There are a lot of options when it comes to Android TV Boxes and most of them today can display full 4k resolution. Unfortunately out of the box a lot of developers have the system defaulted to 720p.
To get a higher resolution the first thing that is necessary is your TV must support that higher resolution. If you have a 4k Television then it should be able to stream content at any resolution pretty much if your connection can support it. Remember that 4k resolution requires a lot of data and if your home network is not able to support the speed then you will get choppy results. Later we will go over how you can fix that but lets first just make sure that your Android System is setup for the Best Resolution.
Open your Android System Settings Menu
Next go to Display and then open the Output Mode Settings
Look for the Highest Resolution that your Television can support and select it. If your device can support higher resolutions than your TV can display then those modes will likely be disabled.
Set the Resolution and then launch a Video App like YouTube. In the YouTube Settings there is a setting that can throttle your choices for display or set the default setting. Make sure that any App that you use is not disabling the option to view higher resolutions.
Find a video that you would like to watch. Select the three dot menu at the top of the video and select Quality and then make sure that the higher resolution that you want to watch is available. Many videos on youtube are not available in 4k quality because they were uploaded at a lower resolution. After selecting the resolution that you want play the video and see if your quality has improved.
How To Set Default Video Settings To Reduce Your Data Use
Above we went over how to set the video quality settings for your device in the Android System Menu and in the YouTube App. If you are lucky to have a 4k Television, an Android TV Box that can support 4k and a high speed internet connection then you can enjoy a lot of great video on YouTube and through other Apps for free. You can also sign up for paid services like Amazon Prime, SlingTV or Netflix and find high resolution video for many movies and some TV shows.
Unfortunately many of us have data caps on our internet plans. Even if you have Gigabit Internet or 500mbit or 100mbit which all can view 4k video over the internet you won’t be able to do this all day every day. If you only watch an hour or two in the evenings then you probably won’t ever run into a problem where you are using too much data for your Internet Plan. If you have a few family members that watch a lot of videos or are home schooled and using lots of video content or if you work from home and need to stream for work then all of this video can add up quickly.
For this reason it is important to go into the settings of all of your apps and define the default resolution that you want played back to reduce the data used while playing the video. Unfortunately its impossible to cover every app and you should seek help with the support site or developers to find the settings.
Most people will find that 720p is a very acceptable resolution even when it is displayed on a large television. I personally use this as my default resolution when playing remote content but I also have local content that I recorded so I set local content to display at the resolution of the television. Not all apps can make this differential between local and remote content so be careful.
When I want higher resolution from online content I simply go into the Quality Menu on YouTube or the settings option for my other apps like Kodi and I bump up the resolution to full quality.
Final Note
Remember that not all online content is available in the highest resolutions and this will be true for any old content that isn’t digitally remastered. Don’t expect old TV Shows to be remastered but old classic movies are often remastered in the highest current quality.
Also remember your data caps or monthly data allowances from your internet provider. Often they are not loudly announced to customers when you sign up and they can change at any time so it is important that you understand these data caps and preserve your data for the most important video.
Another thing that I suggest to everyone is to start DVRing content. If you are in the USA and many other countries then it is legal to record Antenna Broadcasts and even Cable TV. CableTV requires that you have a subscription and a CableCard Tuner which costs about $100. For antenna broadcasts you need to have good reception and that might require an Antenna in your attic or on your roof but if you are like me in many US Markets you can receive 50 or more stations that run all types of content. Go to a Television Guide Website like zap2it and enter your zip code and then select Antenna Broadcast. All of the stations listed and more should be available in your area and you can record all of them. Maybe a Special on PBS or an Episode of Hells Kitchen on Fox. Whatever you want you record and save it to a hard drive and you can watch it on your TV with your Android TV box and an App like Kodi.tv It really is a great way for families to save a lot of money on Pay TV and Subscription Services. Watch the live TV over antenna and when nothing is on you have your DVRd shows and movies to watch and it doesn’t even require the internet.