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Will there be any differences of a 4K Apple TV on 1080p TV's vs. the 4th gen Apple TV on 1080p TV's?

Picture quality i would say yes. Even more pixels crammed into same image would look better Compare a picture at 1440x900 and view it on a Retina display... Looks sharper don't it?
 
Picture quality i would say yes. Even more pixels crammed into same image would look better Compare a picture at 1440x900 and view it on a Retina display... Looks sharper don't it?
The problem is that the streaming apps will very likely not let you steam the 4K versions if they detect that the ATV is connected to a 1080p display. At least that's currently the case for Netflix and Amazon apps on other 4K streaming boxes.

It'll be interesting to see whether they will allow downloading 4K movies in iTunes. If that's the case, we might be able to force an ATV4K to play a 4K file downscaled on a 1080p display by streaming it locally via Homesharing. ;) That would indeed look better than iTunes 1080p files.
 
Picture quality i would say yes. Even more pixels crammed into same image would look better Compare a picture at 1440x900 and view it on a Retina display... Looks sharper don't it?
Except you can't cram more pixels into it. The TV only has what it has. It does not physically have more pixels. A 4k streaming box will do nothing for a 1080p tv.

Now if you had a 4k TV and were viewing 1080p content on it, yes, it can upconvert and look better. But that's not what the op is asking.
 
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Your receiver has to support the audio formats that are being fed to it by the streaming device. If not then you don't get that audio format. I haven't looked up your receiver so I don't know what audio formats it supports. I assume it would be fine.
Thanks again dude. This is my receiver http://www.eu.onkyo.com/en/products/tx-nr3010-83021.html

When you rent films on ATV can you pick what audio format you want to listen to,like on blu ray discs?
 
This is good information! I have a 5-year-old 3rd generation Apple TV and a standard 1080p TV. Is it prudent to get the 5th generation Apple TV, considering that I hold on to these devices for 5 years or more?
 
Do you have any plans to get a 4K TV soon or are you interested in gaming? If not, then look to pick up a refurbished/2nd hand 4th gen. You'll get the benefits of the App store without paying for the 4K/gaming features that you won't use. Then, if you buy a 4K set in 2 years time you can pick up the Apple TV 6 (or a reduced price Apple TV 4K).
 
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Thanks again dude. This is my receiver http://www.eu.onkyo.com/en/products/tx-nr3010-83021.html

When you rent films on ATV can you pick what audio format you want to listen to,like on blu ray discs?
I doubt it. But I don't use iTunes. I will never purchase or rent a movie from them.
First because they don't support hd audio and second because it limits where I can watch the content. I would recommend vudu instead.
In my case, for 4k, I buy the discs. And I redeem the codes on vudu.
 
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I doubt it. But I don't use iTunes. I will never purchase or rent a movie from them.
First because they don't support hd audio and second because it limits where I can watch the content. I would recommend vudu instead.
In my case, for 4k, I buy the discs. And I redeem the codes on vudu.

WOW! They don't support HD audio! So what do you get from Apple? Dolby Digital tracks? Or Dolby Surround? I've said this many times before, unfortunately, and I'll say it again... Apple, what on earth has happened to you!

Thanks for the Vudu heads-up. I'll check them out. I'm a disc purchasing man (I like having card copies on shelves and the feeling of inserting a disc... and having all the disc extras to watch too) but am trying to change my ways to the modern way of doing things!

When you purchase or rent films from Vudu via ATV, do they appear in your iTunes folder?
 
WOW! They don't support HD audio! So what do you get from Apple? Dolby Digital tracks? Or Dolby Surround? I've said this many times before, unfortunately, and I'll say it again... Apple, what on earth has happened to you!

Thanks for the Vudu heads-up. I'll check them out. I'm a disc purchasing man (I like having card copies on shelves and the feeling of inserting a disc... and having all the disc extras to watch too) but am trying to change my ways to the modern way of doing things!

When you purchase or rent films from Vudu via ATV, do they appear in your iTunes folder?
Apple uses DD+
If you purchase or rent from Vudu they appear in the vudu app and are streamed from there. Never downloaded. Redeem all your movie codes there! There's a vudu app on everything so you'll always have your content.
They sometimes have movies with Dolby Vision even though the disc doesn't have it. Same applies to atmos. For example my 4k Fantastic Beasts disc is HDR and DTS-HD. But on vudu, where I redeemed my code, gives me Dolby Vision and Atmos.
And the quality is really good!
 
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Apple uses DD+
If you purchase or rent from Vudu they appear in the vudu app and are streamed from there. Never downloaded. Redeem all your movie codes there! There's a vudu app on everything so you'll always have your content.
They sometimes have movies with Dolby Vision even though the disc doesn't have it. Same applies to atmos. For example my 4k Fantastic Beasts disc is HDR and DTS-HD. But on vudu, where I redeemed my code, gives me Dolby Vision and Atmos.

Now, how can you go wrong with that! I must get myself on the Dolby Atmos path though. Blade Runner in 4K is out and must be purchased soon!

But I digress. Thanks for all the info mate. Really appreciate the help.
 
Do you have any plans to get a 4K TV soon or are you interested in gaming? If not, then look to pick up a refurbished/2nd hand 4th gen. You'll get the benefits of the App store without paying for the 4K/gaming features that you won't use. Then, if you buy a 4K set in 2 years time you can pick up the Apple TV 6 (or a reduced price Apple TV 4K).
Thanks, this is a good point.

Let's say a person buys a 4th gen Apple TV now. Then they buy a 4K TV 3 years from now. Yes, there will probably be a 6th gen Apple TV by then. But doesn't that mean a person will need to buy another Apple TV instead of just buying the 5th gen now and being done? I'm just wondering. I like your idea, though.
 
Great. But are your ISP speeds gigabit?

No. But it's not about that. It's about moving files around your network quickly and not saturating any one point with too much data moving around.

The original comment you are referencing I was referring to gigabit ethernet on the apple tv is not needed. I was not referring to gigabit from your ISP.
 
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No. But it's not about that. It's about moving files around your network quickly and not saturating any one point with too much data moving around.

The original comment you are referencing I was referring to gigabit ethernet on the apple tv is not needed. I was not referring to gigabit from your ISP.


Well when I stream, the quality of the stream depends on the speeds I get from my ISP, not the cables in my house. For me, an upgrade to gigabit on the atv makes no difference at all.
 
Well when I stream, the quality of the stream depends on the speeds I get from my ISP, not the cables in my house. For me, an upgrade to gigabit on the atv makes no difference at all.
I agree. It doesn't make any difference.

I stream all my movies locally on my network. But that still doesn't require gigabit on my streaming devices.
 

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And who even has gigabit speeds in their home anyways?!?

I do too! 10 wired ports throughout the house. I work from home so have multiple systems and frequently transfer large files (VM's and backups)... and GB makes a huge diff. By having GB to everything I then have zero impact on the rest of the house.
 
What about games @ 1080p?

Maybe there will coming more grfx demanding games which will run on Apple TV 4K on 1080p which the old Apple TV 4 might not..?
 
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And who even has gigabit speeds in their home anyways?!?
Lots of us I bet. Gigabit between nodes on the local LAN - not coming from the ISP necessarily.
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Thanks, this is a good point.

Let's say a person buys a 4th gen Apple TV now. Then they buy a 4K TV 3 years from now. Yes, there will probably be a 6th gen Apple TV by then. But doesn't that mean a person will need to buy another Apple TV instead of just buying the 5th gen now and being done? I'm just wondering. I like your idea, though.
Three years from now people will be considering 8K TVs.
 
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Lots of us I bet. Gigabit between nodes on the local LAN - not coming from the ISP necessarily.
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Three years from now people will be considering 8K TVs.
I sure hope not. We barely have a handful of movies that are actually 4K. Most studios are doing 2K VFX still, why IDK, but, I guess 4K VFX rendering is still expensive, and, I'm guessing, since it uses 4X as many pixels, needs more computer power, will either take longer or require better computers to render. What most techie people on forums reading about new tech don't realize is that, when you go to the movie theater, 95% of the movies are played from 2K masters. Whether the theater projects them in 2K or upscales to 4K I am not sure. But, movie theaters have been using a better color rendition than home HD.

8K is good for professional cameras, but, then they will finally be doing VFX in 4K. Many of the UHD titles have 4K masters that are upscaled from 2K digital intermediates.

HDR & WCG are more important than resolution alone. Pre-HDR & WCG digital video has been a far cry from the color quality and dynamic range of film, which is one reason why some filmmakers still use film over digital cameras.

Color quality is way more important than resolution, 4K is plenty of resolution, we need time to get the tech to reproduce the better color, especially in the display end of things.
 
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I have one ATV 4th Gen and want to buy another for the other room. I only have 1080P TV's for now, but want to buy the 5th Gen in case I get a good deal on a Sony 4K UltraHD TV.
Now when I visited the Apple store and looked at the specs, it didn't say anything about 1080P or 4K output, they strictly show 4K.
I will have to visit an Apple store to see if it can output 1080P. I also have a ton of HD content from iTunes that I would like to convert to UHD. Hopefully the Apple TV 5th Gen can scale down to 1080P.
 
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It looks like you can set the resolution to 1080p, for a different reason here. But any 4K device should output to 1080p as part of the backward compatibility of HDMI. (Need to use a HDMI 2 cable for UHD.) (note that HD displays will not take advantage of HDR).

"About 4K, HDR, and Dolby Vision on your Apple TV 4K"
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208074

"*If your TV doesn’t support HDR10 or Dolby Vision at 60Hz (50Hz in Europe), Apple TV 4K can use these formats at 30Hz (25Hz in Europe), but you'll need to manually select a lower refresh rate in Settings > Video and Audio. Using lower refresh rates can result in poor performance, or choppy video when navigating on the home screen, within apps, or playing games. In these cases, Apple recommends lowering resolution to 1080p at 60Hz (50Hz in Europe) instead, and letting your television upscale to 4K. You will still be able to use HDR10 and Dolby Vision at these resolutions."
 
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