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YouTube TV is seemingly always working on improving picture quality, though they are kind of hamstrung by the channels they carry and what they are broadcasting. But YouTube TV has said over on Reddit that they are rolling out changes to improve picture quality, as well as adding a new “1080p Enhanced” option across many of the channels on offer.
The tricky thing here is that not every channel broadcasts in 1080p. For example, ESPN and FS1 both broadcast in 720p as their max resolution. So you won’t see 1080p Enhanced for every channel that you have on YouTube TV.
YouTube TV noted that this is rolling out to 4K-compatible streaming devices and will be the “highest video quality” available outside of 4K Plus.
The updates are rolling out to YouTube TV right now; there’s no word on how long this is going to take to roll out. Google typically does a pretty slow rollout of features of its products. I just checked on a couple of 4K-compatible devices, and I do not see a 1080p Enhanced option for YouTube TV just yet.
YouTube Premium subscribers got 1080p Enhanced late last year
While 1080p Enhanced is going to be new to YouTube TV subscribers, it won’t be for YouTube Premium subscribers, as Google started rolling that out last November. It was exclusive to Premium subscribers and involves an “enhanced bitrate” resolution on Android and TVs. It launched first on the iPhone earlier in 2023 and later on the web in the middle of 2023.
This is a good move for YouTube, as it allows them to improve picture quality without forcing users to use 4K. Not everyone has the internet speed, not to mention the added bandwidth that YouTube would need to swallow for that to happen. While 1080p Enhanced will use more bandwidth than regular 1080p, the change is pretty small compared to 4K vs 1080p.