Problems Solved
Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk
PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
Why can’t I watch 4K videos?
Q My PC plays high-definition (HD) 1080p YouTube videos without any problems. However, quite a few videos are now in 4K, and when I try to play them, all I get is buffering and freezing. I use VLC Media Player for playback. Any ideas?
Terry Colleen
A There are a couple of possibilities, either of which could be contributing to your problem. First, it’s important to understand that there are a few differences between HD and 4K video – about six million of them, in fact.
Each frame of HD video is made up of a little over two million pixels, but a 4K video has over eight million pixels per frame. This means downloading, processing and displaying a 4K video requires a lot more resources all round.
It may be that your broadband connection is too slow to keep up with the delivery of all those extra pixels. As a rule, you need a connection well in excess of 20Mbps for smooth, uninterrupted 4K video streaming.
What’s more, your computer’s graphics hardware must be up to the job of playing 4K video. These days, most modern graphics-processing units (GPUs) should be capable of this – but an older PC could struggle. In our reply to Mark Searle on page 67 of this issue, we explain how to find out what graphics card you have in your computer. You can then check its capabilities online.
If it turns out that your graphics hardware is the problem, and your computer is a desktop PC, you could consider fitting a more powerful graphics card. Sadly, if you have a laptop, there’s not much you can do about it. External graphics cards for laptops do exist, but they’re expensive and are unlikely to work well – if at all – with an older laptop that can’t even handle 4K
