YouTube is starting videos at the midpoint or even at the end of the video on my Apple TV 4K

Setting to 4k HDR fixed playback for me as well. I'm still getting videos starting at random points though. So frustrating.

Had video that was posted 50 mins before I watched it this morning start with like 30 secs remaing.

Having the same issue on my 2022 AppleTV 4K. It will start a YouTube video just before its end, or a few minutes into it. Often, it'll stop playing a video and just return to the main menu/Home Screen of the AppleTV or it'll go to the main menu/Home Screen by merely having pressed up on the direction pad. I'll go into settings and "reset" the AppleTV and it'll work the rest of the day, but it'll eventually return to operating as mentioned before not too long after.

Sure it’s not Apple responsibility to fix other apps bugs but unfortunately in the last few years, many times Apple has problems especially with ATV. HomeKit is another area that Apple TV as a hub, had many problems. In iOS 17 they had so many bugs that after some time I just stopped fixing the Automations and when new release came most of the automations that stopped working with previous OS, were working again. But unfortunately at the same time new bugs were introduced.

it is really annoying!

And note that I’m actually as my son called me - An Apple Fanatic - my family is all Apple and I have every Apple device possible and Macs.

I'm having the same issue. I've found that when I close the application it 'fixes' the issue for one more video, maybe another. Then as you said, videos will start playing 1/2 way through, or all of the way through a video, or sometimes the video won't play at all, just a black screen.

I updated my video settings.. still having trouble. Why pay for ad free or use Apple TV if its this frustrating to use?

Hope the devs take a look soon. Thanks

Talked to Apple support and it looks like we are on our own. Here’s their response:

"I was checking and we have tried all the troubleshooting steps that we could, it seems that the issue is related to the compatibility of the newer tvOS version and the current version of the Youtube app, this kind of issues tend to happen when newer versions of the software aren't fully compatible, in this case I will recommend you to contact the YouTube developer regarding this issue, and also, just waiting some time for a newer release of YouTube or the tvOS could resolve the issue."

It all started happening since the new Apple OS was released. Which makes me wonder if it’s YouTube or ATV problem???

You Tube is running smoothly with the 4KSDR setting active

Same situation here. Some videos start in the middle some show already watched!

Same issues happening here!

For anyone who changed their settings for this - I stubbornly refused and have just been dealing with it, but today it’s fixed! So hopefully you can change your settings back now.