YouTube TV

Is YouTube TV’s 4K plan actually worth it? What you should know about the add-on package

Andrew Romero | Dec 8 2022 - 8:20 am PT

YouTube TV is understandably a huge draw. Access to hundreds of live channels, unlimited show recordings, and sports-centric features like key moment playback is more than worth it for many. But does upgrading to the 4K package on top of the YouTube TV base plan really get you a better experience, and is it actually worth it?

What is YouTube TV’s 4K package?

Just about everything comes in 4K when streamed, depending on what service you use – they’ll often include 4K content in the base plan, which makes it easier to swallow when deciding which one to go with. The unfortunate part about YouTube TV is that it’s mostly pulled directly from local and national television broadcasts, which stream at 1080p and 720p, so you never have the chance of grabbing a 4K movie by coincidence.

Instead, YouTube TV’s upgraded 4K content comes in the form of extra channels that offer 4K resolution in addition to 1080p and lower. Those channels include the following:

Discovery
ESPN
FOX Sports
FX

Nat Geo
NBC Sports
Tastemade
MLB Network

Of those eight, half are sports channels. Of course, that makes a lot of sense and in the case when you want to watch football, soccer, or basketball in 4K, YouTube’s extra package seems like a good deal.

In addition to YouTube TV’s monthly cost of $64.99, the “4K Plus” plan adds an extra $20 to your bill, for a total of $84.99/month, so long as you don’t add anything extra. That’s undeniably a large chunk of money for most users.

On top of that, you’re really only getting eight more channels with 4K supported content, and depending on what you frequently watch, that channel package may be less than interesting. You could choose one or two and find their dedicated streaming services to set up shop in. For example, if you like what NBC has to offer, try Peacock.

Is YouTube TV’s 4K genuine 4K?

Interestingly enough, a lot of what YouTube TV offers in the way of upgraded 4K content isn’t genuine 4K. Though it may be difficult to tell, most content coming out of the $10/month add-on is just 1080p content upscaled to 4K. It’s worth noting that upscaled content does look very good and has the ability to pass as native 4K nine times out of ten, however, it’s just not the same.

For instance, the World Cup 2022 in Qatar has had every match streamed via Fox Sports and its corresponding channels via YouTube TV. Fox Sports, of course, is included in the 4K Plus plan and offers the streams in that higher resolution. Unfortunately, that content appears to just be upscaled 1080p and not native 4k.

Top comment by Mckillio

Liked by 7 people

I did a free trial of it a while back and in 30 days I saw zero things in 4k. ESPN is an absolute joke, they still don't even do 1080p and neither do a lot of broadcasters, it's shameful.

But it is important to point out that the 4k package gives you more than 4k content, you also get "Unlimited concurrent streams at home" and "Ability to view DVR recordings offline for available content (mobile devices only)". Still not worth $20 a month for me.

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Testing this on YouTube TV led to some interesting results. Switching back and forth between 4K and 1080p made almost no difference at all, with the 1080p version almost looking better in some regards. On top of that, using the Fox Sports app on Google TV provided better 4K results than YouTube TV did, even though they are, in fact, streamed with the same cameras, equipment, and so on.

Is YouTube TV 4K worth it?

When it comes right down to it, it really depends on who you are and what you watch. No matter what marketing may have you believe, most sports broadcasts just don’t do full 4K yet. If you love reality TV or National Geographic’s coverage, you may be interested in 4K streams from those channels.

Of course, for every channel on YouTube TV, there’s an alternative out there. One example would be tying your YouTube TV account to the Fox Sports app and watching the 4K upscaled broadcast that way. The World Cup streams – for whatever reason – look better there anyways.

For certain channels and streams, YouTube TV’s 4K Plus plan can make a big difference, especially if you’re running it on a higher-end television. For others, it may make a lot more sense to find dedicated streaming services to get you the content you want. In those apps, you may find that the quality is just a little bit better.