mbenz1962

I just updated.  The Thermo now appears as a sleepy endpoint.  This device is a good distance from the thread router, but it connected here over the Apple TV (bluetooth connection) that is closer. I hope that the connection will be a little faster.  When I open the Home app it sometimes would take about 20 seconds to report the status and temperature.

This is really a shame.  I saw the notice this morning when I opened the game to play a few levels.  Dr. Mario was always one of my favorite games going all the way back to the NES. I used to play the original with my brother every day as a kid.  I even purchased Dr. Mario as a downloadable game for the Wii back when that was a thing.  I liked this version too, though I didn't like how pushy Nintendo was with the in-App purchases, but many, many games on the App store have a similar model.  I was able to always advance and enjoy playing with out spending any money, but a flat purchase price like they did for Super Mario Run would have been better to me personally.  I would have gladly ponied up $10 and them maybe 99 cents for each new world after the first 5 or 10 (currently 31).

I have been dealing with this issue since Monday.  I swapped in the new AppleTV 4K on my LG OLED for the previous gen on Friday, but I didn't notice the issue right away because I only watched AppleTV+, iTunes purchased content and Disney+ until Monday.  Monday evening I went to watch the last episode of "Jupiter's Legacy" on Netflix and one screen had some pretty obscure dialog.  I went to turn on the subtitles via the pull down menu so that I could play with the new "circular scrubbing" by rewinding and I saw that there was just an HD badge in the info pane instead of the Dolby Vision badge I was expecting.

Since then I have played with all of the settings on the AppleTV to get this "fixed" but with no positive results.  I finally started testing a theory that the AppleTV is actually playing the 4K stream, just the badge isn't right because the stream still looked good to me and because the TV flashes up either the Dolby Vision or HDR label when the stream starts from Netflix or Prime even though the info pulldown only shows HD and no mention of HDR or DV.  Because the AppleTV upscales to 4K, my TV always reports 4K even if it is a title that is only available in 1080p.  So I switched the max resolution on the AppleTV to 1080p and when I did that the TV of course only reports 1080p, but the Netfilx app shows only an HD badge on the title page of a 4K title. When I switch the max resolution back to 4K the 4K label (or the Dolby Vision label) returns on the title page.  In both cases the info pull down in the player only displays the HD badge even though the played stream looks much better with the max resolution set to 4K. This of course could be because the AppleTV is no longer upscaling, so I tried to think of some other test.

Then I had the idea of playing "The Expanse" and checking the TV info, because it is oddly enough filmed with HDR not Dolby Vision.  The TV will report the HDR profile for HDR, HDR10, and HDR10+ content. The TV reports that, even though the pull down info in the Prime app only displays HD, the stream is playing HDR with the bt.2020 profile.  This HDR profile is only applied to 4K or 8K streams. This makes me think that the Prime stream is actually 4K. Additionally, YouTube reports over its completely different info function that it is playing a 4K stream.

I have a theory (a bit of a stretch perhaps) that this is just a labeling problem in the info pull down with apps that still use the "old" video API on the AppleTV.  The video player or API set has been updated to work in the new "circular scrubbing" gesture with the new AppleTV.  Netflix and Prime can use this new gesture, but they still use the old info pull down and so are somehow affected by this bug (partial use of the latest API set). The AppleTV player uses a new API set that has the info displayed at the bottom of the screen by pressing the back button. This player (AppleTV+ or purchased content) does not seem to be affected by the bug.  YouTube and Disney+ appear unaffected by this bug, but both use a completely different proprietary player that does not behave at all like the AppleTV+ player and also does not yet support the circular scrubbing.  

Hopefully this is indeed just a software issue. Whether it be with Apple or some of the various streamers that need to update their apps to correct this issue.  This would be pretty bogus if it is a hardware failure that necessitates a replacement. My theory above may be a stretch and ultimately prove to be incorrect, but the testing and observed behavior may help other's see that the issue isn't something they can fix and so save them time.  Those affected will have to wait on more info from Apple (perhaps a software update) or an App update from affected streamers. 

I'm just waiting until 2:00 pm here (Germany) to buy a 4-pack of the AirTags.  One each for my keys and my wife's keys.  My wife is always losing her keys, and then when she can't find them, she takes mine and I have to look for them later.  I'm hoping this will solve a major source of irritation for us.  I'll find a use for the other 2 Tags I'm sure.

A "mobile/free-floating" one to slip into our coat pockets or bags when we go out might be good.  I wonder if leaving one in the car would help my wife find her parked car whenever malls open back up here (of course by then the AppleCar might already be out).

I lost my favorite golf hat about two months ago and it took me 6 weeks to find it under the couch... so there is that.

I just placed my order here in Germany via Amazon.  I hope that it stays connected better than the Flowerbud.  At least with a bigger tank I will only have to fill it every couple of days instead of daily.  Now, if I don't have to unplug it and plug it back in daily to get it to respond, I'll be really happy.