Enable Galaxy TAB S7/S7+ 4K resolution (Using ADB)

[Stryker_Echo9er]

I am unsure if this thread belongs here. Kindly let me know if it doesn't or please move it.

I was wondering if the TAB S7/S7+ would let me play YouTube videos on 4K using the native app but unfortunately it doesn't for obvious reasons using stock settings.
So I figured a way to enable this using ADB. I am unsure how much this affects the battery life since I am still testing app compatibility and power usage.

ADB Commands
1. To set 4K resolution -
adb shell wm size 2400x3840
adb shell wm density 1024 (or whatever suits your eyes, mine is 1200)

2. To reset to default -
adb shell wm size reset
adb shell wm density reset

So if anyone's interested all you have to do is -
1. Download minimal ADB and install it if you do not have ADB installed.
2. Open Command Prompt in the ADB folder by pressing Shift Key and selecting the Right Click option "Open command prompt here".
3. Run "ADB devices" without quotes and accept the prompt on your device (Your device must have USB debugging enabled, if you don't know how or have it enabled you probably shouldn't be doing this).
4. Run the above "To set 4K" commands to set the display resolution to 4k.
5. Clear the app data of Youtube and restart the device.
6. (Optional/Reset) To reset the display resolution to default, just run the 2nd set of commands.

 

[bs3pro]

Not sure this is actually making the screen dislay 4k.

 

[Stryker_Echo9er]

It doesn't actually MAKE your screen 4k as the display only supports 2k. The device renders everything in 4k and then outputs it on the display just like what Retina Displays or Nvidia DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) does.
Just in case you want to actually make sure everything is running in 4k, you can simply try running a 4k video on Youtube which otherwise you cant!

 

[bs3pro]

It doesn't actually MAKE your screen 4k as the display only supports 2k. The device renders everything in 4k and then outputs it on the display just like what Retina Displays or Nvidia DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) does.
Just in case you want to actually make sure everything is running in 4k, you can simply try running a 4k video on Youtube which otherwise you cant!

Right, so what's the point? The 4k video doesn't look better on a 2k screen.

 

[Stryker_Echo9er]

Since DSR and Retina Displays already exist, I believe there are some advantages. You have to try it to believe it. The displays feel a lot sharper, edges feel smoother, fonts look amazing, overall it just looks good on the huge display of my Tab s7+.

Coming back to that I need to ask you, did you try this before asking me the POINT. Coz I feel if you would have, you wouldn't be asking me this!

 

[bs3pro]

Since DSR and Retina Displays already exist, I believe there are some advantages. You have to try it to believe it. The displays feel a lot sharper, edges feel smoother, fonts look amazing, overall it just looks good on the huge display of my Tab s7+.

Coming back to that I need to ask you, did you try this before asking me the POINT. Coz I feel if you would have, you wouldn't be asking me this!

Yes, I did, and it looks no different. It's a 2k screen, enabling something to load a 2k screen with 4k will make no difference. Not trying to argue, just saying, it's pointless.

 

[Stryker_Echo9er]

I accept it doesn't make any greatly significant difference but then its subjective. It was just an experiment and I wanted to try it. There are many people out there who always want to run youtube at 4k, this was simply my answer to that problem, although it has its own downside and implications.

 

[Lucas155]

Thanks for figuring this out! Often 4k will look better on a 2k screen than 2k on a 2k screen.

This is because pixels from youtube don't always line up perfectly to the tablet pixels and you end up with a resolution less than 2k when you have it set to 2k. When you stream at 4k from youtube, the content is delivered with smaller pixels and ends up looking better on a 2k display.

 

[riz157]

Thanks for this going to give it a try on my 7 plus.

 

[riz157]

it worked now i get the option to 2160 resolution, it does look sharper.

good work thanks very simple

 

[gedesby]

Hey
When i use the command "densiti" my screen become wery BIG otherwise the "size" resolution is great

is that normal ??

 

[NiHaoMike]

There's also Newpipe to get 4K Youtube without hacking. As a bonus, it also gets rid of the ads.

 

[Divyam73g]

Does this work on Netflix? Will the maximum resolution on netflix and prime video change to uhd?

 

[StarLordPK]

What the Implications and Downsides to this?

 

[jdoggawesomex900]

Right, so what's the point? The 4k video doesn't look better on a 2k screen.

The point is higher bitrate. Youtube compresses videos so much so 4k will have a much higher bitrate than 1440p and look better.

 

[jdoggawesomex900]

Btw, use youtube vanced for 4k but use sparingly as it blocks ads. I wouldn't suggest using it very often because it doesn't support creators

 

[Twodordan]

What about on Samsung Dex or any kindof screen mirroring on external monitors? Any way to get the S7+ to send more than 1440p to an external monitor through any means?

For instance if you set the resolution to 4k with ADB, and then you mirror your display via a 4k@60fps usb-c / hdmi cable to your 4k screen, will the screen receive a 4k signal?

Can anyone (Stryker_Echo9er) try that?

 

[NiHaoMike]

Btw, use youtube vanced for 4k but use sparingly as it blocks ads. I wouldn't suggest using it very often because it doesn't support creators

If you have unlimited data and an old device lying around (all it has to be able to do is run the official Youtube app), you can leave the video playing on that device with ads while you watch on your S7 or whatever without ads. Best of both worlds, the only extra you pay is that little bit of electricity to run the other device.

 

[nshreenath]

YouTube now natively supports 4K HDR.

Now you can watch high quality 4K YouTube videos on Android phones

Support for 4K HDR playback was only there for iPhone users while Android smartphone users were only able to play YouTube videos at a maximum resolution of 1440 pixels.

www.gadgetsnow.com

 

[Stryker_Echo9er]

What about on Samsung Dex or any kindof screen mirroring on external monitors? Any way to get the S7+ to send more than 1440p to an external monitor through any means?

For instance if you set the resolution to 4k with ADB, and then you mirror your display via a 4k@60fps usb-c / hdmi cable to your 4k screen, will the screen receive a 4k signal?

Can anyone (Stryker_Echo9er) try that?

I tried doing that on my 8-series Samsung TV, unfortunately, it doesn't work on my TV via USB-C (using an HDMI Dongle) or screen mirroring. I am not sure if it would work on displays with a type-c port.

 

[Twodordan]

I tried doing that on my 8-series Samsung TV, unfortunately, it doesn't work on my TV via USB-C (using an HDMI Dongle) or screen mirroring. I am not sure if it would work on displays with a type-c port.

Thanks for trying. But do you mean that it doesn't work at all, as in you can't use dex on your TV? Or does it mean it just doesn't do 4k?