Apple TV Refresh to Be Stealth Update, Will Not Affect Product Features

Four oF NINE said:

This doesn't seem like much of an update

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You don't say?

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rbrian said:

A crappy router that works perfectly with everything except for one single client?

OK, it was a crappy ISP-supplied router... but a brand new Airport Extreme isn't much better. A little, but not a lot. Sometimes it lasts for 20 minutes before dropping out. The problem is a combination of a saturated spectrum and a crappy chip. The crappy chip would work fine with no interference, the interference wouldn't be a problem if the chip was better.

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Have you tried interference robustness on the Airport Extreme? It supposedly helps with that.

Malte. said:

I can't believe that apple dont see the mega-huge potential in apple tv...
Give it some apps for gods sake!

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I doubt apple would sell a product with apps for that low a price
I think that the a5x is so that it will handle higher resolutions such as that In an apple brand TV

53kyle said:

I doubt apple would sell a product with apps for that low a price
I think that the a5x is so that it will handle higher resolutions such as that In an apple brand TV

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Huh? What higher resolution, 1080p is it right now; 4k is several years away. Also, what does putting a a5X in an Apple TV do with an actual Apple made TV set?

Really, this is a supply change; the A5 is being phased out in favor of the A5x for those devices currently using the A5, the Apple TV used A5rejects that only had one core working. With the A5 being phased out there are no more rejects to use Apple will use the now available A5x, either as it is, or use the rejects from production like it does now with the A5. It is the same reason the Apple TV moved up to from terh A4, the other devices using the A4 were also upgraded to the A5, so they took advantage of the A5 rejects to upgrade the Apple TV 3 and give us 1080p.

Really, I do not think it is anymore than that; I mean the A5 could run apps just fine, so there was no need to upgrade the Apple TV just for apps.

DaffyDuck said:

I want them to add some memory to it and pre-buffer a short segment of every show and movie you buy, that way they start instantly. With H265 coming, this would work even better.

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Apple patented the pre-buffer idea a year ago iirc. Personally I don't think that's patent-worthy, but it does show they're interested.

And yes the side effect of twice the encoding efficiency is that a STB can hold twice as much video at the same quality - as well as reading ahead more quickly and generally being capable of starting playback faster. My internet is fast, but my parents were on 5Mbps so had to wait 30 minutes to watch a show, so even a slight improvement in compression would give them instant starts.

marc11 said:

Really, this is a supply change; the A5 is being phased out in favor of the A5x for those devices currently using the A5, the Apple TV used A5rejects that only had one core working. With the A5 being phased out there are no more rejects to use Apple will use the now available A5x, either as it is, or use the rejects from production like it does now with the A5.

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Am I right in saying no products use the A5X at all right now? It was used in the 3rd generation iPad. The iPad2 and iPad Mini both use an A5, as does the current AppleTV.

GregA said:

Am I right in saying no products use the A5X at all right now? It was used in the 3rd generation iPad. The iPad2 and iPad Mini both use an A5, as does the current AppleTV.

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I think you are right. It is my opinion and this is just a guess out of my butt, that the iPod touch and iPad mini will move to the A5x with the next update. The iPad 2 and Touch 4 will be gone from the line up. Again, just a guess, but it makes sense.

GregA said:

Am I right in saying no products use the A5X at all right now? It was used in the 3rd generation iPad. The iPad2 and iPad Mini both use an A5, as does the current AppleTV.

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Yeah, the A5 is still in use for the iPhone 4S, the iPad Mini, the iPod Touch 5th Gen, the 3rd Gen Apple TV and the iPad 2. The A6[x] is currently the "high end" SOC being used in the iPad 4th gen and iPhone 5.

The A5X is sort of in la-la land, being only used to date in the 3rd Gen iPad, that's no longer for sale. If this is true, it does sort of suggest the A5X might have some life in it, and maybe targeted for some upcoming device.

Now my current Apple TV will be obsolete and worthless! $%^& you, Apple!
















/joke

I literally just brought an Apple TV yesterday from Best Buy. Is it worth exchanging out for a "newer" model? I feel like something HAS to be a little different, even if its as minor as the new models being slightly more energy efficient.

Can anybody give me some insight, I don't know all the technical particulars, I just want to know if I should swap out for a newer one w/in my return policy.


Thanks!

sabester24 said:

I literally just brought an Apple TV yesterday from Best Buy. Is it worth exchanging out for a "newer" model? ...

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Wow, as if eight pages worth of discussion hasn't convinced you that this is a minor update, well then continue asking around.

Model Number

Does anyone know what the new model/serial number is, so when I go to the Apple Store I can decipher whether I'm buying the Apple TV with the A5 or A5X chip? Thanks.

jpswansea said:

does anyone know what the new model/serial number is, so when i go to the apple store i can decipher whether i'm buying the apple tv with the a5 or a5x chip? Thanks.

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a1469.

D.T. said:

Yeah, the A5 is still in use for the iPhone 4S, the iPad Mini, the iPod Touch 5th Gen, the 3rd Gen Apple TV and the iPad 2. The A6[x] is currently the "high end" SOC being used in the iPad 4th gen and iPhone 5.

The A5X is sort of in la-la land, being only used to date in the 3rd Gen iPad, that's no longer for sale. If this is true, it does sort of suggest the A5X might have some life in it, and maybe targeted for some upcoming device.

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*COUGH*cheaper iphone*COUGH*

Anyone know if the the upgraded Broadcom BCM4334 wireless chip will support 802.11ac ? even if not enabled now, can it be activated by a software/firmware update?

Peace said:

Safari
Twitter
Facebook
NFL
ESPN
Pandora
NPR
CNN
Stocks
Maps
Notes
Reminders
Messages
Weather

The list goes on and on and on.

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And how would you control these apps? Put your big fat fingers on the TV screen, and nothing happens. The only input device is the remote control.

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Radio said:

Who calls a product a hobby?

Are you seriously saying that this amazing contraption is a hobby?

"Hey man what's that on your tv?"

Oh that's my hobby

Apple TV

Get real

Seriously?!

Hobby

Okay. Sure man

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They sell more units of the Apple TV now every year than XBox 360, Wii, or Wii U. Mostly because console sales are going down

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Peace said:

If you can show me how to mirror safari FULL SCREEN ( takes up the whole screen ) on my HDTV I'd appreciate it.

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Click on the fullscreen arrow thingy in the top right corner of a window. Unless you are on a really old OS.

GaryMumford said:

Anyone know if the the upgraded Broadcom BCM4334 wireless chip will support 802.11ac ? even if not enabled now, can it be activated by a software/firmware update?

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Single-Chip Dual-Band Combo Device Supporting 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0+HS & FM Receiver

gnasher729 said:

console sales are going down :mad.

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Console sales go down the last several years of every generation because...

Wait for it...

A new generation is coming out and then sales will skyrocket.

Peace said:

Can someone explain to me just exactly what you do with a wireless keyboard on the un-jailbroken Apple TV other than input your email address or search ?

It just seems like a lot to go through for Apple. A wireless keyboard is kind of useless unless there are apps on it.

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In my case I found it very useful. I just purchased an iMac late last year and prefer the extended keyboard with numeric keypad, which I purchased separately. The bluetooth keyboard which accompanied my iMac was sitting unused and I find it much easier to enter move titles with a keyboard.

sabester24 said:

I literally just brought an Apple TV yesterday from Best Buy. Is it worth exchanging out for a "newer" model? I feel like something HAS to be a little different, even if its as minor as the new models being slightly more energy efficient.

Can anybody give me some insight, I don't know all the technical particulars, I just want to know if I should swap out for a newer one w/in my return policy.


Thanks!

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Yes your going to want the newer model. These chip combo's are going to be great for gaming. Look out Xbox and ps3!

There will be a Bluetooth game controller not to far behind.

profets said:

100% Agree.

I'd love to see an app store but why need these things when you have an iOS device in your hands??? You want safari on your TV? Mirror your screen from iPhone/iPod/iPad/Mac. Can't imagine how you'd even browse safari on an apple TV without an iDevice anyway.

You know what people want on their TVs? Media content. Sports/Olympics, News, Music Services, Video Services, etc. That's what an app store for the Apple TV should include.

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and games.

Bubba Satori said:

Console sales go down the last several years of every generation because...

Wait for it...

A new generation is coming out and then sales will skyrocket.

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I don't even know where he's getting his numbers from. Apple has sold 5.3 million ATVs over the lines lifetime, with 1.4 million or so being sold this last quarter. That's pretty good and all, but the WiiU has sold 3.06 million worldwide since it's launch. Lower than what Nintendo expected, but still double what Apple's sold.

So what do I get out of all these numbers? Mostly that it's stupid to start proclaiming the death of anything just yet.

jpswansea said:

Does anyone know what the new model/serial number is, so when I go to the Apple Store I can decipher whether I'm buying the Apple TV with the A5 or A5X chip? Thanks.

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I'm sure it's going to have a Bluetooth logo on the box.

I've moved my Apple TV into the bedroom and replaced it with a Hisense Google TV on my main Watching set. The GTV box just has way more usability, I can use Plex on it for all my streaming needs, Netflix, Amazon, a bunch of different Apps, it gets a bit hotter than the ATV but otherwise I like it better
Plus I can Stream from my Iphone and Ipod using an app similar to Airplay.

Renzatic said:

I don't even know where he's getting his numbers from. Apple has sold 5.3 million ATVs over the lines lifetime, with 1.4 million or so being sold this last quarter. That's pretty good and all, but the WiiU has sold 3.06 million worldwide since it's launch. Lower than what Nintendo expected, but still double what Apple's sold.

So what do I get out of all these numbers? Mostly that it's stupid to start proclaiming the death of anything just yet.

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I don't disagree with your point at all, but I'm not sure where you got your Apple TV numbers. The said during the conference call that they sold more than 2 million last quarter and over 1.2 million during the 2011 holiday quarter.

iPhone 4S: Faster CPU, faster graphics, faster network connectivity, better camera.
Big product announcement over 1.5 hours, lines forming in front of AT&T and Verizon stores, hell breaking loose. "It's the most amazing iPhone yet."

3.5th-gen Apple TV: Faster CPU, faster graphics, faster network connectivity.
A press release that basically assures us that the product is not worse than the previous revision, that you won't benefit from all those upgrades and that you won't even notice that it was upgraded in the first place.

Anybody who bought an iPhone 5 recently, please check your model number - you might have received an iPhone 5S. Rest assured that it's not worse than the iPhone 5.

Seriously though, would it have hurt to add some new features that make use of the better performance and announce it as an update?