improvements aren’t one singular change like a new feature launch. We’ll try and share more updates at a later date. (Source)

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