I would take it. I have a tiny windows machine hooked to my tv just to watch sports streams on my tv. Airplay is unreliable and glitchy.
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Apple TV HD vs. Apple TV 4K Buyer's Guide
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New Apple TV 4K vs old Apple TV 4K: Specs, features, price - 9to5Mac
This detailed guide covers the new Apple TV 4K vs old Apple TV 4K including hardware, I/O, features, price, alternatives, and more.
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airplay 2 rocks, I never have a problem with it. There are some issues to look at:
do you have low bandwidth or interference on your wifi network? some routers just don't have the oomph for streaming, most purchased within the last 5 years should though, but then there are crappy ones nonetheless.
maybe it is just the remaining inventory (might be selling it for a long time)
there is that an then the planned obsolescence of the smart TVs, they have a crappy interface and only update for a year or two. a better name for them is the Not-so-smart TVs
Not to mention, LG has produced a lot of sets and monitors with crappy power supplies which cause the video to blink out over and over again. No love for their customers, basically an FU if it is out of warranty, even if it is a known defect. Get an extended warranty
in what currency? US dollars the AppleTV 4k is $179/$199. An M1 appleTV, I'm not seeing that, it would be basically a Mac mini, maybe with some extra video stuff?
The picture quality when streaming an mlb game on my Apple TV vs from my Sony x900F’s app is markedly better, so I disagree.
I have an old Sony XBR Bravia 40” (yes it’s really old) still works great and use in in a bedroom. The picture is amazing for 720p. I bought the 1s gen 4K Apple TV when it came out and other than the crappy remote it’s been a excellent experience.
I can use it with my AirPods too. I can’t watch 4K content but I figure when my tv goes out I’ll get a 4K tv eventually. I bought a rubber case for the remote but I still hate the way it works. I’m thinking of buying the new remote in hopes it might work better.
I can use it with my AirPods too. I can’t watch 4K content but I figure when my tv goes out I’ll get a 4K tv eventually. I bought a rubber case for the remote but I still hate the way it works. I’m thinking of buying the new remote in hopes it might work better.
If you have an already have a 2015 ATV in your situation there wouldn't be a need to upgrade, but I believe the argument on a new purchase is that for $30 the 4k atv is a much better value, likely will be supported for longer, and will fully support a future 4k tv in that spot if you had to replace it. The likelihood of you buying another 40" or above 1080p set at this point is pretty low when 4k/HDR sets are the standard at this point.
And Apple isn't above suckering its customers into buying old tech at premium prices and then dropping the ball on support. How many people bought the ATV3 after the 4 was released out only for Apple to effectively drop support for it within a year - it is amazing that prime was added a year later and that youtube held on as long as it did.
Yes, dumb TVs plus external smart boxes generally give a better user experience (faster, better UI, more flexible, more frequent upgrades, more apps). Better to pay for a good quality panel and then add on upgradable smart capability. We have an Amazon Fire TV stick (about £20 in the Good Friday sale) - voice activated, simple but usable remote, easy access to streaming services, programmable/scriptable, works with live and streaming services, recording/live pause capability. I then paired this with a quality panel and ignore its smart capability. We also have an ATV3 but I can't see a good reason to upgrade it
I have used Safari on a TV, but it's usually better to use a laptop or tablet and then screen share if you want the larger display
I have two Roku TVs in the house. One is a 2020 flagship. On both, there is noticable lag when opening certain apps, and I experience a full crash at least once a week. The TV is fine, the Roku functionality is just relying on a creaking chipset at this point. Plugging in an Apple TV 4K is a fast way to upgrade my experience without replacing the TV itself, and given Apple’s superior SoCs, is much more future proof.
Honestly if the Apple TV app hadn't come out for smart TVs I would have gotten one of these. But I'm glad its one less thing in the house, one less remote.
Buy a used Apple TV 4K with A10X processor it has 30% faster graphics than the brand new Apple TV 4K with A12. Then sell the crappy remote and buy either an used and functional silver Apple TV remote, the new Apple TV remote or reprogram your remote as I did. I paid €80 for a used Apple TV 4K (I’ve seen them shrink-wrapped selling for €100) and used my reprogrammed PS3 remote to work my TV, my PS3 and my Apple TV 4K. I saved on unnecessary spending and I’m happy with my results. I will live just fine with Siri functionality on my ATV. If you decide down the line you can buy the newer remote (perhaps even a pristine used one). Some users who like to use another remote to control their new ATV 4K will likely sell the new remote pristine on eBay or Craigslist.
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I have the HD, and I was surprised to learn that it doesn't have gigabit Ethernet.
I have a 12-year-old Samsung LCD and home theatre setup that looks great and still works really well for the most part. The timing board went on the TV a couple of years ago, but an $80 replacement part and a couple of hours with a screwdriver fixed it up good as new.
But that TV and HT setup is the weak link in the whole equation. I could get the new Apple TV 4K, but would not see or hear any improvement.
Where I would see improvement is in overall UI responsiveness, and more stability and responsiveness as a HomeKit hub, which is one area where the current model starts to trip up. I frequently get "not responding" errors on HomeKit devices, probably because the Apple TV has fallen down on the job. I may eventually upgrade just for better HomeKit performance and Thread support. And I'll think about upgrading the TV when parts are no longer available for it. I just can't bring myself to decommission it and send it to landfill while it's still doing its job just fine. I don't build my free time around sports and movies, so having 4K is not a priority at all.
I have a 12-year-old Samsung LCD and home theatre setup that looks great and still works really well for the most part. The timing board went on the TV a couple of years ago, but an $80 replacement part and a couple of hours with a screwdriver fixed it up good as new.
But that TV and HT setup is the weak link in the whole equation. I could get the new Apple TV 4K, but would not see or hear any improvement.
Where I would see improvement is in overall UI responsiveness, and more stability and responsiveness as a HomeKit hub, which is one area where the current model starts to trip up. I frequently get "not responding" errors on HomeKit devices, probably because the Apple TV has fallen down on the job. I may eventually upgrade just for better HomeKit performance and Thread support. And I'll think about upgrading the TV when parts are no longer available for it. I just can't bring myself to decommission it and send it to landfill while it's still doing its job just fine. I don't build my free time around sports and movies, so having 4K is not a priority at all.
@MauiPa My guess is that the currency is exactly the one stated in the post above - A$ (aka Australian Dollar).
Is it? I've found AirPlay to be one of the few Apple services to work pretty reliably (works better than the native Apple TV app for some sources, eg Plex).
How would you navigate Safari on the Apple TV? I suspect it'd be so bad you'd end up going back to the Windows machine.
Last year I bought a new TV, and while waiting for it to ship, I bought an Apple TV 4K (the previous version) to upgrade my old Apple TV HD so I'd be ready when the new TV arrived.
Even though I was using the 4K on my old regular HD TV, the performance difference and experience was NIGHT AND DAY. The CPU is so much faster on the 4K; using the device felt so much smoother and snappier.
Apple is doing themselves a disservice by selling the old "HD" version without at least updating the internals slightly.
My school district replaced all of its AppleTVs about 2 years ago. When purchasing them, the school board asked whether to get the 1080P AppleTV or the 4K AppleTV. The tech director convinced them that while the 4K is more expensive, Apple will support them for longer, hence a better value.
Regarding these HDMI ARC boxes with volume control -> I would avoid these.
I recently purchased the one pictured above (CAMWAY Digital to Analog Audio Converter,HDMI ARC Audio Extractor ; or just about, they are all the same internals I believe) and needed to return it as any amount of bass came through extremely weak and scratchy, essentially ruining the audio.
All of the functions work great (volume control of the analog out), but the sound quality is too bad to justify. I would recommend the ones without volume control as there are more/likely better options.
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Even for this use case, I don't think buying a new HD from Apple is the right option. Either buy an HD used for a fraction of the price, or buy a new 4k for future proofing. The HDs are only still on sale for corporate users who use them for conference rooms and displays. Apple should have tucked them away in a corner of the website and made them hard to find, with a disclaimer explaining the use case. The savings are immaterial on a product that is already much more expensive than the competition, and it is just confusing the discussion about the new product.
In some markets, like in Iceland where I live, local services are not available on all platforms, usually only on Apple TV and Android, so most smart TVs are more or less useless.
