Apple Confirms No Software Update for Original Apple TV

[gmpirate]

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.




Do you have a better label? How about "out of love for their customers"? Does not sound right, does it?

How bout you get together with all your friends, create a new tech company and give it all away just for the "love of your customers"?

No, I know, its just easier to bash companies for trying to maximize profits. If Apple's prices and practices really were absorbent another company would, maybe yours, come along and undercut them and put them out of business. That's how a "free" market works. Vote with your pocket book if you don't like it. A company cannot charge more than people are willing to pay.

 

[djjclark]

If a HD Television does not have an HDMI port can you still use the HDMI to DVI Cable that Apple sells on their site. I know the DVI on my TV has to support HDCP.

Anybody have any idea or thoughts?

Sound will be an issue. ATV has optical sound out but does you TV support it?

 

[lilo777]

Baseless accusations? I don't think so. Did you check the Apple online store before you recommended people to buy the old AppleTV at Mac mall, which is selling it for the same price as Apple does? NO. You just decided that Apple discontinued it.

Then you go on spouting off that ANY Intel processor from 5-8 years ago is much more powerful than the A4. What facts do you have to support this? If you don't, this FAILS.

Then the usual Apple hate comes in with your threats to get GoogleTV since you're unhappy that Apple is not fully supporting the upgrades that YOU want. You have no idea what Google is going to offer in terms of support, Google TV hasn't even hit the streets yet, but as long as you can have something here that puts people off, you will.

And here are the facts:

I did not say Apple does not sell old ATV anymore. The fact that Apple still sells old ATV actually strengthens my argument which was that they abandoned support even though they still sell it.

Comparing performance of Intel processors to ARM is rather difficult because whilst performance data for x86 CPUs is abundant (SpecInt, FPSpec2000 etc.) the same can not be said about ARM. On the other hand it's not that difficult either. If we look at the last 8 years the least powerful Intel processors will actually be not the older ones but the Atoms which are relatively new. Here is an article from a reputable site comparing performance of iPad vs Atom in Netbook. If you read it, you'll learn that Atom much faster. For example, it's 3x faster in Sunspider Javascript benchmark.

Am I not allowed to mention Google TV? What else is not allowed to be mentioned in this forum? All non-Apple products?

How bout you get together with all your friends, create a new tech company and give it all away just for the "love of your customers"?

No, I know, its just easier to bash companies for trying to maximize profits. If Apple's prices and practices really were absorbent another company would, maybe yours, come along and undercut them and put them out of business. That's how a "free" market works. Vote with your pocket book if you don't like it. A company cannot charge more than people are willing to pay.

You talk as Apple representative, I "talk" as Apple customer. I can easily understand how not providing support for Netflix on legacy ATV saves Apple money. I am not sure I should care. Should I? Tell me why.

 

[gmpirate]

Instead of baseless accusations, stick with pointing out which facts are not straight. We'll see whose facts are more straight

Nice. "We'll see whose facts are more straight". So in the meantime, you don't know anything but will just spout off until an official word comes out? That's really helpful in a discussion.

 

[scottness]

It runs iOS? Wonder if it will be jailbroken to run more apps. Might be interesting.

 

[3282868]

It runs iOS? Wonder if it will be jailbroken to run more apps. Might be interesting.

lol I don't get the link in your sig

 

[jplan2008]

I hope some 160GB models do appear on eBay at a low price. I'll buy another one or two to keep me going in case mine fails in a terminal way. However I doubt there will be that many existing owners wanting to swap for a new one, since in some areas it has less connectivity and functionality. They might buy a new one but perhaps keep the old one too.

I just ordered a new one from Apple store clearance section for $149. It serves my purposes more than streaming only, and I think it's a good deal.

 

[Solinus]

just give it time, I'm certain hackers will find a way to get App's on older AppleTV's.

Different CPU architecture so hackers won't be able to get AppleTV2 apps on an AppleTV1.

Until apps are added I see absolutely no reason for existing AppleTV owners to upgrade (which is fine as I don't want to spend money unnecessarily). But for everyone else, the AppleTV is now just $99, so I encourage everybody to buy one. AppleTVs (version 1 and version 2) are great little devices.

 

[lilo777]

Nice. "We'll see whose facts are more straight". So in the meantime, you don't know anything but will just spout off until an official word comes out? That's really helpful in a discussion.

You got it wrong I am trying to stick with facts but some people are constantly trying to tell me that I "hate Apple" as even if it was true it would somehow invalidate my technical arguments.

 

[shadowmatt]

Wrong again

End of the day Apple keeps getting it wrong...

1. Hack Apple TV to allow AFP - so it mounts as a network drive

2. Install NitoTV and Perian - so I can browse and play all sort of movies / codecs

3. Install Boxee - so I can stream BBC iPlayer among others

Now thats a damn good box, used every day. I dont really watch live TV anymore pick and choose through streaming or download.

 

[HLdan]

Nice. "We'll see whose facts are more straight". So in the meantime, you don't know anything but will just spout off until an official word comes out? That's really helpful in a discussion.

Brilliant!! Thank you. My points exactly. Most people here know what's up with him.

 

[drmikey]

How bout you get together with all your friends, create a new tech company and give it all away just for the "love of your customers"?

No, I know, its just easier to bash companies for trying to maximize profits. If Apple's prices and practices really were absorbent another company would, maybe yours, come along and undercut them and put them out of business. That's how a "free" market works. Vote with your pocket book if you don't like it. A company cannot charge more than people are willing to pay.

Exactly!

You talk as Apple representative, I "talk" as Apple customer. I can easily understand how not providing support for Netflix on legacy ATV saves Apple money. I am not sure I should care. Should I? Tell me why.

You should care because if Apple doesn't make money on their products, they don't develop new products for you to buy in the future. There's a balance between supporting old devices and developing new devices. The first Apple TV is getting long in the tooth with no major upgrades since '07.

All products will lose support eventually. I just wish the TV rentals were allowed on the old Apple TV's as that seems like a back end issue....unless I'm missing something.

 

[lilo777]

You should care because if Apple doesn't make money on their products, they don't develop new products for you to buy in the future. There's a balance between supporting old devices and developing new devices. The first Apple TV is getting long in the tooth with no major upgrades since '07.

All products will lose support eventually. I just wish the TV rentals were allowed on the old Apple TV's as that seems like a back end issue....unless I'm missing something.

I see your angle. You do have a point but then look at Apple bank account. $50 billion dollars? And they skimp on support? There must be a better balance than that. Other companies do not have that much cash. Maybe that's because they take better care of their customers?

 

[joueboy]

Okay!!!!!

Let the hacking begin I wanna see an iOS iPad version running on those old AppleTV. Adding a Netflix functionality is not a hard thing to do on Apple's part that's just sad! Very sad!

 

[jc46]

Sound will be an issue. ATV has optical sound out but does you TV support it?

Good question! I know there is an audio port by the DVI

 

[Peace]

Sound will be an issue. ATV has optical sound out but does you TV support it?

I connect the optical out to my stereo system. Easy thing to do.

 

[8CoreWhore]

Just keep it... have fun with it... hack it... etc... if you want the new one... get it... whoooopie! Apple has to move forward... can't upgrade it because iOS doesn't run on Intel....

 

[twoodcc]

i see why. the current one isn't centered around an all rental system, so it wouldn't make sense to update it

 

[mreed911]

OK, fair enough. Still, there's no reason (beyond greed) that they couldn't have allowed it to be upgraded.

You mean like it using a different processor [architecture] with different API's, requiring a completely different compile and different performance profile for the NetFlix app?

<sarcasm>

Yeah, that couldn't be it... not like the new AppleTV got a new processor like the A4 or anything...

</sarcasm>

 

[C. Alan]

Bummer...

Well that is a bummer. I was really hoping for Netflix on my old apple TV. However, because I have kids, and don't have cable, being able to buy shows was on the reasons I purchased it in the first place. I would hate to have that functionality taken away.

 

[min_t]

It's no different than buying a g4 iMac then finding out apple has gone intel. The product you bought still works, it's just not going to get updated; just like our win 2000 pc's still work, but will not get updated fixes.

Apple has gone A4 chip going forward. The good news is it only cost 99 bucks if you really, really want the features on the current tv.

Be angry, then relieve your stress and move on. **** happens.

 

[Ruahrc]

I am having a hard time imagining exactly what kind of "apps" one would want on their TV, that isn't really already implemented in the functionality of the apple TV (i.e. youtube, air sharing, etc). I mean really? What do you want to do on your TV that you can't do on your iPhone, iPad, or iMac? And how do you expect to control these apps? The only real input on that apple TV is the remote that has like 5 buttons. Maybe people should demand that the apple TV too gets a camera in it so they can control the TV and apps via motion control a'la MS Kinect....

Seriously, can someone name a good example of an app that would work well on a TV? You heard it in the keynote, Steve Jobs said current aTV users didn't want a computer on their TV. They go to the TV to watch things, not interact like they would at a computer.

Ruahrc

 

[AidenShaw]

TRUE 1080P also has a bandwidth of 40-50MB/sec. YOU try streaming that much bandwidth.

Little "B" - Mb.

Not gonna happen till next year...and it will be 16 or 32 gb of flash...just for storing apps...everything else will be rented or streamed.

Big "B" - GB.

 

[3282868]

It's no different than buying a g4 iMac then finding out apple has gone intel. The product you bought still works, it's just not going to get updated; just like our win 2000 pc's still work, but will not get updated fixes.

Apple has gone A4 chip going forward. The good news is it only cost 99 bucks if you really, really want the features on the current tv.

Be angry, then relieve your stress and move on. **** happens.

I agree 100%

BUT to play devils advocate

What if you just bought an AppleTV 1 1/2 - 2 mo's ago and Apple releases a complete overall with no update for the previous model. Using your example, Apple supported PPC systems with Leopard since switching to Intel processor in 2006. "Snow Leopard" was released a year ago dropping PPC support, however there is very little difference feature wise aside from streamlining code (mostly by dropping universal binary in support of Intel only systems).

While I realize AppleTV and computer systems aren't a fair comparison in terms of usage, but to many who bought an AppleTV may feel a little robbed by such a jarring move by Apple.

Personally, the new model isn't for me. I'd rather keep the HDD, extra out's, purchasing and rental options (I believe the ability to purchase may have been axed as the new units do not have a HDD for the storage?), and Netflix and streaming an iDevice through hacking. If you like the new one, grab it, if not, keep the old one. However, it is a bit abrupt that Apple simply dropped support for the current model without even a small update.

Little "B" - Mb.

Big "B" - GB.

This made me giggle

 

[LagunaSol]

What if you just bought an AppleTV 1 1/2 - 2 mo's ago and Apple releases a complete overall with no update for the previous model.

An educated consumer should have known the Apple TV as it existed 2 months ago was due to be EOLed at any time.

That's the technology biz. You do your research, you make your purchase, you enjoy the product and you hope what you bought isn't revised/replaced within a month.

As I mentioned earlier, some people buy brand new Android devices off the shelf that don't even include the latest OS version, nor the promise of ever getting it.