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Could A9 be for Spring Apple TV 4?

Menel

Menel

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Aug 4, 2011
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The timing is appropriate.
It could have more processing power for gaming for big screen.
More processing power or dedicated hardware for media and h.265 and 4K.
'Qualification' run on a product with fewer sales... Before the mass deployment to iPhone and iPad.
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

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Sep 8, 2010
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Anything is possible and hope springs eternal! I'd like to see a refreshed Apple TV with more functionality and third-party apps available.
 
HobeSoundDarryl

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Feb 8, 2004
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Historically, :apple:TV gets hand-me-downs or dual cores with only one working core (or one disabled). It would be a first for it to get cutting-edge.

Plus, existing :apple:TV cores have plenty of horsepower for games. Just because the TV screen is way bigger than an iDevice screen doesn't necessarily mean it has far more pixels to manipulate. If the horses are enough to play back higher-bitrate 1080p, it can certainly work the pixels for gaming. Besides, the way the thing works, it seems it could hand any intensive gaming rendering off to the computer to which it is attached and just stream back the result (of what should be on the screen at the moment).

The h.265 and 4K part is where new hardware would be required. But even there, :apple:TV is usually last in line, meaning expect iPhones and iPads to have such hardware before it eventually lands in :apple:TV. Personally, I don't expect an 4K :apple:TV until iDevices that can shoot 4K have been out for several months. In general, I think Apple sees :apple:TV as almost an afterthought: "oh yeah, now that our iDevices can shoot at 4K, we need to update the little box so that video can be seen at 4K on 4K TVs."
 
W

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,683
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i agree with Hobe

they're not going to waste the media buzz of a new processor on the aTV. at the expense of the iphone which is their big money maker.
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

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waw74 said:
i agree with Hobe

they're not going to waste the media buzz of a new processor on the aTV. at the expense of the iphone which is their big money maker.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree with that too. If the A9 were to find it's way into the Apple TV, it would be at or after the iPhone introduction and not before. Unless, faintly scratching at slim hopes, they introduce an Apple TV TV, in which case that would be huge news.
 
Menel

Menel

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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Historically, :apple:TV gets hand-me-downs or dual cores with only one working core (or one disabled). It would be a first for it to get cutting-edge.
Click to expand...
Apple tested a die shrink on the AppleTV 3b. Its not totally abnormal.

A new architecture could even be warranted if they are planning a more serious launch, rather than their hobby-level launches of the past
 
HobeSoundDarryl

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Feb 8, 2004
12,245
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Hobe Sound, FL (20 miles north of Palm Beach)
I'll hope with you but I would give you huge odds that Apple won't give a new :apple:TV anything better than the current generation of iDevices at the time. I don't think the :apple:TV is that important to Apple. As I said before, it's more like an afterthought... advanced only when some advance in iDevices somewhat begs for it to be upgraded (like the transition to 1080p long after iDevices could shoot 1080p). I just don't see them rolling out a 4K version BEFORE iDevices can shoot 4K but I'd certainly love an updated version myself.
 
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2

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Historically, :apple:TV gets hand-me-downs or dual cores with only one working core (or one disabled). It would be a first for it to get cutting-edge.

Plus, existing :apple:TV cores have plenty of horsepower for games. Just because the TV screen is way bigger than an iDevice screen doesn't necessarily mean it has far more pixels to manipulate. If the horses are enough to play back higher-bitrate 1080p, it can certainly work the pixels for gaming. Besides, the way the thing works, it seems it could hand any intensive gaming rendering off to the computer to which it is attached and just stream back the result (of what should be on the screen at the moment).

The h.265 and 4K part is where new hardware would be required. But even there, :apple:TV is usually last in line, meaning expect iPhones and iPads to have such hardware before it eventually lands in :apple:TV. Personally, I don't expect an 4K :apple:TV until iDevices that can shoot 4K have been out for several months. In general, I think Apple sees :apple:TV as almost an afterthought: "oh yeah, now that our iDevices can shoot at 4K, we need to update the little box so that video can be seen at 4K on 4K TVs."
Click to expand...

The current iPhones already support H.265
 
2

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
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richwoodrocket said:
Not likely. Apple TV won't have a refresh for a while. Think iPod classic.
Click to expand...

Well Apple stopped making the iPod classic because the HDs were no longer available.

With mobile (hand held and streaming devices) video becoming larger than traditional scheduled TV programming, Apple will have to get in the game in a big way or be left behind.

A recent study shows even ad revenue for mobile has surpassed traditional TV ad revenue.
 
M

mcarling

macrumors 65816
Oct 22, 2009
1,292
180
If there will be an updated Apple TV in H1 2016, it would use an A7 or A8 CPU, not an A8X or A9.
 
S

StinDaWg

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2012
295
0
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Not sure if we'll get a new :apple:TV for h.265 alone (and I mean full video playing and recording). I suspect we'll need to see 4K + h.265 before the next one comes along unless Apple runs out of A5 chips. But I'll be hopeful with everyone else.
Click to expand...
With 4K Blu-ray coming out by the end of 2015, I'm pretty sure the next ATV will have H.265 and 4K support. They'll need HDCP 2.2 for 4K which they probably wouldn't have been able to include if they released a new model earlier this year. Amazon has some stuff in 4K now to go along with Netflix so I don't think apple will want to be left out in the long run.

http://www.cnet.com/news/hdcp-2-2-what-you-need-to-know/
 
Abazigal

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,567
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Isn't the A8 already capable of 4k video playback?

I suspect Apple is trying to time the new Apple TV release with the announcement of new content deals. So it's possible that the services side is holding up the hardware?
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Historically, :apple:TV gets hand-me-downs or dual cores with only one working core (or one disabled). It would be a first for it to get cutting-edge.

Plus, existing :apple:TV cores have plenty of horsepower for games. Just because the TV screen is way bigger than an iDevice screen doesn't necessarily mean it has far more pixels to manipulate. If the horses are enough to play back higher-bitrate 1080p, it can certainly work the pixels for gaming. Besides, the way the thing works, it seems it could hand any intensive gaming rendering off to the computer to which it is attached and just stream back the result (of what should be on the screen at the moment).

The h.265 and 4K part is where new hardware would be required. But even there, :apple:TV is usually last in line, meaning expect iPhones and iPads to have such hardware before it eventually lands in :apple:TV. Personally, I don't expect an 4K :apple:TV until iDevices that can shoot 4K have been out for several months. In general, I think Apple sees :apple:TV as almost an afterthought: "oh yeah, now that our iDevices can shoot at 4K, we need to update the little box so that video can be seen at 4K on 4K TVs."
Click to expand...

I feel like I can get the ATV3 to stumble on h264 decoding relatively easy depending on encoding presets and source. Point is I don't think it has a lot of horsepower.

Oddly enough I can also make both of mine crash relatively easy and I'm not sure if its software or a hardware limitation. HuluPlus, find a show, goto an episode, goto one of the suggestion shows, in that new suggestion show goto an episode and goto a suggestion show, keep doing this and eventually it crashes. I'll admit its something that has to be somewhat forced however I found it unintentionally.
 
A

Alrescha

macrumors 68020
Jan 1, 2008
2,156
317
cynics said:
I feel like I can get the ATV3 to stumble on h264 decoding relatively easy depending on encoding presets and source. Point is I don't think it has a lot of horsepower.
Click to expand...

The Apple TV has documented specifications. I have never run into trouble if I respected those limits. Indeed, I have exceeded those limits and still been successful, albeit some functions like skip get a bit unpredictable.

As to Hulu crashing, is that not Hulu's problem?

A.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Alrescha said:
The Apple TV has documented specifications. I have never run into trouble if I respected those limits. Indeed, I have exceeded those limits and still been successful, albeit some functions like skip get a bit unpredictable.

As to Hulu crashing, is that not Hulu's problem?

A.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think so. Aren't apps made by Apple to content provider specs? Besides the entire ATV crashes (flashing LED and reboot) even if Hulu made the app for Apple it shouldn't be able to crash the box. I've never had JUST an app crash its always been the ATV (its a rare occurrence). Sometimes it happens when loading photostream for its screen saver too.

HOWEVER, I just tried to recreate the issue with Netflix and I couldn't make it happen. So I tried HuluPlus again and I couldn't get it to do it either. Something has been fixed since last time I tried it which I think we've had at least one ATV update.

Even staying within ATV spec limitation (level 4 I believe) I still get strange stumbling from time to time. Oddly enough only with DVD's, never noticed any issues with BluRay.

Mac and other devices play through those sections without a hiccup. Tried to rerip the DVD's entirely and still at the same exact parts it happens. Only fix I could find is to dumb down the encode. Generally I just ignore the issue because in all honest its not THAT bad just something I've noticed.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
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