I on the other hand am excited that the new AppleTV supports bluetooth audio.
Now I can ditch the cables and go wireless.
I actually didn't know that and maybe that's good news for me too, because my soundbar also supports bluetooth audio, so maybe that'll solve my issue and I can just feed sound from the Apple TV to my soundbar via Bluetooth.
I just hope that there isn't any lag or anything, so that when you see a movie on tv, the talking is in sync with the picture.
I think the new Apple TV also has 2 GB of RAM just like the iPhone 6s, but the CPU is an A8 unlike the A9 in the iPhone. Perhaps it is still enough to decode 4K with the extra gig of RAM, but there is probably a reason they didn't enable 4K with iOS 9 on the iPhone 6 which is also running an A8. Perhaps it was due to not enough RAM, but then again an A8 might not have enough power.
I read that the A8 in a phone is intentionally throttled back to a lower clock speed to save power and increase battery life. But the same A8 in an Apple TV should be able to be run at a higher clock speed since there is no battery to preserve and I think that higher clock speed will be more than enough to decode the 4K streams.
4K resolution by itself is nearly irrelevant. What will be perceptually obvious to most people is HDR and wide color gamut. These are things that can easily be noticed as better picture quality even 20 feet away. Both of these are barely supported, essentially experimental right now in products. Apple is skipping over plain 4K until HDR and wide gamut get broader support. The new iMac screens with DCI P3 wide gamut are an important step that Apple took for itself to push the market. It can't do that in televisions unless they make one themselves.
And I can tell streaming 4K is better than streaming 1080p.
No doubt. But the problem is they could make streaming 1080p MUCH BETTER than it is now. Streaming 4k is just a scam to charge you more. If you increased the bitrate of the 1080p stream it would be just as good as the 4k streams today. Only difference would be resolutions, which can only be seeing if you sit really close to your TV or have a 70+ inch TV.
Anyway, sure, the bigger the better for 4K. And what's wrong with 70" sets?
70 inch sets are not mainstream, not yet at least.
My main point is 4k is not ready to be mainstream for at least 2 years. So I can understand Apple's decision not to make it available on the AppleTV right now.
Personally I can't wait till 4k goes mainstream. I can't wait to buy a 4k projector for my 115 inch screen. But the reality is this will take at least 2 years or more.
70" sets are never going to be mainstream. A lot of us live in old houses and don't have the room nor the optimal viewing distance for a set that big.
Apple could make the 4th gen with some 4K support, but it would be less than half a loaf. I would love it if they enabled it for photos, but gaming at 4K is an over reach right now. The other poster made a good point that high end discrete video cards that draw more than 10x -20x the wattage of the AppleTv can barely handle 4K gaming now.
LOL. I also have the AE4000. Had it for about 3.5 years. There were newer models when I bought it but I didn't want 3D.
My other projectors was the Infocus 4805 (480p) and Mitsubishi HC4900. I think the $1000 projectors are okay but they usually don't have lens shift or they have weaker black levels. The Epson will blow those $1000 projectors out of the water.
I think I have a Sony receiver, not sure. But does run 7.2 uncompressed audio and has more than enough juice to power all my speakers. I'll probably have to either buy a new bulb for my AE4000 next year or upgrade projectors while I wait for 4k projectors to get under $5k
I had the AE900 before the 4000 and my plan was to upgrade to the 8000 this time around but the guys at the projector store claim that Panasonic is discontinuing the 8000 and they pointed me to the Epson (which looks like a great machine). They're bundling it with an $1100 projection screen (for $700 in the bundle). The "EluneVison Reference Studio 4K". The specs look good on it - but I never had any problems with my $300 screen. Not 100% sure it's worth the money. I also heard that Sharp is getting out of the consumer TV market. I have a 4 year old 70" Sharp 1080p which has been great - but because they're discontinuing the TV's, there are a lot of really great deals on Sharp TV's right now. I'm torn between a 70" 1080p for $1200 (Canadian), an 80" 1080p for $2400 (CDN) or a 70" 4K for $2400 (CDN). I literally change my mind every day! I get the house money on Nov 2 but I'm also trying to convince myself to wait until Black Friday to see what goes on sale....
70" sets are never going to be mainstream. A lot of us live in old houses and don't have the room nor the optimal viewing distance for a set that big.
I think that they will be. The average TV size has increased these past years and when the 70" are cheap enough, more and more people will be buying them.
The room that I have my TV in isn't all that big, I live in an apartment, and the last TV I bought was a 50" TV and that easily fits there. I think that I could have gone for a 75-80" in that same room no problem, but I just didn't want to spend that much on a TV right now.
Well, I guess I'm lucky that The Blacklist is one of my favorite TV shows and it is shot beautifully. The high res presentation is quite nice to look at, sorry sog35.
You know another way to jack up your Netflix bill? Add DVDs to your plan. To raise your cost even further, enable BluRay.
Of course they have an entry level subscription charge. If you want more, it costs more. Eventually the base subscription will include more efficient compression and probably higher bitrate. With 4K streaming tier, they have established a tier where they provide a better stream quality if you are willing to pay more.
I'm sure the AV gurus would prefer to tweak how their particular streams are encoded, like the desire for a high bitrate 1080p stream, but that kind of geek mode is a bit unrealistic to expect of a mass market service like Netflix that my mom and 3 year old niece need to be able to operate without reading a tech dissertation about compression & bitrate. The consumer has been programmed to differentiate HD by resolution. That is the way quality is going to be tiered. For better or worse.
Lack of HEVC is primarily due to the unrealistic licensing cost and uncertainty caused by the "HEVC Advance" patent pool. This has chilled the market from using HEVC, such as delaying Bluray ultra launch into next year. Apple is holding back until the licensing gets clarified. Once it does, I have no doubt they will quickly add support.
Do so few people use optical out that Apple decided to drop it completely from the new Apple TV? My current Apple TV is hooked up to a soundbar that I have via optical.
If I were to get this new Apple TV, I have to look into other sort of hookup options, and I would have to buy some sort of adapter in addition to the Apple TV.
For now, I'm just going to keep using my current Apple TV. Maybe I'll look into this new Apple TV in the future sometime, after I see how gaming is
going to be on it.
connect your sound bar thru TV optical output. That's what I have been doing. I don't use ATV without TV...like some (hmmm ATV without TV?).
To all 4K whiners, Stop complaining. Here's why: 1-No 4K content broadcast in the next 3 years at least. 2-There're a few contents being able for streaming at this point. 3-Internet data cap from most providers.
Apple never released anything while it's not widely supported by the market in the past: 3G, LTE on the phone...for example.
Apple will not support 4K until their own ecosystem does.
You mean like the iPhone 6s
I've owned a 4K TV for over a year by the way. Wasn't even that expensive.
I'm still buying the new AppleTV because the current one is painful in need of an update. But I'm not looking forward to buying the next AppleTV in just a year or two when they finally support 4K.
I don't have an iPhone 6s to test with yet, but my LG WebOS tv offers its own version of AirPlay in most apps on my iOS devices, and I wonder if it would be possible to stream the iPhone 6s 4K stream to the 4K LG using the LG native wifi streaming?
It has handled 1080p just fine.
550B39B55F4BB2B2
Maybe a more pertinent question is will your wifi router handle a 4K stream. 1080p streaming is considerably less demanding than 4K.
There is no misinterpreting going on. If you imagine any relationship at all between 4k on iPhone and 4k on AppleTV....you're in fantasy land.
The new AppleTV 4 will never do 4k. Ever.
That will be the #1 tentpole feature of the next Apple TV revision.
Why do you phrase your opinions as if they were facts?
You have no possible way of knowing for sure whether Apple will add 4K support to the Apple TV, yet you claim that you do. When you phrase your opinions as if they are facts, readers learn that they can't trust anything you say since they've seen you make up facts. On future topics, even if you do post factual information, people won't be able to trust it because they've seen that *everything-* you post is phrased as being factual - even when it's obviously not.
Go back and re-read the paragraph I reported, and the sentence I highlighted, and you tell me how I interpreted that wrong. It is *exactly* what you wrote! Maybe people spew out so much they don't even realize what they say half the time.
I think anyone who makes the statement (as you did) - that if Apple didn't include 4k in the Apple TV update that they should have left the feature out of the iPhone 6s - is over the top. It is a ridiculous statement.
I did go back and re-read it and I did spot my error. I used the word "should" when I meant to use the word "would" and that's what's responsible for the misunderstanding.
In any case, the point of my previous post was to state that I think Apple has every intention of enabling 4K support on the Apple TV retroactively. It won't take new hardware. The A8 is more than capable enough. After re-reading much of this thread, I agree with those that have suggested Apple is working on getting 4K content ready in iTunes. As soon as it's ready, I think they'll release an update which enables 4K in the hardware.
Why would Apple sit back to see which streaming standard gets ratified...? Wouldn't they normally evaluate both (or all) of the competing technologies and then decide which one best suits them and throw their support behind that one....?
Maybe a more pertinent question is will your wifi router handle a 4K stream. 1080p streaming is considerably less demanding than 4K.
Its an interesting question.
I suspect the router would be fine. I can stream 4k off the internet through the apps built in to my TV. If I can get 4K over the small pipe to the internet, I assume the fatter (though wireless) pipe between the iPhone and my (current) AirPort router would be even more robust.
But, perhaps the 4K files captured by the iPhone 6s are higher bitrate than what is delivered over the internet via streaming 4K media services?
If we were to take the 4K haters at their word, the 4K delivered via Netflix, etc. probably wouldn't saturate a dial-up AOL connection
Well, I suppose this is nice, but, for my uses, until Apple makes iCloud more sturdy and reliable,
enabling use of all the features of which ATV is capable, I personally have no reason to spend money on this,
although I know many of you do...but why pay for features and capabilities that only work "sometimes"?
Sorry if I'm being thick here, but what the hell are you talking about? Features on the ATV which only work "sometimes"?
No, you aren't being thick, it's just that I've ranted about this in a few threads, and took the shortcut approach this time...
If you are only using ATV to stream movies/TV then you probably have no complaints, but if you also use it to stream photo streams and/or
music, then you may have had the experience of having your iTunes or iCloud Match lose track of some of your music, requiring reripping or redownloading, or entirely lose touch with your photos regularly, requiring restarts, and sometimes resets to - temporarily - reestablish your access.
Until this is solid, no point spending more for the same results, for my usage anyway.
If the newer features are what interest you exclusively, then, buy away!
Comments
I on the other hand am excited that the new AppleTV supports bluetooth audio.
Now I can ditch the cables and go wireless.
I actually didn't know that and maybe that's good news for me too, because my soundbar also supports bluetooth audio, so maybe that'll solve my issue and I can just feed sound from the Apple TV to my soundbar via Bluetooth.
I just hope that there isn't any lag or anything, so that when you see a movie on tv, the talking is in sync with the picture.
70" sets are never going to be mainstream. A lot of us live in old houses and don't have the room nor the optimal viewing distance for a set that big.
70" sets are never going to be mainstream. A lot of us live in old houses and don't have the room nor the optimal viewing distance for a set that big.
I think that they will be. The average TV size has increased these past years and when the 70" are cheap enough, more and more people will be buying them.
The room that I have my TV in isn't all that big, I live in an apartment, and the last TV I bought was a 50" TV and that easily fits there. I think that I could have gone for a 75-80" in that same room no problem, but I just didn't want to spend that much on a TV right now.
Lack of HEVC is primarily due to the unrealistic licensing cost and uncertainty caused by the "HEVC Advance" patent pool. This has chilled the market from using HEVC, such as delaying Bluray ultra launch into next year. Apple is holding back until the licensing gets clarified. Once it does, I have no doubt they will quickly add support.
Stop complaining. Here's why:
1-No 4K content broadcast in the next 3 years at least.
2-There're a few contents being able for streaming at this point.
3-Internet data cap from most providers.
Apple never released anything while it's not widely supported by the market in the past: 3G, LTE on the phone...for example.
I didn't make it that far. ????
Well, I suppose this is nice, but, for my uses, until Apple makes iCloud more sturdy and reliable,
enabling use of all the features of which ATV is capable, I personally have no reason to spend money on this,
although I know many of you do...but why pay for features and capabilities that only work "sometimes"?
Apple will not support 4K until their own ecosystem does.
You mean like the iPhone 6s
I've owned a 4K TV for over a year by the way. Wasn't even that expensive.
I'm still buying the new AppleTV because the current one is painful in need of an update. But I'm not looking forward to buying the next AppleTV in just a year or two when they finally support 4K.
Maybe a more pertinent question is will your wifi router handle a 4K stream. 1080p streaming is considerably less demanding than 4K.
You have no possible way of knowing for sure whether Apple will add 4K support to the Apple TV, yet you claim that you do. When you phrase your opinions as if they are facts, readers learn that they can't trust anything you say since they've seen you make up facts. On future topics, even if you do post factual information, people won't be able to trust it because they've seen that *everything-* you post is phrased as being factual - even when it's obviously not.
In any case, the point of my previous post was to state that I think Apple has every intention of enabling 4K support on the Apple TV retroactively. It won't take new hardware. The A8 is more than capable enough. After re-reading much of this thread, I agree with those that have suggested Apple is working on getting 4K content ready in iTunes. As soon as it's ready, I think they'll release an update which enables 4K in the hardware.
Why would Apple sit back to see which streaming standard gets ratified...? Wouldn't they normally evaluate both (or all) of the competing technologies and then decide which one best suits them and throw their support behind that one....?
550B39B55F4BB2B2
Maybe a more pertinent question is will your wifi router handle a 4K stream. 1080p streaming is considerably less demanding than 4K.
Its an interesting question.
I suspect the router would be fine. I can stream 4k off the internet through the apps built in to my TV. If I can get 4K over the small pipe to the internet, I assume the fatter (though wireless) pipe between the iPhone and my (current) AirPort router would be even more robust.
But, perhaps the 4K files captured by the iPhone 6s are higher bitrate than what is delivered over the internet via streaming 4K media services?
If we were to take the 4K haters at their word, the 4K delivered via Netflix, etc. probably wouldn't saturate a dial-up AOL connection
Well, I suppose this is nice, but, for my uses, until Apple makes iCloud more sturdy and reliable,
enabling use of all the features of which ATV is capable, I personally have no reason to spend money on this,
although I know many of you do...but why pay for features and capabilities that only work "sometimes"?
Sorry if I'm being thick here, but what the hell are you talking about? Features on the ATV which only work "sometimes"?
Well, I suppose this is nice, but, for my uses, until Apple makes iCloud more sturdy and reliable,
enabling use of all the features of which ATV is capable, I personally have no reason to spend money on this,
although I know many of you do...but why pay for features and capabilities that only work "sometimes"?
Sorry if I'm being thick here, but what the hell are you talking about? Features on the ATV which only work "sometimes"?
No, you aren't being thick, it's just that I've ranted about this in a few threads, and took the shortcut approach this time...
If you are only using ATV to stream movies/TV then you probably have no complaints, but if you also use it to stream photo streams and/or
music, then you may have had the experience of having your iTunes or iCloud Match lose track of some of your music, requiring reripping or redownloading, or entirely lose touch with your photos regularly, requiring restarts, and sometimes resets to - temporarily - reestablish your access.
Until this is solid, no point spending more for the same results, for my usage anyway.
If the newer features are what interest you exclusively, then, buy away!