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SPUY767

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2003
2,041
131
GA
Are you sure it's straight Blu-Ray and not transcoded? There's definitely some conversion going on as it only passes stereo audio and converts for that according to there web page. Though in any event, I've pumped some very heavy-handed 25 GB .mp4's from Blu-Ray rips without a hitch though via iTunes. They don't skip around well with only whatever's left after OS of the 8 GBs of flash memory to run on, but that's obviously not a processor issue.

Its a full rate mpeg4 stream. Beamer doesn't transcode, it just rewards the stream from mkv to something the appletv likes.

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You're forgetting, it could have nothing to do with performance. If Apple moves to the A5X for the iPad mini, and/or replaces the iPad 2 with the iPad 3 as the "cheap iPad", then the A5 will be discontinued. The Apple TV is a very low volume product compared to all the iDevices, so it will get whatever low-end processor is shipping in volume. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple doesn't even mention it.

Ey already use a custom chip in the atv3 that isn't available in an iDevice.
 

hksimsek

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2012
2
0
Houston, TX
White apple tv ??

The apple tv was white before, and they changed it to black. As lots of apple products are white, why did they change it ? If they want to produce a black one, then they can offer white and black colors like in iphone or ipad. Waiting for it.
 

MarkBMW

macrumors member
Oct 3, 2011
34
0
i don't believe the nextgen iPad mini will get a die shrunken A5X...
the A5X in the Apple TV is a test for the upcoming TV from Apple.
iPad mini will get the "normal" A6

iPad - A5x- A6x- A7x ... always the one from the new generation iPhone plus X for better graphics
iPad mini - A5 - A6 - A7 always the one from the last generation iPhone
 

Che Castro

macrumors 603
May 21, 2009
5,878
676
i don't believe the nextgen iPad mini will get a die shrunken A5X...
the A5X in the Apple TV is a test for the upcoming TV from Apple.
iPad mini will get the "normal" A6

iPad - A5x- A6x- A7x ... always the one from the new generation iPhone plus X for better graphics
iPad mini - A5 - A6 - A7 always the one from the last generation iPhone

A tv with an A5x ?

So every year people are going to upgrade to get the A6 ,A7
 

x-evil-x

macrumors 603
Jul 13, 2008
5,576
3,234
i don't believe the nextgen iPad mini will get a die shrunken A5X...
the A5X in the Apple TV is a test for the upcoming TV from Apple.
iPad mini will get the "normal" A6

iPad - A5x- A6x- A7x ... always the one from the new generation iPhone plus X for better graphics
iPad mini - A5 - A6 - A7 always the one from the last generation iPhone

makes no sense. They already know how it works with certain applications. they arent testing it its already been done.
 

louiek

macrumors 6502
Mar 7, 2006
350
62
Knutters Knoll, Melbourne
And if only the ATV would have coax input and DVR functionality with expandable storage ;-)

Or if it could send the program to your iTunes library, making your Mac the expandable storage.

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You're forgetting, it could have nothing to do with performance. If Apple moves to the A5X for the iPad mini, and/or replaces the iPad 2 with the iPad 3 as the "cheap iPad", then the A5 will be discontinued. The Apple TV is a very low volume product compared to all the iDevices, so it will get whatever low-end processor is shipping in volume. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple doesn't even mention it.

Then why the change in size if not to differentiate it from the previous version. Not saying you're wrong, but I doubt it's coincidental.
 

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
4,556
Space The Only Frontier
I think the people at TechCrunch have it right. It's a spec bump caused by supply chain economics.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/29/fcc-documents-reveal-a-smaller-more-powerful-apple-tv/

"It only makes sense for Apple to move the Apple TV onto the A5X, the same chip used in the third-generation iPad. It had to happen sometime. As Apple moves other products off the 32 nm A5 chip, it cannot forget its little hobby in the Apple TV.

The revised 32 nm A5 chip is still used in the iPad 2, iPad mini, and the latest iPod touch. But with the exception of the evergreen iPod touch, the other two are set for changes sooner versus later. The iPad 2 will be cut from the team while Apple will likely release an upgraded iPad mini with an A5X to allow the hot little tablet to keep up with iOS revisions."

Basically the A5 becomes discontinued. So supply chains need to keep up and thus the A5X because Apple stops making the A5.
At the same time Apple could take advantage of the A5X in the Apple TV and maybe add some apps. They just enabled Bluetooth keyboards for a reason.

Who types a lot on the Apple TV using Apple's supplied IOS ?
 
Last edited:

JackieTreehorn

macrumors 6502
May 22, 2005
491
427
Amsterdam
AppleTV is easily in my top 3 of best Apple purchases in the previous five years.

I just love that tiny little thing when I am sitting in my couch and flick through 400+ 1080p movies.

Just wish SkyFall 1080p will be released soon.. :D
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
Some of us have oft-posted for the resurrection of some features & benefits from the 1st gen :apple:TV. The ability to fry an egg, space heat an apartment and/or jiffy pop without a stove was not one I've seen. But maybe Apple wanted it anyway? ;)

True - nothing fried bacon like a 1st generation apple tv.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
i don't believe the nextgen iPad mini will get a die shrunken A5X...
the A5X in the Apple TV is a test for the upcoming TV from Apple.
iPad mini will get the "normal" A6

iPad - A5x- A6x- A7x ... always the one from the new generation iPhone plus X for better graphics
iPad mini - A5 - A6 - A7 always the one from the last generation iPhone

An iPad Mini with retina will require the same GPU power as a full sized iPad. Therefore they can not use the A6, it would have to be either A5X or A6X but these are too power hungry.

I suspect you will see the A7 across all iPhone & iPad models. If they can boost GPU performance alongside CPU with the A7 making it more efficient its the most logical chip for an iPad mini with retina.

In current form the a5X and a6X are too power inneficient for the 15 Watt battery in the mini without sacrificing battery life quite significantly.


Its just logistics...

As for this upgraded Apple TV.. I think it probably just boils down to having a surplus of these chips at manufacture, and they want to use them up. It's a power hungry chip, but in a device that's always powered by mains, its not an issue.

----------

I think the people at TechCrunch have it right. It's a spec bump caused by supply chain economics.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/29/fcc-documents-reveal-a-smaller-more-powerful-apple-tv/

"It only makes sense for Apple to move the Apple TV onto the A5X, the same chip used in the third-generation iPad. It had to happen sometime. As Apple moves other products off the 32 nm A5 chip, it cannot forget its little hobby in the Apple TV.

The revised 32 nm A5 chip is still used in the iPad 2, iPad mini, and the latest iPod touch. But with the exception of the evergreen iPod touch, the other two are set for changes sooner versus later. The iPad 2 will be cut from the team while Apple will likely release an upgraded iPad mini with an A5X to allow the hot little tablet to keep up with iOS revisions."

Basically the A5 becomes discontinued. So supply chains need to keep up and thus the A5X because Apple stops making the A5.
At the same time Apple could take advantage of the A5X in the Apple TV and maybe add some apps. They just enabled Bluetooth keyboards for a reason.

Who types a lot on the Apple TV using Apple's supplied IOS ?


Exactly :). Though I still don't believe we will see an a5X in a mini, and it will jump to a7 with its big brother as it will be more powerful and efficient than the 'X' variations which even with radical re-engineering would still likely be far more inefficient.
 

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
2,755
Germany
The apple tv was white before, and they changed it to black. As lots of apple products are white, why did they change it ? If they want to produce a black one, then they can offer white and black colors like in iphone or ipad. Waiting for it.

the new airport express is white and looks just like an apple tv. that would be too confusing
 

D-a-a-n

macrumors 6502
Mar 22, 2010
270
238
So they're gonna make it thinner, lighter and faster. That's something I've never seen apple do before! :eek:

:rolleyes:
 

nick_elt

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2011
1,578
0
Exactly.. then i could finally play Angry Birds on my 55 inch Tv xD But while I think it'd be awesome to try and do, I haven't heard of anyone getting iOS to run on anything but iOS designated stuff either

You can do this already with an ipad or iphone.
 

yakapo

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
254
235
And if only the ATV would have coax input and DVR functionality with expandable storage ;-)

Or maybe support for an external usb ota tuner and dvr functionality. I'm picturing something with the ease of use of tivo.
 

locust76

macrumors 6502a
Jan 23, 2009
688
90
I don't see the iPad Mini going from A5 to A5X. I think it was stupid that they put the A5 instead of the A6 to begin with. It will be upgraded to A6 at the very least especially with the retina display, maybe even A7. While the Big iPad will remain superior with an A7X chip.

The problem with that is that you can't drive a retina display (2048x1536) with the GPU embedded in the A5 or A6 chip. The only difference between an A5(6) and an A5(6)X chip is the GPU, the CPU is the same, at the same speed.

Therefore, if they put a high resolution display in the next iPad mini, the GPU will be struggling to push all those pixels unless they outfit the iPad Mini with an X chip.

Seeings how a retina-enabled iPad mini is pretty much a foregone conclusion (It would be the same pixel density as the iPhone retina display, doable, but probably too difficult as of last year's launch), we must assume that the retina iPad mini will have an X chip.
 

tekno

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2011
842
4
Will the A5X chip keep my AppleTV from losing its network connection every 10-60 minutes, like it does now? No, I doubt it.

This is why I ditched my Apple tv last year. There's also the numerous occasions when you settle down for a romantic evening and the Apple tv simply won't find the network at all. Instead of enjoying a film you're then shouting at the Apple tv desperately restarting/replugging.

I now have an HDTV Live Hub. Not as elegant but has 1tb storage and usb for external drives, usb sticks etc.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
The problem with that is that you can't drive a retina display (2048x1536) with the GPU embedded in the A5 or A6 chip. The only difference between an A5(6) and an A5(6)X chip is the GPU, the CPU is the same, at the same speed.

Therefore, if they put a high resolution display in the next iPad mini, the GPU will be struggling to push all those pixels unless they outfit the iPad Mini with an X chip.

Seeings how a retina-enabled iPad mini is pretty much a foregone conclusion (It would be the same pixel density as the iPhone retina display, doable, but probably too difficult as of last year's launch), we must assume that the retina iPad mini will have an X chip.

Not necesserily. The a7 will likely be quadcore CPU and an improved GPU and will undoubtably be more energy efficient.

The a7 may do away with the need for any X variations going forward, which would allow the use of it in an iPad mini without dramatically reducing battery life or requiring bigger battery (increased weight and dimensions like x variations did to the iPad) and likewise allow the bigger iPad to be made thinner and smaller as it wouldn't require as big a battery to get the same 9-10 hour battery life.

It would also make sense for apple to utilise the chip along its 3 lines iPhone / iPad mini / iPad. Especially as they try to push forward with their reliance on Samsung.
 

x-evil-x

macrumors 603
Jul 13, 2008
5,576
3,234
The problem with that is that you can't drive a retina display (2048x1536) with the GPU embedded in the A5 or A6 chip. The only difference between an A5(6) and an A5(6)X chip is the GPU, the CPU is the same, at the same speed.

Therefore, if they put a high resolution display in the next iPad mini, the GPU will be struggling to push all those pixels unless they outfit the iPad Mini with an X chip.

Seeings how a retina-enabled iPad mini is pretty much a foregone conclusion (It would be the same pixel density as the iPhone retina display, doable, but probably too difficult as of last year's launch), we must assume that the retina iPad mini will have an X chip.
doesnt need an x chip. The a6 chip is more than capable of running retina. The a5x chips isnt really that great of a chip i dont know why they are even bothering putting it in an appletv.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
doesnt need an x chip. The a6 chip is more than capable of running retina. The a5x chips isnt really that great of a chip i dont know why they are even bothering putting it in an appletv.

Then pray tell why does the iPad 4 use an A6X ?


The a6 in the iPhone is not an indication of its ability to drive a 2048x1536 display. The iPhone 5 has 50,000 less pixels (1136x640) than the iPad mini current (1024x768)



As for reasons putting the A5X in an Apple TV its probably supply constraints / logistics. We all know the iPad 4 was an unexpected quick arrival, maybe the short lifespan of the iPad 3 resulted in an over-supply of the A5X chip. May as well use it in something. It being inefficient is irrelevant in a device which is always powered.
 

locust76

macrumors 6502a
Jan 23, 2009
688
90
doesnt need an x chip. The a6 chip is more than capable of running retina. The a5x chips isnt really that great of a chip i dont know why they are even bothering putting it in an appletv.

You don't understand. The iPhone can get away without an X chip because its display is only 1136x640 (727,040 total pixels). The A5 in the iPad Mini and iPad 2 drives a display with 1024x768 (786,432 total pixels). You don't need quad-core graphics to push those kinds of pixels.

The only way to intelligently implement a retina display in an iPad mini is to quadruple the pixels to the same resolution of the retina iPad (2048x1536, or 3,145,728 pixels).

Without the quad-core graphics of the X series of Apple processors, an A5 or A6 would choke a horrible death trying to push 3.14 megapixels per frame.

We don't know what the specs of the A7 are, so we can't speculate whether or not the A7 will be able to handle 3.14 megapixel displays, but we do know that if Apple is going to implement a retina display in the next generation of iPad mini using the processors currently in production, it will need a GPU capable of pushing 3.14 megapixels, hence an A5X or A6X.

They probably won't skip straight to the A7 with the iPad mini.

And MacRumorUser is right, the iPad 4 has an A6X Chip: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
 

tandras

macrumors newbie
Jan 30, 2013
5
0
A5x

Don't forget, the A5X in the iPad 3rd generation was 45nm. By moving to 32nm it could be much more power effective and consume less power. So it would be ideal for a Retina iPad mini as it is. I guess.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
I learnt the hard way by going to iFixIt. I wanted to see why Bluetooth support was added via this ATV update, if the tech specs didn't mention it.

Nothing get past iFixit :) If a single chip

So, now this new CPU is the same A5X quad-core in the iphone 5?


In a phone yet, but why the .... would you need quad-core in a hocky puck ?

Unless, Apple is planning something......
 

Puevlo

macrumors 6502a
Oct 21, 2011
633
1
The new Apple TV will require a faster processor for the retina display it will have.
 
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