Enable 1080p on YouTube for your OnePlus One

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zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
As of 09/06: Google has fixed the problem and is now showing 1080p on 4.4.4 ROMs. This is no longer needed.

If the problem still occurs, try the suggestion by @DirtyDroidX

Delete YouTube from /system/app and reboot. Then download it from the market. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=55410590&postcount=53

Background Information
I'm not sure if you guys have noticed but with the XNPH30O OTA it updated our phones from Android 4.4.2 to 4.4.4. Thats great and all, but theres something that a lot of us didn't see happen. When we updated to Android 4.4.4, we also lost our ability to watch YouTube videos on 1080p.

By using Android 4.4.4, the YouTube app only grants us the option of viewing YouTube videos at a maximium of 720p even though the video is capable of transcoding to 1080p. This is not exclusive to the OnePlus One but also to other devices such as the HTC One M8, Nexus 5 and so forth (originally saw this thread on the N5 forums but not everybody here visits that forum because they might not own the device so this is more or less a repost to be informative)

You can verify this by selecting any YouTube video of your choice, go to menu -> gears (middle) -> max 720p.
By doing the below the max will be 1080p.

Requirements
* Root Access
* Ability to edit build.prop in /system/ of your choice whether it is pushing it, file explorer, etc.

Procedure
1. Open build.prop in /system/
2. Find the line
Code:
ro.build.version.release=4.4.4
3. Modify this line from 4.4.4 to 4.4.2. It should appear as,
Code:
ro.build.version.release=4.4.2
4. Reboot your phone
5. Go to any YouTube video and then go to menu -> gears -> 1080p should be shown.

How to Revert
When a new OTA comes, you will need to manually open up build.prop and modify the line from 4.4.2 back to 4.4.4 and then apply the OTA.
Enjoy your YouTube videos in 1080p rather than 720p! Hopefully YouTube fixes this but for now this is the workaround.

Screenshots
LITNnbE.png
 
Last edited:

TheShoxter

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2014
254
90
Chicago
Will modifying the build.prop in such a way where the version is changed like that have any other side effects?
 

funCrash93

Senior Member
Jan 30, 2012
1,652
585
Iași
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Note it'll have to be done again manually when a new version comes out :p

So weird how Google made it 720p, its either a bug or they went backwards going from 1080 to 720 :eek:
btw, MAHDI OTA works (I guess it doesn't check for that line in build.prop), so as long as I haven't modified any *.mahdi.* related lines should be OK.
thanks, now don't need to worry if smth is not working in OTA :D


(lol I guess I reverted my phone to Android 4.4.2 w/ just a reboot :laugh: )

---------- Post added at 08:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------

yeah, 4.4.4 was maximum android version, now we have to go Backwards for things to work properly :eek:
Google Troll :laugh:

maybe L's official version si below 4.4 :D :eek:
 

zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
btw, MAHDI OTA works (I guess it doesn't check for that line in build.prop), so as long as I haven't modified any *.mahdi.* related lines should be OK.
thanks, now don't need to worry if smth is not working in OTA :D


(lol I guess I reverted my phone to Android 4.4.2 w/ just a reboot :laugh: )

---------- Post added at 08:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------

yeah, 4.4.4 was maximum android version, now we have to go Backwards for things to work properly :eek:
Google Troll :laugh:

maybe L's official version si below 4.4 :D :eek:

Yeah the OTA center only checks for Version and file. All this trick does is just trick the phone that you're running Android 4.4.2 instead of 4.4.4 and for some reason it'll enable 1080p whereas if ur on 4.4.4, it hides the option.

You should go change it to Android 5.0 while you're at it ;)

Hopefully Google fixes this and realize that the OPO and other devices that are affected are actually 1080p devices and not 720p.
 

funCrash93

Senior Member
Jan 30, 2012
1,652
585
Iași
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Yeah the OTA center only checks for Version and file. All this trick does is just trick the phone that you're running Android 4.4.2 instead of 4.4.4 and for some reason it'll enable 1080p whereas if ur on 4.4.4, it hides the option.

You should go change it to Android 5.0 while you're at it ;)

Hopefully Google fixes this and realize that the OPO and other devices that are affected are actually 1080p devices and not 720p.

curious, if changing that to "L", how will YouTube act? :eek:
maybe 4K will work :laugh:

Sent from my bacon.
 

zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
wow, didn't knew it would be so big :D
(uploaded from Tapa, and wasn't so big there :laugh:)

ok, special for ya @zephiK [edited] ;)

---------- Post added at 09:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 AM ----------

for me is 10 AM already :p
Tapatalk definitely needs to tone it down when it comes to uploading screenshots. In the OP I had to actually change the resolution of the picture. It was taking a large portion of the page similarly to your picture.
 

Vortex1969

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2013
2,180
8,550
Great fix thx I don't care if it says 4.4.2 in about phone. Got 1080 YouTube.[emoji3]
 

zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
A new YouTube update was pushed to the play store. If anybody hasn't done the change, can they check if youtube fixed this problem?

Sent from my One using Tapatalk
 

ChazzMatt

Recognized Contributor
Nov 30, 2010
18,627
14,447
Atlanta, Georgia
Thanks! This was posted in the Mahdi thread as it was being discussed why our 1080p Nexus 5 smartphones couldn't receive 1080p YouTube videos. Thanks for the fix. Much appreciated.

So, every time we flash a new ROM update we have to re-do this fix?
 
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zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
Thanks! This was posted in the Mahdi thread as it was being discussed why our 1080p Nexus 5 smartphones couldn't receive 1080p YouTube videos. Thanks for the fix. Much appreciated.

So, every time we flash a new ROM update we have to re-do this fix?

That's correct, you'll just have to manually open up build.prop and change it to 4.4.2 again. You'll have to keep doing this until Google fixes this. They will most likely fix it, but we're unsure when they will. I was hoping the new update to YouTube today would resolve it but nope.
 
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  • 17
    As of 09/06: Google has fixed the problem and is now showing 1080p on 4.4.4 ROMs. This is no longer needed.

    If the problem still occurs, try the suggestion by @DirtyDroidX

    Delete YouTube from /system/app and reboot. Then download it from the market. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=55410590&postcount=53

    Background Information
    I'm not sure if you guys have noticed but with the XNPH30O OTA it updated our phones from Android 4.4.2 to 4.4.4. Thats great and all, but theres something that a lot of us didn't see happen. When we updated to Android 4.4.4, we also lost our ability to watch YouTube videos on 1080p.

    By using Android 4.4.4, the YouTube app only grants us the option of viewing YouTube videos at a maximium of 720p even though the video is capable of transcoding to 1080p. This is not exclusive to the OnePlus One but also to other devices such as the HTC One M8, Nexus 5 and so forth (originally saw this thread on the N5 forums but not everybody here visits that forum because they might not own the device so this is more or less a repost to be informative)

    You can verify this by selecting any YouTube video of your choice, go to menu -> gears (middle) -> max 720p.
    By doing the below the max will be 1080p.

    Requirements
    * Root Access
    * Ability to edit build.prop in /system/ of your choice whether it is pushing it, file explorer, etc.

    Procedure
    1. Open build.prop in /system/
    2. Find the line
    Code:
    ro.build.version.release=4.4.4
    3. Modify this line from 4.4.4 to 4.4.2. It should appear as,
    Code:
    ro.build.version.release=4.4.2
    4. Reboot your phone
    5. Go to any YouTube video and then go to menu -> gears -> 1080p should be shown.

    How to Revert
    When a new OTA comes, you will need to manually open up build.prop and modify the line from 4.4.2 back to 4.4.4 and then apply the OTA.
    Enjoy your YouTube videos in 1080p rather than 720p! Hopefully YouTube fixes this but for now this is the workaround.

    Screenshots
    LITNnbE.png
    2
    I just used this modded YouTube build prop tweaks nor the market place version worked. Plus this looks better using the holo themed version. I am on slimkat BTW.
    http://ultimarom.com/themed-apps/youtube/

    Sent from my One A0001 using XDA Free mobile app
    2
    I'm on 33r and this workaround doesn't work on my device. What can I do?

    Gesendet von meinem A0001 mit Tapatalk
    Delete YouTube from /system/app and reboot. Then download it from the market.

    Sent from my A0001
    1
    Will modifying the build.prop in such a way where the version is changed like that have any other side effects?

    Nope.
    1
    solved :p

    ---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 AM ----------

    Works w/ MAHDI,

    Thank you :)