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YouTube Asks Some Users To Purchase a Premium Subscription To Watch in 4K (techcrunch.com) 82

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
YouTube's Premium paid subscription includes benefits like ad-free viewing, video and song downloads for offline consumption, and background plays. Now, it might also be shifting video streaming in 4K resolution (currently free for all users) to the premium tier. TechCrunch: Over the weekend, users across Reddit and Twitter noted that YouTube had been asking them to upgrade to the premium tier to watch videos in 4K. It's not clear if the change is part of a limited test, or if the company is thinking about capping free users to 1440p resolution. Google declined to comment on the story when contacted by TechCrunch. The company has tried various methods to convert free users into paying ones. One of the most notorious ones was showing them up to 11 unskippable ads before the start of a long video to let them have an uninterrupted experience.
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YouTube Asks Some Users To Purchase a Premium Subscription To Watch in 4K More

YouTube Asks Some Users To Purchase a Premium Subscription To Watch in 4K

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  • Almost everything worth watching on Youtube was uploaded by amateur or semi-amateur content creators. Now the audience of those content creators can't watch that content in 4K without paying?
    • Content creators also want you to have premium as it it the highest value viewer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GoTeam ( 5042081 )
      The "free" version will just be downgraded like it is now when you use a non-4k device. You'll still be able to watch the downgraded content.

    • Re:Will content creators still post content? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MBGMorden ( 803437 ) on Monday October 03, 2022 @02:53PM (#62934193)

      Does anyone care? I already pay for Premium due to the lack of ads but I'm perfectly happy with 1080p. Hell I'm perfectly happen with 720p.

      Youtube's content crackdowns to make stuff "advertiser friendly" (resulting in people using code words like referring to the pandemic is the "panorama" and suicide as "unaliving oneself" or "self-deletion, and avoiding profanity) has been far more of an annoyance than this.

      Youtube used to be appealing specifically because it didn't have the requirements and censorship of mainstream media. Heck in modern times you'll get clips that aired on mainstream TV like NBC or CBS that have to have words bleeped out for Youtube because their policies are now MORE restrictive than mainstream media is.

      • To me, produced content with sets and makeup don't look better above 1080p.

        However on youtube I largely watch action sports stuff like downhill mountain biking, enduro racing, and snowmobiling, and then the extra realism of 1440 or 4k, and also (perhaps more importantly) a bump from 30 to 60 fps, really is a nice boost to the realism.

        I don't watch the sports where all the real money is - basketball and football - but I suspect it's the same for them.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by laxguy ( 1179231 )

          a fellow DH and enduro enthusiast? on slashdot?! oh my word!

          • a fellow DH and enduro enthusiast? on slashdot?! oh my word!

            Its also a great way to preview a trail before actually riding, so there aren't any surprises. I feel like I can see the 4K difference, but I sit less than six feet from my TV. The manual that came with my 65" Sony says to sit no further than 47" (I kid you not). I pushed my seating up as close as possible, but 47"? Sheesh, there wouldn't even be much of an isle between my chair and my set. How close will we have to sit to see 8K?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by mssymrvn ( 15684 )

            I'm yet another one. We're out there. But I suspect amongst slashdot we're as rare as a double chainring crankset.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by raynet ( 51803 )

          4k helps when there is text to read on the screen, usually I go with 4k even when my display is just 1080p. The clarity and higher bitrate makes text easier to read.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by porges ( 58715 )

        Game Grumps was referring to the pandemic as "the Backstreet Boys reunion tour" for months.

        • >Game Grumps was referring to the pandemic as "the Backstreet Boys reunion tour" for months.

          It's been just as entertaining in the comments. It was when I tried to edit a comment, seconds after posting, I received an error. I got into the habit of editing to test, noticing comments being automatically deleted for no apparent reason. Regardless of viewpoint, innocuous words and phrases would cause this.

          What you end up with is an arms race by Google, attempting to catch the increasingly esoteric euphemisms

      • I'd wonder how much they lost from people using off-platform financing? Given YouTube's unpredictable penalties, anybody with vaguely problematic content would have looked outside of YouTube for channels through which they can receive money from viewers. Certainly I'm not not interested in paying via YouTube, and creators would be insane to be reliant on YouTube both for ad revenue and subscriptions.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Chas ( 5144 )

      Why do you need to watch YOUTUBE in 4K?

      I mean if you buy content through YouTube in 4K, okay, get what you pay for.

      But your standard YT channel?

      YES, I KNOW it sounds like the "nobody needs more than 64K of memory. But FUCK!

      I'm sitting on a 3x4K monitor setup, and I effectively have unlimited bandwidth.
      Yet I don't see the use. 1080p 60FPS looks fine in full-screen.
      And I don't see the appeal of multiplying my bandwidth use in that fashion. ESPECIALLY if I'm on a connection with limits.

      I mean, MAYBE if I wa

      • Some people DO ROCK those 65 inch screens...and larger because SIZE DOES MATTER to some.

        And then there are those thatalways say, "I'll wait for XYZ to come out before I consider upgrading..."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by porges ( 58715 )

        Some content is designed for the highest eye-candy resolution, such as 4k travelogues.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Chas ( 5144 )

          I've had access to 4K and 4K content for years.
          I've never found ANYTHING that looks good enough to worry about that.

      • it depends on what you are watching. There's a big difference between 1080p and 4k when viewing my (and others') AI/Photoshop created art videos. But if it is some talking head/blogger then 1080p is just fine.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vadim_t ( 324782 )

        4K is great for technical content where you want to see incidental text. Eg, videos about electronics where you want to read the names of the components, videos about some devices featuring paper instructions that you want to read, etc.

        They're also great for programming tutorials, where the dev works in a split screen mode and the text in the text editor is small.

        They're great for anything with fine artwork as well.

        Really I want 4K for pretty much anything other than talking heads on the screen, which means

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Chas ( 5144 )

          I guess that's where we differ.
          The content types consumed are different.
          And I'm coming at it from someone whose first monitor was al old gold monocrhome rig.
          Mainly I'm a screen real estate junkie.

      • Just about all of my Youtube viewing is done on a phone that does 480p at best, and things still look very sharp to me. I hardly notice the difference in resolution between that and the HD television set I sometimes watch. Even when I do a screen grab to zoom and look at the detail of something in a video I watch, the 480p is hardly a problem.

          If Youtube charges for 4K, I'm like "whatever".

    • But does it even matter? A lot of the content on YouTube gains little or no value from 4K. Sure, they're available in 4K, but do you really need to see every detail of Linus's face on an LTT video? Do those bar graphs on Gamers Nexus convey more information in 4K?

  • if we had cable in the 50's / 60's then there may of been an Color TV fee.

  • 1 run-up to a presidential election. That's what got me in the July prior to the election. And once you get used to it, very hard to go back.

  • It gets noisier by the hour.

  • I only recently got a 4k TV and even so I'm underwhelmed by the amount of content I want to consume which is in 4k. Most of what I actually want to watch is only in 1080p anyhow, and some of it is even only available in 720p, presumably to try to induce me off to some other streaming service.

    • I still haven't moved up to 1080 HD and my eyes aren't even good enough to bother with 4k.

      • Up close, I want 4k. I got a used 40" 1080p Sony Bravia TV for $40 and I can just about count pixels, especially with my cheaters on. It's really too big for 1080p at desk range, it should be at least 2k but 4k would be good enough that I could use only grey dithered text. I sit back a fair bit from the screen though so it's not as bad as you might imagine. I used to have a 32" Sharp, but it had a CCFL backlight (my new-used one is LED.)

        Across the room, 4k makes no practical difference to me. Our 52" Sharp

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crow ( 16139 )

      True. I can certainly tell the difference between a DVD and a BluRay, but when watching a movie, the rest of the family doesn't really care. I can rarely even tell the difference with 4K.

      Though with streaming, all the newer content is in 4K (like all the new Marvel and Star Wars stuff on Disney+). So there's lots of content if you watch the newer stuff.

    • This is all true, 4k rarely makes a huge different for most YouTube content. For movies and professionally produced TV shows, what makes the biggest difference is HDR which virtually no YouTube videos have. I love watching movies in 4k/HDR or Dolby Vision on my 65" OLED. If it's mastered well then it can really boost the drama and realism. The only time it makes a difference on YouTube is if you are watching highly detailed nature or exploration videos where the creator took time to film it in proper 4k, bu

  • I don't have a 4K monitor, so 4K is no attraction. I also never see ads because of this browser plugin [mrfdev.com]. Problems solved.

    • I don't have a 4K monitor, so 4K is no attraction.

      You don't have a nice TV in the living room you watch....with friends/date/wife?

      • I'm with dskoll on that one, with this simple question: WTF is worth watching in 4K on YouTube anyway?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dskoll ( 99328 )

        I have a 4K TV in my living room, yes. But I don't watch YouTube on it because the experience is much worse than watching it on my PC where I can suppress the ads. On my living room TV, I watch either Netflix or very rarely over-the-air TV.

        Even on my TV, almost all the content is 1080p and not 4K.

        • I have a 4K TV in my living room, yes. But I don't watch YouTube on it because the experience is much worse than watching it on my PC where I can suppress the ads.

          pihole, or for android tv, smart tube. smart tube also has sponsorblock, which means it can block sponsorship messages embedded in youtube videos (you can get this as a browser plugin also, however.)

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Why would you assume the nice TV in the living room is 4K? The nice TV in my living room is a 50" plasma and it's 720P.

          Wow...you're TV is pretty old then, as that they haven't made plasmas in a long time.

          I had one and loved it before it died.

          If you're going to replace it, why not get the best you can which would be 4K....

          I went for the OLED replacement, its about the only way to get close to the true blacks that plasma had.

  • Youtube content simply isn't worth enough to pay for it. Additionally, much of it isn't in 4k anyway. Plus, after all their censorship shenanigans of the last few years, I'm going to do everything I can to avoid paying them for anything, ever. Dropped Disney+ for and Netflix for the same reason. I get a lot more mileage out of my e-book reader and Audible account, honestly. I spend more money there. One can binge-watch the fantasy and sci-fi sections of all these streaming services lickety-split. Then your

  • I don't watch movies on youtube.

    I adblock youtube.

    I really only watch it in PiP window while I do other stuff.

    The *only* things I watch fullscreen are Goodwood, and the occasional things sent to me by a friend, and anything by the Netherlands Bach Society.

    There is literally nothing I desperately need on Youtube.

    Why should I give money to one of the, if not the most, manipulative companies in the world, which is actively seeking to destroy the world as we know it?

    Nah, bruhs. Get your $ from some other sap,

    • "I will gladly suffer the inevitable downmods of those who see Google as a good thing, a positive force."

      Are you inventing enemies out to downvote you? I think the very best you'll find on here are people very wary of Google, and a great many who view it as evil.

      I do know this is the swiftest leap to a likely Godwin declaration I've personally seen.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Chalex ( 71702 )

      OK, but also it sounds like you have no need to watch in 4K, so it would still be free for you.

    • Some of you on the left imagine that anyone that does not submit to your ideology is a literal nazi. Some have said just as much right here on slashdot. But I submit to you, the ones coming off as either Communists or Nazis are you, those of the hard-left bend. I'm judging you by your party's words and actions, and you come off as Communists or Nazis, which is weird, considering one hated the other. But between the two there is a commonality: utter intolerance of opposing thought or dissent, and going to great lengths to suppress it.

      Both are variants of socialism; the left-vs-right dichotomy is only about it being national or not.

      And socialism in every single implementation was an intolerant totalitarism from the very moment they grabbed power (and usually even before -- their factions hate each other about as much as the eeeeevil capitalists). Of course apologists will still tell you that "true socialism has been never tried", and that social democracy (like in Scandinavia) counts as socialism -- but socialism and democracy are mutua

    • Chill out bro, nobody really loves Google here.

  • My computer can barely play 480p, you insensitive clods! /rant

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      Ouch, even a non recent RPI can do 1080p just fine, and the recent ones can even do 4k. I know times are tough atm but mught I enquire what hw your video playing is done on?

      • 2010 mac mini

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
          Ahh can you still gat and updated nvidia driver for you version of osx, I suspect you might be using cpu video decide which your core 2 duo cpu might be struggling whith. Hold on a sec dies that cpu/gpu even support h264 in hw notshure
  • I know it's throttled, but I can queue up a bunch of interesting videos ahead of time, return and watch them in their entirety without stupid annoying irrelevent ads. People will continue to come up with work-arounds like this as long as YT tries to force ads. Product placement and content provider based product reviews I think are more acceptable, and also filter out the crap as the content-provider puts their reputation out there. I guess ads with good wit may also survive, but repeating endless Liberty M

  • Another reason why MrBeast beat the game by deciding to stick to 1080P.

    • Yeah that's the trashy side of YouTube where the video quality barely matters. If you watch something where detail is important like nature or exploration videos, 4k can make a huge difference.

  • People should pay for streaming useless extra resolution. And I have a 43 inch 4K monitor, so I could see it if I wanted to, but 1080p is plenty for my normal use.

  • good luck google (Score:3)

    by usedtobestine ( 7476084 ) on Monday October 03, 2022 @04:04PM (#62934511)

    I'll just configure my youtube app to only show 1080p or lower.

  • Protip (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Monday October 03, 2022 @05:44PM (#62934925)
    If you like watching YouTube on a device where an adblocker isn't possible (like a smart TV), here's your best bet:

    1. Set your VPN of choice to Argentina
    2. Log in to your Google account
    3. Start a subscription and pay only 119 Argentine Pesos (about 80 US Cents) per month

    • 4. Enjoy a world of Youtube with an endless stream of videos saying "This content is not available in your region".

      Only half joking.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nazrhyn ( 906126 )
      Lock the TV to HDMI1, get an Android TV device like a Chromecast (there's even one with a remote now), download SmartTubeNext.

  • When HDTV came out, we had 720p and 1080p resolutions (on broadcast, it was only 1080i, but the TVs could mostly handle a 1080p input signal (eg. from a Blu-Ray player or PC)). This meant that not only did 1080p content have to be downscaled to be viewed on a 720p TV, but 720p content had to be upscaled to be viewed on a 1080p TV. Because 720 is not a factor of 1080, it meant that each pixel of a 1080p display does not correspond to an integral number of pixels in a 720p display, so some blurriness might oc

  • "YouTube's Premium paid subscription includes benefits like ad-free viewing,"

    My ad-blocker does that for free.

    I guess we need a free TV-OS.

  • With the number of smaller screens and regular users around it seems like it will not be that widely used.
  • Unless you watch Youtube on a mega TV screen, 4K is overrated on a 20 inch monitor.

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