Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Announces New Apple TV 4K with A12 Bionic Chip and Upgraded Siri Remote
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
is it universally 30fps no matter the content? For example, even SDR streaming of sports would give 30fps, right?
I can’t fathom how Apple can look this disconnected between its own product releases within the same announcement window.
It looks like this new Siri Remote will be lacking Ultrawide-Band. The new Apple TV 4K (Gen.2) will not feature support for Spatial Audio, so AirPods Pro and AirPods Max users are still out of luck when using their devices with the brand new 2021 Apple TV.
I understand why other companies that are far more disconnected than Apple cannot streamline features and functionality. But Apple is doing all of this in-house. There is no reason why a new Apple Remote and a new Apple TV released in 2021 should not feature Ultrawide Band and Spatial Audio. This is supposed to be one of Apple’s greatest strengths compared to the competition.
It looks like this new Siri Remote will be lacking Ultrawide-Band. The new Apple TV 4K (Gen.2) will not feature support for Spatial Audio, so AirPods Pro and AirPods Max users are still out of luck when using their devices with the brand new 2021 Apple TV.
I understand why other companies that are far more disconnected than Apple cannot streamline features and functionality. But Apple is doing all of this in-house. There is no reason why a new Apple Remote and a new Apple TV released in 2021 should not feature Ultrawide Band and Spatial Audio. This is supposed to be one of Apple’s greatest strengths compared to the competition.
No, it could do 4K SDR at higher frame rates, and 1080p HDR at higher frame rates. Now the new model can do 4K HDR at up to 60
I'm probably missing something here but... how would spatial audio even work on an Apple TV? Isn't the whole point of SA that it's matching up the direction of the audio to the movements of your head and the movements of the iPad or iPhone that you're holding? The Apple TV can't know where your TV is in relation to your head, and the screen doesn't move around while you're watching.
I guess maybe they could just track the head movements, and have you press something on your headphones to calibrate where "forwards" is at the start of a movie, but then it feels like that's something that wouldn't require the Apple TV.
But it seems like a lot of people are upset about it so I'm probably misunderstanding something!
Curious if the calibration option will be available on the older 4K. Can't say there's enough updated for me to bother. My TV does support 4K HDR at 120Hz but there's not much content that even offers that kind of refresh rate. A couple PS5 games do and they do look decent.
It already supports a number of countries outside the US (see here), and tvOS 14.5 will add Austria, Ireland, and New Zealand.
With no spatial audio support for my AirPods Max I have zero reasons to “upgrade” from my current Apple TV 4K. Big disappoint.
spatial audio would only work if the apple tv is placed directly in front of your tv. So it knows how to anchor the audio. I don't know about you but I don't have my ATV anywhere near my TV. I keep it in an entertainment rack in the back corner of the room. Someone may have an entertainment center where it's off to the side. Without it being in the center it would throw the audio off. Perhaps various positioning of the ATV was a concern for them? Or if your ATV is directly below your tv and in the center but you're sitting off center that would throw off the audio. I sometimes sit off to the side in a recliner.
I guess I don't care about UWB in the remote as I don't lose it. It's always going to be on an end table no matter who is using it. But I can see how some people might lose it.
There is more to spatial audio than reacting to head movements relative to the device position. It also virtualizes surround sound in the stereo signal, which would be extremely useful for movies. It would be great to have even without any head tracking (just anchor the sound stage right in front of the viewer).
So, 4K 120Hz 10-bit HDR 4:4:4 is not possible 🙁
I was hoping for full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. This does not bode well for future Mac Mini HDMI port.
Before anyone ask; yes, I wanted to check out 120Hz youtube clips on my LG 120Hz OLED and to connect this new aTV to my non-existent 8K 110" micro-LED TV 😁
I was hoping for full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. This does not bode well for future Mac Mini HDMI port.
Before anyone ask; yes, I wanted to check out 120Hz youtube clips on my LG 120Hz OLED and to connect this new aTV to my non-existent 8K 110" micro-LED TV 😁
The new "color balance" feature that uses the iPhone works on the existing ATV 4K! I just tried it now with the RC release. Didn't make a huge difference; it was subtle which probably means I was already pretty well calibrated.
Thought some of ya'll might enjoy hearing that.
Thought some of ya'll might enjoy hearing that.
I'm still rocking my Panasonic 1080P Plasma so I was hoping for some kind of 5.1/spatial audio sound to headphones with this release. So I have no real reason to move on from my ATV 4K. The remote may be another story although my universal remote handles most of the needed functions besides FF, Rewind and Siri. Accessing FF on the current 4K remote is a nightmare for me....I get it about 50% of the time. So I may try the new remote.
Most new tv's, receivers, and game consoles only support up to 40Gbps. Hardly anything actually supports the full 48Gbps bandwidth of HDMI 2.1
the calibration with the iphone next to your tv display is done in the apple TV hardware...so this is a big deal.
No one has this for now..
This seems to be the only audio change:
Audio Sharing
Shhhh. It’s gonna get loud. When the kids go to bed, Audio Sharing lets you connect two sets of AirPods to your Apple TV 4K and still enjoy movies and shows — with every scream, explosion, and roar.
listing here, but no change
Audio Formats
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV; AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound), and Dolby Atmos
Audio Sharing
Shhhh. It’s gonna get loud. When the kids go to bed, Audio Sharing lets you connect two sets of AirPods to your Apple TV 4K and still enjoy movies and shows — with every scream, explosion, and roar.
listing here, but no change
Audio Formats
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV; AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound), and Dolby Atmos
That's interesting as it's listing Norway (Norwegian) still the option to enable is grey on my two Apple TV 4K's running tvOS 14.5 RC.
Seems like this is something that happens because I have tvOS in English. I have to put tvOS in Norwegian in order to be able to activate Siri in Norwegian. And I'm not allowed to have Siri in English because my Apple Store location is set to Norway. What a great system.
Last edited:
Anyone know what kind of battery the remote uses? I know it’s rechargeable but I want to know if it’s a rechargeable coin battery that’s easily replaceable.
I know what you mean, good point, but I was aware of that aspect.
Forgive my ignorance, but couldn’t the surround audio be delivered minus that part of it ie no head tracking? The way it follows you is the least thing about the feature that interests me, it’s the much greater sense of surround and sound stage that I like, but is it the case you cannot have one without the other? Couldn’t it just assume you’re dead centre and then deliver that audio stream?
Dolby Atmos/DTS to headphones on my Xbox in supported games doesn’t come close to being the same experience I’ve found.
I am sure it is the same battery, I charge it about 4 times per year, no need to replace it