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Apple Seeds Ninth Beta of Upcoming tvOS 11 Update to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

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Apple today seeded the ninth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update designed for the fourth-generation TV, just a few days after seeding the eighth beta and more than two months after releasing the first beta during the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Registered developers can download the tvOS 11 update by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.

tvos-11-beta-800x500.jpg

tvOS 11 didn't receive a lot of attention at the Worldwide Developers Conference because it's a modest update, but according to Apple's release notes, it does introduce a few new features to the operating system.

tvOS 11 brings automatic switching between light/dark mode based on local time, Home screen syncing options that keep multiple Apple TVs in a household in sync, new background modes and notification support, Focus API improvements, custom sound support, network-based pairing and development support, improvements to Mobile Device Management, and more.

The ninth beta of tvOS 11 most likely focuses primarily on bug fixes and other small refinements, as the first eight betas did. Apple's new tvOS 11 update is available for both registered developers and public beta testers and will see a public release this fall.

Update: Apple has also made a new public beta of tvOS 11 available for public beta testers.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Ninth Beta of Upcoming tvOS 11 Update to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/08/31/apple-seeds-tvos-11-beta-9-to-developers/
69Mustang said:
9th beta. Is that a record or something?
Click to expand...
It certainly seems like it - fast too - just a few days off of the last update. Looks like we're getting close to GM.

Also, I'm waiting for the "does it include dark mode" comments...
 
Come on Apple TV4K I'm most excited about that. I can't wait to upgrade from 3rd gen. It's getting frustrating to use.
Also does anyone else think the Apple TV remote prior to the current release is the most horrible remote ever? I don't like the feel. My thumb slips and press select instead of direction. It's too seemlessly close to each other. I hope the current remote solves this problem.
 
Mr. Donahue said:
Also does anyone else think the Apple TV remote prior to the current release is the most horrible remote ever? I don't like the feel. My thumb slips and press select instead of direction. It's too seemlessly close to each other. I hope the current remote solves this problem.
Click to expand...

You think the Apply TV 3 had a bad remote!? Wait until you try the 4K remote (which I assume they'll cheap out and use the same remote as the current one). It's terrible. Probably one of the worst remotes I've ever used. It looks nice, but functionality wise(the most important thing), it's bad.
MLLC2

[doublepost=1504201748][/doublepost]Hopefully AirPlay works reliably finally. In iOS 10 as soon as my phone screen locks my AirPlay content cuts off.
 
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0029937 said:
You think the Apply TV 3 had a bad remote!? Wait until you try the 4K remote (which I assume they'll cheap out and use the same remote as the current one). It's terrible. Probably one of the worst remotes I've ever used. It looks nice, but functionality wise(the most important thing), it's bad.
MLLC2

[doublepost=1504201748][/doublepost]Hopefully AirPlay works reliably finally. In iOS 10 as soon as my phone screen locks my AirPlay content cuts off.
Click to expand...
Couldn't disagree more. I love this remote. Battery lasts forever, perfect size, and it's a damn trackpad for your TV. I understand it's irritating to pick it up upside down, but I don't care.
 
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I love this remote too. It's great for casual racing games too! Just wish it wasn't so darn expensive to buy another!
 
0029937 said:
You think the Apply TV 3 had a bad remote!? Wait until you try the 4K remote (which I assume they'll cheap out and use the same remote as the current one). It's terrible. Probably one of the worst remotes I've ever used. It looks nice, but functionality wise(the most important thing), it's bad.
MLLC2

[doublepost=1504201748][/doublepost]Hopefully AirPlay works reliably finally. In iOS 10 as soon as my phone screen locks my AirPlay content cuts off.
Click to expand...

TimUSCA said:
Couldn't disagree more. I love this remote. Battery lasts forever, perfect size, and it's a damn trackpad for your TV. I understand it's irritating to pick it up upside down, but I don't care.
Click to expand...

rumormiller said:
I love this remote too. It's great for casual racing games too! Just wish it wasn't so darn expensive to buy another!
Click to expand...

I have mixed feelings about the Siri Remote.

I hate the constant swiping involved with browsing things, and swiping and selecting letters for searching is horrible. It is too easy to swipe and select the wrong thing. I hate it for games.

I also use the IR remote that came with my TV, and many times I just use that over the Siri Remote. But, as soon as I start searching stuff, I prefer using Siri, that is until Siri is not interpreting me correctly, the name it is back to the IR remote to do a manual search.

If I could use a remote that had Siri and a D-pad instead of a touch pad, I think it would be a good replacement.
 
Mr. Donahue said:
Come on Apple TV4K I'm most excited about that.
Click to expand...

I'm a little out of the loop with the 4K/HDR specs and what they will mean.

I have a 4K display, but, to my knowledge have never seen 4K content (I don't believe my cable box supports 4K).

If this new AppleTV supports 4K, where will the 4K content come from? Does Apple offer 4K rentals? Could we reasonably anticipate Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/etc. to offer 4K services in the future?
 
vertical smile said:
I have mixed feelings about the Siri Remote.

I hate the constant swiping involved with browsing things, and swiping and selecting letters for searching is horrible. It is too easy to swipe and select the wrong thing. I hate it for games.
Click to expand...
The Siri Remote is not perfect, but I use it as my primary TV remote, and I'm quite happy with it in modified form: I put a Griffin Survivor Play case on it, which makes it grippy, a little easier to tell end-from-end, and much easier to pick up off a flat surface (the case bottom is contoured to be ergonomic, this also raises it up off the table), and I put Apple's Remote Loop wrist strap on it - I never use it as a wrist strap, it just serves as a tail that makes it stupidly easy to tell which end is which without looking. Both of these also make the remote a little harder to misplace.

Modified this way, I find the remote quite pleasant to use, and much prefer the touchpad to D-pads. Most remotes have a ton of buttons you don't actually need, and which have to reach over to get to the ones you do need, while the Siri Remote has just what's needed and it's all right under my thumb. It's compact, easy to use, and very responsive (the Logitech Harmony 650, which I use to turn everything on, shut everything down, and once in a while watch broadcast TV with, by comparison... the buttons feel squishy and slow to react, as well as having 8 useful buttons spread out randomly amongst 50+ others).

Talking to Siri is great, except when it isn't (as a side effect, being able to tell the TV remote in my hand to change the room lighting is pretty awesome). And the scrolling to input text is a pain but is also fairly rare - if I have much of that to do, I'll simply reach for my phone and use the remote app.

I'm not about to argue that the Siri Remote is great, out-of-the-box - they clearly went for "this is the most elegant remote we've ever made" rather than for ergonomics, and I shouldn't have to modify it. But in modified form, it's my favorite remote.
 
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vertical smile said:
I have mixed feelings about the Siri Remote.

I hate the constant swiping involved with browsing things, and swiping and selecting letters for searching is horrible. It is too easy to swipe and select the wrong thing. I hate it for games.

I also use the IR remote that came with my TV, and many times I just use that over the Siri Remote. But, as soon as I start searching stuff, I prefer using Siri, that is until Siri is not interpreting me correctly, the name it is back to the IR remote to do a manual search.

If I could use a remote that had Siri and a D-pad instead of a touch pad, I think it would be a good replacement.
Click to expand...
I'd like to see a remote that's easier to find when stuck between couch cushions.
 
0029937 said:
You think the Apply TV 3 had a bad remote!? Wait until you try the 4K remote (which I assume they'll cheap out and use the same remote as the current one). It's terrible. Probably one of the worst remotes I've ever used. It looks nice, but functionality wise(the most important thing), it's bad.
MLLC2

[doublepost=1504201748][/doublepost]Hopefully AirPlay works reliably finally. In iOS 10 as soon as my phone screen locks my AirPlay content cuts off.
Click to expand...
Never heard anyone complain about the Siri remote. I love it. I use it as a selling point when my friends ask me for suggestions on streaming boxes lol
 
Mr. Donahue said:
Come on Apple TV4K I'm most excited about that. I can't wait to upgrade from 3rd gen. It's getting frustrating to use.
Also does anyone else think the Apple TV remote prior to the current release is the most horrible remote ever? I don't like the feel. My thumb slips and press select instead of direction. It's too seemlessly close to each other. I hope the current remote solves this problem.
Click to expand...

The current remote is utterly terrible and is one of the worst reviewed products in Apple's history. It currently has 1.5 stars on Apple's own site.
 
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WestonHarvey1 said:
The current remote is utterly terrible and is one of the worst reviewed products in Apple's history. It currently has 1.5 stars on Apple's own site.
Click to expand...
It does seem to be a very polarizing Apple product, people seem to love it or hate it.

IMO, Siri is the best thing about it, at least when it works. Everything else is very mediocre.
 
0029937 said:
You think the Apply TV 3 had a bad remote!? Wait until you try the 4K remote (which I assume they'll cheap out and use the same remote as the current one). It's terrible. Probably one of the worst remotes I've ever used. It looks nice, but functionality wise(the most important thing), it's bad.
MLLC2

[doublepost=1504201748][/doublepost]Hopefully AirPlay works reliably finally. In iOS 10 as soon as my phone screen locks my AirPlay content cuts off.
Click to expand...

Yet I find it easy to use. Airplay depends on how the dev of the app you use implemented it. Airplay has the ability to offload the work to the ATV. But if the dev doesn’t utilize that, you are SOL.
 
WestonHarvey1 said:
The current remote is utterly terrible and is one of the worst reviewed products in Apple's history. It currently has 1.5 stars on Apple's own site.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's horrible. You inadvertently swipe the pad all the time and it skims playback of what you're watching forward or backward, so you have to find where you were.

It's symmetrical and difficult to tell what is the front and back so you press a button thinking it's pause when it's actually MENU so you go to the menu instead of pausing.

Controlling the selection up/down/left/right is like trying to use a mouse when you're really drunk. I like tactile buttons for this.

But the UI for the Apple TV and the most popular apps is really bad. Like Hulu on Apple TV 4 is a joke. It's so much better on my PS3! It makes no sense. And HBO? Please just give me the ability to put a show on a list, not individual episodes.

And the TV app doesn't work with Netflix.
 
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caoimhin said:
I'm a little out of the loop with the 4K/HDR specs and what they will mean.

I have a 4K display, but, to my knowledge have never seen 4K content (I don't believe my cable box supports 4K).

If this new AppleTV supports 4K, where will the 4K content come from? Does Apple offer 4K rentals? Could we reasonably anticipate Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/etc. to offer 4K services in the future?
Click to expand...

Netflix already has 4K services in all of their Netflix originals if I'm not wrong and also on other series and movies but not all. However you need to have the more expensive subscription that lets you watch on 4 devices at the same time and you need to watch it from the app on your smart tv since Apple TV doesn't currently support 4K. About rentals, there has been a few leaked pics around here that shows that Apple is currently testing that and it will probably launch with the next Apple TV
 
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