Apple Confirms No Software Update for Original Apple TV

[tkatz]

do a search or look under clearance section, old ATV is selling for $149 if you prefer.

for me, i ordered new one $99 - not so understanding the consequence - definitely not going to rent tvshows or movies - even if i did not many - occassional usuage only.

Thanks, but I already have 2 of the original model ;-)

I was just pointing out, replying to the previous post, that Apple isn't actually continuing to sell them as "new" while not providing updates.

I'm actually considering a new one myself.... while I prefer my hacked old, the new one would go nicely in the living room...

Edit: Ok, so they are still selling "new" ones, but like you said you have to search for it to find the "Apple TV with 160gb Drive". I'm assuming this will just be until the run out of available stock and then will stop selling it (again this was just in reference to no longer providing updates on the original iphone which is no longer sold)

 

[hiptobesquare]

Not that the old AppleTV should get every point for point upgrade for the new one...

but it should be made compatible with iTunes 10 features like renting, and AirPlay, or whatever they are going to call it.

Hopefully my old AirPort Express AirTunes will get an upgrade to support AirPlay from my computer, or my iPhone.

Even the iPhone 3G and 3GS are still getting iOS updates that apply to them.

Not everyone can throw away old equipment and buy new every time apple announces something.

 

[lilo777]

Please get your facts straight for goodness sake, it's quite annoying. Do you purposely try to make Apple the bad guy in every one of your posts? Where has Apple said they are actually dropping support for the previous ATV? They are just not implementing the new UI and features of the new model.

I just meant a real support as in providing a useful functionality. You simply refer to the Apple contractual obligations. Of course they will meet those but it's not what we are talking about, aren't we?

For all the gripers, consider you could have bought an Android phone, brand new, two days ago, that had outdated software right out of the box and no promised upgrade path.

How is Apple TV relevant to Android phones? It looks like Android started really getting under your skin.

 

[CyberBob859]

OK, I can understand no upgrade to provide the features of the newer model. It stinks, but I can live with it.

But, how about a point release for the old model to kill off the remaining bugs? Just finally fix the old one for good!!

Can we get at least that?

 

[coolfactor]

Corporative greed. Nothing new.

How much of your money are you willing to hand over to cover the costs of developing software for your outdated Apple TV? I bet you would complain, too, if they offered an upgrade, but charged for it. Who's being greedy?

 

[hazmatzak]

Anyone tried renting a TV show in iTunes and streaming it on old apple tv?

You can't rent anything through iTunes; you can only buy (and many things are free).

You can rent movies though AppleTV Classic, so it shouldn't require much of a software update -- if any -- if they wanted to allow renting TV shows. Without an update, the question would be whether such functionality is present and tested; details concerning meta-data, blah blah blah.

Oh God. Company does something I don't like, label it "Corporate Greed".

So true: cf. "Political Correctness" and "Judicial Activism"

 

[dmm219]

Does this mean that existing appletvs will or will not be able to rent the .99 tv shows? I don't see how this is hardware related.

According to iTunes 10...you will NOT be able to watch rented tv shows on the old ATV.

 

[Shanpdx]

Not everyone can throw away old equipment and buy new every time apple announces something.

that is usually the case with technology; at a times apple rate of getting rid of old technology faster than other companies (read microsoft)

sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad ...

i had same argument about iPhone 3G not getting many features and given up (after seeing the performance problem, it is the right thing apple did but i did not agree in the first place)

 

[coolfactor]

OK, I can understand no upgrade to provide the features of the newer model. It stinks, but I can live with it.

But, how about a point release for the old model to kill off the remaining bugs? Just finally fix the old one for good!!

Can we get at least that?

It's possible. Let Apple know what they need to know via their Feedback form.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

 

[err404]

The original Apple TV largely depends on it's GPU to decode basic profile h.264. Consequently it can not easily decode higher compression Advanced profile videos or videos with newer compression like VC1.
I suspect that Apple is changing the streaming content to a new compression scheme to better utilize the available bandwidth and the old GPU can no longer accelerate it.
It's disappointing, but the new Apple TV is a very different piece of hardware and supporting the old one may have resulting in reduced video quality for the relaunch.

 

[Peace]

You can't rent anything through iTunes; you can only buy (and many things are free).

You can rent movies though AppleTV Classic, so it shouldn't require much of a software update -- if any -- if they wanted to allow renting TV shows. Without an update, the question would be whether such functionality is present and tested; details concerning meta-data, blah blah blah.

I just "rented" an episode of Family guy through iTunes.

 

[lilo777]

How much of your money are you willing to hand over to cover the costs of developing software for your outdated Apple TV? I bet you would complain, too, if they offered an upgrade, but charged for it. Who's being greedy?

No loyalty then? Fine with me, I'll simply buy the best product out there then. Google TV perhaps?

 

[HLdan]

I just meant a real support as in providing a useful functionality. You simply refer to the Apple contractual obligations. Of course they will meet those but it's not what we are talking about, aren't we?

No, that's NOT what WE were talking about, the thread is about Apple not including the latest update for AppleTV. As usual you just want to show your Apple hatred and spew venom on anything they do. Many previous ATV owners are very happy with their ATV so the usual software updates to keep it running smoothly is all any tech company should need to do. It's obvious you know ZERO about business, but you certainly have had a lot of practice in trying to get people on here to hate Apple as you do. It ain't workin' buddy.

 

[Bevz]

As a current Apple TV owner, I would totally understand this if the move to an A4 architecture came with any sort of benefit -- like iOS and apps.

However, for a reason I cannot begin to fathom, Apple switched to the A4 and then cloned the current (hideous, awful) interface, with no apps. So the software is incompatible with old Apple TVs, and there is no interface/app enhancement to compensate.

Positively lame. If the Roku box had any decent, local way to stream iTunes media from my computer, I would take a mallet to my Apple TV and not shed a tear.

+1 Absolutely spot on... Exactly what i've been saying ever since i saw the new ATV!

 

[dmm219]

"Now, the power consumption of the ATV may be lower, but you'll have to leave your desktop computer on and out of sleep mode in order to use it. Fail."

If you have a TC, AEBS or AE this is not true. You will be able to leave your desktop in sleep mode and the ATV will wake it up no problem. We've had this functionality for almost a year now...

 

[locust76]

* Streaming only - given network congestion, I would want a buffer of at least 500 MB in order to rely on a streaming connection all the time. I'm not aware of any device with a dedicated buffer that large.

Apple TV: A4 chip
iPhone 4: A4 chip

iPhone 4 has 512 MB of memory, about 200 of which is taken up by the OS and running services.

the Apple TV could easily have the same, maybe even a tad bit more RAM. However, it probably also has 1-2 GB of flash storage exclusively for its OS and for buffering.

Why they couldn't squeeze more in on there and give it real storage is beyond me. I mean, you can buy 8 GB of flash memory for $5 retail these days.

 

[CyberBob859]

It's possible. Let Apple know what they need to know via their Feedback form.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[GQB]

No loyalty then? Fine with me, I'll simply buy the best product out there then. Google TV perhaps?

Ane your apparent belief that google will eternally support and upgrade all of it's devices is what, exactly?

 

[Peace]

The new Apple TV is now considered an IOS device. Has anybody considered the possibility of IOS 4.2 coming out in November will include the new Apple TV ?

 

[lilo777]

No, that's NOT what WE were talking about, the thread is about Apple not including the latest update for AppleTV. As usual you just want to show your Apple hatred and spew venom on anything they do. Many previous ATV owners are very happy with their ATV so the usual software updates to keep it running smoothly is all any tech company should need to do. It's obvious you know ZERO about business, but you certainly have had a lot of practice in trying to get people on here to hate Apple as you do. It ain't workin' buddy.

"hatred ", "spew", "venom", "hate" - that's quite a vocabulary you've got there Have your learned it from Apple or what?

Ane your apparent belief that google will eternally support and upgrade all of it's devices is what, exactly?

Nope. I did not say it and I did not mean it. No loyalty means simply no loyalty. Buy what's best today. It might be Google TV (most likely it will be) or Roku, or DVD player capable of playing Netflix, Vudu etc.

 

[ovrlrd]

Here's my beef with the new Apple TV:
* Power consumption - Everyone complained about the lack of effective sleep mode on the original ATV. Now, the power consumption of the ATV may be lower, but you'll have to leave your desktop computer on and out of sleep mode in order to use it. Fail.

I think the idea is that in the future iTunes will be entire cloud based and you won't need to have your laptop on to get access your data. Also, in terms of your laptop being asleep, Apple's solution to that is to use an Airport Base Station (or Time Capsule) with support for "Wake on LAN" so that it can wake your laptop up when the Apple TV wants to access it.

* No 1080p - my Blu-Ray player has this, why not the Apple TV?

Because streaming 1080p is still not that great for the majority of internet connections. Trust me, the selfish part of me wants 1080p too, but I know that broadband (especially in the US) is terrible and just not ready to handle 1080p. Besides, there is no iTunes content in 1080p, so they will probably just update it down the road when they are ready for that.

* Streaming only - given network congestion, I would want a buffer of at least 500 MB in order to rely on a streaming connection all the time. I'm not aware of any device with a dedicated buffer that large.

I am pretty sure it will have a decent amount of temporary storage for streaming. I bet it has at least 4gb or 8gb of flash inside for the OS + firmware upgrades + temporary storage for streaming. Apple just doesn't want people syncing their own data on it.

Honestly, when I read the rumors about the next-generation being streaming only and not having 1080p, I thought it was one of the intentional, incorrect leaks that Apple does to under-promise and over-deliver, like claiming that the original iPhone would have two batteries.

Intentional leaks from Apple are usually fairly obvious, and sadly, I knew 720p was no joke when I heard it.

 

[organerito]

The reason is simple
The original Apple TV has some low grade, old intel processor and the new Apple TV has the A4 chip. The new software wont work on the old hardware.

You are right, but he is also right.

Corporative greed. Nothing new.

 

[err404]

Apple TV: A4 chip
iPhone 4: A4 chip

iPhone 4 has 512 MB of memory, about 200 of which is taken up by the OS and running services.

the Apple TV could easily have the same, maybe even a tad bit more RAM. However, it probably also has 1-2 GB of flash storage exclusively for its OS and for buffering.

Why they couldn't squeeze more in on there and give it real storage is beyond me. I mean, you can buy 8 GB of flash memory for $5 retail these days.

It's probably not the RAM. I suspect it's the compression method.
A4 GPU supports acceleration of more complex videos then the old nvidia on the legacy AppleTV, and the Core Solo CPU isn't up to the task either.

 

[locust76]

"Now, the power consumption of the ATV may be lower, but you'll have to leave your desktop computer on and out of sleep mode in order to use it. Fail."

If you have a TC, AEBS or AE this is not true. You will be able to leave your desktop in sleep mode and the ATV will wake it up no problem. We've had this functionality for almost a year now...

I think that "on and out of sleep mode" and "woken up" are the same thing, no?

 

[JeffDM]

Nope, it's just greed. Any Intel processor manufactured in the last 5-8 years is much more powerful than A4 so it's not a valid excuse. Desire to maximize profits by leaving customers out there without support is the only reason.

It's a lot more complicated than just compute power. Porting an operating system highly tuned to one architecture to another takes a lot of work. I'm well aware that iOS was spawned from Mac OS X, but iOS is now highly tuned for ARM architectures, re-merging x86 bits back into the kernel, making a hardware abstraction layer, hardware drivers and a tool chain for an out of production device just doesn't make sense.