Before anyone buys a television, check three things: the model number on the back of the set, the speed of the connection where it stands, and how big the screen really is from where they sit. Most of the time the answer is a small streaming stick, or nothing at all.
A new TV is the most expensive way to get 4K, and often the least necessary. Plenty of sets bought in the last few years are 4K already. Plenty of older ones are perfectly good HD screens on which a 4K channel would look no sharper than its HD version. What decides it is a short set of checks you can do in one visit, or over a video call with your dad holding his phone up to the back of the set.
| What you found | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 4K TV, 2019 or later | On a Samsung, LG or Sony set the player installs from the TV's own app store, so they keep the one remote they already know. See the Samsung, LG and Android TV guides. | Buy nothing |
| 4K TV with slow apps | The screen is fine; the software is the weak part. A 4K-capable stick in an HDMI 2.0 input takes over, with its own small remote. The Firestick guide covers the install. | Add a 4K stick |
| HD TV (1920 x 1080) | A 4K channel would look no sharper on this screen, so the HD version of each channel is the right one. If the TV needs a stick anyway, any model will do. | Keep it, use HD |
| Older or Lite stick | Older Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Stick Lite and budget Android boxes top out at 1080p, no matter what the channel sends. An Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield, Formuler Z11 Pro Max or Fire TV Stick 4K Max plays 4K. | Replace the stick, not the TV |
| Line under 25 Mbps | HD needs about 10 Mbps and will play well. A new TV changes nothing here; a network cable to the router, or a faster line, does. | Stay on HD for now |
4K pays off when the screen is big, about 55 inches or more, and the picture is sport or a film, watched from an ordinary sofa. On a smaller TV, a tablet or a phone, HD looks the same and uses about a quarter of the data. News, quiz shows, soaps and most series gain very little from the extra detail.
That is why each of the main channels is offered three ways, in 4K, HD and SD, listed next to each other: you choose channel by channel, not plan by plan. For a lot of people the right everyday choice is HD, with the 4K version of one or two sports channels added for the occasions that deserve it. If the person watching has never once mentioned picture quality, do not turn it into a project. Set up HD, make it reliable, and leave it there.
| Part of the setup | Enough for 4K | Better |
|---|---|---|
| The screen | A 4K screen with an HDMI 2.0 input | A 4K screen with HDR |
| What plays it | Any box, stick or TV that outputs 4K | Apple TV 4K, Formuler Z11, Shield TV or Fire TV 4K Max |
| The line | A steady 25 Mbps | 50 Mbps over a cable |
| The app on the TV | IPTV Smarters Pro | TiViMate, with hardware decoding switched on |
| The plan | Any SWIVTV plan; 4K is included | |
A 4K label means little unless the broadcaster made the picture in 4K in the first place; stretching an HD picture adds pixels, not detail. The 4K channels here carry pictures produced in 4K, at a high bitrate, and every one of them has an HD version beside it for the hours when the line is under strain.
The sports page shows which competitions come with a 4K picture, and the channel list has the rest of the line-up.
Carrying 4K takes three to four times as much bandwidth as HD, which is why it is the first thing to suffer when the connection is only just good enough. Work through it in this order: hardware decoding, then the cable, then the HD version during the hours when the home's connection is busiest. If the line only slows down at certain times of day because the internet provider throttles video, a VPN on a nearby server can bring the speed back. That one is for you to set up, not for the person watching.
There is no 4K tier. Every SWIVTV plan carries the 4K channels, and only two things change the price: the length of the plan and the number of streams allowed at once. One screen costs $15 for a month or $69 for twelve months, which works out at about $5.75 a month. The pricing page has every combination, and the plans are below.
$ 15 25 35 49 / one month
$15.00 a month, paid up front $25.00 a month, paid up front $35.00 a month, paid up front $49.00 a month, paid up front
$ 29 49 65 99 / three months
$9.67 a month, paid up front $16.33 a month, paid up front $21.67 a month, paid up front $33.00 a month, paid up front
$ 45 75 99 149 / six months
$7.50 a month, paid up front $12.50 a month, paid up front $16.50 a month, paid up front $24.83 a month, paid up front
$ 69 119 159 239 / twelve months
$5.75 a month, paid up front $9.92 a month, paid up front $13.25 a month, paid up front $19.92 a month, paid up front
A room here means one screen playing: your dad's TV in the living room and a tablet in the kitchen, running together, count as two. Install on as many devices in the home as you like. Every length carries all 25,000+ channels and 120,000+ films and series, is paid once in USD, and simply stops on its end date; we never hold a card, so the date goes in your own calendar. If it will not run and support cannot fix it, claim a refund within the first 7 days.
The free 24-hour trial includes every 4K channel. Try it before anyone buys new hardware.
Usually not. If the set is already 4K and its apps run well, install the player on the TV itself. If it is 4K but slow, a 4K streaming stick costs far less than a new set. If it is an HD set, keep it: HD channels look right on it, and a 4K channel would not look any sharper on that screen.
One 4K stream needs a steady 25 Mbps, and 50 Mbps is comfortable when other people in the home are online at the same time. HD gets by on about 10 Mbps. Steadiness counts for more than the headline figure, so test in the evening and use a network cable rather than Wi-Fi for whatever plays the 4K channel.
The Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield, Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Formuler Z11 Pro Max all do, and so do 4K televisions made by Samsung, LG or Sony since 2019, with the player installed on the set. Older Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Stick Lite and budget Android boxes cannot output more than 1080p, however good the picture a channel sends.
Yes. The 4K channels are part of every plan, whether it runs for one month or twelve, with no premium tier and no upgrade fee. The price changes only with the length of the plan and the number of streams allowed to play at the same time, so a one-month single-screen plan carries the same 4K channels as a yearly one.
Because a 4K picture uses three to four times as much bandwidth as HD, it is the first to go when the connection or the Wi-Fi is only just coping. The fixes, in order: hardware decoding in the player, a network cable instead of Wi-Fi, and the HD version kept in favorites as the fallback for the busiest hours.
For most everyday viewing, yes. On screens smaller than about 55 inches, and for news, series and quiz shows, HD looks the same as 4K and uses about a quarter of the data. Keep 4K for sport and films on a big screen and set everything else up in HD; from an ordinary sofa, the difference is hard to see.
Not in any useful sense. Almost nothing is produced in 8K, so channels sold as 8K are stretched copies of lower-resolution pictures. A well-made 4K picture at a good bitrate is the realistic target, and it is what the 4K channels here carry, each with an HD version beside it.
