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$99 Apple TV Might Make a Comeback Next Year
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I know, but it's traditional. We can't have an Apple Tv thread without gaming
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Greater if it not built into the box because possibly the majority don't place their AppleTV immediately above or below, center of their TV set. Anywhere else and what the other end sees of you would be you looking left, right, up or down (but not at them). For example, if your existing TV is not positioned center just above or just below, fire up video capture on your phone, go prop it up where you do store your AppleTV (as a standing for this camera concept) and then stare at your TV screen like you are looking at those on the other end of the conversation. Fake it for just a little while and then go watch the video to see what THEY would see if an AppleTV (box) camera was "over there."
And many store their AppleTV box in places where the camera could not see anyone at all, such as vertically behind their TV or inside of a cabinet. Mine is stored far right of my TV, so if I was trying to use it for FaceTime, the other end would be seeing me looking like I am looking far right of them, not back at them.
The better option beyond leaning on Continuity Camera is to perhaps utilize a "normal" USB port back on it again to which people could buy USB cameras that can affix to the top of their TV and be powered by that port (or their TVs USB port if it has one) and then wired or wirelessly send the video back to AppleTV. The wireless concept would be just like Continuity Camera except it would be dedicated to that use instead of variable based on if the phone or tablet is at home when someone wants to FaceTime.
good for emulation/retro gaming sure
except that the os will wipe out save data
it would need persistent storage to really be good for retro gaming
and a gpu for anything beyond that
I can only imaging how ****** a $200 50" tv must be
And there goes my hope of an Apple TV with a remote using RF instead of infra red. My tv is hanging on the wall and it’s kind of stupid to put an Apple TV underneath it because you can FaceTime. I’ve an iPhone for that and didn’t they highlight the feature that you could use your iPhone as a camera for your tv?
Same with HomePods. Give it an optical in port so I could use it as an stereospeaker with my tv instead of buying an extra Apple TV. The Apple TV app is already on my LG and is installable on all modern tv’s.
What use does a seperate Apple TV has for modern tv’s?
Same with HomePods. Give it an optical in port so I could use it as an stereospeaker with my tv instead of buying an extra Apple TV. The Apple TV app is already on my LG and is installable on all modern tv’s.
What use does a seperate Apple TV has for modern tv’s?
Smart TVs are cheap because they are subsidized by ads and data collection/telemetry. Apple isnt selling your data to subsidize the aTV by contrast.
Nice, so I can put it away behind closed doors? I had the second generation Apple TV and that remote used infrared. Nice to know it evolved 👍🏻
Yup, my living room atv is tucked away behind my TV and my office one is in the closet that’s near the TV.
It does have an infrared sensor/transmitter on the remote that can be programmed for things that dont use CEC over the HDMI connection (so you can, for example, have it change the volume on your TV via the TV’s infrared sensor, or turn the TV on and off that way) but it communicates with the AppleTV itself via bluetooth and if your gear elsewhere in the chain (in my case for ex my TV and stereo receiver) supports CEC itll control everything that way, no infrared or rf needed.
Apple at it's greediest best lol.
Apple TV is only held back by Apple's nickel and dime greed approach to all things Apple but that's another story.
I use the Computer app 80% of the time, the picture quality of the Apple TV is probably the best of the boxes and I'm a fan of Spatial audio almost forgot about Home app.
If one is into the ecosystem it's a good buy.
I honestly can't image why Apple is leaving this money on the table for Sony and Microsoft. I guess they figure mobile gaming is enough and are just not interested in competing with the consoles.
PS. That was three words. 😁
Try $49 Apple. You can buy a 4K Roku for $29 at Walmart and is snappier than my Apple TV HD. 
You are, of course, correct, but if you think about, this has become a distinction without a difference. All the relevant apps are on all the platforms, all the Apple TV+ shows work on the Apple TV App, any platform, and they all now support AirPlay.AppleTV (the app) vs. AppleTV (the box) are as night & day as any iPhone app vs. iPhone. One app is not the entire product.
I consider this perhaps the worst naming decision by Apple in their history because it drives this very common confusion:
No surprise people get confused, undermining sales of the box by making them believe that the app freely available on many TV brands is the same as the box.
- AppleTV (the box) capable of running thousands of apps
- AppleTV (the app) is only one app among those thousands
- AppleTV+ (the service) is the content creation entity that feeds the one app among those thousands.
For anyone still confused, Mcintosh Apples and Apple Macintosh are just as night & day.
As are Apple Ltd (the Beatles company) and Apple Inc.
Or Mac (cosmetics) and Mac (computers).
Etc.
Hmm, the Channels App. seems to be redundant to a streaming service that supplies DVR functionality (is that all of them at this point?) + Plex, which runs on everything for serving personal media. I use DirecTV streaming, which has unlimited DVR and runs on just about any device or TV, and it doesn't consume my Mac storage.
Can you tell us more about the Computers app? I am actually interested in finding a reason to go back to Apple TV, but at this point it feels like a dumb move for me specificaly.
Define high end gaming: if you mean it can play the latest AAA games in the same way a Steam Deck can (low-mid settings at 30 fps), you're looking at M4 Mac Mini-level hardware which is $599 (and only has 256 GB storage). If you mean the latest AAA games at high settings / 60 fps, then you're likely looking at M4 Pro Mac Mini-level harware at $1399. Can't see many takers at either of those prices when a PS5 Pro is now around $600-650 with a whole back-catalogue of PS5 and enhanced PS4 games available.
I hate to be the barer of bad news, but on a 2nd gen Apple TV 4K, the iPlayer app opens to the user selection screen if you so much as open another app. It also doesn't support the UHD beta...
I would be a buyer of an Apple TV with hard core gaming muscle, like say the PS V has, preferably better, with cross gaming with the Mac.
The question is what could they do better than existing consoles. Well if they could deliver more muscle in silence and less space …
The question is what could they do better than existing consoles. Well if they could deliver more muscle in silence and less space …
It’s funny the Apple TV when it launched was unique because no TVs were smart and they gave it smart capabilities now almost every TV off the shelf has Apple TV and airplay built into it so there’s no need for an Apple TV anymore unless you need ultra high-performance to run specific apps on the Apple TV. It’s become a niche product once again. It started out as a niche product and it will die as a niche product.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Actually, in my household (3 AppleTVs), we use them daily but just about never use the mainstream streamer apps. I would definitely suggest that NO "all" of the relevant apps are NOT on all platforms... unless "all" is measured as mostly the mainstream streamers. Again, here at my home, the most used by far is Channels & Computers (app), neither of which are in the mix for most (maybe all) smart TVs.
Channels readily tunes over-the-air channels via antenna (which gets all of the major networks in HD and many good sub channels like MEtv, Catchy, AntennaTV, etc), cable, PlutoTV, SamsungTV, Distro TV, etc... almost all of which is free (except the cable, though that delivers all live sports via a cable card setup that costs relatively little). No monthly "rent" at all except a relatively cheap cable cost, probably less than you are paying for DirectTV. Net is about the classic "500 channels" thing for very little cost.
The DVR runs on NAS (Synology in my case), which means I have however much storage I want, with no time limits before stored media might be purged by the gatekeepers (because I'm my own gatekeeper) and- should I stop paying for cable- I lose nothing stored on it. Basically it's "whole home DVR" with all I've chosen to record stored on storage within my own control. Should I lose broadband completely, I still have both all DVR'd stuff and over the air live TV.
And I can access it when away from home too, basically from my own "cloud" storage in that NAS on all iDevices or Mac. No cloud "forever rent"... it is MY OWN "cloud." No for-profit middlemen between me and the media.
Nutshell: With Channels, it's basically super deluxe cable box (minus the box rental) with all cable channels important to me, all the locals, and the vast number of free channels via Pluto, Samsung, Distro and more... for no subscription rents (except for cable).
Computers app is a modernized version of the original AppleTV UI... before Apple decided to evolve it into the AppleTV app, trying to sell & rent media & subscriptions. It has no such ads... no such pushes for rentals or purchases or subscriptions. It is the one-stop app to serve up all of my own media, ripped from discs, all home movies, the Photos & albums, favorite Podcasts, music library & playlists, ripped TV shows, etc. streaming via "home sharing" functionality from hardware also completely within my control.
It's pretty similar to Plex except it also works with any Apple DRM and is an Apple-ized version of a Plex-like UI. Most people think they should use the Apple TV app for such content but this serves up everything from local storage sans the relentless pushes to buy/rent/subscribe. As such, we barely touch the AppleTV app at all.
I value the entire cost of AppleTV (and then some) in either of these apps alone, even if AppleTV could run no other apps... though it does have thousands of other apps that are available, also unlike smart TV app pools which tend to be only a relatively small group of choices (a few dozen? maybe 100 or so MAX?), mostly dominated by the major streamers.
I hope this is helpful.
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As someone who has zero desire to have their smart tv connect to the internet ever, the Apple TV continues to be an affordable means of accessing my apps while denying the TV manufacturers their user data.
Plus, it’s also a great way of integrating with the Apple ecosystem. TV+ app, podcast, Apple Music, arcade, Play, infuse, and I suppose I might get around to playing with zoom one of these days.
Having the Apple TV app is not the same thing as the Apple TV 4K hardware.
No everybody has a Mac that has Apple TV. It absolutely neednonboar storage. An. Option to steam from a Mac for some intense applications would be great, but I do not want all 5 Apple TVs in my house to be fully dependent upon a Mac. They need inboard storage and to be independent devices. I don’t want their usage to be pulling in my Mac.Eject the Apple storage to store media and Apps in unlimited storage back on a Mac or PC and- given Apple storage upgrade prices in other things- Apple could apparently pay interested people about $70 to take one.
But seriously, apps could stream over from Mac storage just like media does now, so I just don't get why these must have onboard storage at all. Stream it all instead of all but apps. Store the app files on Mac just like media can be stored on Mac. Up the RAM enough to accommodate this change.
Or for those who believe it MUST have local storage for apps (as the only possible way for it to work), put a USB port back on it and let people attach however much local storage they want.
OR, revive a fantastic feature of Jobs AppleTV 1 and keep storage inside but as standard storage SLOTS (m.2 seems ideal). And then revive the sync (media) option of gen 1 so that up to all of our media could be stored on device. There are little (whole) PCs priced not much higher than AppleTV with TWO m.2 slots in pretty compact physical units. Those who would desire BIG storage could put twin 8TB sticks in there for a 16TB AppleTV for much less than what Apple charges for a 8TB upgrade for only the storage by itself. Of course, if Apple did this, they'd use their own proprietary, magical storage, making a 16TB AppleTV cost $2200 + $2200 + $1XX. 💰💰💰
Lastly, before someone writes about a M-series-based AppleTV for gaming, the better suggestion that Apple could easily do would be revive the Front Row app for Macs to make them capable of simulating the AppleTV UI. Then a Mac Mini or even Loaded Mac Studio Ultra could be the AppleTV super pro Max Ultra of some of our dreams. I think the likelihood of Front Row 2 software is much greater than pricey M-series-based AppleTV Pro hardware. You know this would get into Mac mini ballpark pricing and then the gripe would be "Why doesn't everyone just get a Mac mini?"
External storage as an option is fine, but ceteinoy not for the only storage. 99% of people would not want to buy an Apple TV that also needed an external drive.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Then AppleTV pricing stays relatively high. The only path to competitive price points is subtracting guts. There not much in there to subtract, but storage is one that could go… leveraging Mac or PC storage instead (as one quite doable idea).
Personally, I prefer much more storage inside and resurrecting GEN 1s media sync capabilities. But Apple storage is farrrrrrr too overpriced. I’d like to see twin m.2 slots inside, able to use off-the-shelf m.2. I have zero expectations of this, but I’d rather see it than all other storage options short of “normalized” USB to external drive(s), which would also be easy to do. Very cheap little PC boxes seem to be able to include 2 m.2 slots in them, so I know Apple can do it too for relatively low cost... if they were willing.
Personally, I prefer much more storage inside and resurrecting GEN 1s media sync capabilities. But Apple storage is farrrrrrr too overpriced. I’d like to see twin m.2 slots inside, able to use off-the-shelf m.2. I have zero expectations of this, but I’d rather see it than all other storage options short of “normalized” USB to external drive(s), which would also be easy to do. Very cheap little PC boxes seem to be able to include 2 m.2 slots in them, so I know Apple can do it too for relatively low cost... if they were willing.
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The chip in them, the OS, the interface, the remote, the App Store, and the ecosystem are significantly better