4K ATV: Great picture, poor sound.

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Last night I rented Hidden Figures in 4k on iTunes and today I received it in bluray from LOVEFiLM-By-Post. After doing a comparison there is now turning back. From now on I only want to watch 4K movies.

In 1080p only objects in the foreground are in focus but in 4K a lot more of the frame is in focus and detailed. When there's a scene with lots of people in one room, your eyes are encouraged to pan around and take in all the faces and details. Furthermore colours are brighter and more alive and most importantly the picture looks very polished and grain-free.

As I mentioned in my first post, there are no artefacts in darker scenes and it's difficult to fault the image and imagine how much more UHD discs can improve on 4K streaming on Apple TV.

Comparing the sound, my previous comments still stand. Apple TV sounds good but punch, clarity and expansive sound stage is missing. When watching dramas or comedies it won't matter, but when watching action movies with world-class soundtracks like Oblivion or Tron, immersion and theatre will be noticeably reduced.


However I love everything else about the Apple TV and have now unplugged the Chromecast and moved it to the playroom. Youtube and iPlayer is amazing on the Apple TV as it caches the content before you press play. This makes videos play instantly without any loading. Worth mentioning is that I have 54Mbit fibre to home and have an ethernet cable running from the ATV to the AV1300 TPLink power line adapter.

Brilliant insight there buddy! I'm so disappointed with your findings on the sound VS BluRay though. How can Apple improve upon it? Will Dolby Atmos (compressed) when it hits ATV?

Out of interest I did a SD film comparison and was truly startled! Wayyyyy back in 2010, I bought a SD version of Meet Joe Black. I also have a DVD and BluRay of it.
Anyway the other night I was watching it on DVD (old disc bought 2005 time). I played the SD iTunes version side by side and switched between the two. The SD version was a new download HomeSharing from my MacBook Retina.
The finding was INCREDIBLE. The DVD was a terrible transfer. The peoples faces were red/orangey everything was over saturated. In contrast, the iTunes was perfect. The faces were spot on. It's clear that new files are constantly being sent to iTunes. This, for a SD beat the DVD ends down in picture. Sound, identical. Although the DVD ran fast and it was clear to hear how it had been sped up 4% when compared to the iTunes copy.
Apart from 24p judder on the ATV, the iTunes copy was the winner by far.
We couldn't believe how bad some DVD transfers can be!!!

BTW saw the most incredible French New Wave film from iTunes last night. 'Breathless' from 1960. France looked incredible in it. Loved the fashion and style of it!

 

[Macalicious2011]

Brilliant insight there buddy! I'm so disappointed with your findings on the sound VS BluRay though. How can Apple improve upon it? Will Dolby Atmos (compressed) when it hits ATV?

Out of interest I did a SD film comparison and was truly startled! Wayyyyy back in 2010, I bought a SD version of Meet Joe Black. I also have a DVD and BluRay of it.
Anyway the other night I was watching it on DVD (old disc bought 2005 time). I played the SD iTunes version side by side and switched between the two. The SD version was a new download HomeSharing from my MacBook Retina.
The finding was INCREDIBLE. The DVD was a terrible transfer. The peoples faces were red/orangey everything was over saturated. In contrast, the iTunes was perfect. The faces were spot on. It's clear that new files are constantly being sent to iTunes. This, for a SD beat the DVD ends down in picture. Sound, identical. Although the DVD ran fast and it was clear to hear how it had been sped up 4% when compared to the iTunes copy.
Apart from 24p judder on the ATV, the iTunes copy was the winner by far.
We couldn't believe how bad some DVD transfers can be!!!

That is very good to know if I ever want to watch an old movie but toy between buying it for a pound or two instead of renting it on iTunes. Do you think many old movies are remastered before being put on iTunes or at they mostly DVD rips?

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

That is very good to know if I ever want to watch an old movie but toy between buying it for a pound or two instead of renting it on iTunes. Do you think many old movies are remastered before being put on iTunes or at they mostly DVD rips?

I think that films are constantly being remastered/updated - I bought Saturday Night Fever in HD the 40th Anniversary edition - it had been in my wish list for a year or so and was the basic standard non anniversary edition at the time. Same with Home Alone that i've had for several years - it now has iTunes extras as has my Eat Pray Love film so i believe that they get updated often.

 

[ErikGrim]

I've noticed a bug in the latest version of tvOS where the audio levels are excessively reduced and/or compressed. So sound quality should (hopefully) be restored/improved in future updates to the OS.

//

That's still happening in the latest betas so I wouldn't get my hopes up

 

[Rigby]

Brilliant insight there buddy! I'm so disappointed with your findings on the sound VS BluRay though. How can Apple improve upon it? Will Dolby Atmos (compressed) when it hits ATV?

I think the best thing they could do at this point would be to provide a true bitstreaming mode (i.e. directly outputting the unmolested audio track over HDMI instead of decoding and remixing everything).

 

[George Dawes]

most people seem to have sound-bars these days so i don't blame apple for aiming for the lowest common denominator when it comes to audio quality

 

[Macalicious2011]

I don't think Apple will bother with a TV. Good panels are costly to produce. Consumers only upgrade their TV every 5 or 10 years. There's a lot more money in focusing on fast moving gadgets. They can sell multiple iPhones to the same household. Home many would be able to afford an Apple OLED TV? Students, which are a big consumer group for Apple would be excluded.

Home automation is a big market that Apple can innovate and take a lead in. Watch this space.

 

[JeffPerrin]

most people seem to have sound-bars these days so i don't blame apple for aiming for the lowest common denominator when it comes to audio quality

Any compression and/or level issues would definitely affect sound bar users as well.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I have now had the 4K ATV for a week and I'm so glad I bought it instead of the Fire 4K or a UHD player. Disappointingly it has spoiled 1080p Blurays for me. They now look awful, especially poor ones. My PS3's graphics are no longer acceptable and I will put it up for sale on eBay.

This is my hierarchy of content rated by image quality.
1. UHD documentaries on Netflix
2. UHD TV series on Netflix - Stranger Things looks fantastic
3. UHD Movies on iTunes.

There's a lot of talk about HDR and Dolby Vision. My 2 year old 4K LG TV don't have either but UHD content don't just increase resolution but the colours are phenomenally better than when watching non-4K content - not to mention the increased refreshed rate. It's as if I have a new TV.

Verdict: If you are Blurry loyal who's on the fence about streaming. Don't hesitate, the 4K ATV is a game changer.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I have now had the 4K ATV for a week and I'm so glad I bought it instead of the Fire 4K or a UHD player. Disappointingly it has spoiled 1080p Blurays for me. They now look awful, especially poor ones. My PS3's graphics are no longer acceptable and I will put it up for sale on eBay.

This is my hierarchy of content rated by image quality.
1. UHD documentaries on Netflix
2. UHD TV series on Netflix - Stranger Things looks fantastic
3. UHD Movies on iTunes.

There's a lot of talk about HDR and Dolby Vision. My 2 year old 4K LG TV don't have either but UHD content don't just increase resolution but the colours are phenomenally better than when watching non-4K content - not to mention the increased refreshed rate. It's as if I have a new TV.

Verdict: If you are Blurry loyal who's on the fence about streaming. Don't hesitate, the 4K ATV is a game changer.

Absolutely excellent!
Are you playing everything at 4K SDR 60fps?
I've ordered a 64GB one this week along with the Panasonic DMB400 4K UHD BluRay player - this is to play DVDs and BluRays that are not available to buy as iTunes films in the UK store PLUS maybe even a 4K UHD Disc. Both boxes are designed to compliment each other in my use
One of my favourite new comedy films 'WHY HIM' (James Franco) has this week got the 4K HDR treatment in iTunes (UK) so we are very excited to watch this late Christmas Eve. It's amazing how many brand new films still aren't in 4K though in't it - Hampstead, Moonlight (4K IN USA), Office Christmas Party (4K in USA).