The HDMI port on the current Apple TV is supposidly HDMI 1.4. HDR needs HDMI 2.0 since its required for the metadata in any HDR implementation. As for 4K, you could do 4K on HDMI 1.4 but it would be limited to 24 fps. That's not horrible since most movies are 24 fps anyway. But I still think it's unlikely that the current Apple TV would get updated to support 4K, even limited.
We saw the same "Apple could do it but their greedy" comments back with the 720p Apple TV that could technically run 1080p, but not well. Maybe I'm being foolish but I'd like to think that people realize that "technically possible" automatically equate to "excellent user experience."
I can't wait to replace all my fourth generation Apple TVs. I hope that it has both Dolby Vision and HDR10 options. At least it looks like it will from that code.
Thank you Home Pod!!! I'll buy you too my pretty!!
It is all very well making better hardware if the content is rubbish. Apple TV does not have Amazon, ITV Player, All4 nor My5.These are essential British channels and all of these companies make apps for the iPad/iPhone but they have al boycotted the Apple TV. I do not understand why this is because they have all made apps for Roku. I can understand Amazon because they don't want to give Apple a slice of their pie, but I can't see any excuse why the there channels do not support Apple.
You guys are like those people who post spoilers for the next Star Wars movie, but you put the spoilers in the headline. To help fans enjoy the movie.
Did you forget the /sarcasm tag?
With that being said, besides the actual leak iPhone 4 lost/stolen prototype, this is the biggest internal leak from Apple in recent memory, correct? Wonder what must be going through Tim and the gang's head at this point? Wonder if they'll make a joke about it during the iPhone keynote like Jobs did during the iPhone 4 unveil.
The crazy thing about the HomePod firmware is that software is the *one thing* Apple can successfully keep under wraps, because it's all done in house. Hardware is impossible to lock down, because the supply chain is massive and Apple doesn't control all of it. We usually know what a new iPhone is going to look like ahead of time thanks to supplier leaks, but we're never really sure what new software tricks it will have up its sleeve until the event day when Apple makes it public. That's what makes this leak so unprecedented.
I think the more interesting question is why did Apple release details of the HomePod hardware about 6 months before it is due to go on sale? They said that Apple had been woking on for many years. Apple normally like to keep their plans under wraps. Were they concerned about the apparent success of Amazon's Echo? Having made the decision to give an early notice of HomePod it follows they need to encourage the Apps community to start writing Apps for it. As the HopePod appears to interact with other up coming hardware it follows that the software writers need to know about the other hardware too. In balance believe Apple realised that they were leaking new hardware information and that this is not an error.
The current AppleTV will be upgraded to 4K via a firmware update.
How will 2160p and HDR be supported on its current HW?
Easy. You CAN stream 4K UHD video from your iPhone to the current AppleTV on a good network.
Apple TV4 only has HDMI1.4 which supports 4K at maximum 24 frames per second. Also it doesn't have HEVC decoder which Apple will use for all 4K iTunes content (Netflix uses already HEVC for 4K). Also A8 processor doesn't have enough power to drive 4K UI smoothly. You're right Apple TV4 can decode 4K H.264 files but I'm quite sure Apple won't give 4K upgrade to current version as it would only work in some situations with lots of limitations. It's not the way how Apple does things.
Honestly guys the feature I most want to see in the next Apple TV is the ability to manage an external disk array. It is the only way to deal with bandwidth limitations and the home videos, business flicks and other sources that don't stream well. For many of us streaming isn't the answer, we need a local video repository. It make sense to do this on Apple TV due to its low power nature.
All that being said I'm sitting here wondering if the new Apple TV will be tied into HomePod in some manner, maybe even a variant of HomePod.
Try Plex. It's the closest we are likely to get to having direct attached storage on an AppleTV. You can install it on the better NAS units for a neater, simpler setup, or run it in a Mac/pc with drives attached for a more powerful setup.
Plex will transcode on the server just about anything into a format usable by the rendering device.
Added advantage: Plex will stream to just about every device and can stream over the Internet to remote clients as well (and will transcode to an appropriate bitrate for remote viewing automatically).
I'm rather surprised at the lack of people coming out of the woodwork saying 4K is crap and they'd prefer we just make high bitrate 1080p with HDR and call the problem solved.
Where are are the people saying we are stupid to go 4K without 100" TVs?
Apple always waits for the right moment in time rather than rushing out to be first in such matters. The technology available e.g. HVEC, the quantity of content in 4K and of course the sales volume of 4K TVs all are coming nicely together for a spectacular Christmas season for 4K related sales this year. I am definitely moving over to full time 4K video acquisition this year for home use as well as business (where I have been for a while) and my Amazon pages are getting worn out trying to decide on a 4K Bridge Camera (Sony or Lumix .../sigh) to supplement my Canon equipment. iPhones do not cut it for me where video is concerned as I need an EVF, I even tried adding one ... (this is humor by the way) see attached ...
Honestly guys the feature I most want to see in the next Apple TV is the ability to manage an external disk array. It is the only way to deal with bandwidth limitations and the home videos, business flicks and other sources that don't stream well. For many of us streaming isn't the answer, we need a local video repository. It make sense to do this on Apple TV due to its low power nature.
All that being said I'm sitting here wondering if the new Apple TV will be tied into HomePod in some manner, maybe even a variant of HomePod.
Try Plex. It's the closest we are likely to get to having direct attached storage on an AppleTV. You can install it on the better NAS units for a neater, simpler setup, or run it in a Mac/pc with drives attached for a more powerful setup.
Plex will transcode on the server just about anything into a format usable by the rendering device.
Added advantage: Plex will stream to just about every device and can stream over the Internet to remote clients as well (and will transcode to an appropriate bitrate for remote viewing automatically).
I agree and also say the Plex app for the Apple TV is absolutely fabulous. As well as for your own ripped Blu-ray videos it is the perfect solution for showing all your home made videos and since, <expletive> Comcast added caps my days of using the cloud for streaming my own video content are over so Plex and a macMini with an attached USB3 external drive all tucked away on the LAN with the free Plex server is ideal. It's far better than using iTunes for your own content not that I don't use iTunes a lot for other things such as iTunes Match.
The current AppleTV will be upgraded to 4K via a firmware update.
Nope. Uncle Tim won't miss this chance to sell you yet another overpriced box!
Think of the ATV 720p->1080p 'upgrade' a few years ago.
Anyway as I understand it there are hardware limitations to the current Apple TV that prevent 4K/DV/HDR10/HLG etc.
Saying uncle tim is childish. I don't even understand the implied relation.
The ATV changes you mentioned aren't upgrades -- they're iterative improvements to the product line. No one asks or expects you to choose to upgrade your own device every iteration.
You guys are like those people who post spoilers for the next Star Wars movie, but you put the spoilers in the headline. To help fans enjoy the movie.
Did you forget the /sarcasm tag?
With that being said, besides the actual leak iPhone 4 lost/stolen prototype, this is the biggest internal leak from Apple in recent memory, correct? Wonder what must be going through Tim and the gang's head at this point? Wonder if they'll make a joke about it during the iPhone keynote like Jobs did during the iPhone 4 unveil.
The crazy thing about the HomePod firmware is that software is the *one thing* Apple can successfully keep under wraps, because it's all done in house. Hardware is impossible to lock down, because the supply chain is massive and Apple doesn't control all of it. We usually know what a new iPhone is going to look like ahead of time thanks to supplier leaks, but we're never really sure what new software tricks it will have up its sleeve until the event day when Apple makes it public. That's what makes this leak so unprecedented.
I think the more interesting question is why did Apple release details of the HomePod hardware about 6 months before it is due to go on sale? They said that Apple had been woking on for many years. Apple normally like to keep their plans under wraps. Were they concerned about the apparent success of Amazon's Echo? Having made the decision to give an early notice of HomePod it follows they need to encourage the Apps community to start writing Apps for it. As the HopePod appears to interact with other up coming hardware it follows that the software writers need to know about the other hardware too. In balance believe Apple realised that they were leaking new hardware information and that this is not an error.
This is conspiracy nonsense. When Apple wants apps they 1) invite select devs in first, then 2) Release a public SDK.
They do not leak an internal build revealing all of their unannounced hardware for the year. Dur.
I'm rather surprised at the lack of people coming out of the woodwork saying 4K is crap and they'd prefer we just make high bitrate 1080p with HDR and call the problem solved.
Where are are the people saying we are stupid to go 4K without 100" TVs?
i miss those guys.
I hope they're okay.
I don't know those guys. I do know guys who said of course ATV will one day do 4k, when the content and market is ready, and not two years ago just because some devices did it.
I'm rather surprised at the lack of people coming out of the woodwork saying 4K is crap and they'd prefer we just make high bitrate 1080p with HDR and call the problem solved.
Where are are the people saying we are stupid to go 4K without 100" TVs?
i miss those guys.
I hope they're okay.
4K at that time was suited only to early adopters, IMHO, until the HDR 10 standard was created and branded as part of UltraHD Premium. Now we have the option of adding, for example, Dolbyvision to the mix which essentially fine tunes the content and hardware chain for the viewer. For that early adoption, buyers had limited choices of content, and now get the opportunity to purchase their hardware over again to get the benefits of HDR.
Sad.
Still, I respect these early buyers. Where would we be today if it wasn't for their experience killing off the 3D marketing blitz?
The current AppleTV will be upgraded to 4K via a firmware update.
How will 2160p and HDR be supported on its current HW?
Maybe the same way Macs got updated Wifi (was it A to G? G to N?) with a software update several years ago?
i don't think it's likely either.
But it wouldn't be impossible or even unprecedented.
That is true, and I think an excellent point to include since it's not without precedence, but I'd counter with a statement that we have plenty of knowledge about the A-series SoC used in the Apple TV. Now, they could've included an extra chip so that it could efficiently decode HEVC, push 2160p60fps+HDR, but that all seems highly unlikely for many reasons already stated.
Apple always waits for the right moment in time rather than rushing out to be first in such matters. The technology available e.g. HVEC, the quantity of content in 4K and of course the sales volume of 4K TVs all are coming nicely together for a spectacular Christmas season for 4K related sales this year. I am definitely moving over to full time 4K video acquisition this year for home use as well as business (where I have been for a while) and my Amazon pages are getting worn out trying to decide on a 4K Bridge Camera (Sony or Lumix .../sigh) to supplement my Canon equipment. iPhones do not cut it for me where video is concerned as I need an EVF, I even tried adding one ... (this is humor by the way) see attached …
They typically do, and while I wished this happened years ago I also expected it to take longer than normal since I feel that Apple will want to at least add HEVC, 2160p, and have agreement for such content, which means adding support in the HW, SW, and services all at the same time. This both means more testing and planning, and also waiting for whatever the weakest link is—which in this case may be HEVC.
Apple was not going to release a 4k ATV until they can also offer 4k content thru their stores as well. Now all that is possible as they are rolling out H.265 support in their OS's.
Comments
Think of the ATV 720p->1080p 'upgrade' a few years ago.
Anyway as I understand it there are hardware limitations to the current Apple TV that prevent 4K/DV/HDR10/HLG etc.
Will it be possible to capture 24P or 30P HDR in an iPhone 8 using a technique similar to RED Camera's HDRX? That would be outstanding.
http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/hdrx-high-dynamic-range-video
Plex will transcode on the server just about anything into a format usable by the rendering device.
Added advantage: Plex will stream to just about every device and can stream over the Internet to remote clients as well (and will transcode to an appropriate bitrate for remote viewing automatically).
Where are are the people saying we are stupid to go 4K without 100" TVs?
i miss those guys.
I hope they're okay.
i don't think it's likely either.
But it wouldn't be impossible or even unprecedented.
I agree and also say the Plex app for the Apple TV is absolutely fabulous. As well as for your own ripped Blu-ray videos it is the perfect solution for showing all your home made videos and since, <expletive> Comcast added caps my days of using the cloud for streaming my own video content are over so Plex and a macMini with an attached USB3 external drive all tucked away on the LAN with the free Plex server is ideal. It's far better than using iTunes for your own content not that I don't use iTunes a lot for other things such as iTunes Match.
The ATV changes you mentioned aren't upgrades -- they're iterative improvements to the product line. No one asks or expects you to choose to upgrade your own device every iteration.
I don't find my ATV overpriced.
This is conspiracy nonsense. When Apple wants apps they 1) invite select devs in first, then 2) Release a public SDK.
They do not leak an internal build revealing all of their unannounced hardware for the year. Dur.
I don't know those guys. I do know guys who said of course ATV will one day do 4k, when the content and market is ready, and not two years ago just because some devices did it.
Sad.
Still, I respect these early buyers. Where would we be today if it wasn't for their experience killing off the 3D marketing blitz?
They typically do, and while I wished this happened years ago I also expected it to take longer than normal since I feel that Apple will want to at least add HEVC, 2160p, and have agreement for such content, which means adding support in the HW, SW, and services all at the same time. This both means more testing and planning, and also waiting for whatever the weakest link is—which in this case may be HEVC.