YouTube For Android TV Can Stream In 8K For Only A Few

It seems like only yesterday when the market finally caught up with 2K and now TV makers and content publishers are already pushing 8K everywhere they can. It's definitely going to take a lot of time before that even becomes as prevalent as 4K, especially considering the limitations when it comes to the availability of hardware and content. One such limitation is finally being lifted that will allow Android TV owners to watch YouTube videos in glorious 8K, presuming you meet all the requirements.

There is admittedly a large number of YouTube content that supports this ultra high resolution, thanks to more serious video makers with powerful equipment to capture or render 8K videos. There are also a growing number of Android TV devices and TV screens that can handle also handle 8K. Funnily enough, these two circles have never intersected until now.

The changelog for the YouTube Android TV app now lists limited 8K support. The limitation is that it only works for Android 10 and later versions. So in addition to having an 8K Android TV and finding 8K YouTube videos, you can only enjoy this feature if your Android TV is running the latest version. Unfortunately, that might not the case for the majority of such devices in the market.

The update also adds some new features but, as Android Police observed, also strangely removed some even before they rolled out to the rest of the world. Cast Connect, Google's new way to cast content to Android TVs, has been added, for example. In contrast, it removes the mention of AV1 HDR playback.

Either way, it is still a significant update, even if only for 8K streaming support. All that's left now is for manufacturers to update their devices to the latest Android 10 version that was actually released almost a year ago.