Since the Apple TV doesn't natively pass DTS/HD audio via Plex nor allows Kodi to be installed (unless you renew the certificate every 7 days or every year if you have a dev account), I'll stick with my Shield TV which has all the apps I need 
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Apple to Announce Amazon Prime Video for Apple TV at WWDC
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I don't blame Apple for not selling my data to Amazon's "trusted partners."
...which probably comes with h.265 too. The popular spin is that h.265 basically makes a quality 4K stream fit into about the same file size as h.264 1080p files. Whether true or false, h.265 is generally assumed to arrive with a 4K box and that + HDR would be a whopper event forTV5. Even the crowd who is so anti-4K (which I doubt will persist one minute after Apple rolls out a 4K
Apple likes to sell hardware. So no. I suspect by this point,
And some desirable feature on the iPhone 8 won't work on the iPhone 7.
And some desirable feature on the next Mac won't work on the current one.
And some desirable feature on the next iPad won't work on the current one.
It is the Apple way.
H.265 would be great.... but.
You know as well as I that Apple probably won't want to pay the fees associated with it.
There's no universally understood spec they can list for the compression quality, so it's not going to make people buy it. I'll bet that's why they care about 4K, sorry to be cynical.
Knowing Apple ... no ... no it is not a given. Hence, the worry.
I don't recall any Amazon ads ever playing in my Prime videos.
It's why I bought a Roku this year instead of the Apple TV.
Nothing is ever coming to the 3rd gen Apple TV. Apple is no longer supporting it.
And 4k and HDR and Dolby Atmos/Vision. NVIDIA Shield is still the best streaming box out there. I like my ATV but it's been off for some time.
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Apple's own products have been shooting 4k for some time. It's ridiculous they don't offer a way to view it on ATV. Apple was always about being ahead of the curve. Numbers installed never use to matter.
Seriously? Of all the paid services available Amazon Prime is far and away the best value, from the free one and two-day shipping on Amazon, the photo storage, music, books and video. Not to mention discounts on products. Who else gives even close to all of that for a price that can match it?
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Keynotes have gone way downhill since Steve, but the app demos have seriously killed the Keynotes for me.
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Wonder if this is why Amazon introduced free one day shipping on some items. I don't really know much about what Wal-Mart offers, but Amazon does more than enough in my opinion and I know shipping speed makes a big difference to most people as well.
I'm still not sure if I'll prefer the ATV app over the iPad app. Most of the time it's easier, faster and summed up way more convenient for me to navigate on my touchscreen iPad in its Prime app than navigating with the ATV remote. So after many months of using Prime on iPad and streaming it via AirPlay to my ATV, I'm not sure whether it's a relevant news for me anymore or not.
Funny how Apple have to play catchup with 4k.
They obviously don't want to do it because they can't secure enough 4k content via iTunes.
But they are going to have to bite the bullet and do it anyway regardless of their iTunes situation. Having Netflix, YouTube and amazon as 4k is pretty much all anyone else has either so we shouldn't have to wait any longer.
The best thing about them waiting though is that it will have HDR so it will be a worthwhile upgrade.
I've used most of the set top boxes out there and Apple TV is still the best to actually use. If it goes 4k I won't use anything else but Apple.
They obviously don't want to do it because they can't secure enough 4k content via iTunes.
But they are going to have to bite the bullet and do it anyway regardless of their iTunes situation. Having Netflix, YouTube and amazon as 4k is pretty much all anyone else has either so we shouldn't have to wait any longer.
The best thing about them waiting though is that it will have HDR so it will be a worthwhile upgrade.
I've used most of the set top boxes out there and Apple TV is still the best to actually use. If it goes 4k I won't use anything else but Apple.
US only, right? And what do we get?
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They should change WWDC into UWDC, as we in Europe are usually forgotten.......
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They should change WWDC into UWDC, as we in Europe are usually forgotten.......
I suspect amazon wants to be able to sell subscriptions and all kind of stuff without Apple taking a cut, Apple doesn't need another platform removing profit from their stores so they want a cut. I assume they found a middle ground which is big news considering neither need each other really.
If I were amazon I would want to have all options open, tv, movies, rental, music, books and shopping. Combining all that stuff in one app effectively could be kind of a big deal. Selling stuff from a TV show directly after it as part of a what's up next or like this series read the original books. I hope it's not just a Netflix clone, that doesn't deserve an announcement.
If I were amazon I would want to have all options open, tv, movies, rental, music, books and shopping. Combining all that stuff in one app effectively could be kind of a big deal. Selling stuff from a TV show directly after it as part of a what's up next or like this series read the original books. I hope it's not just a Netflix clone, that doesn't deserve an announcement.
Well, it doesn't really make up for great news from a strategy- or credibility perspective.
Both companies have been in constant conflict, sending the message they were better off without the other, and now they seem to have amended that.
Partnership between former enemies, mostly come from a weakness perspective:
• Apple's hunt for its own content has been imminent, as cornerstone of its media strategy. Its ability to provision own content has always been questioned, leading to more and more pressure (and near compulsary disorders for some...) Plus a wild variety of self-promoted individual shows to conceal that they weren't able to close serious media contracts. Allowing and now announcing their content competitor Amazon to fulfill that role seems to prove the notion that they lost the race.
• Amazon apparently needs to enlarge its choice of platforms to enter part of the market, that its Fire stick apparently doesn't address, undermining the Fire as the favorite settop box of choice.
• Both companies suffer more than profit from their excluding codec policies
• WWDC Timing: I cannot imagine that developers would consider this news of any relevance.
Consumers will, but they're not the target of WWDC. Apparently there is little other news of relevance with respect to developers, which is a very sad circumstance. But it was to be expected, considering how little priority Apple Board has given the Mac/Developer scene and that Mac Pro's will take another year or so (!!!) to become available, apart from the limited chances of success at the Appstore and it's lack of redesign.
There's plenty of reasons for Developers to feel orphaned - but those sitting on the bench can now have Amazon Prime (...)
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe they already have. Doesn't FaceTime already use h.265 since a few years ago? http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...lus-use-h265-codec-for-facetime-over-cellular and http://www.streamingmedia.com/Artic...r-Only-in-FaceTime-on-an-iPhone-6-100392.aspx Conceptually, they are (or were) already paying for the license for FaceTime, unless perhaps that was some subset of licensing exclusively for FaceTime use and nothing else.
As to the cheap aspect, I wonder if Apple's (IMO over-)obsession with "thinner" applies to virtually thinner too... as in how h.265 is supposed to deliver thinner file sizes than h.264 without losing quality?
h.265 would bring other benefits to Apple as well. They've always been a bit stingy on internal memory. h.265 would fit more video inside without having to actually add more storage. If the release of a 4K
TV motivates more people to shoot 4K with their iDevices, they potentially get less gripes about filling up their iDevices as quickly with h.265. There's also the faster media downloads benefit to spin... not because LTE is improved but because the file itself could be smaller for iOS and tvOS-based devices. Airplay could throw more video content detail to TV more efficiently. Etc.If there is a 4K
TV, I almost fully expect h.265. All the anti-4K spin about file sizes, internet bandwidth, media storage, etc are addressed by Apple spinning "4K in about the same file size as 1080p" (even though all the whining about this could be addressed with h.264 by those happy with 1080p by simply continuing to download 1080p versions of media).
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I am sure it will be amazon streaming only for existing prime members (like Netflix). No way Amazon is going to pay that premium to apple. I would think it would be the exact same if they added Vudu. It would be your library only, and you could not actually rent something through Vudu.
Is apple a mainstream company? or one who pushes new frontiers?
Nope you are correct. They are a company for mainstream fashionistas.
If someone actually needs all those things, it's a fantastic deal. But just like cable companies bundle channels I don't watch, Amazon bundles services I don't need most of the time. $99 is too much for the 2 or so times I actually need 2-day shipping, don't need photo storage, don't use their music service, don't use their books service. Now (if this news proves true) I will start using their video service.
Please elaborate how more open can the platform be, if no transactions happen through the ATV app, then Apple doesn't see any income from the app.
The onus is on the Amazon, Spotify and Vudu(Walmart) to support Apple TV, who already have apps for iOS. They are the laggards and not Apple, unless one can prove otherwise.