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Apple TV 3 > 4K now, or wait?
- Thread starter jakja83
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I highly doubt it. As far as I know there’s nothing on the immediate horizon in the TV realm that would warrant the need for to update so soon. Even if there was, most likely wouldn’t support it right away anyway. When the 4th gen debuted 4K had already arrived. People moaned and groaned about the 4th gen not supporting it. But there was hardly any 4K content at that time. So my advice is buy the 4K and be happy.
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I don't see the need from Apple to upgrade the ATV 4K soon either. And even when that need will arise (just because it will be so cheap to buy an 8K TV - not that I'd need one, I barely see the pixel on my 4K TV at a short distance) the ATV 4K will still do a great job as a media hub.
Personally I'm sure not looking forward for a possible upgrade (as in I won't buy a new ATV model), I'd much rather have a better, complete tvOS, with an interactive media player (yeah.. The Netflix's Bandersnatch debacle has been a bummer), all video and audio formats support together with audio passthrough. The ATV 4K sure has plenty of power to implement at most anything desired by the users (also considering that other platforms with much inferior HW do have those features..).
Personally I'm sure not looking forward for a possible upgrade (as in I won't buy a new ATV model), I'd much rather have a better, complete tvOS, with an interactive media player (yeah.. The Netflix's Bandersnatch debacle has been a bummer), all video and audio formats support together with audio passthrough. The ATV 4K sure has plenty of power to implement at most anything desired by the users (also considering that other platforms with much inferior HW do have those features..).
The display is already here. But all the rest is missing, that is true. The 8K demos look of course stunning, from 50cm distance,
Wait for CES in a week or two. IF you see LG and the others releasing TVs with HDMI 2.1, then we may see a updated Apple TV with HDMI 2.1 in September. This of course would address Apple's main worry of the blank screen whilst switching frame rates and switching between SDR to HDR etc. Personally, I feel that we'll see this due to Apple being so unhappy with that blank screen hence why the ATV 4K did not auto switch until we all screamed for it 
Good thought.Wait for CES in a week or two. IF you see LG and the others releasing TVs with HDMI 2.1, then we may see a updated Apple TV with HDMI 2.1 in September. This of course would address Apple's main worry of the blank screen whilst switching frame rates and switching between SDR to HDR etc. Personally, I feel that we'll see this due to Apple being so unhappy with that blank screen hence why the ATV 4K did not auto switch until we all screamed for it
But there isnt a lot of marketting spill for them to talk about removing a blank screen mode switch segment. They need more buzz than that.
True but high end consumer, and hardly any point with zero content to play on it.
They are at least 5 years away from releasing issuing films in 6 or even 8K. We are filming shoots in 6 and 8K now for future studio release proofing but still a while off.Still, I was quite taken by surprise that the price is in the same ballpark with Sony’s Z9D at its launch.
Exciting times! 2019 will see LG release 8K OLED Tvs. A lot of extreme sport film companies have been filming in 6K and 8K for two or more years now using Phantom and RED cameras. Vimeo offers the option to upload and I believe download/stream in 8K. AV1 in 2019 will make 8K streaming a pleasant reality
along with WiFi6 - although would you really trust WiFi for 8K streaming?Using Phantom and RED camera, did make me chuckle that one Paul.
As I said we are shooting in 6 or 8K but it's purely so the studios can re-release 4k released content and make extra money off it, future proofing. 8K is just coming into production workflow really, 6k been more common now. There's far far far more to it than just shooting with a new camera. Our storage management has gone mental over the last 20 month with now multiple terabyte servers to handle just the shot files. It's a bleeding nightmare keeping up. As I said, 5 years away and longer for mainstream broadcast. NHK in Japan have just get their 4/8K broadcast satellites up with European broadcaster lagging way behind. 2020 Olympics will be broadcast in 8K.
Yeah me too when I saw it, was expecting £10,000
As I said we are shooting in 6 or 8K but it's purely so the studios can re-release 4k released content and make extra money off it, future proofing. 8K is just coming into production workflow really, 6k been more common now. There's far far far more to it than just shooting with a new camera. Our storage management has gone mental over the last 20 month with now multiple terabyte servers to handle just the shot files. It's a bleeding nightmare keeping up. As I said, 5 years away and longer for mainstream broadcast. NHK in Japan have just get their 4/8K broadcast satellites up with European broadcaster lagging way behind. 2020 Olympics will be broadcast in 8K.
Yeah me too when I saw it, was expecting £10,000
Well, my thread wasn't triggered out of fear of 8K being mainstream during the course of the next month, more about newer hardware coming to the market, making the APTV 4K-version a bit dated and lacking in support. I am experiencing it now with my APTV 3 where there are few apps working, e.g. HBO Nordic.
I feel for you with the storage. Imagine 6K or 8K with high frame rates 60 fps and way above - the size of those RAW files!!! I remember reading that an uncompressed RAW 4K film which is sent to Apple can be as large as 12TB in size. Judging by the fact that i've burnt through over 150GB of my broadband data in 3 days over Christmas, I can truly understand why Apple does not want their customers to download 4K Dolby Vision iTunes films - I'm guessing from my data that they are around 20-25GB in size!
I follow Matchstick Productions MSP as they are true geniuses with their skiing/snowboarding films - Fade To Winter being so incredible that i'm speechless about it. It's just a masterpiece from editing to music to location to quality to the incredible soulful people in it. This was shot on the Phantom. I saw a doc' on it (REDBULL.TV) and the cameras were 100K each followed by the drone which it was mounted on and the receiver etc - total cost 250K each AND they simply cried when one of these beauties was 'lost' whilst filming over a mountain!!!! 250K gone!
I seriously feel for you with those 6K files. That's going to take some serious processing power when editing to
Although I gotta say, these films kick the ass off any Hollywood film in terms of picture quality. They are simply OUTSTANDING!!!!!!Keep up the great work buddy. I appreciate it very much
PS Will mainstream broadcast be around in 5 years??? I have to ask as I havn't watched 'conventional' TV since 2002! And I don't miss it at all. Same with 90%+ of my friends - all YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, RedBull VOD.
Have you seen hoe talented some of the young vloggers are on YouTube with their presenting and editing in FCPX? Pure creative geniuses
Having worked in 'conventional' media a few years ago, I'm actually really glad to see it fall along the wayside. It's lovely that anyone has a voice now. It's all a bit like pirate radio - which IMO is TRUE radio compared to the men in suits that ran radio merely in order to sell adverts!!! - I never met one who actually liked music!I say exciting times ahead!!!!!!!
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That's the thing - aTV 3 did not have apps, strictly speaking.
Still, how well Apple is supporting it's out of production hardware, could be a showcase material for other vendors.
As of today, aTV 3's main shortcoming is it's lack for HEVC aka H.265 video codec. Both 4 and 4K support it and are thus much more future proof for the same timespan, about what 570934 is talking above (until arrival of 8K that is).
The bottom line - it's definitely Apple's support that you need to be worried about. Usually the hardware becomes morally outdated before the support ends.
I am not that excited about OLED. I am really looking forward to microLED or -laser tech panels. Do not get it, why do they take so long to become a consumer product.
Are you planning on keeping your TV that you have now for a few more years OR are you changing it this year?
IF you are keeping it, then the Apple TV 4K will be outstanding. It's perfect in reality and at 180 Euro Dollars Pounds, it isn't silly money in terms of keeping it 2 years and then selling it on Ebay for around 50% of that. You really don't lose much on these. There's a strong market for them. Even your ATV3 is worth a decent amount on Ebay at present.
I'll post back my thought once I've seen CES as IF TVs are going to be sold this year with HDMI 2.1, then it would make sense for Apple to do so also and maybe go truly crazy and give it a A12X Bionic chip.
If 2.1 does not happen this year, then it's possible that they will wait until 2020 and equip it with a AV1 decoder in i to (or is that a software upgrade?).
Whatever you decide on, I hope that you enjoy and have plenty of fun.
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Those panels are still two or three years away. Being honest, I never try to think ahead as far as that, as to me, that's wishing your life away and tomorrow is never guaranteed plus in 2 to 3 years from now, we'll be, well... older - you can never get back youth!
PS I love OLED. Love it in my iPhone X and loved it the second that I saw a 1080p LG OLED TV in 2014. For me, it's been the best TV we've ever bought. Worst - a BANG&OLUFSEN BV6 in late 2005 - early Samsung panels - they simply could not display black - the end credits were a washed out dull grey. Sadly, it was a grainy mess of a picture with lovely sound quality. But 5 times worse than the CRT TV which it replaced in terms of picture and no viewing angle either. And it did not have a damn HDMI socket.
Apple TV 3 was launched March 2012. The fact that it does work today, 7 years on is quite incredible and decent for Apple. I bet that there aren't many Roku boxes from 2012 the still perform as well. I bought a friend the ATV3 as a surprise gift for Christmas 2013 and to this day, it's still working superbly for them
Sure it doesn't do 60 fps or auto frame rate switching - all things that I need but the fact that it cost £79 at the time and still is 100% reliable is pretty darn great!I feel for you with the storage. Imagine 6K or 8K with high frame rates 60 fps and way above - the size of those RAW files!!! I remember reading that an uncompressed RAW 4K film which is sent to Apple can be as large as 12TB in size. Judging by the fact that i've burnt through over 150GB of my broadband data in 3 days over Christmas, I can truly understand why Apple does not want their customers to download 4K Dolby Vision iTunes films - I'm guessing from my data that they are around 20-25GB in size!
I follow Matchstick Productions MSP as they are true geniuses with their skiing/snowboarding films - Fade To Winter being so incredible that i'm speechless about it. It's just a masterpiece from editing to music to location to quality to the incredible soulful people in it. This was shot on the Phantom. I saw a doc' on it (REDBULL.TV) and the cameras were 100K each followed by the drone which it was mounted on and the receiver etc - total cost 250K each AND they simply cried when one of these beauties was 'lost' whilst filming over a mountain!!!! 250K gone!
I seriously feel for you with those 6K files. That's going to take some serious processing power when editing to
Keep up the great work buddy. I appreciate it very much
PS Will mainstream broadcast be around in 5 years??? I have to ask as I havn't watched 'conventional' TV since 2002! And I don't miss it at all. Same with 90%+ of my friends - all YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, RedBull VOD.
Have you seen hoe talented some of the young vloggers are on YouTube with their presenting and editing in FCPX? Pure creative geniuses
I say exciting times ahead!!!!!!!
Yeah it's getting complicated file management these days although there some new file encoding systems for various cameras which is helpful, but still huge. You don't actually edit using the original media and an actually edit 8K footage on a laptop if you wanted, although we've only just gout our RED Helium so not had time to try that yet but perfectly doable
There's a big race on at the moment getting to and filming in 8K, clients pushing for it so we have to do it. Roll on 12K, not lol. Although that is beyond the human eye apparently.
OK GUYS! Lg have just announced their 2019 range of OLED TVs. HDMI 2.1 on all with high frame rate etc etc. This is the game changer that we were all waiting for.
Looks like we will see HDMI 2.1 on the Apple TV in September maybe with a UI running at 120 fps like the iPhone XS and iPad Pro.
Looks like we will see HDMI 2.1 on the Apple TV in September maybe with a UI running at 120 fps like the iPhone XS and iPad Pro.
For movie watching it makes no odds until the whole industry starts filming everything in 120p....Until then movies will be output in 24p
I'm more excited with the no blank screen whilst the frame rate switches. This is exactly what Apple wanted of course when they released Apple TV 4K
Nice thing is a 24p, 30p and 60p video fits nicely in 120! Apart from us in Europe were we have 25p & 50p too but I guess only for TV shows (which I don't watch)
Let's see what Apple brings to the table in 2019.
I'd love ProMotion on Macs and iPhone XS