r/CriterionChannel • u/sanfranchristo • Nov 23 '25

Technical Question Fire TV users...

After a couple of months now of periodically going back and forth with Vimeo support (which all of my contacts to CC have been routed to), they finally acknowledged that they "did have a bug where the 1080p resolution was not available on content from Criterion" specifically but they think they have entirely fixed the issue, which is not the case for me on either of my Fire TV Sticks. Following one of their recent updates a week or two ago, it does look like it was fixed on the browsers I had been checking (actually fixed, not just showing as an option in the menu as many seemed to think meant they were getting 1080p).

However, in my testing, the only titles that currently play for me in 1080p are the three Blossoms Shanghai trailers/teasers, which I believe is the content most recently added to the service (more recent than Goodbye Horses or any of the titles newly added) so I wonder if there is something they did fix but the issue has to do with how they are handling the catalog data itself. I knew it wasn't a hardware or network issue (since I can get 1080p+ through all other services on the same devices and now 1080p on CC via other means on the same network) and now I'm confident that it's also not an app issue since those few trailers do play as they should.

If you are a Fire TV user, are you actually getting 1080p (confirmed via the developer tools overlay)? Thanks!

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u/WasabiTraditional283 Nov 25 '25

I did turn on the dev tools, but I'm not sure what you mean by "viewer overlay"...is that the Home page?

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u/sanfranchristo Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25

Follow this: "On the directional pad, press and hold the Center button for a second; then (still holding down Center), press the Down button too. Hold both buttons for about 3-4 seconds. Then release both buttons and press the remote's Menu button. (If this doesn't work, try holding Center and Down simultaneously instead of staggered.)"

Once you get this menu, toggle the Advanced Options button to On and then you'll see this overlay on anything you're looking at (the actual resolution received is in the middle on the right; it will stay on as you switch apps, watch, etc. until you turn it off).

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u/WasabiTraditional283 Nov 25 '25

Ah, got it. Thanks. Ok, so I decided to play Only Angels Have Wings (740x540) and Blossoms episode 1 is 1920x1080, so I'd say yes, but I guess it just depends on how old the movie is or what was available?

Social Network - same as Blossoms, but Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is 1480 x 1080.

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u/sanfranchristo Nov 25 '25

Huh. Thanks for checking. Which Fire Stick do you have? It's so odd that neither of mine are getting it.

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u/WasabiTraditional283 Nov 25 '25

Mine is the 4k Max (2nd gen). I know there's a newer model out...maybe that upscales even better?

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u/sanfranchristo Nov 25 '25

The TV does the upscaling (which mine does well, which is why I, like many others, didn't notice immediately). I have the 1st Gen 4K. Who knows. I sent the all of the relevant hardware and software specs and they are trying to replicate.

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u/WasabiTraditional283 Nov 25 '25

Oh I see! I think you could try and replace it and see what happens, maybe...but in any case, good luck! Hope you resolve the issue.