Apple TV 4K Reviews: Expensive But With Cheaper 4K Movies, Some Limitations Like 1080p YouTube

[840quadra]

You can do it on the nVidia Shield. I have one. It supports Atmos too. And you can stream games on it (from nVidia or from your PC). Apart from the cheaper 4k titles, it's much, much better than this new Apple TV, and it has been around for a while.

I own one. I like it, but I cant comment on it’s 4K Capability yet since I don’t have a 4K TV. And since the 4K Apple TV isn’t yet in my hands, I also can’t comment as to what is better since I haven’t tested them both.

I also have a shield tablet, and once had their Shield handheld portable Android powered game device before it was taken over by a relative. Still love the tablet and use it from time to time to watch Netflix, or play some of my casual supported PC games.


Great devices though!

 

[Internet Enzyme]

I'm sure it's because I've never owned a 4K device, or watched a film in super-hi-def, but I don't quite understand all the hoopla about 4K/5K, etc. Sure, it's a great feat of engineering, but there's only so much resolution that the human eye can effectively discern. I'm more than happy to enjoy Casablanca without seeing every wrinkle on Bogart's face, or Field of Dreams without being able to count the blades of grass.

Here's the thing. You are correct that there is only so much resolution a human eye can discern. But it is much more detail than 1080p HD allows. 4K still has an impact, if viewed from a distance not too far. 4K vs 1080p is like Retina vs Non-Retina in a way. I'm using a 4K monitor at this instant which is scaled to have a UI of 1080p. This is identical to an iPad with 2048 x 1536 resolution being scaled to 1024 x 768. While the difference between 1080p and 4K may not be as large as SD to HD, it is still an important jump and is incredibly useful for editing, creating, and viewing. As resolutions get higher and higher the impact becomes more negligible, true. But we have not reached a peak. The audio world hit its peak with 44.1 khz sample rate and 16 bit audio. The video world will probably hit that peak with 8K resolution and 10 bit color. That last sentence does not make sense. Why would you want less detail?

 

[Armandodj]

I have a bigger scoop for a lots of people if you have a 4k tv, and you plug your Apple TV from 2015 or the behind that your tv will do the to upscale the image at not extra cost. Even if you plug your Blu-ray player will do the same thing and you still get a great sound and picture. That way you can save your money for something else, but if you’re an Apple fan go a head spend the extra money, I am doing find with my Apple TV 2015 model hooked to my 4k tv. Boom!

 

[nofear1az]

$180 is now called "expensive", simply because it's _more_ expensive than the competition?

Yah! that's exactly right! Did I miss something? If Company_A, _B, and _C are selling a loaf of bread but Company_A and _B are selling it at a much lower price than _C; then yes, that makes Company_C's bread expensive... in comparison to the competition. Has no bearing whether it's affordable to you or not it's still expensive when compared to the competitors.

In Apple's world, it's very typical for them to raise prices after each update and generally adding little value to go with that price increase. Of course, all IMHO.

 

[andrewstirling]

You can do it on the nVidia Shield. I have one. It supports Atmos too. And you can stream games on it (from nVidia or from your PC). Apart from the cheaper 4k titles, it's much, much better than this new Apple TV, and it has been around for a while.

You can’t play HDR YouTube content on the shield. Because it doesn’t support the relevant codec

 

[mmm1345]

I agree but if the competitors drop their prices on the movies, the compelling reason to get an Apple TV goes away.

no, not really. I have an Nvidia shield that I hate because it's limited slection of apps, that are on it look like they were designed 5 yrs ago, ATV has more TV Apps that I care about, my Cable service doesn't support AndroidTv so no premium apps nor apps that require authentication work, bit most importantly I'm invested

I agree but if the competitors drop their prices on the movies, the compelling reason to get an Apple TV goes away.

I have an Nvidia Shield and I

I agree but if the competitors drop their prices on the movies, the compelling reason to get an Apple TV goes away.

I have an Nvidia Shield and I hate it. Android Tv sucks amd my Cable Company doesn't support it anyway. I'm locked into iTunes because I have over 500 movies on the service. For me the atv has always been the best box, the two things holding it back for me was the lack of Vudu/Uv Support and lack of 4k. Both issues are now resolved and I don't waste my time obsessing about other hardware when I have something I already love.

 

[macduke]

That chart is 2013 and doesn’t appear to take into account the differences between standard and HDR screens. HDR colors will be noticed outside of the sweet spots indicated in that chart.

Yeah. Surprised I didn't mention that as a caveat as I usually do when discussing this. But the resolution issue remains, no matter the year.

 

[Jamie0003]

So if it is "more on Google", it's not OK for Google to react slowly or not at all? Shall we count the number of Apple-only services that are only available on Apple devices and not on Google devices?

Sorry, I'll take an Amazon Fire TV (I already have 4 of them around the house) that support everything (except anything Apple, which I don't care to pay for and support anyways). Competition will kick in and the other streaming providers will offer 4K material at a competitive price. So I wind up saving $80. That pays for a lot of movies!

Where are you getting 4K content for the same cheaper price Apple is charging? That more than pays for itself in my opinion, especially if you have been collecting iTunes HD content with the FREE upgrades.

 

[dazz87]

Was going to pick it up...but ended up picking up Roku Ultra for 1/3 of this price and it does more than the ATV...

 

[vipergts2207]

I have a bigger scoop for a lots of people if you have a 4k tv, and you plug your Apple TV from 2015 or the behind that your tv will do the to upscale the image at not extra cost. Even if you plug your Blu-ray player will do the same thing and you still get a great sound and picture. That way you can save your money for something else, but if you’re an Apple fan go a head spend the extra money, I am doing find with my Apple TV 2015 model hooked to my 4k tv. Boom!

Without the ATV 4K, you won’t get HDR with that method though.

 

[EdT]

EXACTLY. Also I could give a f--- about the Youtube app on Apple TV. If I need Youtube I have my Mac or phone....

Mildly disagree. ATV should cover as many video sources as it possibly can. One Stop Viewing, if you will. They are a long way from that, but no one else is close either. That being said, I very seldom watch YouTube so I don't miss the app.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Was going to pick it up...but ended up picking up Roku Ultra for 1/3 of this price and it does more than the ATV...

Except play iTunes Movies/Music/Photos.

 

[IG88]

I’m so glad I couldn’t care less about 4K.

You cared enough to click the article and post a comment. You indeed could care less.

 

[poematik13]

The Verge in now completely in Google's pockets. On Apple stuff, they always have the worst takes, the lowest scores of all reviewers.

They changed their narrative in response to being labeled "iVerge" by all the techies, gamers, and spec geeks (basically, their main demographic) who hate Apple.

So now Nilay and friends go out of their way to be unreasonably critical on anything Apple does, pandering to their vitriolic reader base and cashing in on the large amount of clicks/views that negative Apple news gets as opposed to positive news.

The best example of this is when they photoshopped a fake home button dongle and passed it off as actual "news" with a clickbait headline about how Apple makes a home button dongle now. Literal trash. Tech blogs have destroyed journalism forever.

 

[840quadra]

Yeah. Surprised I didn't mention that as a caveat as I usually do when discussing this. But the resolution issue remains, no matter the year.

Yeah for sure, resolution is kinda Locked into a useable range, so that is absolutely true. My only point is bringing up HDR which is nice in nearly any use case. Nice thing is, there are now some 1080p screens with HDR, but they are priced high enough, I’d just assume buy a 4K Tv of the same size. At least you could use it as a monitor lol .

 

[Jax44]

Yeah, so does my 1080p LG from 2010. Even my 720p 2006 TV in the basement keeps going. I've got an extra Apple TV 4 (free with DirecTV Now) hooked up to it with an HDMI to component adapter and my wife uses it in our daycare. And yeah, I'm probably optimistic on how big of a screen I'll be able to get for my budget in two years. It will probably be much closer to 72". The problem is when I look at calculators, the smaller you go, the less benefit you get from 4K. My sectional couch averages somewhere between 8-10ft distance from the TV, so it would be much more ideal to get it into the 80"+ range. Apparently I need to get laser eye surgery so I can boost up to 20/15 vision, lol, as that makes a huge difference. https://referencehometheater.com/2013/commentary/4k-calculator/

Yeah, our couch is about 10 feet away, so a 75” at least. Still pretty expensive right now.

 

[Mac 128]

Ooh!

How do you like it? It is actually on my list of sets to look at. While I am not interested in smart capabilities, I have read good things about that unit.

It's got an amazing set for the money. The only better option was OLED, and it was just too expensive, and had some performance issues, not to mention being somewhat unproven. The 900E is tried and true and a mature evolution of proven tech at a great price. Can't say enough good things about it, which is why I was hoping to get the ATV and bypass the smart features turning it into a dumb display.

I would say the Apple TV 4k has two big problems, which for me are deal breakers until they are fixed:

1) It adds fake HDR to everything, and it cannot be disabled. So wrong on so many levels.
2) It upscales everything for you. There is no option to passthrough native resolution and let your display upscale.

It also has a lousy upscaler:

1) Reviews of the native upscaler say that it adds tons of sharpening and possibly DNR. Even if I liked the ATV upscaler, both sharpening and DNR should be independently configurable from upscaling. Personally, I want both turned off.

If this turns out to be true that I can't disable the fake HDR or bypass the upscaling engine, then Apple loses the sale. Simple as that. My Sony 900E blows away the competition, and that's precisely why I bought that TV. If Apple makes it worse, then goodbye Apple 4K.

You can check if you're playing in 4K by enabling the 'stats for nerds' option. You'll see the current streaming resolution displayed there.

I guess I knew that, but it's not easy to enable and disable. Once enabled then it's there. It's a horrible update. I haven't decided to uninstall it yet, but I'm tempted ...

 

[Dammit Cubs]

I needed a new Apple TV and I'm glad I waited but i'm disappointed on some these short comings.

 

[Plutonius]

Was going to pick it up...but ended up picking up Roku Ultra for 1/3 of this price and it does more than the ATV...

I also picked up a Roku Ultra a few weeks ago and I'm happy with it.

 

[trusso]

Here's the thing. You are correct that there is only so much resolution a human eye can discern. But it is much more detail than 1080p HD allows. 4K still has an impact, if viewed from a distance not too far. 4K vs 1080p is like Retina vs Non-Retina in a way. I'm using a 4K monitor at this instant which is scaled to have a UI of 1080p. This is identical to an iPad with 2048 x 1536 resolution being scaled to 1024 x 768. While the difference between 1080p and 4K may not be as large as SD to HD, it is still an important jump and is incredibly useful for editing, creating, and viewing. As resolutions get higher and higher the impact becomes more negligible, true. But we have not reached a peak. The audio world hit its peak with 44.1 khz sample rate and 16 bit audio. The video world will probably hit that peak with 8K resolution and 10 bit color. That last sentence does not make sense. Why would you want less detail?

I'm sure you are correct about us not having reached the limit of human ocular resolution. I threw that out there as a generalization (to make a point, nevertheless) but without any data to back it up. To wit:

"I recognize that I am only making an assertion and furnishing no proof; I am sorry, but this is a habit of mine; sorry also that I am not alone in it; everybody seems to have this disease."

-Mark Twain
​

With respect to my last sentence "not making sense," allow me to point out two things (all in good humor). One, my enjoying old analog movies is a subjective statement applicable only to myself in this particular case. It is not required to "make sense," in the sense that an emotional expression cannot be subjected to some formal proof of logic. Two, I never said I wanted less detail. What I did say is that I am happy with less, and I do not feel that I am missing out by not having more. There is a difference.

 

[Plutonius]

Except play iTunes Movies/Music/Photos.

Plex will stream your iTunes music, will stream your iTunes video with some pre-processing, and will stream you photos on a Roku.

i.e. A Roku running the Plex app can play your iTunes music, iTunes Movies / TV, and photos from your Plex server. Although, if you are using mostly iTunes, an Apple TV is more convenient than a Roku.

Note - Plex will only play the iTunes music on your Plex server. It will not play from the Apple music subscription service. The Roku supports Spotify as a possible option instead of Apple Music.

 

[bozzykid]

Except play iTunes Movies/Music/Photos.

Just like the previous Apple TV, iTunes is really the only reason to use this over a Roku or Fire TV. And for some people that is enough of a reason. It just depends on how much you use iTunes.

 

[Keirasplace]

Here's the thing. You are correct that there is only so much resolution a human eye can discern. But it is much more detail than 1080p HD allows. 4K still has an impact, if viewed from a distance not too far. 4K vs 1080p is like Retina vs Non-Retina in a way. I'm using a 4K monitor at this instant which is scaled to have a UI of 1080p. This is identical to an iPad with 2048 x 1536 resolution being scaled to 1024 x 768. While the difference between 1080p and 4K may not be as large as SD to HD, it is still an important jump and is incredibly useful for editing, creating, and viewing. As resolutions get higher and higher the impact becomes more negligible, true. But we have not reached a peak. The audio world hit its peak with 44.1 khz sample rate and 16 bit audio. The video world will probably hit that peak with 8K resolution and 10 bit color. That last sentence does not make sense. Why would you want less detail?

The video world should take care about the piece of crap motion resolution of all current tech (plasma was better at his than many current 4K tvs!) before even going to 8K.

Our eyes are pretty bad at discerning details when something moves, but current tech is much worse than even our eyes. Up the real refresh rate and make sure compression doesn't try to blend one frame into another. That may be OK if your watching a documentary of the space shuttle, but if your watching a hockey match it is properly terrible.

Also, all those touting the fact supposedly our eyes are good at 700dpi or whatever in lab test kinda forget that this is only true if your looking at central vision, extreme quality static black on white print in very good lighting. That's how all the vision tests were run. The contrast here in those cases is extraordinary and indeed wee can discern a lot in those special circumstances.

But, no phone comes in the ballpark of presenting this kind of content and screens certainly are not up to that challenge.

That's not even mentioning that an actual phone has to contend with reflections, dirty screen, images//videos that are themselves not high contrast. Only the UI has any chance of even being in the ballpark in showing off resolution cause video certainly cannot if there is any movement or change in dynamics on screen.

increasing dynamic range, gamut and the color accuracy of our display is a much better deal than increasing resolution, especially in small devices like phones used in non controlled environments.

 

[Tech198]

Youtube will always be the last one... Easier for Apple who makes the device and other streaming services

Just like the previous Apple TV, iTunes is really the only reason to use this over a Roku or Fire TV. And for some people that is enough of a reason. It just depends on how much you use iTunes.

For now, until everyone else catches up. Then it'll be neck-and-neck till Apple pushes ahead again with the next "Big thing"

 

[vipergts2207]

Another feature the ATV has that none of the other boxes/sticks mentioned have is the ability to act as a HomeKit hub. That’s a must for some.