Apple Announces New Apple TV With Siri, App Store, New User Interface and Remote

[Smith288]

Love it! Apart from the button design/placement on the remote, as it looks awful. The old remote was so beautiful with the large circle of buttons. They should have done the same, with icons on it. (Need a mockup!)

Disagree. The current design isn't very contextual and hard to find buttons without looking. We'll see how this one feels but I hate the current iteration.

 

[BMox81]

Hello Nvidia Shield TV.

 

[arkmannj]

I'm kind of sad about lack of a TOSlink output. That means no DTS for me on this device, because my receiver supports DTS but my TV won't pass-through DTS from HDMI to its own TOSlink output.

Monoprice makes a HDMI switch that has TOSlink out for audio.
not the most elegant solution (needing to have an extra device) but it works pretty well.

 

[pankajdoharey]

Very excited about this. The only thing I was really disappointed about was no mention of a TV subscription service. We still need archaic rabbit ears for local channels and the only real option is Sling TV with it's limited lineup. I guess they must be working through deals with the major networks before releasing anything about it.

Same Here man, But i hope Amazon will soon port there Amazon Prime to AppleTV.

 

[pscl]

am i the only one around here who is thinking this thing looks damn ugly?!

beside that... ive been missing a feature to look live TV (via cable or sat) and play or browse app store at the same time... PIP Feature missing.

 

[SilianRail]

Can I get free OTA channels ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC on this?

 

[Frosties]

I will be getting this for my living room TV, but I am a bit perplexed by the design of this. It's simply the same design from 3 years ago, but bulkier? lol.

If anything it should be slimmer and more manageable space wise. I just bought a 48" Sony Bravia for my room and am wondering if it will even fit under it.

Just fixate it on the back with two velcro strips or zip ties and you are set.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Disagree. The current design isn't very contextual and hard to find buttons without looking. We'll see how this one feels but I hate the current iteration.

Curious! I find the current layout very logical and easy to use without looking.

 

[EdT]

Is this the best they can do? What ever happened to all those rumours for a decade or more that the Apple Tv would be the best thing since... TV? is this it? Seriously? Is it?

The same thing that's happened to Roku and TIVO and even Netflix and Hulu...No one wants to allow universal access to their unique content unless you start talking big bucks, which, if you have to pay them all ( HBO, ESPN, Big10, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Showtime, A&E etc) what they want for their services would make current cable/satellite costs look like a bargain. Look at cable/satellite right now, about 2 or three times a year there is a major contact dispute with Comcast or Time Warner or Dish or DirectTV about a family of networks and those channels go dead for a few weeks on a carrier. Even local stations are getting into fights with the cable conglomerates. They all want more money.

Everyone is afraid of Apple becoming as dominant with shows and movies as they are with music, and they are playing hardball. And it wouldn't matter if you changed out Apple with Amazon, Hulu or Netflix, they still don't want a single entity that can (eventually) dictate access and therefore prices.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I'm going to order a 64 GB Apple TV the exact minute they are made available for order. For $199, why not? Sure, I wish it supported 4K too, but it will be another year or two before 4K content becomes more readily available. But for $199, it's hard to go wrong if you buy one right now. And the 3rd party apps is what will make this thing great. The Apple TV is the trojan horse that will deliver a revolution in the living room...

 

[nrose101]

I'm going to order a 64 GB Apple TV the exact minute they are made available for order. For $199, why not? Sure, I wish it supported 4K too, but it will be another year or two before 4K content becomes more readily available. But for $199, it's hard to go wrong if you buy one right now. And the 3rd party apps is what will make this thing great. The Apple TV is the trojan horse that will deliver a revolution in the living room...

I can also use 3rd party apps on the 3 apple tv's I already have. No 7.1 audio or 4k video makes this one a deal breaker.

 

[perealb]

No, I know you can do that right now. I literally do it every single day. The new announcement mentions nothing about streaming your own, non-iTunes Store bought content, and I am hoping there is a native app that comes with the TVOS and it isn't a 3rd party app, like Plex, that allows me to view my own files.

With each AppleTV update, streaming your own content has gotten more and more marginalized. It is the most important and frequent feature for me and my family. I am hoping they don't treat this feature like Roku or Amazon have treated it, and leave it to the 3rd parties to figure out

Yes, that is way more important than 4k to me. I hope they add local media search or Plex app. I use Plex today via my iPhone and it works great but the search feature would make it even more awesome. It would be nice to not depend on the phone also.

 

[xmlninja]

as with watchOS the first version seems behind. tvOS 2 will probably be significant better.

Anyway Im getting this. Ill update when it get 4k. and a99100xz chip with 36000324% better gpu. buy and sell.<3

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

The future of TV? All they did was revamp the user interface and add Siri, haha!

What they (at Apple) fail to understand is that the device itself isn't the problem; it's the incoming service. The new Apple TV doesn't solve the problem of jigsawing content from different services. By their logic, to watch anything on demand you would have to be signed up to just about every provider going.

 

[nrose101]

I'm going to order a 64 GB Apple TV the exact minute they are made available for order. For $199, why not? Sure, I wish it supported 4K too, but it will be another year or two before 4K content becomes more readily available. But for $199, it's hard to go wrong if you buy one right now. And the 3rd party apps is what will make this thing great. The Apple TV is the trojan horse that will deliver a revolution in the living room...

I can also use 3rd party apps on the 3 apple tv's I already have. No 7.1 audio or 4k video makes this one a deal breaker.

 

[scott911]

I'm disappointed in it, especially no 4K -
Unlike Bryan, i do get a fair bit of 4K content - right now. so I'll have to jump between boxes.
But like Bryan, I'll be getting one... waited too long with a crappy navigation scheme of old apple TV not too.
Hate to reward apply with my money through - they didn't earn it.

 

[thehonuohana]

Question- re: storage options on the new AppleTV-

Can anyone confirm whether or not this will allow storage of tv shows/movies? Or is it simply related to music, games etc?

I have had AppleTV's since the first (as well as Roku's). Early this year I moved to a location where I am limited to Sattelite or Cellular - as are tens of thousands in my region. Which means evenings/weekends I really can't stream anything. But if I can set the appletv to purchase AND record movies/tv shows when I'm up for work at 5:30 in the morning and actually have a decent connection...

Otherwise back to plan b- the long neglected mac mini turned into a media server...

 

[Takeo]

Seriously though, there is no content that I am aware of that is 4K not to mention only a small percentage of users will even have a 4K TV. Add to that the enormous bandwidth needed to stream it and it's no wonder it doesn't have it.

Maybe so but 4K is just around the corner. I suspect it will be ubiquitous within the next year or so. And you can shoot 4K with your iPhone. That counts as content. And Netflix has 4K content now. And I don't know about everyone else but I live in a small city on the Atlantic Coast of Canada (pop. about 300,000) and I have tons of bandwidth for 4K streaming and yes... I own a 4K TV. They're becoming very affordable now. I just assumed the new AppleTV would have 4K. Very disappointed.

 

[Sproctor61]

It's a good update but not enough to get me to ditch Plex, now if the plex app on the atv allows siri access to its content then I'll probably bite

LOL was just about to say the same thing. Plex rocks, if developers do a Plex app, I will probably buy one.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If they launched a 4k AppleTV, then they would need 4k content available in the iTunes store, regardless, anything short of full UHD support (4k resolution + HDR + extended color range) would be pretty short-sighted at this point.

Of course, it makes NO SENSE at all to put 4K content for TV in the iTunes store before there are lots of 4K TVs in homes to play it. This is not really a chicken or egg concept: 4K player hardware must precede 4K videos (software). It makes absolutely no sense the other way. It would be like rolling out new iPhone apps that only play on the A10 now.

On the flip side, based on what seemed to motivate 1080p TV hardware, iPhones can shoot 4K video... but there's currently no (elegant Apple) way to push that 4K video at 4K to a 4K TV. A few years ago, iPhones and then iPads gained the ability to shoot 1080p video and it was the same problem. Enter TV3 which was mostly about delivering an elegant way to push that 1080p from iTunes to a 1080p HDTV. Expect an TV5 with or soon after iPads gets the iPhone's new camera.

 

[thehonuohana]

Question- re: storage options on the new AppleTV-

Can anyone confirm whether or not this will allow storage of tv shows/movies? Or is it simply related to music, games etc?

I have had AppleTV's since the first (as well as Roku's). Early this year I moved to a location where I am limited to Sattelite or Cellular - as are tens of thousands in my region. Which means evenings/weekends I really can't stream anything. But if I can set the appletv to purchase AND record movies/tv shows when I'm up for work at 5:30 in the morning and actually have a decent connection...

Otherwise back to plan b- the long neglected mac mini turned into a media server...

 

[perealb]

No, I know you can do that right now. I literally do it every single day. The new announcement mentions nothing about streaming your own, non-iTunes Store bought content, and I am hoping there is a native app that comes with the TVOS and it isn't a 3rd party app, like Plex, that allows me to view my own files.

With each AppleTV update, streaming your own content has gotten more and more marginalized. It is the most important and frequent feature for me and my family. I am hoping they don't treat this feature like Roku or Amazon have treated it, and leave it to the 3rd parties to figure out

Yes, that is way more important than 4k to me. I hope they add local media search or Plex app. I use Plex today via my iPhone and it works great but the search feature would make it even more awesome. It would be nice to not depend on the phone also.

 

[BruiserB]

What do we reckon on the new apple remote being compatible with the now old Apple TV box?

Or the old box being able to update to the new OS

I'm sure the old box will get an iOS update since they are continuing to sell it. They will want the look and feel to be consistent. What remains to be seen is what features it gets, etc. I still wish that the old box could somehow get the functionality of the new box if you have at least one new box on your network. Why can't the new box store the apps and then download them each time you access one from an old box (i.e. the old box uses the new box as networked app storage)?

Also Apple didn't seem to go into any HomeKit functionality for the new box...wonder if there's more to come?

 

[codemonkey21]

I find it strange that it has HDMI 1.4 instead of 2.0 and Ethernet 10/100 instead of gigabit Ethernet. I think a device like the Apple TV would have been a good way to increase 4K TV sales. I was going to use a 4K Apple TV as an excuse to finally get a 4K TV. They did add USB-C.

Also ZERO mention of HomeKit. Holding out for next generation Insteon and Philip

 

[aawil]

I want one but I didn't see a "Computers" app so I can watch the dvd sets that took forever to rip. That's a bit concerning.