Can't stream 4K but will play saved 4K videos

[NJ Prof]

I cannot stream 4K UHD with VLC, and this has been a persistent issue with 2 different PCs with different CPUs/GPUs. I have the latest version of VLC installed on each PC. Although VLC fails to stream in 4K, I can however play 4K UHD videos that I have downloaded and saved.
This problem occurs on my
Lenovo Legion 5 Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 7 5800h CPU, Nvidia RTX 3050 ti discrete GPU, 32 GB 3200 RAM) running Windows 11.

The same scenario occurs using my Lenovo Legion 5i Gaming Desktop (Intel Core i5-11400, GTX 1660 Super discrete GPU, 32 GB DDR4 3200 RAM) running Windows 10.

Both are 64 bit systems with the latest updates.
Both PCs can be connected to a 4K UHD HDR external display via HDMI (or USB C with displayport).

Issue: When I want to steam a video in 4K, I paste the url in the "Open Network Stream" and proceed from there. It NEVER plays the 4K resolution, always reducing it to 1280 x 720.

When I play a saved 4K video, it will play it at the 2160 resolution, always with huge amounts of frames dropped, and with significant stuttering and gittering.

I have tried every suggestion that I have seen including: enable/disable hardware/GPU acceleration, increasing network/file caching in "ms", changing the Output to every possible option including "disable", "automatic", Direct 3D11 and 9", Open GL (and I completely lose the media control bar at the bottom of the playing video). I have also tried changing the FFmpeg settings including changing the number of threads to 4.

I can't believe that I am the only one with this problem. This obviously is a problem I have created because this 4K streaming issue has occurred with different PCs with different CPU/GPUs, in Windows 10 and 11.
This problem does not occur when I use Daum Pot Player, but I prefer VLC for its superior audio, etc capabilities.
It's frustrating.
Any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks

[Hitchhiker]

Where are you streaming from and which country are you located in?

[NJ Prof]

Sorry for the delay. Streaming from USA and youtube

[Hitchhiker]

Sorry for the delay. Streaming from USA and youtube

This applies to you then: https://www.pcworld.com/article/398929/ ... he-us.html

This is an interesting video on the subject, but take note of the comments regarding the network overhead when streaming 4K video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u28IqO2V0yE

[NJ Prof]

Thank you so much for your reply. I am going to check it out right now.

[NJ Prof]

OK. I just checked out the suggested article and video. Perhaps I should have included in my description that I do not have any problem watching 4K HDR videos on Youtube. Both of my computers are capable of displaying 4K HDR and I watch these videos all the time. It's only when I attempt to stream these videos by capturing the url and pasting it into VLC that it always reduces to 1280 x.
I can't figure out why this problem only occurs with VLC, and not with the other media players. Like I said earlier, I prefer VLC for many reasons over the other media players because, but not limited to, superior audio.

I just wish I could figure out how to fix it.

[Hitchhiker]

Try a nightly version of the forthcoming 4.0 series release: https://nightlies.videolan.org/

[NJ Prof]

Thanks for the reply. I will give it a try and hope for the best. I appreciate your help.

[NJ Prof]

I am familiar with the nightly versions having tried them in the past. I went ahead and downloaded the nightly version 4.0, as per your suggestion, 64 bit .exe file and started VLC.
From the get-go, I attempted to stream a known 4K video and it still reverted to 1280 x.
I then made some of the other adjustements I mentioned above, including the hardware disable/enable etc, changing the FFmpeg settings, etc, and none brought the display up to 4K.
I appreciate your help, and if you have any further suggestions, I look forward to hearing from you.

[Hitchhiker]

This article on the reddit forum is fairly old, but seems to still work for some users. https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/commen ... treams_in/

[NJ Prof]

Thank you. I will eagerly give it a try and let you know.
I appreciate your suggestions.

[NJ Prof]

Gave it a try multiple times since receiving your suggestion, and upon pasting the url in and hitting enter, it repeatedly comes back with "An unknown error occurred. Please try again in a few seconds". I tried it at least a dozen times over the last two days. Comments on that page suggest it hasn't worked properly in quite a long time.
I do thank you again for your help.
If you or anyone can come up with any possible solutions for me, I will deeply appreciate it.

[NJ Prof]

Still trying to figure this out, and with no success.
Thanks for your help though. I appreciate the time you took trying to help me.