New Apple TV Has A5X Chip and Single WLAN + Bluetooth Antenna

chiefsilverback said:

Haven't you just proved the point, people have 'cut the cord' as far as phone calls/texts go and are now simply using data for all their needs and the providers have responded by tiering and throttling data to extract maximum $$$!

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No, those unlimited data plans were getting out of hand for activities other than voice or SMS replacement. Think Netflix, Pandora, streaming maps for GPS apps etc. I doubt anybody hit 5-10GB in a month by using Skype.

VOIP and text apps, along with light browsing, will not make you exceed the lowest data tier, which is the same price as the initial plans. If you used to be a 600 min voice + text plan + data user, you can get still save money by pulling back on voice minutes and dropping your text plan, and shift such communications needs onto your data portion. Carriers are still ahead, because people who used to be just voice customers now also want cellular data to do things that they could not do before, in addition to shifting into VOIP or Whatsapp.

Apollo 13 said:

airplay doesn't work for Amazon Prime. I'm saying my family and friends can't use airplay because they don't have ios devices when i'm not around.

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Amazon Prime works just fine on my iPad and Apple TV. Check again.

Again, why are you blaming Apple for your family and friends for not being able to use Airplay? Does the Roku allow you to do something that the Apple TV does not with regards to wireless connectivity?

flux73 said:

Amazon Prime works just fine on my iPad and Apple TV. Check again.

Again, why are you blaming Apple for your family and friends for not being able to use Airplay? Does the Roku allow you to do something that the Apple TV does not with regards to wireless connectivity?

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Do you not understand? my family can't use airplay if they don't know how to use airplay on their iphones . Yes the Roku box will let me watch other things besides Netflix and buy over priced itune movies. Again Amazon Prime does not work over airplay I already tried.

Apollo 13 said:

Do you not understand? my family can't use airplay if they don't have a iphone or ipad. Yes the Roku box will let me watch other things besides Netflix and buy over priced itune movies. Again Amazon Prime does not work over airplay I already tried.

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I've been watching Amazon videos on my iPad and the Airplay option is there, but maybe it's restricted to just audio?

I guess I don't understand. I don't understand the regret. If you really can't find a use for Airplay, you can probably get at least $75 from eBay for your AppleTV since it sounds like it's in new condition. That's more than enough for a Roku.

bedifferent said:

Hmm, I'm using 4.2 beta and have an external HDD connected via USB formatted in HFS+ and it's reading it. I'll check further on the beta site. Thanks for the input.


Have to say, Synology is the only NAS that was and is fully supported with Apple's ventures into new SAMBA and AFP protocols. The soon to be released 4.2 OS is so much faster, copying 10-20 GB file takes ~15 minutes from my Mac Pro over my WLAN.

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That would be great if they had addressed that in 4.2. That is literally the only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of those units. I'd appreciate if you could report back here if you can, or you can IM me.

mrsir2009 said:

Looks like there's finally going to be some progress with the TV

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Is there a date? I am ready for a new one but would like to know the one I am buying is the "latest", of course. Is there a product number change?

mex4eric said:

Is there a date? I am ready for a new one but would like to know the one I am buying is the "latest", of course. Is there a product number change?

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Yeah, the new model is numbered 'A1469' vs the previous 'A1427'. I think your best bet would be to go to an Apple Store (if possible) and check what model number is on the retail box. If you need to order online, it'll probably be a bit more unpredictable and might be worth waiting until you've heard of others who ordered online receiving the new model.

John.B said:

That would be great if they had addressed that in 4.2. That is literally the only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of those units. I'd appreciate if you could report back here if you can, or you can IM me.

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Bookmarked this page and will report back via PM when I have the final word.

Populus said:

I don't think so.

First of all, you have to realise the fact that the next iPad mini with retina display will have the same display resolution as the big iPad. And then, you'll see that an iPad mini with retina display will need exactly the same graphic capabilities as the big iPad.

And because of that, the heart of an hypothetical iPad mini with retina display necessarily has to be an A_X chip. Probably an A5X, although i'd prefer an A6X chip.

Regards,

PD: and hello to the guys at GSM

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I gotta disagree on this one. The A6 chip is far more energy efficient and more powerful than the A5X chip. The battery inside the iPad mini can only be so big, vs the regular iPad. You might be right, they might just put an A5-7X in there, but that doesn't mean they can't put just a regular A6-7.

yakapo said:

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

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TiVO doesn't exactly have ease of use. It's definitely below Apple standards. I used to have one, and it's only good when compared to the other DVRs.

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louiek said:

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

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Your Mac would have to be on whenever you're doing that. It can't sleep.

good news. so hopefully the ipad mini will be updated soon with the retina display and A5X chip

macsrcool1234 said:

This was a very well written post and I agree but I guess my main point I was getting out was it really needs alternative ways of playing media. I think creating an SDK and opening an App Store would honestly put it at the top of HTPC devices.

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Yeah, I generally agree with that. And I only wrote off your post because of the DLNA thing, the rest was just general thoughts I had for the many others who are far more critical of ATV in general. But yeah, an SDK and App Store really would be great, and I think it's very obvious they're slowly transitioning there.

First, you had the new app-based grid interface (which most hate but I'm personally fine with) which really is going to be necessary on some level as more apps are introduced. The old interface had a neatness and conciseness to it which I did enjoy as well, but let's get real: the format was never going to work for a box getting more and more apps, especially if you wanted to be able to have an app store. The organization was getting sloppier with time as more was added to the bloated internet section, and it just wasn't obvious. Whether Netflix uses the internet or not, most people just think "Netflix." Now it's clear as day and more consistent in style with iOS in general. It's not perfect, but it's a necessary transition.

Second, they now allow us to move apps around. This is a very small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it's another necessary step, if only for the sake of experimenting and getting less-technical users comfortable with the idea of working with apps on a TV.

Third, we're now seeing that Bluetooth chip put to use. Sure, it's just the keyboard right now, but it's evolution none the less. But it still doesn't address the main problem facing an App Store right now, and that's control. The Apple TV ships with a wonderfully simple remote that meets the needs of the devices basic functionalities, but it's going to be useless if apps are going to really take off. I don't know if Apple can be successful without some sort of improvement in the remote department, not only with iPhones and iPads but with something that ships with the device as well. Otherwise you're going to be dealing with a very limited app store compared to what could exist with a more responsive touch-based remote solution. I think tactile/haptic feedback will also be important technology here. I think it's silly on a phone that you interact with while looking at it, but with a remote that you won't be wanting to look at while interacting with the TV, if you want to be able to use it comfortably or more complex operations than you can now, something will have to evolve, and I don't think fixed buttons are the answer.

flottenheimer said:

Could you say which air server app you use? And perhaps even describe your setup in more detail?
Thanks.

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Sure, the air server app I use is: http://www.airserverapp.com

I have that running on my i7 Mac mini with 4GB of RAM. Attached to the Mac mini is a 4TB USB 3.0 Western Digital external HD.

I have dropbox, Plex, the airserver app, and utorrent running on the Mac.

I use my Macbook Pro to screen share the Mac mini or I use my iPad as a trackpad with: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobile-mouse-remote-mouse/id363573369?mt=8

My utorrent is setup where it will automatically start downloading a torrent file that is added to a folder in my dropbox. This way I can download a torrent if I'm on my phone mobile.

When I want to watch a movie, I use the Apple remote to control my Mac mini to navigate through the Plex menus. If I loose the remote, I can use my Macbook Pro via screen sharing or my iPad with mobile mouse.

The Mac mini is connected to a 55" Samsung D8000 via a HDMI cable.

What I really like about this setup is that I have access to all my files via Plex on my iPad or any computer in the house. I can even use their web client to access my files from friend's computers.

kjs862 said:

My utorrent is setup where it will automatically start downloading a torrent file that is added to a folder in my dropbox. This way I can download a torrent if I'm on my phone mobile.

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Dude, that's outstanding!

D.T. said:

Dude, that's outstanding!

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hah thanks. i use an app called filer lite to download the torrent file into my dropbox.

To me, two possibilities: games or interactive TV.

Remember, the latest update to iOS and AppleTVs added support for bluetooth keyboard.

One would think AppleTV would benefit most from a better wifi arrangement. It also needs cache. All streaming needs cache.

Peace said:

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 ?

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Exactly. Glad I read yours before I bothered to type out the same thing.

ghost187 said:

I gotta disagree on this one. The A6 chip is far more energy efficient and more powerful than the A5X chip. The battery inside the iPad mini can only be so big, vs the regular iPad. You might be right, they might just put an A5-7X in there, but that doesn't mean they can't put just a regular A6-7.

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Ok, let's see where do we disagree, shall we?

-iPad 3rd/4rth gen display resolution = iPad mini retina display resolution = 2048 by 1536 pixels


-Graphic capabilities: A5Xchip (4 cores) > A6 chip (3 cores)

Then, if both have the same resolution, an iPad mini retina display with an A6 chip would have much less graphic power than the 3rd gen iPad, and a worse graphic performance. Because the A6 GPU has only 3 cores, while the A5X GPU have 4 of this cores (the same cores), and all we know the 3rd generation iPad is not the most powerful iPad in terms of graphic performance.

If you want to know more about the iPad/iPhone GPUs, here's the info:

ZZ Bottom said:

Had this going for a while. The 360 had problems caching files all the time. Often I'd get persistent freezes in video, with audio still running fine, and then the video would catch very quickly like in fast forward...

MS has a great "solution" but its frought with bugs.

iTunes + Apple TV is not a perfect solution, but at least it does what it's sanctioned to do without absurd problems.

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Can't say I ever had that issue, only problem I would have from time to time is when scrolling through my movies it would not stop scrolling and just keep going and going and going for some reason. Regardless the codec support, and TV tuner support, with associated free guide content for OTA HD broadcasts and built in DVR in my opinion make it better than any Apple offering. Just my opinion

canman4PM said:

Exactly. Glad I read yours before I bothered to type out the same thing.

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Pretty silly article by TechCrunch. They seem unable to grasp the likely technology trial and assume it's a supply chain thing.

Populus said:

Ok, let's see where do we disagree, shall we?

-iPad 3rd/4rth gen display resolution = iPad mini retina display resolution = 2048 by 1536 pixels


-Graphic capabilities: A5Xchip (4 cores) > A6 chip (3 cores)

Then, if both have the same resolution, an iPad mini retina display with an A6 chip would have much less graphic power than the 3rd gen iPad, and a worse graphic performance. Because the A6 GPU has only 3 cores, while the A5X GPU have 4 of this cores (the same cores), and all we know the 3rd generation iPad is not the most powerful iPad in terms of graphic performance.

If you want to know more about the iPad/iPhone GPUs, here's the info:

Image

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The MP3 is run @ 333 MHz. The MP4 @ 250 MHz. So they're actually equal. The A5X is bigger, hotter, and requires offboard RAM. That means the appleTV would have to have a redesigned motherboard just to accommodate it. This would also be a departure for the iPad mini, which is antithetical to its design goal of a small motherboard like the iphone.

The only other possible conclusion is they gave the A5X a die shrink to lower its power and heat envelopes. But why would they die shrink it when they can use an existing A6? Because they're trying a new process with it. This is isolated to the ATV. Nothing to do with the mini.

I'd guess the next mini will have an A6 if not an A7. No A5X.

newdeal said:

Can't say I ever had that issue, only problem I would have from time to time is when scrolling through my movies it would not stop scrolling and just keep going and going and going for some reason. Regardless the codec support, and TV tuner support, with associated free guide content for OTA HD broadcasts and built in DVR in my opinion make it better than any Apple offering. Just my opinion

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Definitely not splitting hairs. I agree that the Xbox offers many more possibilities. But as I have found when comparing all Apple and MS products and software, MS strives for broad functionality with sacrifices while Apple limits functionality with a solid experience. I definitely wouldn't advocate an AppleTV for someone seeking more than iTunes sharing, Netflix, iTunes store access, Youtube, and Hulu.

chrmjenkins said:

The MP3 is run @ 333 MHz. The MP4 @ 250 MHz. So they're actually equal.

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I didn't know this... That changes my point of view, and obviously makes the A6 the best option for an iPad mini in terms of power efficiency and graphic horsepower.

¿would you mind to indicate the source of those runnung frecuencies? I trust you, but i would like to read more about that. Maybe in Anandtech...

Thank you.

Populus said:

I didn't know this... That changes my point of view, and obviously makes the A6 the best option for an iPad mini in terms of power efficiency and graphic horsepower.

¿would you mind to indicate the source of those runnung frecuencies? I trust you, but i would like to read more about that. Maybe in Anandtech...

Thank you.

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http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/11

GPU performance is near identical to 543MP4 in A5X.

Populus said:

Ok, let's see where do we disagree, shall we?

-iPad 3rd/4rth gen display resolution = iPad mini retina display resolution = 2048 by 1536 pixels


-Graphic capabilities: A5Xchip (4 cores) > A6 chip (3 cores)

Then, if both have the same resolution, an iPad mini retina display with an A6 chip would have much less graphic power than the 3rd gen iPad, and a worse graphic performance. Because the A6 GPU has only 3 cores, while the A5X GPU have 4 of this cores (the same cores), and all we know the 3rd generation iPad is not the most powerful iPad in terms of graphic performance.

If you want to know more about the iPad/iPhone GPUs, here's the info:

Image

Click to expand...

It's not just about the cores though. The A6 chip has higher clocked GPU cores. Actually the argument was made why A6 did not have a single core GPU found in the A6x to deliver the same performance. Even if A6 and A5x are close in GPU performance, A7 will be much more powerful while maintaining the battery requirements. The only reason I argue with you about this is because iPad Mini will not get a bigger battery next year therefore the A#X chips will not work.