10 New Features and Changes Introduced With 2022 Apple TV

[trip1ex]

I can't believe no iPad OS or MacOS support yet.

This thing is $150 with 128gb storage, 4gb ram, A15, Wifi6, Ethernet, BT, ...and includes a remote Apple sells alone for $60. You can buy 4 of these for the price of a $699 Mac Mini and have $100 leftover and 4 remotes in the drawer.

I sense a disturbance in the force.

 

[Fiona FTW]

Don't know what CEC is but know I don't have it.
A lot of what you are saying, Roku can do. Control TV power, volume and mute. The side mounted buttons are a pain and ATV got that right. The sides of the remote are for holding and I think ATV only has a Siri button on the right side.
Roku has Apple Play and Homekit. I suspect Home Sharing is not a Roku option. Can't have everything.
I can mirror my Android tablets and iPad to Roku. I have not attempted casting.

1. Better explanation of CEC here. Nearly every HDMI TV and device built in the past 8 years has it.
2. Roku has HomeKit support. It cannot act as a HomeKit hub. Huge difference between the two.
3. Roku also spies on you and sells your data to the highest bidder. You might be perfect fine with that, but to me it’s a reason to avoid especially when the price difference amortized by the typical 4 year life span equates to the ATV being $1 more per month if you buy on sale and sell it for $30 when you upgrade.

 

[TonyC28]

So the device that gets plugged in once every few months gets upgrade to USB-C? The transition has been slow but I'm surprised to see the effort went here.

 

[nikhsub1]

This product still seeking a reason to exist. Given AirPlay to Mac has been incorporated a couple years ago, most TV’s support AirPlay and AppleTV+, capable to run iOS apps on an Apple Silicon Mac. Barring cost a M1 MacMini from the refurb store is a better deal and better capable device, I am sure there are some Bluetooth remotes and mice that can control macOS. Who remembers when some Mac hardware included a remote control.

That is one perspective. I am all in on apple tv running all my actual tvs. Smart tv interfaces suck. I have 2 tvs and 2 apple tvs. I know the interface and all about the streaming apps. I’m just unsure wtf thread is and why i may need it? Both my units are wi-fi anyway so i see no reason for the ethernet port.

 

[Anthony Narciso]

Sorry if this has been asked before but didn’t HDR10+ come to the 2021 ATV with tvOS16? I swore I saw it listed as a feature when updating.

 

[mva68]

That is one perspective. I am all in on apple tv running all my actual tvs. Smart tv interfaces suck. I have 2 tvs and 2 apple tvs. I know the interface and all about the streaming apps. I’m just unsure wtf thread is and why i may need it? Both my units are wi-fi anyway so i see no reason for the ethernet port.

Thread should be the new standard for home automation, all sensors / lights / switches must listen and respond to each other through the same - Thread - protocol. So it is a good thing Apple want's to follow this new 'open' standard for future compatibility. Eg. Eve door sensors are already Thread enabled.

 

[hauntvictim]

I have a ShieldTV, lightening A/V dongle, NAS and a Mac. Someone convince me that I need an AppleTV. Does it have a web browser, how about the ability to load any apps outside the AppStore indefinitely, etc.

For your use case scenario a ShieldTV will outperform anything Apple puts out in this realm, but for the vast majority that just want a smooth easy to use stream experience then this fits in nicely. Also helps if you are in the eco-system. That being said I stream exclusively and HULU is my main provider, so I upgraded from last years.

 

[atomic.flip]

Honestly you have to own one to appreciate. Namely it’s the remote and handoff and control features. Siri works on AirPods and HomePods and can turn it and your tv on/off if connected to a ARC HDMI. Also via voice can mute, pause, turn on closed captioning, and more. And of course you can customize apps, which you want and don’t want via App Store. Not stuck with what a tv manufacture bakes into a much slower UI. Hope that helps some. Apple needs to do better marketing it IMO

Yeah it really depends on your use. I do say this regretfully as I really do like the Apple TV but lately many of the apps (native ones included) have been riddled with bugs and subject to repeated crashes.

Now this is with the 16.1 beta which is now in Release Candidate phase.

I am curious to see if the new Apple TVs will resolve some of the issues I’ve experienced but it’s been a very short time since release to say.

As far as speed. It’s already pretty fast as it is. But the native apps to the TV is as well.

The one thing I will say that I genuinely like about the Apple TV is the mostly Aggregated content view you get with the TV Home. It creates a nice queue of all the programs from (almost) all the apps you may watch programs on regularly. But it lacks Netflix integration and about a third of what I watch is on that platform.

Honestly it’s a bit of a tossup as far as whether the apps embedded in my TV (which is an LG C9 OLED) vs those of the Apple TV are genuinely preferable.

The HomeKit integration is very nice (WHEN IT WORKS!!!!!) I am sorry but I cannot stress how annoying it is that sometimes notifications from security cameras or the front door / door bell show up and sometimes you get nothing at all.

I have no idea why this is so inconsistent but I blame it more on HomeKit than the Apple TV itself.

The Apple TV is great for someone with an older smart tv. Or someone who really has a ton of content in the iTunes ecosystem. (Movies, TV shows etc.) but otherwise it’s much more a luxury item.

Its utility is just not fully baked until it can become very dependable. (And I know some of you will probably reply with statements like “mine works perfectly” and “I’ve never seen any such issues” and to that I’ll say “can it please”. I have had 43 to 4 Apple TVs of every single generation since it’s inception and have been beta testing them for a very long time).

I will say this. Compared to Google’s offering the Apple TV is a far more “elegant” experience. Same is likely true for the Fire TV from Amazon. But I can’t say for sure since I have not personally tested it.

 

[ELman]

I just ordered the 128GB version just because it seems like the best deal of any on the new Apple products released.
If someone could figure out how to install iPad OS on the thing it would be a nice desktop alternative.

 

[James H Jackson Jr]

Can somebody tell me the point of the Apple TV? Genuine question.

We have a smart TV and it's just simpler to use its own apps for things like Netflix or Amazon Prime, rather than mess around switching HDMI input and booting-up the Apple TV (which we do have, albeit an older one).

If I want to watch Apple TV shows then I do so on my phone, or MacBook.

Just about the only reason I've ever seen anybody use an Apple TV is for beaming photos onto the big TV screen. But that's not exactly an everyday thing.

Apple Arcade plus Xbox controllers

 

[jinnj]

This product still seeking a reason to exist. Given AirPlay to Mac has been incorporated a couple years ago, most TV’s support AirPlay and AppleTV+, capable to run iOS apps on an Apple Silicon Mac. Barring cost a M1 MacMini from the refurb store is a better deal and better capable device, I am sure there are some Bluetooth remotes and mice that can control macOS. Who remembers when some Mac hardware included a remote control.

Airplay on other devices (TCL Roku TV and LG's TVs) are subpar. The video and audio get out of sync really quick. Same TV with AppleTV 4th gen and the same ethernet, I've never had any out of sync issues.

 

[jinnj]

Can somebody tell me the point of the Apple TV? Genuine question.

We have a smart TV and it's just simpler to use its own apps for things like Netflix or Amazon Prime, rather than mess around switching HDMI input and booting-up the Apple TV (which we do have, albeit an older one).

If I want to watch Apple TV shows then I do so on my phone, or MacBook.

Just about the only reason I've ever seen anybody use an Apple TV is for beaming photos onto the big TV screen. But that's not exactly an everyday thing.

Speed. Fire Stick, Apple TV and Roku sticks can beat the pants off most smart TVs. My Apple TV 4K released 5 years ago is faster than the UI in a Samsung 75" OLED that was purchased a year ago.

 

[JGIGS]

AppleTV the app is like any individual app on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.

AppleTV the hardware is much more like the Mac, iPhone or iPad in that it is capable of running MANY apps beyond only that one.

I understand the confusion due to Apple choosing to use the same name for 2 very different things.

So basically if all I want to do is stream video, the Apple TV app on my LG is just as good as streaming quality on an Apple TV?

 

[PhoenixDown]

I have a 2015 Samsung and the OS its on stopped getting updates and support like a year later. That's why I prefer using something like an AppleTV. Its cheaper and easier to replace and fwiw, Apple has done well keeping the OS updated and devs have been good about keeping the apps updated.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

So basically if all I want to do is stream video, the Apple TV app on my LG is just as good as streaming quality on an Apple TV?

If all you want to do is stream video, any choice able to deliver the stream to your TV screen at full speed will stream video as well. Try any and if you are pleased with the stream quality, you can enjoy that "any."

Catches:

• maybe the processor in the "any" is not up to par and you see some extra stutter.
• maybe there is refinements if the video is processed to pass through a cleaner/improved signal.
• maybe related features make some difference like passing through sound
• etc.

But let your own eyes be the judge. If you like what you see from any source of a stream, the opinions of me or anyone else here doesn't matter.

If you have any doubts, buy an AppleTV and use the 14 day window to do some head-to-head testing with your own TV, eyes, ears in your own environment. Return it if the stock app is just as good.

The one more thing about this: I notice that TV manufacturers seem to abandon software updates for their televisions pretty quickly. So while some stock streaming app may deliver well now, it might age out in a year or three+. When it does, an external app "brain" in a little box like this can get you up-to-date apps working with your TV again... though if streaming is the only thing you want to do, cheaper options like Firestick or Roku will likely deliver simple streams as well as AppleTV.

 

[nikhsub1]

Thread should be the new standard for home automation, all sensors / lights / switches must listen and respond to each other through the same - Thread - protocol. So it is a good thing Apple want's to follow this new 'open' standard for future compatibility. Eg. Eve door sensors are already Thread enabled.

OK but if I don't use the apple tv for any home automation, I don't need thread?

 

[Loves2spoon]

Pulled the trigger! A15 🤗

 

[Wizec]

In case this hasn’t been mentioned before (I didn’t read all 9 pages of this thread) the Apple TV 4K routinely went on sale for $30 to $60 off many times during the past few years.

 

[CarlJ]

Still no 120Hz support? Should be possible with the chipset / A15.

What would you have it do with 120Hz support? I don't think there's much in the way of games on Apple TV that could make use of it, there aren't any 120Hz movies, and the Apple TV can already do "Match Content" (I think that's the name?) to send 24/30/60 Hz content to the TV at the various native rates.

Only thing I could see as an advantage would be to keep the Apple TV => TV link at a constant 120Hz rate, so that you could switch between 24/30/60 Hz content without any changeover flicker. I'm guessing Apple sees that as a fairly minor gain that doesn't, at this point, offset the additional complexity and cost (especially keeping in mind that few people would have the capacity to use it, and fewer still would actually take advantage of it).

 

[gadget123]

Can somebody tell me the point of the Apple TV? Genuine question.

We have a smart TV and it's just simpler to use its own apps for things like Netflix or Amazon Prime, rather than mess around switching HDMI input and booting-up the Apple TV (which we do have, albeit an older one).

If I want to watch Apple TV shows then I do so on my phone, or MacBook.

Just about the only reason I've ever seen anybody use an Apple TV is for beaming photos onto the big TV screen. But that's not exactly an everyday thing.

I use to have to use a hdmi out cable before Apple TV and plug my phone in. I can watch all my iTunes movies and music purchases via the Apple TV. Yes there’s a smart tv app and also on Amazon stick but it’s nothing like as swift or as good as Apple TV. My TV also doesn’t have some apps.

 

[Abazigal]

Can somebody tell me the point of the Apple TV? Genuine question.

We have a smart TV and it's just simpler to use its own apps for things like Netflix or Amazon Prime, rather than mess around switching HDMI input and booting-up the Apple TV (which we do have, albeit an older one).

If I want to watch Apple TV shows then I do so on my phone, or MacBook.

Just about the only reason I've ever seen anybody use an Apple TV is for beaming photos onto the big TV screen. But that's not exactly an everyday thing.

Here are the reasons I have an Apple TV attached to my 4k smart TV.

1) integration with the Apple ecosystem (iCloud Photos, Apple Music, Arcade, podcast, TV+, AirPlay mirroring). For example, I can access Apple Arcade games directly, or play photos without having to reach for my phone. It’s the little conveniences.

2) apps. The smart tv in my living room is many years old and came with only Netflix and YouTube preinstalled. My friend’s TV didn’t come with Disney+. An Apple TV lets me install any streaming app I want, rather than being limited to the preinstalled ones. This is useful with more niche apps like Broadcasts, Nebula, TheVerge and Play (a third party bookmarking service for YouTube videos).

3) I do like the remote, but I am likely an outlier here.

There’s also the supposedly better privacy involved with using a streaming box that TV manufacturers are not able to track the usage of (which is why my smart tv is not connected to wifi either) but I have personally never cared.

I will say it’s for people fairly invested in the Apple ecosystem and who don’t find paying a little more for a premium streaming experience.

 

[George Dawes]

Faster , lighter , cheaper

I call this a result !

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I have a 2015 Samsung and the OS its on stopped getting updates and support like a year later. That's why I prefer using something like an AppleTV. Its cheaper and easier to replace and fwiw, Apple has done well keeping the OS updated and devs have been good about keeping the apps updated.

Depends what you mean, it took an embarrassingly long time for 4k to be supported on Youtube, this thing is just getting HDR10+ competing platforms have had this for a while, it has no AV1 support

I would say given the price it lags behind the competition

 

[Packers1958]

How come? AFAIK the only streaming service that supports it is Prime, and even for that, not for much content. Nobody else supports it.

Paramount+ is also onboard. So is HULU. And I would not doubt Apple will start making content in HDR10+ too. No licensing fee needed like there is with Dolby Vision.

https://hdr10plus.org/hdr10-content/

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

I’d like to get recommendations for an HDMI cable.