Basically just performance and interface/experience
It's a huge premium to get that though, you are correct
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Apple TV: The Latest Rumors About a New Model and Possible $99 Price
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Basically just performance and interface/experience
It's a huge premium to get that though, you are correct
Yeah, my Roku TV can use Airplay, but my Mac is upstairs while the TV is downstairs, so difficult to get working, not that I think I require it.
The 10gbe NIC in the studio also supports 1/2.5/5, my bet is you’re right, they’ll only jump to 10gbe NICs that cover everything downrange rather than bump anything to 2.5 only, otherwise the inconsistency would get confusing for a lot of folks
The NVIDIA TV Pro, that retails for $200 run laps around the current Apple TV.. and that's a damn shame. Apple needs to step up their game big time.
NVIDIA specs below, and they have AI upscaling.
VIDEO:
4K HDR Ready
Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10
AI-enhanced upscaling for up to 4K 60 FPS
Up to 4K HDR playback at 60 FPS (H.265/HEVC)
Up to 4K playback at 60 FPS (VP8, VP9, H.264, MPEG1/2)
Up to 1080p playback at 60 FPS (H.263, MJPEG, MPEG4, WMV9/VC1)
Format/Container support: Xvid/ DivX/ASF/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MPEG-TS/MP4/WEB-M
AUDIO:
Dolby Audio (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos)
DTS-X surround sound (pass-through) over HDMI
High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI and USB
High-resolution audio up-sample to 24-bit/192 kHz over USB
Audio support: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WAVE, AMR, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, PCM, WMA, WMA-Pro, WMA-Lossless, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD (pass-through), DTS-X (pass-through), and DTS-HD (pass-through)
NVIDIA specs below, and they have AI upscaling.
VIDEO:
4K HDR Ready
Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10
AI-enhanced upscaling for up to 4K 60 FPS
Up to 4K HDR playback at 60 FPS (H.265/HEVC)
Up to 4K playback at 60 FPS (VP8, VP9, H.264, MPEG1/2)
Up to 1080p playback at 60 FPS (H.263, MJPEG, MPEG4, WMV9/VC1)
Format/Container support: Xvid/ DivX/ASF/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MPEG-TS/MP4/WEB-M
AUDIO:
Dolby Audio (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos)
DTS-X surround sound (pass-through) over HDMI
High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI and USB
High-resolution audio up-sample to 24-bit/192 kHz over USB
Audio support: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WAVE, AMR, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, PCM, WMA, WMA-Pro, WMA-Lossless, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD (pass-through), DTS-X (pass-through), and DTS-HD (pass-through)
If you get a decent mount it's a pretty cool experience, and the quality of the iPhone rear camera means you can get that effect where it automatically frames the shot to account for however many people are there. I agree a dedicated camera (particularly if it was wireless) would be a big upgrade, but I could see that being a $200+ accessory
You can put it wherever you want as long as it's in range of Bluetooth. I think some of the way older ones used IR remotes but it's Bluetooth now.
I just bought a recent Samsung and literally the first thing it shows is some big banner ad for something I don't want. I always bypass it and go straight to HDMI 1. Apple TV is synced up with my iPhone and Mac, lets me use my iPhone as a remote if I need, has a very fluid and easy interface, lets me mirror or even extend my Mac's display, and will even let me do FaceTime calls if I put my iPhone nearby.
I'm one of the handful of people I the world that actually enjoy using the Apple TV as a video game console. Paired with an Xbox controller it's a really nice system. A nice system for playing games but it is greatly held back by its limited library of games that work well and by the very weak processing.
Many of us are using these on 4k displays and thats a lot of pixels to drive for gaming. I get the market will not justify the cost for the best processing but I do wish Apple had something like the Apple TV Pro and boosted their game potential.
I realize it makes sense to keep the device affordable and 99% of users use it mainly for watching TV. There is just so much missed potential there. Same for Apple Arcade. I keep Apple Arcade for basically one or two games but its really a huge waste of money.
Many of us are using these on 4k displays and thats a lot of pixels to drive for gaming. I get the market will not justify the cost for the best processing but I do wish Apple had something like the Apple TV Pro and boosted their game potential.
I realize it makes sense to keep the device affordable and 99% of users use it mainly for watching TV. There is just so much missed potential there. Same for Apple Arcade. I keep Apple Arcade for basically one or two games but its really a huge waste of money.
Slightly, yes. We have 2 TVs - the bedroom had the old HD version and the main living room had the previous gen 4K. Chase was having a points "sale" so we snagged one of the new ones and moved the 4K to the bedroom. There's a small but noticeable difference, possibly because I was looking for it and more prominent when playing games. If your 4K is doing all it needs to and you don't need it for Apple Arcade, save your $.
The A17 Pro is based on the N3B process which I assume will be discontinued in favor of the more efficient N3E process that will be used for the A18 and A18 Pro. Now Apple could rebrand the less powerful A18 as the A17, but that wouldn’t make sense. So really it’s a choice between a A16 Pro which would be a marginal upgrade over the A15 or the A18 which would allow console gaming on the next Apple TV. I could see Apple waiting until March or April 2025 to release the next Apple TV (4K4) when the supply of the A18 should be significantly better.
But the rumour has a new AppleTV launching at WWDC in a couple of weeks time.
Yes the A17 Pro is based on the N3B process which is costly and an evolutionary dead end but this year the iPhone 16 theoretically should have an A17 CPU with perhaps 1 less GPU going on previous years' conveyor belt. My theory sees the A17 architecture perfected for N3E (with one less GPU) and released in September with the expected iPhone 16. What's the alternative?
Could Apple release both 16 and 16 Pro phones with appropriately binned variations of an A18? It would be nice if they had to do a step change due to the N3B architecture. They are already getting rid of M3 as soon as they can this year.
On this plan, yes, Apple should release a binned A18 (non Pro) for iPhone 16 and then release more supply early next year for an Apple TV and other products like the iPad mini 7. But do they have the capacity to do that many A18 class CPUs for the entire iPhone 16 line?
But can't Apple have designed the A17 (non Pro) on the N3E process to hit the iPhone 16 deadline? Yes they could equally call a binned A18 CPU an A17 but why would they? They already have a point of differentiation in the Pro vs non Pro designation.
But back to AppleTV - The M2 appears to be a bread and butter Mx chipset to be used in tiered products like the iPad Air which you'd imagine will have an 18-24 month lifespan. Isn't that a great candidate for going in an AppleTV Pro? It could also have a long-ish life in products like Vision Pro. Would need a new case design though.
Apple need to work hard on the software offer otherwise Arcade remains a very niche product.
In addition, they don't need to drive every pixel - hardware upscaling via MetalFX (kind of like DLSS), perhaps helped by AI, is the way ahead for this - less space taken by super hi res textures and assets too. Just needs - for example - an Mx class CPU to drive more pixels. This probably means something like M2 and AppleTV Pro box for about $399-499.
And if they're doing that then gamers will demand AAA titles which Apple have shown no inkling to invest in.
In truth I'd say just keeping up with new A class cpus - eg A17 - should be enough for most use cases - the A17 Pro has already shown what it's capable of. Removing the fan from the AppleTV is not a good sign for gamers - especially if they flag up the VC1 hardware decode feature (Youtube being headline users) which will make the CPU work even less.
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The problem is that the market for paid games on the Apple TV is basically dead (or rather, it was never alive).
The nintendo switch showed that you don't need top of the line specs to sustain a thriving gaming platform but at the same time, the issue with the iOS platform is that Apple has conditioned users to expect cheap software, and I don't think users are willing to pay $60 for a game title the same way they would on the switch.
I do wish the developers of games like grimvalor would release Apple TV versions of their games (I already play it on my iPad with a PS5 game controller, and even paid for the switch version so I could play it on my TV), but I also understand if they feel it's too small of a market to be worth their time.
An Apple TV running an M1 or M2 chip would be a powerhouse, but at the same time, most people just use it for streaming and you don't really need that sort of horsepower for it.
I'm not sure they will go 8K personally, its really not taking off on the TV front as even if you have 8K content to play on it the more the resolutions increase the less noticeable the increase looks. I feel we are likely to see TV manufactures focus more on improving TV's in other areas rather than resolution as actually it was more HDR that sold 4K than the resolution itself
I don't know. The ATV decoding the audio can and does throw up some issues with some sound systems where as pass through would let the Sound System do what its designed to do and decode the audio track. Giving people the option would be a smart addition just so people can decide what works best for them
It absolutely is overpriced to its detriment. The whole interface is way better than its cheaper rivals but an interface alone isn't enough to persuade the masses as most only need to open their preferred streaming app and then they use the services interface to select something to watch and then sit back. And that has meant it hasn't been able to grab enough audience share to make it a priority for many services especially as developing for it comes with some development headaches due to both limitations of the device and also imposed practices by Apple for apps.
For example here in the UK the BBC is required to release an App for all platforms but the iPlayer app has barely changed since launch date of the original ATV4 and its lacking a number of features, specifically 4K because the BBC has a limited budget and has to decide where a higher priority is justified and the ATV user base doesn't justify the expense of putting more effort into the app. If it was priced better, in more of a range where the price difference makes paying that for a better interface seems more reasonable then the ATV would jump up the priory list for App devs
I doubt that will happen simply because I'm fairly sure thats why so many of the rivals sticks are fairly slow but their boxes are much zippier, the USB port just doesn't provide enough power
As for the remote, if you are talking about the 1st gem remote then sure as that was flimsy but if its the newer one what on earth are you doing that its not robust enough, its pretty solid and imho feels better in the hand than many of the 'plastic ones' from rivals. And a plus point it doesn't get that awful situation where the grippy plastic they add turns all sticky
The thing is people talk about it being underpowered but it really isn't, even the original ATV4 HD has more processing power than a Switch which runs games well that still look pretty good when docked on your 4KTV. The thing is though the Switch runs a much more efficient OS thats designed to allow devs to get the most out of the games which tvOS just isn't and there is more financial benefit to putting in the effort to port games to the Switch than there is to tvOS. It really isn't the hardware that holds it back as a gaming device, its the OS and the size of the userbase
They seriously need to rewrite the Plex app, diabolical really. Like getting rid of the depriciated and inefficient pre-ios 14 API and transition to metal.
I have kids who can't be trusted with nice and easily scratched/chipped aluminium things.
It's just our situation ... the Playstation sits on a shelf and takes up 10 times the space of the Apple TV and almost never gets used. My son is too young and only really plays arcade games on it when he uses it. The Apple TV on the other hand gets setup on the stereo and to the projector for 100 inch wide movies and its great for more visual driving games and such. Good enough for now. I know I could set the Playstation up for some things we need, but it is not what we need now. It's like that with tech sometimes. Better to sell something when it is still worth some cash than wait until no one wants it.
It has been over a year and a half since the current Apple TV was released, so you may be wondering when a new model will be released. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV, including new features and lower pricing.
The current Apple TV 4K was introduced in October 2022. Key new features compared to the previous model from 2021 include a faster A15 Bionic chip, a larger 128GB storage option, a slightly thinner and lighter design, HDR10+ support, a USB-C port on the Siri Remote, a lower $129 starting price vs. $179, and more.
In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a new Apple TV was on track for release in the first half of 2024:With only one month remaining in the first half of 2024, it is unclear if this timeframe remains accurate. A new Apple TV could be unveiled at the WWDC keynote on June 10, but no hardware announcements have been firmly rumored for the event.
Here is when the previous five Apple TV models were announced:
- Third-generation Apple TV 4K: October 2022
- Second-generation Apple TV 4K: April 2021
- First-generation Apple TV 4K: September 2017
- Apple TV HD: September 2015
- Third-generation Apple TV: March 2012
Regardless of when it is unveiled, the next Apple TV is rumored to feature a faster processor than the current A15 Bionic chip, and even lower pricing. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that the next Apple TV could have a sub-$100 starting price.
Both the second-generation (2010) and third-generation (2012) versions of the Apple TV were priced at $99 in the U.S. at launch, and Apple eventually lowered the price of the third-generation model to $69, so there is precedent for a sub-$100 Apple TV that would better compete with low-priced streaming devices sold by Google, Amazon, and Roku.
No major design changes have been rumored for the next Apple TV specifically, but Gurman said Apple has considered adding a built-in camera to a future model. tvOS 17 added a FaceTime app to the Apple TV, allowing for users to have video calls by using the rear camera on a connected iPhone or iPad. If the Apple TV gained a built-in camera, users would no longer need to rely on an external device for video calls on the TV.
Should the WWDC keynote pass without any new Apple TV announcement, then there will no longer be any active rumor for when the next model might launch.
Article Link: Apple TV: The Latest Rumors About a New Model and Possible $99 Price
Isn't plastic more likely to get scratched though? And a plastic remote from Apple is still going to cost like $50 to replace because thats what apple does. Just look at their plastic USB-C to USB-A adaptors that cost like $5 from anyone else buts its $20 for apples
Ah ok, I read originally that as replacing the playstation with an apple tv for the purpose of games, which seems backwards.
The other plastic TV remotes look a lot better than the Apple TV one