If you rent a movie through Google Play Movies & TV — or Google TV, as the new app rolling out in some areas is called — you can play it through YouTube on the web. However, some users have discovered that YouTube is capping quality at 480p even for those who rent HD movies.
Some Twitter users, as well as the folks over at Android Police, noted that streaming rentals through YouTube locks quality at a maximum of 480p. However, the same restriction didn’t apply in other places, such as viewing content in the Play Movies/Google TV app or through a Chromecast device.
Although some might assume the limitation is because of COVID-19 and the resulting limitations YouTube and other streaming video companies put in place to manage load on networks, it’s actually another issue entirely.
YouTube told Android Police that it recently uncovered a technical issue with HD playback on the web and temporarily disabled HD playback until the problem gets fixed. Unfortunately, YouTube didn’t elaborate on what the problem was or share details on how long it would take to fix.
If you regularly rent movies through Google and play them on the web using YouTube, you may want to hold off on renting anything in HD for the next little while. However, if you do rent something in HD, you can enjoy it on other platforms such as mobile, Android TV or Chromecast.
Source: Android Police
