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2021 vs 2018 AppleTV 4K
- Thread starter Brien
- Start date
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Bizarrely the new Apple TV 4K does not appear to support HLG HDR but the new iPad Pro does... what!?
Can anyone tell me if I am going to notice a difference with the new AppleTV on my TV (Sony KD55XE7005) - I don't think the TV supports High Frame Rate, or would give me any chance to feel a difference with the new TV. I'd rather only get the new Remote than I think - but I am unsure.
It's maddening. Waiting this long for a hardware refresh, and getting squat, isn't going to sit well.
Hopeful there is a surprise once these start being used in the wild.
I'm very cynical about this launch. My opinion is this very model was ready to go this time last year possibly with an A12X chip but Apple sat on it (maybe they were waiting for the remote redesign, maybe they couldn't get hold of enough HDMI 2.1 chipsets) and what we're seeing now is the same model cut back (nothing uses the A12X/Z anymore but plenty of things use the A12 so plenty of supply) and dumped out but at a price where a 3 year old non-X chip feels like a slap in the face. If the HD had fallen to £99 and this was £129 then ok, but not this.
It is screaming that Apple doesn't know what to do with the Apple TV hardware now. Most smart TVs have Airplay 2 and the Apple TV+ app (which also gives access to your iTunes libraries) so what does the Apple TV hardware have left as an advantage to the average consumer (i.e. people that don't care about moderate bit-rate improvements)? Fitness and Arcade. Arcade seems to be a bust and the jury is out on Fitness once gyms reopen.
If I had to guess the HFR streaming content that they are supposedly working on will be 60 Hz, which pretty much every modern TV can display. But if you don't have another reason to upgrade, I would wait until there is actually some HFR content available.
Other potential advantages like Wifi 6 and Thread may or may not be useful for you.
Personally I'm getting the new one first day, but that's only because I've been waiting to upgrade one of my old non-4K ATVs.
A10x had hardware decoding and did pretty well but I believe it was only 8 or 10 bit, the only time I have lag playing HEVC is streaming 4k HDR high bitrate to the device. The A12 does have a newer decoder though and will be better. Im excited for it.
The A8 (Apple tv HD) uses software decoding and I experience issues with about 50% of my videos not playing, planning to move my old 4K to replace the HD in the kitchen so I can stream all my videos and buying the new 4k for a smoother experience on my personal tv.
I’m confused by this…
I thought that the only HDR format that could be used for live broadcasting is HLG. In the UK the BT Sport app on the ATV 4K streams in 1080 HDR (it does 4K HDR on other platforms). So this must be HLG?
Macrumours even ran an article (as I notified them) when BT Sport first did this: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/05/29/bt-sport-app-champions-league-final-hdr/