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Apple Releases tvOS 15 With Spatial Audio, Stereo Support Using Two HomePod Minis, Hey Siri Improvements and More

Syk said:
Which show did you watch to test them on?
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An old Disney movie, Tomorrowland (I was part ways through, so just continued it), as soon as I took the AirPods Pro out of the case, the Apple TV recognized it, I had to push the TV screen button on the remote to connect. I was watching on a 60" Panasonic plasma TV, you do not get the total sensation of rear speakers, but the rest was well done for spatial audio
 
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Gator5000e said:
I am very curious to test the Spatial Audio with my Air Pod Pros to see if I can actually hear a difference.
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You should hear it. It is pretty impressive and obvious when you turn your head and all sounds stays oriented to the front. If you keep your head turned, eventually the sound will drift so that the direction you are facing becomes the new front.
 
Hoopsup07 said:
Both of my Apple TVs go to Step 1, then fail with a message "The update was not successful. Try again later." Anyone else seeing that?
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No problem for me. I just went to settings and started the update and it was done in like 10 minutes. I'm using the latest 2021 4k 64gb model.
 
goneeuro02 said:
So I use my Samsung SmartTV apps to stream most of my services. I have a Samsung sound bar with a sub as well. I am thinking to switching fully to my appleTV to take advantage of the stereo homepod minis but still have some questions. Can you get an Xbox to play through them somehow or will that still need to be hooked to the sound bar? Just trying to consolidate the devices and remove the Sound bar. I am not in love with the way this one sounds.

What would be the benefit of switching to using my Apple TV full time over the Smart TV apps? If any.
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Xbox supports BT audio out however I doubt that you'll be able to utilize two Homepods. I am pretty sure it's a feature of TV OS, not homepod.
 
One new feature I like is automatic connection to AirPods. Put your AirPods in and a dialogue box pops up asking you to press the TV button to connect. So much faster now.
 
The Apple tv app playback interface is better but they still won't change the scrolling from lef to right for tv episodes which is tiresome if you have a tv series with alot of episodes
 
Nice upgrade - getting the minis as default also in a stereo pair is a cool improvement.

Works really well and routes all audio incl. games 😀.

OK - strike above: setting a set of minis as default output effectively hides the homepods for any other airplay unit to stream to unless the Apple TV is turned on .... AARRRGGGHHHHHH FFS 🤣
 
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Homepods lol.

A couple years back, I found a vintage, audiophile stereo receiver and CD player for about $200.00 combined. I then purchased two brand new audiophile floor speakers (separate tweeter, midrange speaker and 12in woofer) for about $700.00 to go with them. The receiver can push 400 Watts of power, and the speakers can handle 300 watts each--per channel. I also have a turntable as well round it all out.

So when I saw people spending nearly $700.00 on just two Homepods alone, which can barely output 40 watters per channel, I was literally laughing out loud. Literally.

These tech companies have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. Progress can be good, but it's not always good. And the fact that we're all listening to music through crappy headphones (yes, even the best ones pale in comparison to a great home audio system) and tiny Homepods is proof that we're now getting far less than we use to for the same amount of money.

Far less.
 
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I’m not going to check the library tab for a week. Delay being disappointed…
 
goneeuro02 said:
So I use my Samsung SmartTV apps to stream most of my services. I have a Samsung sound bar with a sub as well. I am thinking to switching fully to my appleTV to take advantage of the stereo homepod minis but still have some questions. Can you get an Xbox to play through them somehow or will that still need to be hooked to the sound bar? Just trying to consolidate the devices and remove the Sound bar. I am not in love with the way this one sounds.

What would be the benefit of switching to using my Apple TV full time over the Smart TV apps? If any.
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Yes, with HDMI ARC/eARC in the Apple TV 4K 2021, it can pull the TV's audio (including audio from HDMI devices, i.e. game consoles) and send it wirelessly to HomePods set as default speakers.

It is only supported on the 2021 version of Apple TV 4K. You just enable HDMI ARC/eARC on your Samsung TV and then from the Apple TV 4K settings. It will now work every time you turn on your devices, for all audio (video, gaming, msuic etc). Any audio delay can be eliminated with the 'Wireless Audio Sync' feature in Apple TV together with an iPhone's microphone.

This would let you get rid of your soundbar.
 
Special audio on Apple TV iOS 15 working to an extent but very poor lip sync issue with AirPods max, hope this improves.
 
cerote said:
Lets hope it fixed my remotes dying so fast. A few updates ago the battery on all of my Appletvs has sucked. Like only lasting a week or two at most. It is just odd all of them would do it over and over. I have old 1080p, first 4k, and new model and all of them have done it. New has been charged twice since I got it a month ago.

Before they all lasted months before charges.
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Have two AppleTV 4K units (bought in 2017) and both remotes work fine for weeks. Sometimes swiping doesn't work, in that case a reboot of the corresponding unit helps. Maybe you've got bad interference? Bluetooth and Wifi work both on the 2,4GHz band, and maybe neighbouring wifi devices are causing problems. In worst case the remote has to boost RF power, draining the battery extremely.

A friend of mine had his Wifi basestation on his table next to his BT keyboard. The keyboard often dropped connection when he started a download on the Wifi. Moving the basestation away (3 meters to the next room) resolved the problem.
 
goneeuro02 said:
So I use my Samsung SmartTV apps to stream most of my services. I have a Samsung sound bar with a sub as well. I am thinking to switching fully to my appleTV to take advantage of the stereo homepod minis but still have some questions. Can you get an Xbox to play through them somehow or will that still need to be hooked to the sound bar? Just trying to consolidate the devices and remove the Sound bar. I am not in love with the way this one sounds.

What would be the benefit of switching to using my Apple TV full time over the Smart TV apps? If any.
Click to expand...

You'll find that the ATV is way more smooth and responsive in use than on any Samsung TV. IMHO almost all "smart systems" on current TV's is slow and sluggish. Samsung doesn't excel in this deparment. They can make good electronics, but software integration is just crap.

On the ATV 4K (2021) you can enable the Audio Return Channel option. According to the AppleTV Support page, that should make it possible to play audio from the TV (Xbox on another input) via the ATV 4K to the HomePod minis. Not sure if there's a significant delay in this use. It probably depends on what the TV itself supports on all of its HDMI connectors.

Our benefit of getting the AppleTV 4K, less cables, less devices and portability. It replaced a big cable box and a DVD player. It is so small that it can be mounted on the back of the screen too.
 
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I use ATV 4K predominately for all my apps instead of my Frame Samsung. The only issue I've had with ATV is I'm a huge tennis fan and for some reason when watching Tennis Channel App or ESPN the picture is so much darker than reg TV it's hard to watch. I just updated to the new OS and it does seem a little brighter but still not the same as reg TV.
That doesn't happen on movies or reg TV shows and I've never figured out why. Brightness controls have no effect.
 
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Powerbooky said:
You'll find that the ATV is way more smooth and responsive in use than on any Samsung TV. IMHO almost all "smart systems" on current TV's is slow and sluggish. Samsung doesn't excel in this deparment. They can make good electronics, but software integration is just crap.

On the ATV 4K (2021) you can enable the Audio Return Channel option. According to the AppleTV Support page, that should make it possible to play audio from the TV (Xbox on another input) via the ATV 4K to the HomePod minis. Not sure if there's a significant delay in this use. It probably depends on what the TV itself supports on all of its HDMI connectors.

Our benefit of getting the AppleTV 4K, less cables, less devices and portability. It replaced a big cable box and a DVD player. It is so small that it can be mounted on the back of the screen too.
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Thanks. I’ll give this a shot. If I can remove my sound bar I’d gladly pickup a second home pod mini.
 
JoeShades said:
Very strange, I get around 3 months on 1 charge
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I used to get great battery with them. They all just losing battery way faster since around start of last year. Now they are at point it doesn't even warn you of battery dying and just says remote disconnected till you plug it in.
 
cerote said:
I used to get great battery with them. They all just losing battery way faster since around start of last year. Now they are at point it doesn't even warn you of battery dying and just says remote disconnected till you plug it in.
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You see the battery charge dropping fast in the System Settings page? I have mine since 2017/2018 and charge them every three months or so. Not specifically when the low battery came on screen. No issues.

Do you use the remote a lot? The battery drains faster when you use it for games a lot. It could also be that your device suffers from an heavily overcrowded 2.4GHz frequency band - usually that causes bluetooth devices to transmit with more power to remedy all the disturbances and draining the battery faster in the process.

You probably need a battery replacement (or the whole remote).
 
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